Rome, Italy
Roma! It’s absolutely one of my favorite big cities! Like Athens, the traffic is definitely crazy but much like every big city it is just part of the experience. We flew from Greece (Mykonos to Athens to Rome) and found our driver waiting for us in the airport with the little sign for Theresa Conti. This was our usual prearranged transportation to our hotel (I know broken record for sure – but we never have to worry about getting where we need to.) Our glorious stay this time would be at Hotel Indigo St. George in the Centro Storico area of the city – basically one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. This is by far one of my favorite hotels that we have ever stayed at in an international location. The hotel is located a mere 7 min walk from Vatican City (which is actually another country,) the Castello San Angelo and Piazza Navona to name just a few. It is also located next to the Tyber river which is a great place for a casual afternoon walk.
We started our first full day in Rome as we usually do, on a tour. Since we had been to Rome before, we actually had a tour guide Grace (who quickly became a good friend) that we requested be our guide through the Joy of Rome (joyofrome.com.) Again, this is another unpaid plug for a company that is your best friend when it comes to tours in Rome. They handle the tickets, the times and details. And something that is very important to remember with guides in Rome – they are required by law to be licensed – and all of the guides at Joy of Rome are and in fact some have special licenses just for the Vatican which is a very challenging license to get and is separate from the regular license. Beware of the fake guides trying to sell you tickets and tours!
So we started with a tour of the Vatican where we experienced much of the history by a couple of hours in the Vatican Museum and ending at the Sistine Chapel. The chapel is always crowded but a very cool place and when you look at the ceiling and think that Michaelangelo painted it, you are just blown away! It might be one of the most famous pieces of art in the world. This is where a real Vatican guide makes the difference, our friend Grace can tell you everything about the place – and can point out things you would probably not even see. It’s overwhelming in reality, and they say it would take 12 years to look at every single piece of art for a few seconds.
After leaving the Vatican museum we decided to walk over to St. Peter’s Square and as we went through the security, we realized the Pope (and in our case new Pope Leo) was there greeting people in front of the Basilica, which is something that he does on Wednesday. Of course, we couldn’t really get close, but it was a cool experience to see the Pope on stage. We were ready for lunch by this time and our guide took off her guide badges (kind of like Clark Kent with glasses) and just became our friend and Roman citizen, Grace. She helped us find a restaurant that locals enjoy and we had a wonderful lunch together. After grace left us to make the long commute home, we decided to go visit the Pantheon, which is a 2000 year old Roman temple and a pretty famous building!
The next day, we had a tour scheduled in the afternoon with our favorite tour guide and friend Grace (again booked through Joy of Rome) of the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Since our tour wasn’t until the afternoon and we knew we would be doing a lot of walking that day, we decided to uber/taxi over to the Spanish Steps to start our day. One of the best parts of that day was riding with our taxi driver for the 15 minutes! He didn’t really speak English and him yelling at the other drivers and pedestrians in Italian was worth every penny. I should point out that Uber works great in Rome and you can choose all of the usual cars as well as taxis. The Spanish steps are definitely worth seeing and if you are a shopper, there is a lot of shopping right near there including many of the Italian designers (Prada, Gucci, Ferragamo). A word of caution in this and other areas that so crowded – always pay attention to your surroundings and the people around you. We have never had an issue in Rome – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful.
We then made our way over to Trevi Fountain. They had just finished remodeling the fountain and it was supposed to be open, but they were cleaning it, and it didn’t have any water in it when we visited. We then made our first and biggest rookie mistake!! We went into a café close to Trevi Fountain for lunch. We did not check the review of this picture restaurant before we sat down (a picture restaurant is one where they have pictures of the food on the board outside the restaurant to entice travelers). The food was decent but at the end of the meal, we were charged a surcharge of 12,50 euros and then they charged us a “tip” of 28 euros that was had to pay in cash. Had we checked the reviews on google before we sat down, we would have seen that they had many 1-star reviews and many warnings about these charges. So please be sure to look at the google review especially in high tourist areas and be sure that we added our 1-star review to the others!
After lunch got a message from Grace (our tour guide) and met her at the Basilica di San Pietro in Vicoli to see the Moses sculpture by Michealangelo. We then went to the Colosseum to start our next tour – Grace put on her magic tour guide licenses, and we were off on another fantastic, guided tour. Be aware that the entry to the Colosseum will require you to show id (typically a passport and a copy is not accepted), that MUST match the name on your ticket! And you will be required to show your tickets multiple times (if you have a tour guide, they will know all of this).
Again, no words can describe the sheer awe of the Colosseum, which is one of my favorite things in Rome. The Roman Forum contains the Temple of Saturn, the Arch of Septimius Severus and the House of Vestal Virgins. You can also see Palatine Hill where Rome began and so much more!! At the end of our tour – we said sad goodbyes to Grace and headed back to our hotel.
Our final day in Rome before we headed home included some time visiting the Castello Sant’Angelo along with the Capuchin Crypt and some final shopping! To me, Rome is definitely worth the visit and there is so much to see along with so many amazing restaurants! This was our second visit, and we will definitely go back!
Some housekeeping details on this long post! We walked a LOT in Rome – on our longest day we did more than 20,000 steps – close to 11 miles. So comfy shoes and clothes are a must. Drink a lot of water and wear sunscreen. Yes, woman need to cover shoulders and knees in the Vatican and men can get away with long shorts and a t-shirt. Apparently, women’s knees are too sexy for the church. This is the same in a lot of the bigger Basilicas, although some of the smaller churches don’t care. And my husband is pretty convinced that Italian food is the best, not to mention the wine.
PHEW! I am off to an Alaskan cruise next!
