Roman Holiday
We're back home from our 4 nights in Rome and it was so beautiful! It was everything I'd imagined and more. We technically had 3 and a half days to spend in the city but when we arrived on the Sunday, we'd been travelling since Saturday night and were feeling a bit yuck and grumpy and (speaking for myself here) really homesick. I really love travelling and exploring new places but I also tend to get homesick when I first arrive somewhere (the only place this hasn't happened is Dublin). So on Sunday I declared I was homesick and that I wanted to go straight back home.. but then I fell asleep and slept straight through til the next morning and felt a whole lot better. So here's how we spent our 3 days in Rome.
Day 1 I had wanted to start every day bright and early and be out around 6ish to make the most of our days, but that didn't happen because we love our bed. So we woke up around half 8 on the first morning and were showered, dressed and out of the hotel in less than an hour. The walk from our hotel to the nearest metro station was a 15 min walk and when we got there, we both decided that it was worth buying a 3 day ticket pass which could be used for both buses and metros and it was only 20 euros (or 7.50 euros for 1 day).
Our nearest station was Cornelia Metro Station and it was only a few stops between there and the Spagna Metro station so it didn't take long at all. The metro system reminds me of Paris a lot, because the trains are very regular (minutes apart) and are fairly easy to get the hang of when you want to ride about between places. The best part for me was that they were air conditioned as I don't handle the heat very well (good thing that we decided to visit Rome in the middle of their Summer then... ).
When we walked out of the station, we only had to walk around the corner and the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna) were immediately right there. One of my favourite films is Roman Holiday, so this was very cool and the steps actually ended up somehow being our whole reference point for the whole trip, we would end up walking places and making our way back there. Or travel somewhere else by Metro and still end up back there after.
We walked to the top of the Spanish steps to get a view looking down below and a few photos, however almost immediately we had a man coming up to us and trying to give me roses which I declined but he forced them on me and then proceeded to ask Si for money. The man wasn't happy because we said no and gave the roses back, but it taught us the lesson of keeping an eye out for these men around the tourist spots so that we could avoid them for the duration of the trip or else firmly tell them "No grazie!"
After spending some more time at the steps (but further down, away from the man), I took some more photos and we sat down enjoying the early morning sunshine and people-watching while it was still early enough not to have attracted the huge crowds yet.
After we took a stroll along to find the Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi) and it was getting cleaned at the time so you couldn't get too near, however that didn't put off the large crowds. We decided to come back later and wandered off to see the Pantheon instead.
We then wandered off with rumbling tummies to try and find a lunch spot. On the way to the Pantheon, we had walked through an alley with quite a lot of little bars and restaurants so we returned through that way and found a little place with an offer for 2 courses and a drink and we chose a little table outside.
For a starter, I tried Bruschetta which I've never had before but is basically described as toasted bread with chopped tomatoes from Sicily. I was like ugh, I'll just scrape the tomatoes off because I'm basically allergic to vegetables and don't eat tomatoes, but I thought why not just give it a go? I was so glad I did because I ate the lot. I don't know if it was because they were fresh from Sicily or because it complimented the taste of the Bruschetta or what it was - but it was so yummy. I could have happily ate it again. This was followed by Spaghetti Carbonara which tasted like it was made with a bit of a cheesy sauce, but it was also really good. Si had a Bruschetta, meats and cheeses starter with Mushroom Tagliatelle for his main. I'm really not going to go into all the food descriptions though because Si said he's starting a food blog and I promised I'd link to it so I'll leave these parts to him....The people working in the restaurant were so friendly, chatting to us and asking questions and when one of the men found out we were from Scotland, he turned to a woman who worked there also and it turns out she was born in Edinburgh, so she was talking to us about Scotland and about Rome and suggesting places we should visit etc.
We retraced our steps back to the Trevi Fountain and found that the cleaning was now finished, and that you could now reach the edge of the fountain and take photos. We both threw three coins in the fountain. Then it was time for more Gelato and then the Metro back to our hotel.
In Rome, I barely ever had an appetite which never ever happens back home. I think its down to the heat, even though we walked miles every day, I just never built up an appetite. However Si still got hungry all the time which turned out to be a good thing, as I'd been desperate to try out as much Italian food that I could get my hands on while visiting.
