Rome: Day Three

This day of our Roman holiday was one of the most exciting; this was when we visited one of the 7 New Wonders of the World - the Colosseum! 

It was also the first day of the holiday that I felt completely back to normal again, having started a nasty cold on the first morning of the trip. So I was able to enjoy it even more!

We'd booked our Colosseum tickets for the late morning, which meant we could take things slowly in the early part of the day. We had a nice walk there from our hotel, passing by the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument, and some amazing Roman ruins.

Then at last, we arrived at the Colosseum! We had breakfast at a nearby café and then went to join the prebooked tickets queue.

We'd expected similar chaos to the Vatican Museums, if not worse, given that the Colosseum is the city's most famous attraction, but in fact, we got in there fairly quickly.

The Colosseum is the third Wonder of the World that I've visited, having been to both Machu Picchu and Christ the Redeemer in 2022. I was intrigued to see if it would be as incredible for me as the two South American Wonders were, and after going inside the arena, I can say that it definitely was!

It's amazing to think how long it's been there for, how well-preserved it is, and of course, how much gory history took place inside it all those years ago.

Seeing a gorgeous cat inside was also a nice bonus!

We spent quite a long time inside the arena, walking around its circumference and making sure we took it all in as much as we could.

Afterwards, we sat outside in the sunshine at a restaurant with great views of the Colosseum, and enjoyed yet more delicious pasta, as well as our first Aperol Spritz of the holiday - a nice treat after finally having been able to stop taking cold and flu medication!

The afternoon was a time for us to explore even more Roman history, as our Colosseum tickets also gave us access to the Forum and Palatine Hill.

On the Palatine Hill, you can find remnants of Roman palaces, as well as beautiful gardens. And of course the Forum needs no introduction: although a lot of the original structures have disappeared over time, what is left is still amazing to see.

These sites also had some great vantage points of the Colosseum.

After the site closed for the day, we walked over to the Circus Maximus, where they used to have chariot races in Roman times. This place is now a public park, which is free to walk around - quite nice, considering that many of the other tourist attractions in the city are expensive to visit.

Our next stop of the evening was the Tiber Island, another recommendation we took from the Voices of Bell'Italia podcast (the first recommendation being to try maritozzi!)

This island in the river looks like a pretty little Italian village and feels a world away from the rest of the city.

Other sights we saw later in the day included the Capitoline Hill, with its palazzi and great views of the Forum, and the Marcellus Theatre, which is like a mini Colosseum.

Our next day in Rome was also our last full day in the city, so we needed to make the most of it, and I think we did just that! Places we visited included Largo di Torre Argentina, the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument, la Bocca della Verità, and Castel Sant'Angelo. I'll be writing about all that and more as soon as possible!

Santa Severa

Generally, when Claudio and I spend longer than a few days in a particular city, we like to do at least one day trip during the holiday. And being in a Mediterranean country like Italy for a week meant that we definitely had to have a day at the beach!

I consulted a few articles online before our trip to Rome in order to get some ideas of interesting beach towns that are easy to visit in a day. Having weighed up the options, we decided that Santa Severa was the one for us - it's only an hour from Rome by train, and it has a castle (always a plus point for me)!

So halfway through our week in Rome, we went along to the train station and travelled over to this town on the Mediterranean Sea. We were a bit surprised by how deserted and unequipped for tourism the town was; the train station building was closed and there were no pavements on the roads leading towards the beach. Obviously, March is not really a month for beach weather, and the beaches in this area of the country are not famous tourist destinations in the way that beaches in the Italian Riviera, Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Sardinia are. All the same, it was surprising that the place was so quiet, but also quite fun to be somewhere that felt so off the beaten track after the previous couple of days we'd spent visiting world-famous attractions.

Our first stop was the town's castle, which was built in the 9th century. It has a nice little museum that we had pretty much to ourselves, and some fantastic views across the turquoise sea. It also has an array of lovely cats! Most of them were very friendly and we had a great time fussing over them!

We then went for a nice stroll along the town's main beach, which is where you get the best views of the castle. There were some repair works going on next to the castle, which did ruin the view slightly, but it was still a picturesque place.

We also walked through the rest of the town, which was very quiet, and stopped for a somewhat disappointing macaroni and cheese at a café.

We finished our time in Santa Severa chilling out at the tranquil beach on the other side of the castle, where Claudio did his best impression of the Little Mermaid!

But by the time we got back to Rome, we weren't quite ready to call it a night yet! So we finished our day off at Giolitti gelateria, with some of the best ice cream we've ever tasted in one of the most beautiful settings.

To conclude, it was fun to break up our holiday in Rome with a bit of time by the sea, and I'd definitely recommend Santa Severa if you like beaches, castles and cats!

The following day, we were back in full-on sightseeing mode. It was time for us to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World!