Quando a Roma...

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‘You’ve never been to Rome? Oh, you’ve got to go to Rome‘. That’s what we’d been told time and time again and so we listened to the collective ‘everyone’ and with some cheap flights and a handy hostel booked for two nights we’re off. After negotiating our way into the city from the airport, we’re hungering for a bite of lunch.

In food terms, Rome is unknown (to us). Finding good food in Venice wasn’t easy so we aren’t too sure what to expect from Rome. We take a recommendation from the hostel and a few blocks away we grab some outdoor seats at a trattoria style pizzeria. With the weather over the last week in Britain being rainy with temperatures in the low teens, being outdoors here in a t-shirt and jeans in bright sunshine feels amazing. When our food comes we’re pleased to report that it too is pretty good.

Lachlan’s pizza, made with fresh Porchini mushrooms, is definitely a winner and as a bonus the wine is well priced. For the same price as a small glass of red wine in Paris a month ago buys us a half litre carafe here. Obviously there is some disparity in standards (the French couple sitting next to us decide their red isn’t worth drinking and offer it to us), but as far as we’re concerned for table wine with lunch it’s more than adequate.

So having drunk a little more than we had planned, we set off sightseeing. What should we see, well... when in Rome... the Colosseum of course!

We approach from the north and have time to do almost a full circuit of its exterior, taking in the sheer scale, the fantastic curvature, intricate arches and multiple levels. It is amazing. As synonymous with Rome as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, except it has been around for nearly 1800 years longer! It’s hard to imagine that any public entertainment venue built today will last even a quarter of that time.

From the Colosseum we pass more Roman era ruins on our way to Michelangelo’s famed piazza, Campidoglio, which is built on one of Rome’s seven hills. It is very grand, timelessly stylish, and in our opinion, very cool.

We take the steps leading downhill from Campidoglio and as we drift around the corner we come face to face with a huge shiny white marble building. Wow! With no idea what we’re looking at we consult our map and guidebook to find that it is the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II (a King during the mid 1800s, famous for uniting Italy... apparently).

The security guards at the front seem to be letting people in so we pass on through and wander up the massive marble staircase to get a closer look at the elaborate structure. As we stand around checking it out we become aware of the rules which are being rigorously enforced. Any banned activity, chief amongst which involves sitting down, is met with the blow of a referee’s whistle and a telling off (in Italian of course). Hilarious!

It’s about mid afternoon and we can’t believe that within a few short hours we’ve already been able to see some of the major Roman and Renaissance sites within the city. Now to tick off some more...

After stopping for a pit stop at a highly rated gelato shop we make our way to the baroque styled, Trevi fountain. It seems that we aren’t the only people with the same plan but we manage to find a spot on the terrace to check it out while Ariana finishes off her pistachio gelato and Lachlan, his whiskey flavoured selection.

Next on our list of sights is something that no doubt many people pass up. We have been fortunate enough to have visited Hadrian’s gate in Jordan, Hadrian’s wall in England and Hadrian’s arch in Athens so we can’t leave Rome without visiting Hadrian’s temple built by his son and successor in his adopted home town. This guy really got about!

The Hadrian connections continue as a short walk takes us to the famous Pantheon (which he is credited with rebuilding during the 2nd century). As a bonus, because we’ve arrived relatively late in the day, we aren’t overwhelmed by the crowds and feel able to wander at our leisure and enjoy the impressive structure. We can’t help but wonder how it was constructed so precisely without cranes and marvel at what it must be like seeing the rain fall in a column through the opening in the roof.

All this walking and sight seeing sure works up an appetite so we pass through Piazza Novona before cutting a bit of a loop to side street in search of a restaurant which we’ve been told serves more than 100 types of spaghetti. This we can’t miss.

We duck under the archway and are led down a staircase to a small area set up with a few checkered cloth covered tables. The menu is extensive with an array of unimaginable spaghetti varieties. We settle on a plate each of something close to being recognisible but still interesting and dig in! The English couple sitting behind us don’t understand why fettucini carbonara isn’t on the menu.