So we walked 5 mins down the road from our hotel, to a little restaurant for dinner. Our waiter was the cutest - he was so friendly and made us laugh and was just so nice. I ordered Lasagne (another thing that I never order when I go out) and Si had a spicy salami Pizza. For dessert we shared a Gelato and it was the best that we'd had all day because it was homemade and fresh (Si said the Strawberry flavour blew his mind). The meal was enjoyable, but the service from our waiter really made it for us.And then back to the hotel for phone calls home and movies.
Day 2
Today we visited the Colosseum. We had already booked it online a few weeks before, which turned out to be a lifesaver as it meant we still had to queue but not for long at all, whilst others could be queuing for up to 3 hours. It's amazing inside. Huge and full of history and it has underground passages which I hadn't expected. When I was there, I thought of my Dad and how much he loves history and kicked myself for forgetting to download the audioguide for touring the Colosseum, everything that my Dad could have told us probably as he's a fountain of knowledge. Si pointed out the middle of the Colosseum, as there's an area built over the underground passages and he said this would probably be to convey how the sand area would have looked where the gladiators would fight, so that you could imagine it how it would have looked in all its glory.
Our ticket included admission to the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill also but the queues (even with the fast pass) were really long and so we didn't get to see them, but we've said if we get to return to Rome then we'll definitely try again.
We took the Metro back to Spagna (beside the Spanish steps) again and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and buying souvenirs for our families. It was nice not to have everything completely planned out, as getting to explore gave us the freedom to stumble upon some cute little places we might not have seen if we had scheduled everything to see. It turns out that although we didn't see any other tourist sights that day, this was actually the highest step count we had for the trip. We had lunch at a cute little place called Gioroma. Si had pizza again and I had Spaghetti Carbonara, although if I'm honest I was really eyeing up a guy at the next table's Italian sandwich which looked amazing.
Later for dinner, we decided to try a Chinese place near our hotel that I'd read good reviews about online. It was a bit awkward when we walked in, as the people who owned it were sitting down to have their dinner, but they ushered us inside anyway and sat us down at a table. Because its normal for residents in Rome to not sit down for dinner until maybe around 9pm, we were always turning up early for dinner but it meant we always got good seats, attentive waiters and fast service so it wasn't the worst thing!
The prices were amazing - so cheap. I ordered ravioli meat dumplings (another thing I'd never tried) and egg noodles on a hot plate. Simon ordered Chicken curry and steamed rice. Me and Si often share and/or swap meals so I ended up eating the majority of his dinner and vice versa. His Chicken curry was the best I think I've probably ever tried and I'm quite fussy with food. I'd definitely go again just for that.
Day 3
We woke up with no plan today. I'd sat up until after 1am looking at things to do and places to go in Rome and suggested we try go to the Borghese Park and Gardens (3rd time lucky, as I'd said we should go all week and it didn't end up happening) and also then the Aventine Keyhole which was only around 20 mins away by bus.
We had breakfast for the first time of our stay. An Italian breakfast of croissants and Cappuccino (Simon) and Apricot juice (Me). It was lovely - the best croissant I've ever tasted and I usually love croissants anyway.
I don't know what I expected when we got to the Borghese Park and Gardens but it was huge! With things to explore in every direction. You could hire bikes and golf carts to get around and we contemplated this, but eventually just decided to walk and take our time enjoying it all at our own pace. Si was hungry - again! - so we headed straight for a little food and drinks cart and both had sandwiches with Italian meats and cheeses. It was really filling and yum. I also got excited because I spotted lemon fanta on the cart and vowed to buy some on the way back, so that I could drink it back at the hotel.
We then wandered about and found a Temple in the park, in the middle of a pond. The pond was full of ducks and large fish and also turtles! Si started calling it Turtle Island and the name stuck - and we kept referring to it as that afterwards. Then we discovered you could rent little row boats and go around the pond in them, near the temple and close to the little turtles. It was so much fun! The Temple was even more impressive up close - it was built as a dedication to the God of Medicine, with Nymphs at the foot of the building on either side.
There's a sort of garden area right next to the Keyhole and it also has some great views so we had a look there too, just before it started raining. I thought it'd be light rain but it was bouncing off the roads and coming down so hard, I literally couldn't see, no matter how fast I tried wiping it out my eyes. We kept jumping into doorways with other people who had had the same idea and after half an hour between doorways and trying to walk, we were soaked right through with our clothes stuck to us and admitted defeat and hailed a taxi.
