Travelogue 2: Roma, Italia~ Places of Visit (9th April 2014)

Villa Borghese

I can't remember which one we went first, was this the next day or the same day when we arrived Rome. My journal was being too general, not date specific. Or perhaps I lied in my journal which cause confusion to my current self. This is not good if you are a corporate secretariat handled legal documents and you lied the date just for audit purpose. You lose integrity to yourself! Sorry, let's get back to the main topic shall we?

I enjoyed the view of lovely greenish field scenery and tall palm trees, it's just majestic. The trees were shaped like a canopy, so unique and beautiful. Buses that go there are buses 52, 53, 217, 92 (Source: Rome Guide). What we did was, we stopped at Barberini Metro and walk all the way up which was about 20 minutes according to the guide. But we strolled and enjoyed the scenic view, taking pictures here and there, got lost, and it took us 1-2 hours to get to the Gallery.

  
 Villa Borghese

Trevi Fountain



If you have seen the movie "When in Rome" where Kirsten Bell tossed/picked coins/make a scene in a fountain and everyone said that it's Trevi fountain, it is not. The one in When in Rome was a made up, that fountain never existed. But I wasn't disappointed with the fountain because it was beautiful! From Termini Station, take Metro A and stop at Berberini Station, then you walk... I can't remember which where to go, but the map in Roma Pass will help you. Hahaha! Or you follow the signboard.

 Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

To get to Colosseum, you take Metro Line B and stop at "Colosseo". Roman Forum is also next to it. We went there as well. I enjoyed Roman Forum which was next to it because of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Because we used to Roma Pass to enter, we passed along the long string of tourists (without the Roma Pass) who were queuing to enter, and we said, "So long, suckers! Hahah!"

Colosseum

The Roman Forum

Helpful links:

1. Information on Villa Borghese
2. Colosseum
3.  Trevi Fountain

Travelogue: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood $#!t just got real!

If you we're an AC player like me, you would definitely dig spots that all AC series covered such as AC I (Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus), AC Unity (Paris). In fact there are a few other more. You would appreciate every corners of the building with devotion.

So, Patheon is one of the buildings featured in AC Brotherhood. It is a church which also open for public visiting if there were no religious activities going on. It has a dome with a hole in the center of the dome suggest that the gods would watch his worshiper pray from above and angels to freely enter and exit the church. I am actually showing you screenshot of the game and the real building to show you the similarities. Seriously, I felt as though I was Ezio in the game strolling around Patheon.

I also visited the Forum which I believe was also in the game. Also, the Vatican City, The Colosseum and Venice appeared in the game. So, this Italy trip means quite alot to me.

Travelogue 3: Vatican City & Rome (10th April 2014)

Vatican City: St. Peter's Square
Need to check from you guys, is Vatican City a country or a part of Italy? Some say it is the smallest country in the world, some say it is a part of Italy. Which got me so confused!

Anyways, St. Peter's Square is the home of the Pope and any forms for Christian rituals or celebrations will be held here as main events. Just like Muslims with the Makkah. The Pope is the highest rank in the Catholic Church. I do not want to get down to the historic facts because I am not good at it, and I do not want to give out wrong information causing you to bash me up at the comments. My main aim is to tell you that the place is beautiful and this should be a part of your itinerary in Rome.

We didn't wanna get it as the queue is bloody long, taking photos from outside is good enough. 

St. Peter's Square or St. Peter's Basilica

Being the typical Malaysians. We would definitely find a shady spot away from the sun.

How to get there?

If you are on the Roma Pass, the small card which is provided in the package is your ticket to travel via Metro and take Linea A, exit at Ottaviano-S. Pietro (if you can't remember the name "Ottaviano" like me, you just remember San Pietro. That's the Italian way of pronouncing St. Peter). And then you walk there for 5 minutes. Follow the crowd as most tourists are heading that way (not a helpful tip, Sufiena!), or follow the signage.

Then we toured around Rome,no non specific via the bus. I can't remember where exactly because I didn't write it in my journal and I was more a follower than the leader in my backpacking team. If you want to walk around Rome via the bus, feel free to do so. The transportation is easy and not too complicated. Check out Rome Info to find out more.

Well, we went around and came across some museums, official government buildings, the Spanish Step, and Mouth of Truth. The final visiting spot of the day is the Patheon which was upon my request because I played Assasin's Creed Brotherhood and I'm gonna tell you all about that later.

