Rome: The Vibrant Eternal City
All roads lead to Rome – so the old saying goes and the Eternal City was indeed a stop on our trip back up through Italy.
Having last been in Rome 15 years ago, we were excited to be back and have the chance to show this historic, vibrant and charming city to Niklas and Frederik.
Taking in the Atmosphere of Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps
Some of the most iconic places in Rome are of course Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps and one of our first walking trips through Rome was through this lively area of Rome. Full of restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops, fashion shops and with historic buildings and monuments at every corner, we had fun taking in the atmosphere and the beauty of the city.
We got lost twice in the maze of small narrow alleys around Piazza Navona, threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain to make sure we come back to Rome again in the future and gazed at the designer shops around the Spanish Steps and Via del Corso. Another iconic trademark of Rome is of course the many scooters and it became a sport to count the number of scooters lined up next to each other at the many dedicated parking areas around the city!
We had wonderful ice cream and topped the day off with a visit to a restaurant close to the area of Prado where we lived where Frederik thought he had the best tomato sauce to his pasta ever and Niklas the best pizza ever😊
A Travel Back in Time at Colosseum, Forum Romanum and Circus Maximus
No visit to Rome seems complete without seeing Colosseum and Forum Romanum to be reminded of the ancient history of Rome and Roman life. As the sites were a bit away from where we stayed, we took a hop-on/hop-off bus to get there and at the same time enjoyed getting an overview of the full city of Rome while for once resting our feet.
One of the other passengers gave Niklas a book where one could see the historic sites as they look today and with overlay paper what they looked like in old days. This created great joy with both kids and they studied it intensely as we came by all the sites.And were fascinated by the stories of the gladiator fights and the ways of Roman living in earlier times. As we passed Circus Maximus, the old chariot-racing venue, a modern day horse race was taking place and it was fascinating to see how the old sites are also used for modern day events and thereby still kept alive.
Vatican City: The World’s Smallest Country
The final main area we explored in Rome was the Vatican City. Niklas has been counting the number of countries we have visited on our trip so far and was excited to make the Vatican City country number 8! Moreover, with the visit we have now been to the two smallest countries in the world (Vatican City and Monaco) which was also a nice fact for Niklas to add to his travel book.
We opted out of visiting the Vatican Museum but went inside the famous St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the most important churches in the Catholic world and one of the world’s largest including one of the world’s tallest domes with a height of 136.57meters. The church is an impressive sight both from the outside and the inside and we were lucky to get there ahead of the big tourist groups.
To round off our visit to the Vatican City, we bought postcards and Vatican City stamps and ended the trip with a coffee at café where we could write our postcards and send off before leaving the small country again.
