Roma

Buon giorno!

Greetings from Roma, Italio.

Am writing this on Day 1 of the tour in Roma. This is my first visit to Italy and I must say it’s been an exciting first day. After arriving in Fiumincino Airport from Manchester and taking the Leonardo express (not “Olympic”!) to Termini station in Rome, walked a good 20 over minutes to via Venezia to Picasso Hotel. Yeah, grand name isn’t it? The hotel ain’t bad actually. I dare say it’s better than the B&B’s that you pay more in central London.

After settling in, went to search for some authentic Italian food. Found a nice place close to the hotel and had a first taste of real Italian pizza! The pizza was thin and crispy with mushrooms and spinach. The “killer” was the generous mozzarella cheese. The taste? Inda lagi nampak telinga bah…. heheh. Seriously, it was that good.

The first tourist spot we hit was called Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II which is next to Foro Traiano. One word to describe the place is Majestic. Not really sure of the history behind it but you have the impression of how much power the Roman empire had just by looking at the sheer size of the place. There were tall columns with huge statues atop. In the centre was a big statue of Roman figure on a horse. I was being amazed by the statue when one American tourist shouted macam inda impressed arah kawannya “it’s a big freakin’ horse”. Found it really funny. Here, there were hundreds of people appreciating the art and then hearing that. Hahah.

Next we went to a beautiful historic area called Arco di Tito and Palatino. It was really a sight to behold. Basically there were remnants of ruins and columns of what must’ve been a vast building landscape. Have to admit, did not really got into the history by getting a proper guide but was really amazed nonetheless.

The infamous Colosseo was next but since the last ticket was sold at 430 pm, did not manage to get in. You’ve seen the pics before but in the flesh, it was more impressive. Will try to write more if I do get in nanti. Insya-Allah.

For dinner, had another pizza, small penne pasta with salmon sauce and fried calamari. Noyce!

One delicacy that is real famous here is the gelato. Yezza. Had 2 helpings so far (nutella and vanilla) and looking forward to more heheh. Check out the flavours from the pics.

Okay, that’s a wrap for Day 1 folks. See you in Day 2. Insya Allah.

PS- Still haven’t found the infamous Spanish steps. So far, have seen 3 different steps but don’t think any of them were Spanish!