 

 

Pretend to check out the map

Group selfie at the Colosseum

Travelogue 2: Roma, Italia~ (9th April 2014)

Rome is beautiful. I watched the view of the city streets and I can never felt happier seeing the sun because Manchester was all gloomy and depressing. Seeing the sun reminded me of Malaysia. I miss,you heat! I am beginning to appreciate you even more. I finally get to put on my shades which was berabuk in my closet.
We arrived at Rome Fiumicino (Terminal 2) via easyJet. Because we fly from Prague, (Czech Republic) so it is within Schengen Area, like traveling domestically between Euro countries, we didn't have to go through passport checks, we went straight to baggage claim area.


Roma Pass
We bought the Tourist pass at the Tourist Center inside the airport itself, near the baggage claim area (depends where you landed, supposedly all airports have Tourist Center. The tourist pass which is the Roma Pass is a 3 day travel pass worth €36 that can be used for all metro trains and access  to selected main attractions in Rome. We used this pass to enter Colosseum, Villa Borghese and Roman Forum. To me, I think it's worth it where you don't have to go through the long queue (approximately 2 hours) at the Colosseum entrance, but you can always check other's opinion on Tripadvisor to check whether it's worth it or not.
Again, I think it's worth it considering that you will use that pass for traveling around Rome without thinking of buying separate tickets for the transportation and for the entrance of the tourist spots.
I actually saw these passes were sold for €28 when we were at Termini Station. So I think it is based on your luck whether you can get it cheaper or not. BUT be careful when they're selling it cheap because they might be fake ones.

Airport Transfers
As for the airport transfers to the town, we took Schiaffini for €6 single trip or €8 return. I don't want to recommend this because the frequency of the bus is once every hour! Bloody late! Take Terra Vision instead. You can get the tickets at the airport, there were rows of booths selling airport transfers just like we used to had at the LCCT. Oh! Did I not tell you the locals are manipulative if not liars? The guy at the Tourist Center claimed that we could get to pay only €4 with the Roma Pass. That didn't happened.

Travelogue 1: Prague, Czech Republic (8th April 2014)

This is the beginning of my travel chapter and although I've traveled quite a lot. Like in Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, etc. Unfortunately I didn't put that down in journal and I let the memories slipped away~

So this is my Spring Break 2014 trip with my MARA friends before coming back to slave ourselves to dissertation. T.T


I'd start off with my trip to Prague. I arrived in Prague at 19:00-ish local time, April 8th, 2014. I only stayed a night in Prague like a transit before I embarked my Spring break journey to Italy, France & Monaco. It was my Spring break vacation with my girl friends but I arrived Prague Václav Havel Airport alone as the rest of them went earlier for Germany trip. Was the first person to queue at "All Passport" counter as the rest were queuing EU Passport line.

The guy behind the immigration counter didn't even ask my intention to come to Czech, are you not curious? Out of curiosity, isn't it a customary practice for an immigration officer to asks our intention coming to their country? I'm just saying.

Walking out of the airport and find ways to get to the city was another challenge if you travel alone. If I didn't print out the direction to Sir Toby Hostel, I'd get lost in an unknown world. But since I've traveled to Berlin before, somehow I find Czech's systems of transportation was somewhat similar to Berlin, that I miraculously able to gauge on how to get myself around Prague City with buses and tramps. I actually get to ride on the old school tramps like the ones in karaoke videos. Cool! Another bucket list checked.

One crummy thing just happened was my both Three (UK) and Maxis (Malaysian) phone line couldn't roam. And walking to from the tramp stop to the hostel was a bit dark and creepy with not many people around in the streets. But I managed to find my way to the hostel alone without my Three & Maxis line and reunited with my friends there.

The hostel is okay, the pantry is shared with other guests. I chatted and hung out with Mike, an America, and I reckon he's stoned, because he flirted with me but he's alright.

The backyard of Sir Toby's Hostel

In the tramp heading to the airport.

However, my stay in Prague was just a short one as we went travel to Rome the next day. So I didn't get to see the beauty of Prague as what most people "gembar gemburkan". If I had the chance to go  there again, I would.

Next stop, Rome!

 Helpful links:

1.  Transportation: Prague Transportation
2. Accommodation: www.booking.com (my best friend)Booking.com
3. Wanna check out more Prague photos, check out my friend's blog: Life as Schuzzy
4. What to do in Prague? Discover Prague