Day 8: Roma

A very packed centre in Rome

Saturday was my last full day, and my last bus day on the Contiki Eastern Trail, like with a lot of people on the trip - and the day started early again as we had a pretty long drive from Venice to our last city, Rome.

We stopped at a service station for lunch - and I had the bad luck of someone serving me who wouldn't even let me try to speak Italian. Oh and my pasta was cold. The Risotto Milanese I had with it though was nice though, and that with some fruit salad filled me up very nicely. It's weird to think that at that point the week before, I was on my flight from Dusseldorf on my way to Vienna for the trip to begin... And it was nearly over... 😭

We eventually arrived at our hostel in Rome late afternoon. It was the Yellow Square and rather confusing at it is spread over 3 buildings over both sides of the road - and we were spread out over all 3 buildings. After dumping our stuff and changing out of our smelly bus gear, Darius showed us around a few of the main sites, including some of the Roman buildings.
It was a miracle though that we all managed to stay together. I may have thought Venice was busy with tourists but JEEZ it was NOTHING compared to Rome. Plus everyone is trying to sell you something left right and centre, I genuinely thought any of us was going to get robbed or lost any minute. I was SO glad I left my camera in the safe in the hostel room...

Work your magic please!

Moving right along, the final big monument was the Fontana di Trevi, or Trevi Fountain, which is said to bring you luck in the romantic department if you throw a coin in, though it changes depending on how many coins you throw in. It is:

1.  if you want to find romance
2.  if you want to find a husband/wife
3.  if you want a mistress

I just threw 1 coin in - start off slow 😉 

The fountain is absolutely beautiful, with Poseidon and his chariot of horses carved into the front of the fountain. 

Like the rest of the city though, it was incredibly busy, even at that later point in the day (it was around 6.30pm at this point); so I didn't spend very long there; grab your coin, get an action shot of you throwing the coin in (thank you Steve), find someone else in the group who was done so you don't get lost (remember, no data), and leave. 

Oh and remember if you go to the fountain: throw your coin with your right hand over your left shoulder. 

ICE CREAM!!!!!

Just next to the fountain though was a big fat Italian yes!! I had my first (and only) Italian Gelato of the trip. I was gutted I didn't get one in Venice (might have helped me sober up), so I was thrilled to finally get one. I went in the end for 1 scoop of melon and another of (what was my ex's favourite foreign phrase) fruitti di bosco - aka forest fruits - delish! 😋

The other quick pit stop was to grab a "I ❤Roma" tshirt; Darius' plan for the final night out was for us to get white t-shirts and scribble goodbye messages on them in sharpie - just like you would when you left high school. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the shop, they only had black in my size. No matter, black suits me better anyway and I had everyone write their names in the letter gaps instead. 

Inside Lo Scoglio di Frisio

After that, Tiago drove us on the bus to our last meal out together; and keeping in Italian style, it had to be pizza! The ristorante (keeping the Italian going here) was called Lo Scoglio di Frisio, and the inside looked incredible, almost as if we were in Poseidon's cave!

We were greeted by an older Italian gentleman when we entered the restaurant, who also serenaded us throughout the whole meal with Italian classics: from Volare to We No Speak Americano to Nessun Dorma! Not only was he quite the charcter, but he was a fantastic singer to boot! 😍

It was also so much better than what had been blasting through the bus beforehand - a LOT of the other girls only thought of Lizzie McGuire whilst being in Rome and Darius caved into playing that song from the end of the Lizzie McGuire Movie through the bus speakers... 😒

With Andrea and Benji at The Drunken Sailor

Another quick pit stop at the hostel to change into our "I ❤ Roma" t-shirts, and it was off following Darius to a bar called The Drunken Sailor. We got there a bit later than expected, as we missed our bus at Termini in hilarious style. One second it was there waiting with no driver; the next, the driver snuck on like a ninja and bus left without any of us on it, leaving us having to wait 15 minutes until the next one.... And THEN once we eventually got on and off the next bus, it was a 10 minute walk down loads of side streets to the bar....

It was worth it in the end though, despite it being busy, hot and full of students. I stuck with the rum, very appropriate, and we all ended up getting ship-faced. Haha 😅 Well what else would you expect from the last night.... 

That night, I had to say goodbye to a lot of people, including Benji, Bethany, Naomi, Emily and Mikaela, who weren't going on the Colosseum trip in the morning - miss you guys already 😭💕

Last but not least: touring the Colosseum and the long journey home.