We started Day Three (if you missed our first few days, check them out here.) with tickets to visit the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. After stopping for our morning cappuccino at the cafe underneath the hostel, which was quickly becoming morning routine for us, we began the walk over.  Again, we used Get your Guide for the tickets.  It was so much quicker than the line we walked past to purchase tickets and hope they have room for you that day. We basically had a day pass for both sites, but no guide this time. On our own, we decided to purchase audio guides to find out more about the History while walking around the many different levels of the Colosseum. Again, I suggest doing purchasing your own because there is just so much to learn and it was only five euros! They hung from a lanyard so we did not have to worry about even carrying them. We spent a good two hours wandering around at our own pace, listening to the guide and checking out the gift shop. While we were on this trip the top-level was not open to the public as of yet but since then has opened. It offers amazing views of the city among a completely different view of the Colosseum itself.

At the Colosseum

Exploring all of the Roman Forum took a lot more time than I expected. We spent a large part of our afternoon discovering all different kinds of ruins from the Temple of Castor and Pollux to the house of the vestals, even the remains of the Temple of Julius Caeser. We opted not to purchase a guide for this part of the day seeing how much information there was to take in and the time we had allotted for it. Foro Romano definitely merits a revisit though. I think if I did it all over again I would get a guide just to learn more about the overwhelming amount of things we saw.

Foro Romano

 Arch of Septimius Severus

Temple of Antoninus Pius

 Arch of Septimius Severus

Taking the the only non sweaty picture while touring around Foro Romano

After spending hours in ninety degree heat we were exhausted, hungry, dying of thirst. We began our trek heading toward Piazza della Rotonda realizing we were close by and wanted to tuck into L’Antica Salumeria after sampling all the offers the day before but first we stopped for some refreshing Aperol Spritz to walk with. Upon sitting down we shared a platter of cured meats and cheeses and tried to refuel.  We headed back out to explore the cobblestone streets when we took a chance and stopped inside Habana Cafe. We had met a couple out in the square who pointed us in the direction of large carry out spritz they had gotten for only five euros! We had been spending seven or more euros the entire time. We took ours and wandered nearby sampling and tasting items from local stores. We quickly realized nowhere else nearby had as good of deals and kept finding ourselves back at Habana. We got to know the staff and after a number of trips back to replenish our take away Aperol Spritz we watched mimes in the piazza, made friends with some vendors and realized how much of what was left of afternoon we had spent in the same radius. We thought we would head back to Habana for one more take away Spritz when the host enticed us with two free glasses of Prosecco and ended up staying for dinner. Honestly it was a very affordable meal with three courses and a glass of wine or a beer and while it was no five star restaurant by any means the friendly staff and the hearty food went a long way.

Pasta at Habana Cafe

Aperol Spritz at the Pantheon

We finished off the night watching a football match in a neighboring restaurant making friends with staff and enjoying limoncellos and Peronis for the walk back.  I’m not sure what it was about this day we spent in Rome. Maybe it was all the history, or maybe it was all the Aperol, but this day was when I fell in love hardest with Rome.

The last day we had we spent exploring Trastevere. We got lost down alleyways and exploring local shops we discovered Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi and a beautiful view of the city, thanks once again to our host Marvin.  Running low on money we discovered what we thought was a genius idea to buy our own bottles of Aperol and Prosecco and make our own take away Spritz’ as we made our way to Piazza Navone searching for our last pasta dinner. Cacio e Pepe is a must when you are in Rome and great for a final meal.  We finished our dinners, sipped our homemade Aperol Spritz and headed back to Trevi to throw one last euro into the fountain hoping for the myth to be true and we would be guarenting our trip back to Rome.

Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi

We both flew out early the next morning, back to our normal lives. For me, it was back to Miami, and for Christie back to Palma de Mallorca to finish out school for the year.    But, spoiler alert, the coins do work, as I am writing this post we have already returned to Rome for a second visit! Check back to find out about our reunion with Marvin and the guys at Habana Cafe!