The taxi driver was lovely, she chatted away to us and pointed out places on our ride and explained stories and histories behind them. By this time, the rain was overflowing the kerbs and me and my little flower sandals were glad that we weren't trying to walk through it.
After showers, dry clothes and waiting it out for a few hours, the rain finally let up enough for us to venture out for dinner on our last night of the holiday. We went back to the little restaurant with the friendly waiter. Si had 2 meals just to himself - a 4 cheese Pizza and Spaghetti Bolognese ("might as well go all out for the last night"). I tried the Carbonara. I think it was my favourite of the whole trip.
And then Gelato again of course. The waiter asked if he'd see us again tomorrow but we told him that we were going home, with promises of coming back if (when) we returned to Rome.
Things I've learned from our Trip
So Rome is beautiful and it was completely everything I'd hoped and dreamed about, but not every part of the trip could be perfect or that wouldn't be real. However it wasn't to do with the city and is just things that could be done differently in the future, that I'm now the wiser for:
What we spent each day:
Day 1 - 71.50 euros
*The total cost doesn't include the City Tax that we had to pay when we checked out. It worked out @ 4 euros pp per night so it was 16 euros each.
We took the Metro back to Spagna (beside the Spanish steps) again and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and buying souvenirs for our families. It was nice not to have everything completely planned out, as getting to explore gave us the freedom to stumble upon some cute little places we might not have seen if we had scheduled everything to see. It turns out that although we didn't see any other tourist sights that day, this was actually the highest step count we had for the trip. We had lunch at a cute little place called Gioroma. Si had pizza again and I had Spaghetti Carbonara, although if I'm honest I was really eyeing up a guy at the next table's Italian sandwich which looked amazing.
The prices were amazing - so cheap. I ordered ravioli meat dumplings (another thing I'd never tried) and egg noodles on a hot plate. Simon ordered Chicken curry and steamed rice. Me and Si often share and/or swap meals so I ended up eating the majority of his dinner and vice versa. His Chicken curry was the best I think I've probably ever tried and I'm quite fussy with food. I'd definitely go again just for that.
We passed on pudding and walked a few mins along to the little restaurant with the friendly waiter and had dessert there. Homemade Gelato again - yummm.
Day 3
We woke up with no plan today. I'd sat up until after 1am looking at things to do and places to go in Rome and suggested we try go to the Borghese Park and Gardens (3rd time lucky, as I'd said we should go all week and it didn't end up happening) and also then the Aventine Keyhole which was only around 20 mins away by bus.
We had breakfast for the first time of our stay. An Italian breakfast of croissants and Cappuccino (Simon) and Apricot juice (Me). It was lovely - the best croissant I've ever tasted and I usually love croissants anyway.
I don't know what I expected when we got to the Borghese Park and Gardens but it was huge! With things to explore in every direction. You could hire bikes and golf carts to get around and we contemplated this, but eventually just decided to walk and take our time enjoying it all at our own pace. Si was hungry - again! - so we headed straight for a little food and drinks cart and both had sandwiches with Italian meats and cheeses. It was really filling and yum. I also got excited because I spotted lemon fanta on the cart and vowed to buy some on the way back, so that I could drink it back at the hotel.
We then wandered about and found a Temple in the park, in the middle of a pond. The pond was full of ducks and large fish and also turtles! Si started calling it Turtle Island and the name stuck - and we kept referring to it as that afterwards. Then we discovered you could rent little row boats and go around the pond in them, near the temple and close to the little turtles. It was so much fun! The Temple was even more impressive up close - it was built as a dedication to the God of Medicine, with Nymphs at the foot of the building on either side.
We then wandered further into the Park and came across the Borghese Gallery, we didn't end up going in though because I read that you had to book it in advance which he hadn't done unfortunately. But we wandered the Gardens and they were really pretty (lots more photos taken) and its definitely worth seeing.
From the middle of the park, we took a bus and then walked the 10 minutes to the Aventine Keyhole. This spot is really cool. So you basically queue at this big door to peek through the keyhole and when you get to look through, you can see the St Peter's Basilica perfectly framed by hedges. It's worth going just for the view, which really needs to be experienced in person. Getting a clear photo isn't easy, we queued up twice just for me to get my shot. Luckily the queue wasn't long because it isn't one of the most famous attractions to go and see.