On Friday morning we’re out of the hostel early and enjoying our coffee and sweet pastry breakfast at the nearby cafe where we start planning our day. It doesn’t really take much thought, actually. After our day yesterday, what should we see today....well, quando a Roma... the Vatican, of course!

So we take a metro the handful of stops across town to Vatican City. Despite being its own country there are no borders (well, this is the ‘new’ borderless Europe...) and we follow the signs and crowds towards the Vatican Museum. We’re about 45 minutes early, but there’s already a long line and we join the back of it.

We pass the time by people spotting and soon enough the line eventually starts moving.

Similar to our theory when visiting the Tower of London, or the Louvre, we figure that before the museum chokes on people we should check out its number one sight. So once inside we cut a bee line to the Sistine Chapel. No doubt we pass loads of other interesting things along the way, but the rush is made worthwhile when we’re able to enjoy the space in relative quiet and take in the images which completely cover the walls and roof of the chapel.

Satisfied that we were able to experience it with some dignity we decide to check out some of the other parts of the museum. The saying goes that all roads lead to Rome. Well in the Vatican museum all roads lead to the Sinstine chapel. So inevitably an hour after we left we find ourselves back in the Sinstine chapel again - this time though it’s packed like a rugby scrum. It’s good to see it again, but we move through with the tide of people and when we pass the museum exit, we take it. Next on our Vatican City ‘to do’ list is St Peter’s Basilica.

In the world’s smallest country it doesn’t take long to get anywhere and effectively around the corner from the museum we find ourselves in St Peter’s square and at the back of another queue. Thankfully St Peter’s Basilica is almost impossible to fill with tourists, so once inside we have room away from the flag-on-a-stick tour groups to admire the ornate painted ceilings and statues in peace. As we potter about, the cavernous interior is filled with the sounds of priests delivering hypnotic sermons in Latin, and the combination of speaker placement and reverberation within the basilica results in a uniquely other worldly feel. Very cool.

We head back out into the square and then, leaving Vatican City, we cross the statue lined Pont Sant’ Angelo bridge which majestically spans the river Tiber. It seems that in Rome we’ve never far from an architectural connection to one of Rome’s greatest leaders (or at least builders) and sitting proudly above the bridge on the west bank is Hadrian’s Mausoleum, the Castel Sant’ Angelo.

After a solid morning of sight seeing we stop for pizzas at a local cafe for lunch before walking through the neoclassical Piazza del Papolo and down Rome’s high street. The boutiques line up like a who’s who of Italian fashion only separated by expensive looking cafes and the odd global franchise.

At Piazza di Spagna we attempt to catch the Metro back to the hostel, but are informed by the friendly station staff that the drivers are on strike and there are no more trains today. Bugger, looks like we’re walking! It’s not all bad though, as en route we climb the famed Spanish steps and to be fair the walk only takes us around half an hour.

Arriving back at the hostel we’re a little knackered, so we freshen up before heading out for our last meal in the Italian capital. We take a recommendation from our guide book which describes a family run restaurant not far from the Colleseum. Sounds good to us. It’s supposed to open at 6:30 so we take our time dawdling towards it stopping along the way for espresso because we can’t get enough of this great Italian coffee.

The doors are open so we pop in and ask for a table for two. A gruff looking lady meets us and with a scowl on her face points at the door and launches off in Italian. The only word we pick up along the way is ‘sette’. We think we’ve just been told that they aren’t open until seven, so, a little dejected we head off in search of a plan B.

Unfortunately a 45 minute loop of nearby streets only turns up overpriced touristy looking places and as we drift past our earlier restaurant choice we see that it is now half full. So they are open! Ariana is a little unwilling to cop another telling off, but we venture in again and this time we’re shown to a table (no smile).

The whole thing is turning in to the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld, but when our food comes it is tasty and redeems some of the anti hospitality which we had received earlier. Finishing our meal, we quickly fix up the bill and leave before we put another foot wrong.

We drift around the Colleseum one last time before heading back to the hostel. Our time in Rome has been short, but there has been so much to see, so much to do, so much to eat. So quando a Roma (when in Rome), our advice would be - stay as long as you can.

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Photos

Guards
St Peter's Basilica