They See Me Rome-ing
- Tammie Anderson
- Nov 19, 2019
- 6 min read
I’m writing to you after a three-night trip to Rome. I know what you’re all thinking… Finally, she bloody made it to Rome! Thank the lord! (Catholic reference for you there).
Now I’ve got you as excited as I was for my trip, I’ll begin.
I’ll start by letting you know that we gave Stansted - and Ryanair - another chance and they both redeemed themselves! Now, on to Rome.
Firstly, we found Rome easy to get around. Upon arrival we managed to navigate a bus from Ciampino airport to Termini (the main train/bus station), then onto the metro from there. We then used the mad streets to make it to our guest house in Trastevere (Palazzo Baj). We chose the bus once we arrived at the airport (leaving ten minutes later which was perfect) and it only cost us 5 euros each. The metro was easy to navigate and we used an online map to help us with which station to get on and off.
For the street part of our journey we used google maps. Again, this was very simple to navigate and we arrived safely in our guest house. Throughout the trip we only used the metro once more and a bus once. To be honest if it wasn’t for my dodgy knee I think we would haven’t have bothered to use either of these - walking around to everywhere was really easy.
As you’re probably aware - there is a lot to do and see in Rome. Arriving late on the first day meant night one was done, leaving two and a half days ahead of us. After a good feed in a local restaurant and a great sleep in our comfy guest house (thank you Palazzo Baj!) we were ready to “Rome”.
We visited the Colosseum first via The Temple of Hercules and The Mouth of Truth. Upon arrival to the colosseum the queue was huge, so we decided to get some snaps, walk around it and move on (not without getting bothered by plenty of ticket touts first – these people are relentless, and we had good advice not to trust them!).
We then hopped on the metro towards the Spanish Steps and The Trevi Fountain – both of these unbelievably busy and hard to get on/near. In the meantime, we were being offered a thousand (I over-exaggerate of course) selfie sticks.
From there, we walked over towards The Altare della Patria (known as the national monument); a large and impressive structure. The last stops of the day were the Pantheon (my personal favourite) and the Piazza Navona where we also had a look inside Sant’Agnese in Agone; a church in Piazza Navona square. The Pantheon had no queue at all. You could walk in, look around it and stare through its impressive hole (in the roof). Near here, we found another roof of interest – in the form of a rooftop bar. This was within The Martis Palace Hotel. It had stunning views over the city. You could see more than fourteen churches and lots of the tourists stops we had already visited – the National Monument was in full view from up there. This bar is definitely worth a visit – order your drinks on the way up though, as the bar is actually down on the lower floors.
From here it was onto Trastevere to get washed and changed for our dinner. We had decided to go to a place not too far from our guest house called “Nannarella” – this, I can highly recommend. We had a great meal and certainly didn’t go hungry – as the portion sizes were huge! A successful day, albeit with a lack of places to affordably stop to have a beer. It was also a little too busy to navigate or visit some of the popular places at times.
Day two was Vatican City day. We got up and visited one of the lovely local cafes for breakfast courtesy of Palazzo Baj (thank you once again!) We were then off and ready to go.
We walked to the bus stop to save my knee a little after yesterday’s walking marathon. We reached the city and were hit with the beautiful view of St Peter’s Basilica. When we got closer, we were also hit with the view of the monstrous queue! With the queue’s wait time being over two hours (and annoying ticket touts trying to get us a quick way in which you shouldn’t ever fall for by the way), we chose to wander around the outside of the city, heading to the Vatican museums and to try to see the Sistine Chapel.
We queued for about an hour for the museum which seemed fairly reasonable (still being bothered by annoying touts and hearing people fall for it, getting angry with them – again DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE, no matter how official they look).
Once inside, we bought our tickets 17 euros each (quite pricey, we thought) and started our journey through the museums. This journey was looooooong and busy – way too many people, and you end up seeing a lot of the same things or trying to overtake everyone which is hard to do due to the number in there! Eventually we made it to the Sistine Chapel and saw “The Last Judgement”. This was great to see and some of the pieces in the museum itself were beautiful, although we were unsure if it was worth 17 euros and the crowds of people you have to endure.
After this, we went back to the Basilica and although the queue was shorter - we still were not prepared to waste more of our day queueing. We headed back toward Trastevere (soon becoming the best place in the city) and stopped for drinks (and free food with every drink) at Cajo e Gajo – another place I would highly recommend a visit!
On from here, we went back to the guest house and - thanks to our hosts - had a booking at a VERY popular local restaurant called Da Enzo (this place constantly had a queue outside while we were in there). We ate delicious food here and then moved on The Hole a bar pretty much next door for some great cocktails! We called it a night to get ready for our last half day in Rome and travel day home.
On the last day, we decided that it would be spent wandering around and taking in some more of the iconic buildings/ruins of buildings. We firstly headed up Capitoline Hill so we could see over the Roman Forum. This is a perfect place to see some historic ruins and let your imagination run wild about what this place must have looked like all that time ago!
From here, we made our way down the hill and walked along Via dei Fori Imperiali, where you can take in more of these old ruins. Still short of beer on our wander (apparently the 1st Nov is a public holiday in Italy so lots of places closed?!), we ended up going back towards the Trevi Fountain where we had an extremely expensive beer (do not drink near here). We then set off back to Termini via a quick stop off for lunch (and gelato) close by, then onwards home (again back on a bus to the airport which you can pay for on the bus. We did leave the city a little too early though, which we found out too late, as there really wasn’t a lot to do in Ciampino airport.
To summarise:
- Walk everywhere (except from the airport). There is lots to see and discover and you won’t be disappointed.
- If you do walk everywhere – do not expect lots of bars along the way.
- Be wary of the sellers around the streets. They’re easier to try to ignore and pretend they are not there. I heard enough people having trouble with them once engaged in conversations. That said, I do know people who pre-booked tours and these were successful, so just be careful.
- Prepare to be surrounded by people in all the “popular” spots – its busy, hectic and hard to see things with ease. If this isn’t for you then maybe Rome isn’t for you!
- The Vatican City was the busiest place – again if not for you, avoid this area. The other places around the city are just as beautiful.
- Discover or stay in Trastevere – you will not be disappointed. This was by far the best part of the city for me: Lots of lovely restaurants to discover, shops and bars. All of these are down very quaint streets which are lovely to meander down.
- Do not go to Ciampino airport too early – there is nothing to do there!
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. I hope this is helpful for at least one or two people. Please do leave comments, or feel free to add any advice that you think might help others. This is obviously just our experience and I am sure others will have been when Rome isn’t quite as busy as we found it to be. I’m off to research for another hot Christmas ☺
Links to our recommended places to stay/eat/drink:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d14173461-Reviews-Nannarella-Rome_Lazio.html
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d6562510-Reviews-Cajo_e_Gajo-Rome_Lazio.html
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