Romancing Europe (Rome, Italy)

Our Roman holiday began with a scenic bullet train ride from Venice, whizzing past rustic landscapes and graffiti-adorned towns, to enter the final leg of our honeymoon. Aroma (or Rome) is spelled backwards as Amora – love. Indeed, we fell for the ancient ruins that attract countless visitors from the modern world.

Colosseum

Our first stop was the iconic Colosseum. Standing before this 160-foot-high marvel spanning 6 acres, we felt like we’d stepped back in time. Can you believe it once held 50,000 spectators? Though only a third remains today, its grandeur still took our breath away. We couldn’t help but imagine the roar of the crowd as gladiators fought for their lives in this “arena of death” nearly 2,000 years ago.

Roman Forum

Next, we wandered through the Roman Forum, once the beating heart of public life in ancient Rome. Today, it’s a sprawling canvas of architectural fragments, but oh, the stories these stones could tell! As night fell, the Forum lit up, creating a magical atmosphere for quiet reflection on the empires that rose and fell on this very ground.

Pantheon

Built in 27 BC, the Pantheon is a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. Its impressive dome and oculus “eye in the sky” left us in awe. We stood beneath that open circle, feeling the connection between earth and sky, past and present. It’s amazing to think this ancient temple inspired the design of the U.S. Capitol building. Today, instead of statues of the gods, the Pantheon now houses tombs of famous Italians and the French poet Victor Hugo.

Bridge of Angels

The Bridge of Angels was completed in 134 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian for transportation across the Tiber river. Today, the bridge is solely used by pedestrians. Facing the bridge is the Castel Sant’Angelo, which was a place Popes used to hide in during seiges and wars as the castle is accessible by a raised viaduct to escape in secrecy from the Vatican.

Vatican

There are approximately 350 churches in Rome. Despite our non-affiliation to churches, we find ourselves fascinated with the decorated architecture. Pictured below is an “unknown” church, not glorified in any travel brochures. And yet, its magnificence took our breath away. One can really visit Rome just to go on a church tour.

The morning we visited the Vatican, it was raining. This did not stop the huge crowd. Pope Francis was making a tour and giving a speech. We were too far away to hear him, but all around us, people were in tears and chanting “Papa!”.

Rome by Night

We highly recommend exploring Rome after dark for a more intimate, romantic experience. While Paris might be nicknamed “City of Love”, it was an evening stroll among the ancient ruins of Rome with live music playing in the background that gave us a sense of amore. The structures came to life with orange, flood lighting that was reminiscent of torchlight. Everything felt grandiose and intimate all at once.

EuropeanDestinations

EuropeanDestinations made traveling to Europe a breeze. We were initially going to book everything ourselves, but we found it all very overwhelming and from our searches (adding everything up), we found EuropeanDestinations offered a reasonable price. While we are not sure if their packages will allow you to travel to Europe for the least amount of money, we are very thankful to have chosen them. Their packages include all airfare, hotels, and train (if applicable). You can modify according to your tastes (such as adding tour guides). Their customer service is readily available and helpful. We were leery about using them prior to departure just because we never used them before and didn’t know anyone who had used their service. We didn’t have any expectations and were therefore pleasantly surprised at how well everything turned out. There were no hiccups with travel. Hotels were all good and in prime locations (examples: we were walking distance to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and just outside St. Mark’s Square in Venice). We would use EuropeanDestinations again and would recommend it to family and friends because of how easy and reasonable the packages are.

We Say

Rome gave us a unique look into the ancient past. Honestly, we had the most difficulty writing about Rome because the very act of describing art detracts beauty from it. Rome simply needs to be experienced and appreciated.