All roads lead to Rome. Our trip in Italy started on 1-st of May in Rome.
We landed in Ciampino airport. It is about one hour by bus from there to the city or 30 minutes by taxi.
The queue for bus was very long so we decided to take a taxi.
The price for taxi from airport to anywhere in the city center is fixed - 30 EUR.
Our hotel was close to the city center, near to S. Giovanni underground station.
Because 1-st of May is the Labor Day in Europe, most of the roads around our hotel were closed.
On the big square nearby was a free music concert.
Supporter of Italian Communist Party. Yes, there are still communists in Italy :)
Ancient ruins are seen from everywhere in Rome. You can find archaeological excavations, ancient columns and remains of old walls and aqueducts.
Also there are 13 Egyptian obelisks located in Rome. After conquering Egypt in 36 b.c. romans began to bring granite obelisks from there and placed them all around the city.
First of May also happened to be the first Sunday of the month.
That means free entry to some city museums and also to Colosseum.
Colosseum is a symbol of Rome, ancient amphitheatre which survived till our days.
There were a lot of people willing to get a free entry, so we had to wait in line for a little bit.
Emperor Constantin's Triumphal Arch. Was built in 315.
Everything that remained from some monument inside Colosseum.
Special police units guarding many tourist places.
After Colosseum we wanted to visit Roman Forum, but it has been closed for entry already.
So we only took a look on it from the outside.
We walked a bit around Forum and went to the central museum - Museo Centrale del Risorgimento.
Barbie exhibition and Alphonse Mucha exhibition were running at the same time.
Entry to the museum was around 15 EUR, so we decided to skip it.
On top of the museum is a viewpoint. You can get there by elevator for 7.50 EUR.
We decided to go for dinner in some cafe nearby.
I ordered big beer and calzone. It turns out big beer in Italy is 1 liter, not half a liter like everywhere else.
Half a liter is called medium here :)
Calzone and pizza were also gigantic and were bigger than a plate.
After dinner we went to another local sightseeing - Trevi Fountain.
It's the biggest fountain in Rome, it was built in 1732-1762.
It is very popular tourist attraction, the crowd there is really huge.
A lot of people are throwing coins into the fountain. Around 3,000 EUR are thrown into the fountain every day.
The money has been used by the government to subsidise food in Rome supermarkets for the people in need.
It is illegal to steal coins from the fountain, but there are regular attempts.
We went by the Colosseum on our way back.
On the next day we planned to visit Vatican.
Once we got there we felt something was wrong.
The crowds were huge and some strange people were selling "skip the line" tickets all over the place.
The lines turned out to be really big - you have to wait 2-3 hours to enter St. Peter's Basilica.
Vatican Gardens can be visited only with pre-booked tour which sells out fast.
We decided that we are not that much interested in Vatican and went for a walk towards the city.
Swiss Guards protecting Vatican and the Pope. They have funny uniform :)
Next, we went by Castel Sent'Angelo, but didn't go inside as well.
Walked around the streets.
Next to Piazza Navona is a small market and next to it are few food stores.
They sell delicious pizza, cheese and meats.
We tried mozzarella bufala and smoked mozzarella, tasted really good.
After that we went to Pantheon - the temple of every god.
It was built in 126 AD and still looking good.
The hole in the middle of the dome is the main source of natural light inside.
