Journey to Europe: Day Three Classical Rome & Catacombs and Crypts

Itinerary 

• 9:00 Classical Rome Tour
• 1:15 Lunch
• 2:30 Catacombs and Crypts Tour
• 8:00 Dinner

The one-way radios

Thursday we had a bit of trouble getting ready on time for the shuttle bus to come pick us up. Luckily Italians, most of the time they are not on the dot on time so we were able to get ready at a decent pace and get down in the lobby.

Though the actual tour didn’t even start until 9:00am. Our tour group was all given little one-way radios with an earpiece, so we could hear our guide while walking through the busy and crowded streets of Rome and the Vatican. 

The Classical Rome Tour was mostly a walking tour, covering major monuments of the city of Rome, like the Trevi fountain, where you can go throw coins in, and various obelisks found around. The tour guide said that every time Rome had a major earthquake or fire that the people would just build the next city on top of it. There is so much rich old history in Rome. It is a nice change from the new simplistic buildings in America. It is funny, because the guide said since they started the metro system, every time they go to excavate for a new route, they find something buried in time. 

Trevi Fountain

Our tour of classical rome tour ended at Saint Peter's Basilica, the biggest Catholic Church in the world, so big it needs its own city and where all the dead popes can be found. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting Rome for the first time.

After the tour we went back to our hotel to freshen up after walking and to get some lunch at a little snack bar. I had a pizza panini that was really good. 

Ancient Column found underground 

Next up we had a tour through the crypts and catacombs under some churches. It was pretty interesting and eerie thinking about the dead buried in the shelving system that wends around for about twelve miles under the city. There was no pictures allowed on the tour, but they wouldn't have been good pictures anyway, it was too dark. Nice thing about being underground on a hot day was that it was very cool almost just wanted to stay in there for the natural air conditioning.

After the tour we got gelato (Italian ice cream) and headed back to our hotel to have a nap and rest our feet before dinner.

For dinner we were recommended, again by our favorite concierge Enzo, to a pizzeria. Where I had mushroom pizza, though I really liked the Margarita pizza that my parent's had, which was just like a normal cheese pizza with basil.

After dinner we tired to find the Spanish steps, but failed and decided to go back to our hotel and turn in for the night before we got ourselves lost.

The Pantheon

Obelisk in the Pantheon and the perfect spherical dome 

Reason they call it painter's square

Fountain in Painter's Square

Pretty picture of St. Peters from a far

The Angel's Castle

The Vatican

Inside St. Peter's