Considering the amount of airmiles flown between us to see each other, this was the first time that Jordi and I had been on a plane with each other. And Im not sure there were many better places we could have chosen as a first foreign holiday for us together. Neither of us had been to Italy before yet it was high on our bucket list and Rome was the perfect place to start. We had spoken to a few friends of ours who had visited the city before and I think the best piece of advice we received was that whilst on some trips you want to try and avoid going to too many tourist attractions and tourist traps, in Rome, go and visit all of them. Apologies for the length of this but theres a bucket load of sites to tell about and I havent written a blog for a while.

We arrived in Rome in the late evening (after a taxi ride from the airport that was more like a rally cross stage) and checked into the Hotel dei Consoli where the concierge recommended the Ristorante Calabascio for something to eat. Now, I could quite easily and happily write a blog just about the food we had on the trip, the pizza, the pastas, the ice cream, the breads, the everything, that would take away from all the other amazing features of the city. I think however, that Ristorante Calabascio was the best place we ate on the trip. Both our pasta dishes were incredibly delicious. After we had our fill of pasta and fish and wine, we went for a stroll in the area around our hotel. We were staying two streets away from the Porta Angelica into the Vatican city and as you approach the wall, which is a tall perimmiter itself, the first and most capitvating sight that greets you is the enlightened and towering dome of St Peter's Basilica. It is massive and we later found out that St Peters is the tallest building in the city and no other building is allowed to be built higher. Once you walk through the porta and enter the Piazza San Pietro it gets even more impressive. The piazza is surronded by great circular columns which arc around either side and in the middle a great obelisk flanked by fountains on either side all of which is lit up in the darkness but all playing second fiddle to the grandeur and scale of the church which sits at the top of the piaza commanding over all else. We headed away from the piazza and quickly came upon the Castel Sant Angelo atop its hill overlooking the Tiber. It too was impressive lit up in the dark. Maybe not quite as impressive as Edinburgh Castle as it is somewhat smaller but the huge bronze statue of the Archangel Michael shething his sword is pretty cool. We explored somemore with large ice creams to keep us going before calling it a night, excited about the days ahead.

Our first morning in Rome started with pizza for breakfast (how good is that) soaking up the sun (and how good is that!!) and the atmosphere of the piazza on the Italian side of the Vaticans wall. As with all tourist attractions across the world, there are ticket touts everywhere with the most determined of them offering to show you the way to the Vatican even whilst standing right in the shadows of the citys own walls. God loves a trier. We went back through the Piazza San Paulo, which despite now being full of people, is just as impressive in the daylight as it is in the dark. We headed first to the Castle crossing the Tiber initially so that we could approach over the bridge which leads right to the gates. It is seriously cool once inside. It was first built by the emperor Hadrian (same guy that built the wall in England - wonder if Sturgeon pledges to rebuild it should we get independence if that would help push a Yes vote through??) as a Masusoleum for himself and his family and it ended up being the resting place for Romes emperors for 100 years before it became militarized by one the later Emperors. The Papacy evetually took over and it became the Popes castle with a covered passageway stretching all the way from St Pauls to the castle which is still there and is pretty cool. The pentagonal shape of the fortress and the outer and inner walls as well as sitting atop the hillock makes you think it would be pretty hard to get at the Pope if he were shelled up inside. And from the sounds of Italian history, it sounds like theres been a few people over the years who have tried. Jordi was reading about why the castle is named after the Archangel and ended up being an Italian ladys personal photographer for about 10 mins. I think from the womans hand gestures (how they talk in Italy) the photos were good ones. The views from the top are stunning as is the massive statue of the Archangel as I mentioned earlier. The castle sits right on the Tiber with its slow moving, greenish waters crossed by dozens of ornate bridges. You can see over to the Pantheon and the Colesseum to the south and the hills which surround Rome on two sides as well. Of course with St Pauls being so close and so massive it once again dominates but as we kept finding out on the trip, it dominates from pretty much everywhere. The castle was pretty interesting and well worth visiting.

From the castle, we crossed the Tiber and headed soutn in search of more of the wonderful sites Rome has to offer. We wandered through the tight winding streets past numerous churches and ended up in Piazza Navona, regarded as one of the nicest piazza's in the city. As with it seems all the amazing cities throughout Europe, the squares have cafes and restaurants on all sides on them with people sitting out enjoying the company of others and this was no different even in February. Piazza Navona was heaving with a mix of tourists and locals chilling out, making their way in and out of the church or getting some photos of the Egyptian Obelisk and fountain in the middle of the square. We wandered some more, with the intention of finding the Pantheon which we duly did. The Pantheon is a special building, one of the few remaining structures from Ancient Rome which was previously a site of pre-Christian Roman worship which was converted into a church (Hadrian again) and has been in use ever since. The sense of history about the building is amazing and the vibe felt when entering the building was something too. The circular dimension of the main temple set it apart from most other churches. Its similar in this way to the gigantic cathedral in Rio although whilst that looks like it belongs in Cumbernauld, this is Ancient Rome!! Bit different. Some of the shrines within the Pantheon are amazing stonework and the painter Raphael is buried in there all of which adds to the special feeling surrounding the building.

