Day 7 Rome Saturday 28th December 2013:

This morning after a good night sleep and feeling rested from exploring Rome the night before.

We made our way to the dining room at 7:15 am for our included breakfast in the hotel.

After we had finished breakfast,

We met our Trip Manager Rebecca in the hotel reception before we departed the hotel at 8 am by mini bus.

We used a minibus to make our way to the metro station, as this was a 2 night stop and our coach driver Bart had a compulsory rest day due to European regulations.

The mini bus dropped us off at the Metro station which was a short 10 minute drive from the hotel.

While we waited for our train Rebecca handed out our included metro tickets which were valid for the whole day in Rome.

The group then made our way into Rome on the Metro where we arrived in at 9 am.

Once we arrived in Rome we followed Rebecca to catch our second train on the Metro to Vatican City.

Which arrived just outside the walls of Vatican City.

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world about half a square kilometre in size.

It is the official residence of The Pope, the head of the Catholic Church.

We arrived in Vatican City at 9:15 am and followed Rebecca as we made our way inside Vatican City for our optional Vatican Tour.

Before entering the Vatican we were required to go through security screening as The Vatican is one of the most religious places in the world and security is taken very seriously.

After making our way through the security screening we met our local guide and were given audio guides to listen to as we made our way through the Vatican Museum

As we made our way through the Vatican Museum we learnt all about the history of the Catholic Church and St Peters Basilica.

As we walked through St Peters Basilica,

We arrived at our next stop of the guided tour The Sistine Chapel!

Before we entered we were asked to stay quiet and forbidden to take photos or videos as we went in, as this is most religious room in the world for the Catholic Church.

As we entered we looked up at the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel we saw the famous fresco painted my Michelangelo!

This was such an amazing artwork and something I had always dreamed of seeing.

I could feel the spiritual aura created inside The Sistine Chapel and something that will stay with me forever.

When we had finished visiting the Sistine Chapel we made our way out of the Vatican.

We met our Trip Manager Rebecca and departed for our optional Imperial Tour of the Roman Forum and Colosseum.

We had a short 10 minute walk to the Roman Forum.

We arrived 12 pm and met our local guide.

As we followed our local guide through the Roman Forum we wandered through the ruins of the Ancient Roman Empire.

Learning about the layers of history of the Roman Empire’s political heart.

We continued walking through the Roman Forum.

We continued our Imperial Tour and made our way to the Roman Colosseum.

We arrived at the Colosseum also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre at 2pm.

We followed our local guide we made our way inside learning all about the history including that it was made of limestone,tuff and brickfaced concrete.

The Colosseum was the largest amphitheatre built at time of construction and was commissioned by Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD and completed in 80 AD.

It could hold 50,000 spectators and offered gladiator fights, executions and animal hunting!

Walking through the Colosseum was such a surreal experience!

I had always dreamed about visiting the Colosseum since learning about the Roman Empire when I studied Ancient History for my HSC at high school and it sure did not dissapoint!

When our Imperial tour finished at 4 pm we had free time for the rest of the day in Rome before making our own way back to our hotel when we wanted.

As I made my way out of The Colosseum a group of 6 Australian travellers and myself met up and we decided to have a walk through Rome and find a restaurant to have dinner.

As we walked through Rome we shared our favourite experiences from our day in Rome.

We explored Rome for about half an hour and found this authentic Roman restaurant Dar Poeta At CAsale.

We decided to go and have a group dinner together.

We made our way inside and found a free table before a waiter came over and we ordered some garlic bread and drinks to start with.

As we chatted over our entrees we decided as we were in Rome to order some authentic stone fire pizza!

We ordered a selection of Margarita and Pizza Roma to share between the 6 of us. This pizza in Rome was the best pizza we had ever had in our lives it was so delicious and full of flavours!

We ordered some gelato for dessert which was super delicious and the perfect way to end our authentic Roman dinner.

After dinner we departed the restaurant we made our way back to the Metro station in Rome at 7 pm.

We arrived back at the Metro station near our hotel at 8 pm.

The minibus was waiting for us and drove us back to the hotel as we met up with about half of our group who had arrived back at the same time.

We arrived back at our hotel at 8:15 pm and met Rebecca in the hotel reception where she had our cleaned laundry ready to return to us.

After such an amazing day of exploring Rome most of us headed to bed to have a goodnight sleep and be rested before our final stop in Florence tomorrow.

Which was the final leg of our Italian section of our Contiki trip.

When I arrived back at my hotel room I had a shower and packed my suitcase with my clean laundry before heading to sleep.

Rome was an absolutely amazing life changing experience to visit and it was everything I had hoped and dreamed of and so much more!

I definitely left a part of my heart in Rome and will definitely return in the future!

Safe Travels

Campbell 🙂