Europe is for a reason a travellers paradise..A little bit of history on why we chose this continent and a small preface to Exploring Europe series..
When I was 8, I saw a movie where the heroine begs her father to allow her to see Europe before her marriage..that scene somehow dint get erased from my cerebrum even when I turned 24..Next reason being, Europe is full of history..something we studied from Class 1 to 10..Renaissance, French revolution, World war, paintings, sculptures, great structures etcetra etcetra..Next reason, we are single and earning and we will never ever have a chance like this to roam the world on our own again and we had to do it..A childhood dream successfully fulfilled..
My co-traveller: My friend from past 15 years..yet another techie in town..the same friend with whom I went to Big bazar, TV9 and Kannada movie director asking for job..those were our 3 most embarassing days i guess..The two of us have been planning this trip for more than 6 months..This trip was all we had in our life since then..
Destination 1: Roma
Eat:
Sadly both of us are vegetarians..Pizza, Pasta, Salad, Gelato, Pastry was all we could find..Trust me Pizza here tastes way better than its land of origin..Enter into any Departmental store and buy food to suffice your breakfast and snacks atleast..you can catch up on local speciality for lunch/dinner..A few packs of MTR bisibelebath, kharabath, pongal will come handy when you miss Indian food..
Sleep:
Book hostels online through hostelbookers.com. Go through the reviews and trust those reviews..Hostels usually provide you with free wifi, common computer, microwave, refridgerator..Trust me they are way better than any hotels which can only rip you off and charge extra for every little facility they provide..Another advantage of hostel is that you can meet people from different countries and share travelling stories as most of them will be holiday to explore..
See:
Rome was not built in a day and hence it can definitely not be seen in a day..Keep atleast 2 days to see Rome alone..Almost all tourist places charge entry fee..Colloseum, Palentine hill, Roman forum are all some tourist places which you have to visit for unknown reasons.., you must walk the city center from Fountain de Trevi to Piazza Navona..so Italian..Remember the true beauty of any place lies with..Markets in every city is not to be missed at all..Vatican should be another attraction in your list..
Travelling Around:
Most of them know English well and are helpful to guide tourist..Metro charges 1E for 1 way travel or you can take a day pass..Volvo buses/trams are better off it goes inside the city giving you a good view..
Buy:
Remember we are budget traveller and cannot afford any labels..Things that we could buy were soveniers, roadside dress, some woodden artifacts, chappals...There are some Italian artists sitting roadside who can make excellent paintings for 10E...If you are getting any portrait done, be sure about your artist..I got one of mine done and the portrait dint look anything like me..There are fake LV, Prada on roads..They are all made up of only 1 type of cloth and easily identifiable as fake..There is nothing expensive and worthy to buy especially if you convert..You can find the same here for much lesser price..
Safety:
Pickpocket capital of the world is an overrated title to this plain city..Its very much like India..you just have to be careful with your belongings..The two of us were so scared that we had stiched velcro pockets inside our pants which could hold passport and cash..It was useful but you need not take such extreme steps to stay safe..Lot of Bangladeshis with whom you can converse in Hindi..they are usually small store keepers..Dont give a damn to any teasers..
Some pictures from my travel..
Fountain de Trevi
Vatican
Colloseo
PS: Travelling on your own gives you an amazing feeling of independence, confidence and pride..I strongly recomment it for anybody who can afford..For any queries regarding Roma travel, drop me a mail @ sheelajv@gmail.com. I wish I had someone to tell me before we embarked..
Watch out for our next destination Amsterdam,Germany,Paris,Brussels