To close out my European world tour, I stayed three nights in Rome at the Generator Hostel. I arrived in the morning and booked an afternoon walking tour to learn more about the city.
I grabbed lunch at a mid-tier pizza place and then walked into the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica across the street. Here there are “pieces of Jesus’ crib” underneath the main altar which was an interesting sight.
I returned to the hostel to chill out before the walking tour in the later afternoon but decided to walk to the meeting point. This walk took me past the Roman Forum, the Altar to the Fatherland, and various churches.
The walking tour was interesting and I learned more about the Roman ruins, Pantheon, and stopped by the Trevi Fountain to throw in some coins.
The following day was full of more Roman ruins as I had tickets to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. I visited the Spanish Steps in the morning and spent the evening taking a visit inside of the Pantheon followed by a walk to the Castel Sant’Angelo. Closing the day out, I ate some pasta and caught the bus from Piazza Navona.
Taking a slower day for my final day in Rome and Europe, I slept in and took the metro to the Circus Maximus. I then walked to Santa Maria in Cosmedin Church to see the Mouth of Truth, a famous marble mask with the legend of biting the hand of liars. I did not get bit!
I walked into the Trastevere neighborhood to grab lunch at Nannarella. This restaurant came highly recommended and there were people lined up out the door to eat. Thankfully, I spoke to another solo traveler and we decided to eat together to get seated faster.
So, I enjoyed lunch with Dimitri, a software engineer at Google who was from Ukraine. We went our separate ways after lunch and I returned to the hostel to prepare for my evening at the Vatican.
I changed into some more church-appropriate clothes and headed to Vatican City. I enjoyed this experience and even got blessed! I bought some Holy Water because if I’m going to buy it I may as well get it straight from the source.
I grabbed dinner and then walked to the Vatican Museums to see the Sistine Chapel which was amazing. To close out the evening, I got tiramisu and hit the hay for my 5:30 a.m. wake-up call to Houston.
All in all, I am so glad I took this trip by myself! I will definitely be back. I’m grateful for the lessons I learned in both life and future travels. Thanks for following along with my European world tour!
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