Rome: the Colosseum

Rome: the Colosseum

 As soon as we arrived at our apartment yesterday, we were convinced that this would be a truly incredible few days. Situated about 30 minutes from the Colosseum, our Airbnb looks out onto the oldest walls in the city, the Aurelian Walls - these are a set of brick structures that divide 'inner' from 'outer' Rome, positioning us just on the outside, and offering a great view from the window. We are staying in a private room owned by a man named Stefano, one of the warmest and most buoyantly friendly people I have ever met: when we arrived he sat us down, brewed me an espresso, and ran us through a map of Rome whilst circling all of his top places to see. After dividing the map into four zones, a zone per day, we were looking forward to tackling the city. 

Today was our first day of exploration. We booked tickets to the Colosseum, and this came alongside entry to the Palatine and the Roman Forum. At 9:30 we half-accidentally stumbled across the Palatine entrance just as the gates were opening. We enjoyed a full two and a half hours of strolling through the well-preserved ruins of the city, using free podcasts to learn about the history behind each engraving. As a history student, I couldn't resist the chance to nerd-out, scouring every information board for more insights into the lives and events that had been witnessed by these walls; including the founding of Rome itself and the murder of the Caesar Caligula. 

For lunch, we stopped at a street-food shop down a quiet street. We were immediately ushered in, handed free focaccia, and encouraged to take our pick from the array of humongous sandwiches before us. Max walked out with an A4-sized focaccia sandwich brimming with salami, cheese, and salad, whilst mine was stuffed with zucchini, mozzarella, and pesto. A theme seems to be emerging when we eat out in Italy - this food tasted incredible!

In the afternoon, we walked through the Southern side of Rome, and at 4:35 we were booked for the Colosseum. Although it felt fairly busy, our 10-minute wait to enter paled in comparison to the usual pre-COVID 1-hour queue. Once inside, we made the most of open views of the ruins and trawled through the glass cases of artifacts, all the while being taught about the history of gladiator battles by a free Rick Steves podcast. By the end of the day, our brains were overflowing with facts about the ancient city. 

After all of that food for thought, we were dreaming of food for dinner, and we decided to use our trusty travel app, the Fork, to find us a good option. We booked a restaurant 2 minutes from the apartment. It was styled like a true old-fashioned trattoria, with marmalade jam jars, bottles of wine, and vintage posters covering every patch of wall. The food was as homely and traditional as the atmosphere, with the menu featuring every form of pasta, from carbonara to lasagna. Best of all was the price - the 50% discount offered by the app drove down our costs impressively. Overall, it was a successful day in Rome!