Colosseum
Saturday, July 8
Before Christoph and I left Italy after almost a month, we wanted to visit Italy’s capital Rome for our last weekend in the country. We booked tickets for an express train that took us from Matera or Bari to Rome in just a few hours. Christoph and I had both been to Rome before, but our visits to Rome had been many years ago, so we were happy to be in the city again. Unfortunately, there was a heat warning and temperatures of up to 38 degrees for exactly the weekend we would be in Rome. But because we only had this one weekend in Rome before our flight to the next country on Monday morning, we had no choice but to use the time we had despite the heat and explored the city.
So we did the classic tour of the city – walked to Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, St. Peter’s Basilica, Castel Sant’Angelo and of course the Colosseum. After all these years, it was really nice to be back and see those world-famous places, which are impressive every time. If you’ve never been to Rome, you should definitely take a vacation to the eternal city!
Luckily, in Rome there are small drinking fountains throughout the city where you can fill up your water bottle for free with clean, ice-cold water. This meant we could endure the humid 38 degrees in Rome. What was more strenuous than the 38 degrees, however, were the incredible crowds of tourists in front of the sights and were simply far too many for the small streets in Rome. Although I have traveled a lot in my life, I had never seen so many tourists in one place! Since Christoph and I had just come from our small village of Grottole in Italy in July and knew we would be leaving Italy completely a few days later, we unfortunately had no choice but to be in Rome in July. But if you want to book a normal vacation in Rome and are a little more flexible regarding the dates, it’s best to avoid the summer months entirely and visit Rome in spring or autumn.
