🇮🇹 Rome: An Active City Break with My Mom

A few years ago, my mom and I traveled to Rome, Italy. We can definitely call this an active trip, we walked an average of at least 25,000 steps every day for four days!

Experiences in Rome

We managed to see so much, including:

• The Spanish Steps (before they were closed off for sitting due to wear and tear)

• The Sistine Chapel

• Leonardo Da Vinci Museum

• The Colosseum

• Beautiful fountains

• Shopping streets

Rome truly feels like a city that's always crowded, no matter the time of day, but it has such a special atmosphere.

The Hotel – "The Ghost Hotel"

We stayed centrally at a 3-star hotel. Honestly: I don't recommend it.

The room was old, with worn-out faucets, vintage twist light switches, and an elevator we didn't dare to use because we feared it might stop. We ended up calling it the "Ghost Hotel", it felt like something out of a horror movie.

On top of that, it was very noisy at night when people came home from the city. Definitely not soundproof.

The only plus: there was a restaurant right next door with amazing pizza, which we brought up and ate in our room.

The Colosseum

One of the absolute highlights was, of course, The Colosseum – the world's largest amphitheater. Originally called Amphitheatrum Flavium, it was named after the Flavian dynasty that had it built.

We waited in line for quite a while to buy tickets and decided to explore on our own instead of joining a guided tour. It was fascinating to walk around and imagine all the history that had unfolded there.

Leonardo Da Vinci Museum & The Sistine Chapel

One day, while wandering through the shopping streets, we stumbled upon the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum. Inside were his paintings, inventions, and famous works, including the Mona Lisa.

We also visited The Sistine Chapel. It was massive, with incredible stained glass, paintings, and carvings. It was crowded, with little space to sit, but still breathtaking to experience in person.

Shopping in Rome

We did a lot of shopping. We thought we had plenty of space in two large suitcases, but they ended up completely full. In the end, we had to wear extra clothes on the flight home because we couldn't fit them into either the suitcases or our carry-ons 😅.

My Tips for Rome

• Wear comfortable shoes – the cobblestones and stairs will wear you out.

• Bring a backpack for water and small essentials.

• Expect long queues at the major attractions.

• Learn to use the bus – we walked a LOT before figuring out how much easier it was.

• Don't always go for the cheapest hotel – standards vary a lot, and a good night's sleep is worth it.

Summary

Rome is a city that offers history, culture, food, and shopping, but also crowds and a lot of walking. We had an active and exciting trip full of memories, plus a few extra layers of clothing on the flight home 😅.