Europe Part 1 - Wandering Rome and the Vatican

Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam - Sistine Chapel

Our 6-week visit to Europe kicked off with a 5-night stay in Rome following a tortuous 27 hour flight via Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam. We booked an apartment through AirBnb in Lazio, a short distance from the CBD and just outside the city's ancient walls. Over the next few days we checked out the traditional sites around Italy's capital and the Vatican City.

Colloseum

Colloseum

Top of the list was the Colosseum. No need here for explanatory notes; a spectacular sight but cause to contemplate the senseless waste of huge numbers of people and animals in the arena.

Roman Forum

Palatine Hill

The Roman forum and Palatine Hill were next on the list. The pictures speak for themselves. Other sites seen in Rome included the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and the lovely Villa Borghese with its huge parklands.

Altare Della Patra

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

The Vatican didn't disappoint. Coping with vast hordes of tourists was taxing but the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum, Vatican Gardens and St Peters Basilica were checked out.

Vatican

Mural in Vatican Museum

Statue in Vatican Museum

Top of the cultural icons were Michelangelo's extraordinary fresco paintings in the Sistine Chapel and his Pieta statue in the basilica.

Pope's Swiss Guards

Julius Caesar - Vatican Museum

Pieta - St Peters Basilica

Lots of fun drinking and eating in many of the huge array of wine bars and restaurants around the university area of Lazio.

Rome from atop Spanish Steps

City wall near our apartment