HONEYMOON IN ROME!

#selinburakwedding on 15.09.2018 🙂

We got married with a lovely, little wedding ceremony with our beloved friends and family members in Ankara. Since we knew that we will feel very tired after the wedding day, we arranged our flights one day later and we flew to Rome Fiumicino Airport across Istanbul on 17.09.2018 with Turkish Airlines. Both of our flights were well and we arrived to Rome with no delay 🙂

We reached from FCO to Termini Train Station by Leonardo Express about 30 minutes for 14 euros with a comfortable journey. Our hotel, Marziah Inn, was 600 meters away from Termini, so our first stop was checking-in 🙂 Since we mentioned that it was our honeymoon, the hotel staff welcomed us in a very warm way and made us feel special. Although the breakfast was consisting of only croissant and coffee in a near cafe, we had the opportunity to order anything we want since we were special guests 🙂 This was just great for a Turkish couple in Europe who loves breakfast!

After check-in, we had a short walk around the hotel and dinner in a sweet Italian restaurant that we loved; Rebasilico. http://rebasilico.com/

We order Mozzarella di Bufala and Margherita – both of them were very delicious 🙂

In the morning, we tried Bar Oasies for breakfast for the first time 🙂 The cafe and the two Portuguese sisters were so sweet. I tried the English breakfast and my husband tried omelette. The girls even presented us two delicious croissants for our daily trip 🙂

After breakfast, we walked to the Termini in order to buy Rome Pass tickets for Colosseum and also train tickets to Florence for the next day. Then, we used metro to go Colosseum and just in the minute we exit the station, the magnificent structure of Colosseum welcomed us. The place was really worth-seeing and deserves to be in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The construction of the place started in A.D. 72 by Caesar Vespasianus Augustus and completed in A.D. 80. The Roman Forum located near the Colosseum was also a nice place to walk around.

After we visited these places, we walked to the Fontana di Trevi. The fountain was very beautiful and crowded. We made our wishes with two cents in this magical place before leaving 🙂

Next stop was Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti, known as Spanish Steps. Both the Spanish Steps and the square in front of it were so nice to visit and feel the historical smell of Rome 🙂 Since these places are so close to each other, it was great to spent the day by walking in this historical atmosphere.

On 19.09.2018, our plan was Florence and Pisa 🙂

We got the train of 08:20 from Termini to Firenze and arrived at 09:51. We walked through the sweet and historical streets of Florence. First, we visited Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and walked to the River Arno.

With 13:00 train, we went to Pisa in an hour. We got the bus in front of the train station to reach the Leaning Tower but we preferred walking for turning back. The Pisa Tower was just a little, sweet, inclined tower 🙂 We lied on the grass in the Square of Miracles and enjoyed the warm whether with the view of the lovely tower. The construction has been started in 1173 with the design of a bell tower. Although, first and second floors were not inclined, the architect figured out in 1185 that the tower was inclined starting from the third floor. However, he could not prevent this slope and the tower has been completed in 1370 with a height of 60 m. The construction was interrupted due to wars and according to some references, the tower did not tumbled down thanks to these interruptions. Of course, we took some cliche funny pictures before leaving;

Before going back to the center of Florence, we decided to try pizza also in Pisa. However, it was very hard to find a proper pizzeria and the one we came up with had the worst pizza that we have eaten in Italy ever 😦

20.09.2018 – A Rainy Day in Rome

As a strange habit, we like to visit the libraries of the places we travel as a couple 🙂 Since the whether was rainy on 20th Sep, we decided to visit the national library of Rome in our fourth day. After breakfast, we walked to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Rome in 3-4 minutes. The library was big, very quiet and for free 🙂 Whether you are a local student or tourist, you need to register to the system of the library with your ID card or passport. Luckily, staff were helpful so we did not waste too much time during the enrollment process and got our library cards quickly. Another interesting thing was, it is allowed to enter books with you to the library only if the books are not currently available in the library.

At noon, we left the library and went to the Spagna station by taking the metro in front of the library. My lovely husband surprised me with the personalized Christmas decoration that I loved on our second day 🙂

After we walked around the Piazza Navona, we had a delicious lunch at Domiziano Pizzeria.

While we were walking to the Pantheon, we got caught by heavy rain and entered a hamburger shop spontaneously to make a coffee break 🙂 After the rain, we visited Pantheon and went back to our hotel. For dinner, our choice was again Rebasilico 🙂

21.09.2018 Vatican Museum – Sistine Chapel – Museo Leonardo Da Vinci

We preferred to visit Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel on Friday since the place was more crowded during weekends. We purchased our tickets on the internet and by this way we skipped the line. Actually, it was sad to see the long queue for the entrance while we entered directly so we really recommend the online tickets and having them printed with you.

Vatican Museum was literally huge, consisting of pieces of art from all over the world and different historic periods. It presents a large variety of art objects from marble sculptures, to mummies; from paintings to carpets. A whole day is needed to visit the museum in detail, but since it was very crowded we could spend only half of the day. At the end of the tour, we arrived to the Sistine Chapel which is named after Pope Sixtus IV. The chapel, whose ceiling is painted by Michelangelo, is considered as one of the most important works of the Renaissance. The Last Judgement is depicted in a very emotional way. The Chapel is not just an artistic masterpiece but also a place of crucial religious activity. Since 1492, the College of Cardinals assembles here to elect the new pope. The Chapel has a special chimney that is used to present the cardinals’ voting status. Until a new pope is selected, the cardinals stay in the Chapel. At the end of the day, white smoke indicates that a new pope has been elected, while black smoke signals that no candidate has received a two-thirds majority. 

After our historical tour, we tried tiramisu at Pampi and loved its taste. Although there are several options, we tried classic and banana-chocolate. The lactose and gluten-free options also made me happy 🙂

By crossing the bridge on the River Tiber, we reached to another beautiful and historical square and we noticed the Leonardo Da Vinci Experience Museum. We got our tickets for 10 euros per person and started to explore new information about the genius. Prior, Da Vinci was just an amazing artist for me but after observing his inventions, his engineering approach also amazed me. Now, I am aware that he is not just a unique painter and sculptor but also a successful engineer and scientist; one of the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance. Below you can see the Vitruvian Man of Da Vinci.

“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.”

On our last day, we decided to walk a little bit further and visited the Villa Borghese; the green land of serenity. The garden was really peaceful so it was a nice way to say goodbye to Rome. We also visited the zoo that is near but the animals seemed us too sad and we promised ourselves that we will not pay and make contribution to the concept of putting animals in cages again.

23.09.2018 Going back to Ankara 😦

The most unpleasant part of traveling is to pack again for going back to home 😦

We made our last breakfast and said goodbye to our hotel staff and Portuguese girls. Rome was just the right choice for our honeymoon and we came home with lovely memories.

Hope our journey inspires you!

Loves,