Hi everyone! Last year while in Europe, my friend Shawn and I were headed from Paris, France to Rome, Italy on our last stop in Europe. See the Paris experience here. I was thrilled to go to Italy. I’m going to share with you some of the places we saw while exploring the streets of Rome, Italy via vespa.
We were in Rome for a short time, so we definitely planned to make the best of it. I wanted to see sites and be adventurous by riding a vespa. Seemed like a great idea and it was. The ride was $160 for about 3- 4 hours.
A vespa is like a motorcycle. You can ride alone or chose to have a guide. It was best that we have a guide. We didn’t know how to navigate the streets of ancient Rome. The one Shawn is on is an original and the one I’m on is more modern.
This was exhilarating and adventurous! Shawn had me second guessing the vespa decision the day before our excursion. She thought we’d be up and down hills and in traffic like I-95. We weren’t thank God, because I didn’t think about that. We basically rode through town and maneuvered between small spaces in and out of traffic.
Now buckle up and take a ride to explore the places we’ve seen.
Collosseum
The Collosseum is a popular site. It’s actually an amphitheater where spectators would come to see exotic animals from Africa, gladiator fights, and execution of prisoners just to name a few. The stucture was completed in the year of 80 AD.
Roman Forum
If I’m not mistaken this is the name of this site. It’s in the same vicinity of the Collosseum. It’s such a site to see. While there I kept imagining how it may have looked before it was ruined. I marveled in awe that it was present during the bible days and under leadership of Julius Caesar and Augustus. You know, the names you learned about in school.
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is one of the most famous fountains in the world. When you come to the fountain you are to take your right hand and throw a coin over your left shoulder. I guess it’s something for good luck. Our vespa driver/guide gave us a couple of coins and made us do it. By the way, that is him posing in the red shirt.
Pantheon
The Pantheon is a well preserved ancient Rome building erected in 113- 125 AD. To my surprise the building was constructed with a lot of materials that came from Africa. This is a beautiful attraction. You just have to see it for yourself.
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps are composed of approximately 135 steps that essentially leads to a church.
This is an extremely popular place. People were everywhere sitting and standing to get their personal photos. I had my share too.
We went in June 2019. As of August 2019 you are no longer able to sit on the steps per NY Times article.
The Vatican
We rode by this place so quickly that I barely saw it. Prior to seeing the Vatican I knew that the Pope spoke there a lot. This is the center location for the Roman Catholic Church.
We saw a few more places, but I can’t recall what they were exactly. Most importantly I was really happy that I stepped out of my comfort zone and rode the vespa. Secondly, I wanted to get some decent pics to share with family and friends that actually showed that I was in Rome.
I hope you enjoyed exploring Rome, Italy via vespa with me. Stay tuned for the forthcoming article on experiencing the culture in Italy.