Rome: The Ancient City meeting the Modern World

“Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning.” Giotto di Bondone (Italian painter and architect. Died 1337)

Leaving Venice our next stop was the legendary city of ‘Roma’.

Everyone knows something about the magnificence of Rome and the Roman Empire, it is ‘shown off’ in movies filled with action, adventure and romance, depicted in books and taught at schools all over the world. So it comes with no surprise that Rome is one of the worlds most iconic and ‘bucket-listed’ cities in the world.

Rome, once the hub of a legendary Empire is now known for its history meets modern city landscape, fashion, religion and of course food. We were here to explore it all – okay, maybe not the fashion part, but window shopping counts, right?

Venice: The Floating City.

“I stood in Venice, on the bridge of sighs. A Palace and a Prison in both hands”.

In the air, on approach to land in Venice it’s hard to believe that these (sinking) islands can sustain such a bustling and influential city. The dream city that is famous on postcards around the world.

Who decided to build a city on (floating) islands? They sit in such a way it looks as though one wave would engulf them all – and this plane was about to land on one, we hoped.

Venice is a city of dreams, where imagination comes to life and is begging to be explored, I was so excited to finally, be arriving with my best friend to experience the whole thing and to begin our fleeting love affair with Italy.

Other than the city itself, I was attracted to the city to visit one of my very good friends I met while travelling and volunteering in Nepal. I hadn’t seen her in years, but we had kept in touch (by writing gorgeous letters) and I had always promised one day I would be back – and here we were.