There's a sort of garden area right next to the Keyhole and it also has some great views so we had a look there too, just before it started raining. I thought it'd be light rain but it was bouncing off the roads and coming down so hard, I literally couldn't see, no matter how fast I tried wiping it out my eyes. We kept jumping into doorways with other people who had had the same idea and after half an hour between doorways and trying to walk, we were soaked right through with our clothes stuck to us and admitted defeat and hailed a taxi.
The taxi driver was lovely, she chatted away to us and pointed out places on our ride and explained stories and histories behind them. By this time, the rain was overflowing the kerbs and me and my little flower sandals were glad that we weren't trying to walk through it.
After showers, dry clothes and waiting it out for a few hours, the rain finally let up enough for us to venture out for dinner on our last night of the holiday. We went back to the little restaurant with the friendly waiter. Si had 2 meals just to himself - a 4 cheese Pizza and Spaghetti Bolognese ("might as well go all out for the last night"). I tried the Carbonara. I think it was my favourite of the whole trip.
Things I've learned from our Trip
So Rome is beautiful and it was completely everything I'd hoped and dreamed about, but not every part of the trip could be perfect or that wouldn't be real. However it wasn't to do with the city and is just things that could be done differently in the future, that I'm now the wiser for:
- Wear comfortable shoes - this is a biggie, I'd already read this and packed what I thought was comfortable footware but it turns out my 2 little pairs of trainers weren't really made for long-distance walking because they pinched my toes and the heels of my feet and they had already been well broken-in. This resulted in pain for the full 3 days and prevented us doing a lot more walking than we would have done which is a shame, but we still got to see a lot thankfully.
- Book cheap but also think of comfort - so because I booked this whole trip for Simon's birthday and paid for it all myself, I booked it the cheapest that I could. I got return flights from London which was well priced and booked a coach to get to and from London and then a bus to get us from the coach to the airport and back again on the way home. What I didn't think about was the actual journey because it. was. so. long. When we got to Rome and arrived back home in Glasgow, we were so exhausted and I hadn't slept either way. But it worse on the way back home because the coach was 11 hours and there was no service stops.
- Check reviews before you book - okay so I did read reviews but I tend not to always believe everything I read, which in this case was a mistake. Our hotel wasn't in the best area so I wanted us to be back before late each night just to be safe. I'd read that there was bugs in the hotel rooms - turned out not to be true - and that ladies of the night hung outside the hotel at night - this did turn out to be true. I don't think they would have bothered us but still. If we'd have been more centrally located, we definitely would have stayed out later.
- Travel during cooler months - I'm not used to hot weather in the slightest because I'm obviously from somewhere that's rainy a lot of the time and the furthest I'd been previous to this was Paris during Autumn, so I wasn't prepared for how overwhelmingly hot Rome was going to be and it was uncomfortable until it rained. When it rained, it was still warm but it was more manageable and I realised that I'd be more comfortable visiting the city again when it isn't their Summer.
What we spent each day:
Day 1 - 71.50 euros
- 3 Day transport pass - 20 euros
- Lunch - 10 euros
- Dinner - 30 euros
- Gratuity tips - 3.50 euros
- Gelato - 8 euros (2 Gelatos @ 2.50 euros and 1 Gelato @ 6 euros, which we split)
Day 2 - 51 euros
- Souvenirs - 16.50 euros
- Lunch - 15 euros
- Dinner - 9 euros
- Gelato - 8.50 euros (1 x Gelato @ 2.50 euros and 1 Gelato @ 6 euros)
- Gratuity tips - 2 euros
Day 3 - 54 euros
- Breakfast - 7 euros
- Lunch - 5 euros
- Taxi - 18.30 euros
- Dinner - 18.50
- Gratuity tips - 5.20 euros
Total Cost - 176.50 euros*
Average - around £58.83 per day
*The total cost doesn't include the City Tax that we had to pay when we checked out. It worked out @ 4 euros pp per night so it was 16 euros each.
So we each took 285 euros away with us to spend and I've came back with just over 90 euros. What's great about Rome too is that there are fountains and drinking taps all over the city, and you can carry a plastic bottle around with you and fill it up for free whenever you're near one, to stay hydrated. We probably could have spent even less, but it just shows that you can visit places and have an amazing time on a small budget, if you shop around and don't go wild.
Ciao for now! Xo
Ciao for now! Xo
Comments
Post a Comment