I think everybody has a certain foreign city in their head that they have always fantasized about more than any other. Do you have one? For some people its Paris, New York City, maybe Los Angeles, London, or Tokyo. For me, that city was always Rome.
I went to Spain during winter break a couple years ago and, to my delight, my boyfriend surprised me with tickets to Rome for a Christmas present. We teamed up with Javi’s amazing sister Azahara and her boyfriend Pirri, and the 4 of us set off to my dream bucket list destination a few weeks later :D.
Rome lived up to every single overblown expectation that I had set for it. The historical sights were just as impressive and remarkable as I’d made them up to be in my mind; the men are really as dreamy as they seem in movies; and the food was even more heavenly than I could have conjured up in my mind. To me, Rome is simply the epitome of a globally influential city, where you can walk around and be among architecture from literally thousands of years ago, but also marvel at the way the modern city has shaped itself.
We visited all the major sights in our long weekend there. We started with the Roman Forum, the site of the ancient government in Rome. This was particularly interesting to me since my field of study is political science – I was pretty much walking around in my wildest fantasy. Ruins from 7th century B.C. (!!!) sprawl through the massive complex, transporting you back in time. I didn’t want to leave, but next on the agenda was a visit to the Colosseum so how could I complain?
Both the interior and the exterior of the Colosseum were mind blowing! Inaugurated in the year 80 (unreal…), it is the biggest amphitheater in the world and it’s historical importance has landed it on the list of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Originally used for gladiator games where they fought wild animals or each other, you can still clearly see the ruins where tiered seating used to exist. I kept pinching myself like, am I seriously here right now!? We got some photo opps outside of the structure as well, all 4 of us still in awe!
Next, we headed to the Trevi Fountain. By this time, the sun had set and it was dark outside, but the looming fountain still shone and demanded our attention with its power. Okay, yeah Alli calm down that sounds dramatic, but this just how incredible Rome is to me! We visited again the next day to see it in the daylight, too, and made a couple wishes in the fountain Lizzie-McGuire style ;).
Those 3 experiences stood out the most to me, but we also squeezed in nearly every other sight that Rome has to offer. We saw the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps (though they were under construction), Altare della Patria, and literally probably every single church in the entire city. We also visited Vatican City as a day trip which I wrote about here. Azahara was an angel and planned our entire itinerary for all 4 days and made sure that we didn’t miss out on a single experience that Rome has to offer! In between all of this sightseeing, we of course stuffed our faces with pasta, pizza, wine, gelato… we stopped to appreciate the little moments like colorful alleyways or vines growing up the side of a building… and genuinely made memories to last a lifetime. I honestly don’t know if any city I’ve visited since or any I’ll visit in the future can live up to Rome’s hype. Thank you Roma for the memories that I’ll cherish forever!
