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From Worldtraveller

I only spent a day and a half in Rome but saw all the major sights. I started at the Colliseum, which I found a bit too busy and a bit too surrounded by roaring traffic to be particularly impressed by.

The Colliseum

Crowds by the Colliseum

From the Colliseum I walked up to the Forum. Perhaps I was spectacularly ignorant but I'd never even heard of this, and yet it's a sizable chuck of ancient Rome that's still incredibly well preserved, right in the middle of the modern city. I was very impressed with this and spent quite a while there.

Ancient Rome at the Forum

Mixture of old and new

Relics of imperial Rome

From the Forum I headed uphill to a quiet piazza, a brief tranquil interlude before more wild traffic and noise down the other side.

Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II

A Roman road

I was going to walk to the Trevi Fountain but I got slightly lost and found the Spanish Steps first. I couldn't quite see why they are so famous.

The Spanish Steps

A popular place to rest for a moment

Then I went back down to the Trevi Fountain, which I liked a lot more than I had expected to. Maybe it was just the sight of water in the middle of a hot day during Europe's hottest summer for decades.

Close-up

I would have loved to take a dip

Cool waters on a hot day

Finally I went for a walk through the gardens of Villa Borghese, ending up at the top of the hill above the Spanish Steps just as the sun set.

Tranquil scene in Villa Borghese

Rome skyline at sunset