Next was a discovery of pure luck when we stumbled upon the Il Vittoriano, the biggest monument to independence/unification I have ever seen in all the countries I have visited. Think of the White House, hit it with some stroid abuse, add 400 steps, a giant horse with an Italian King on top of it, couple of guards who dont bat an eyelid and youll have an idea of what this place looks like. I didnt even know it existed and it was Jordi who spotted it though how I didnt is a mystery, this building was enormous. There is a museum inside which documents the creation of the Italian Kingdom and later the Republic, it was interesting that Italians dont consider the full unification to have been complete till the end of WWI. The best part of the building however was the ability to take a lift to the roof and look out over the city from the centre. Those were amazing too, over the Roman Forum up to the Colosseum, every direction you looked there was something there that made you say wow. We took a walk to the Colosseum as the sun was setting just to see it in the fading light and then made our way back north through the Forum. Its incredible to think that there was an Ancient City once built underneath where the roads and paths and buildings of todays Rome now stand, guess Edinburgh Old Town is similar, just not as ancient. On our way back to the hotel we went to see the Trevi Fountain. I cannot believe that there is a fountain as beautiful as this just on the back of someones house!! The size of the statues, the crafsmanship that must have went in to making them as ornate and detailed as they are and how it all comes together to create such a stunning piece of artwork is incredible. And its the back of a house!!! I didnt think that I would be too amazed by the Trevi Fountain as I cant say that any of the fountains I have come across on my travels have overly excited me. This one did. Think that says it all really, just look at the photos. We spent the rest of the night eating and drinking, listening to a pretty good live band and finishing with ice cream as you do. We had walked a tonne this day. Whilst it does not take that long to walk from the Vatican to the Colosseum, we had done a load of zig zagging.

The next day was the a day at the Vatican. There are dozens of Vatican Museums with more artwork and sculptures than you would think is possible. Some of it is amongst the most amazing on the planet and must be an art fanatics wet dream to walk through these corridors. The frescos on the roofs detailing biblical stories and celebrated Papal coronations along with other historical events in Romes history are outstanding, even a pleb like me was able to appreciate this. The volume of depictions of Christ can be a bit much and for both of us, the Egyptian museum was the most interesting. The SIstine Chapel of course is one of if not the most special rooms in the Vatican buildings and Jordi was lucky enough for there to a Priest in the Chapel hosting prayer. It was cool as he appeared to do so in about 6 languages. But its all about the roof isnt it and that dude Michael somethingorother. Being honest, whilst the whole roof is breathtaking, I didnt think Gods finger was the best part of the fresco. For me, the big dude at the top of the wall above the altar was the most impressive. But thats just me. I was so amazed by the whole thing and its hard to get your head around the fact that one guy, built his own scaffolding and then painted and entire building, and not a small one at that, with some of the most beautiful artwork ever known to man. After the Vatican buildings we went into the Basilica. I have been lucky enough to have seen some of the most splendid and dramatic religious buildings built in the world. The Blue Mosque, the Grand Buddhist Temple in Bangkok, St Pauls Cathedral as well as hundreds of Hindu Mandirs in India, RC Cathedrals in Latin America, Mosques throughout Turket and the UAE, Buddhist Temples in Asia and Shinto Shrines in Japan yet I dont think I would be out of place to say that St Peters top trumps them all. I would even say that it tops the Taj and thats saying a lot. The size of the building, its the biggest churh in the world in size (the Cathedral in Rio that belongs in Cumbernauld can hold more people) and with its pillars, the 12 Apostles and Christ lining the roof and of course the dome which towers so high above the city it really is incredible. Inside doesnt let you down either. There are shrines lining the walls and the church is the resting place for a dozen or so Popes each of which have their own tomb with statuettes keeping watch over them. The strangest was the tomb which had a skeleton holding an hour glass. Thought that was a bit strange to be in the highest Catholic Church in the world. Unfortunately we were not able to go up the dome, will need to do that next time. At night we walked down the Spanish Steps without even realising that was where we were until we reached the bottom of them,

Our last day we headed back to the Colosseum to take one of the audio tours of Romes most famous landmark. I had been wanting to see this more than all the other sites and it did not disappoint, not one bit. Listening to the stories about how up to 70,000 people were able to fit inside a purpose built stadium built 1500 years ago was fantastic. Stories about large hunts of wild animals taking place, the flooding of the arena to re-enact naval battles, about over 10,000 men fighting 15,000 wild beasts, of 30 bears entering the arena from the mouth of a whale which had washed up on the beaches West of the city. It was fascinating. The architecture to design such an arena (arena incidentally enough is the latin work for sand which covered the floor of the Colosseum) all these years ago coupled with some of the ideas for the events held within it makes me kind of wish I could have gone to watch the games.

Rome is an incredible city, filled with so much history and character. There are few cities in the world where you feel that around every corner is something new for you to marvel at, a new picture you want to capture on camera or in memory and Rome is definitely one of them. The people who we encountered were all very friendly and helpful and the recommendations we were given for places to eat and drink were all top quality. The food will definitely go down as an everlasting memory of Italy as it was delicious. Jordi and I both agreed that we felt the Colosseum was perhaps the best site we visited but take nothing away from any of the others as they were all special in their own way. A great introduction to Italy and a truly great first foreign holiday for Jordi and I to go on together.