After pestering Steve for 9 years, he finally brings me to Rome!

Travel

The evening before our flight we stayed at the Premier Inn Manchester Airport Runger Lane South (£58) but had I have known it would be £12 each way for a taxi to the airport I probably would have paid the extra £30 for a 4* hotel at the airport itself. Absolutely nothing wrong with the hotel; it was actually very comfortable and would recommend it but for the additional cost incurred. Lesson learnt! 

We landed at Ciampino from our Ryanair flight at 10.20am local time and got bus to ‘Roma Termini’. We were supposed to get another bus from Ciampino train station but the connection was very confusing and no one really helpful so had to use the train. Transport from the airport to Roma Termini takes 25-30mins. 

Hotel 

Our hotel ‘Hotel Cosmopolita’ is fairly well placed for all of the key sights in Rome with the Vatican being the furthest away at only a 25-30min walk. This, coupled with the hotel being a 4* and only £319 for four nights, made it a very reasonable price. The room was fairly spacious with a small balcony and had everything we needed. The only downsides I would say was it was a room with only a shower (no bath, and I LOVE baths!) and the view wasn’t great but to be honest I wasn’t planning on ‘seeing’ Rome from my bedroom window! 

Places to visit/things to do

Our first touristy stop was the Pantheon with incredible architecture and marble statues. From there we headed to Piazza Navona; a lovely square with restaurants, cafes and shops all round. It is an ideal place to sit, have some food and drink and watch the world go by – and that’s what we did a few times over the course of the trip. Then we walked to Castel Sant’Angelo (a castle next to the River Tiber) and on to the Vatican for a quick wander before tomorrow’s tour. The Piazza di Spagna, the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain are again an absolute must see in Rome and fairly close together. It is said that, when making a wish at the Trevi fountain you need to have your back to it and throw your money with your right hand over your left shoulder. That way it will come true! I don’t think it will take a rocket scientist to work out what my wish was, and has been for the two years!

One day I booked us a ‘skip the line Vatican entry’ from ‘getyourguide.com’ (£24.16 per person). Steve and I are not big on guided tours, we aren’t big history buffs and more appreciate art for its look than the meaning behind it, so we decided a self guided tour with audio was best. At €8 each it was totally worth it, especially for me as it comes in several languages; cue the loser who flits between 2-3 languages the entire way round! Timing wise, it depends on your level of interest. If you are a history buff then you could probably spend all day here, but generally 2-3 hours is enough. I would say the parts we enjoyed most were the spiral staircase (excellent for a funky photo shot), the Gallery of Maps and of course the Sistine Chapel (just incredible artistry) – please bear in mind that you must be silent inside the Sistine Chapel and there are plenty of stewards there to tell you off if you aren’t.

St.Peter’s Square and Basillica also need to be on your to do list, although for convenience you may want to do this and the Vatican on the same day. We did them on 2 different days as the queues for both can be ridiculous, especially in summer. I would also do the Coliseum, the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill on the same day too due to their proximity to each other. We chose to do them with a guide from ‘getyourguide.com’ as we got a discount (roughly £30 each) after using the same group for the Vatican entry.  The tour was interesting and we got just about the right amount of history mixed in with cool theories and tales from Roman times. The Mouth of Truth is also close by these sights so I would do this after – it is said that if you tell a lie whilst putting your hand inside the ‘mouth of truth’ the (stone) mouth will close and chop your hand off! So, no lying people!

As I am usually very bad at incorporating ‘down time’ whilst on holiday I made sure to have some in Rome. I found a Hammam Roman bath! I’d looked into where had authentic Roman bath experiences and the one I chose seemed great, and a reasonable price too (70€ each)! ‘Acquamadre spa’ on Via di S. Ambrogio – it is down a narrow side street so you do have to go looking for it, but totally worth it when you get there.

Food

On two occasions on our way to the Vatican and St.Peter’s we stopped for coffee and pastry (light breakfast) at le Tartarughe – cute little, definitely local, café. Felt very much like tourists as everyone staring at us but if the travels Steve and I have done so far have taught us anything, is that you should NEVER go into a restaurant/café on a main square/road with tourists inside. You need to go to the back alleys and dodgey looking places to find the hidden gems with the locals in. Food will be better and probably cheaper too!

For pizza on the go I couldn’t recommend this place highly enough ‘Mami’ on Villa della Pace. Just a few bench type tables and stools, nothing fancy but awesome pizza and a great vibe. Lunchtime snacks were Caffe Roma, attached to our hotel and Cin Cin bar, facing Piazza Venezia – we were out on the terrace which was lovely as we got a great viewing spot. If you are looking for aperitifs then look no further than ‘Fo’ndaco innovazione’ on Via della Frezza. Aperitifs are a big thing in Italy; between 6pm & 9pm you can get tapas type food for free in some bars, when paying for any alcoholic drinks. It’s a great way to eat cheap but you can easily spend a lot of money on cocktails/beer in Rome so keep this in mind. Bar wise and hip areas you are looking at Trastevere for definite. Freni e Frizione is a great place for after work drinks and be sure to try an Aperol Spritz (very traditional cocktail in Rome). If you’re like me and not too keen (don’t like soda water) then you can try one of the other funky cocktails named after old school Nintendo games.

The first evening we dined al fresco at ‘Giamaica Caffe’ Srl’, on Via del Tritone – they have huge heater lamps and blankets so it was pleasant. The meal was good, maybe a tad expensive than what we are used to, but then again it is ROME! Another evening we went to Vecchia in Trastevere for a light meal – ok, nothing special. Now normally I don’t complain about food or service but ther was a restaurant just off the Trevi fountain that was horrific – I am so sorry Ive looked high and low but can’t find the name. The waiter was lazy, rude and obviously did not care about his job in the slightest. Maybe stay away from restaurants round the fountain area.

Now you cannot go to Italy and not eat gelato so according to another person’s blog ‘the best gelato’ place in Rome is ‘Come il Latte’ and I’m not going to deny it was AWESOME! It has a big variety of ice cream flavours but also variety of cones and toppings. YUM! Other places we went includes ‘Bar Brasile’ and ‘Wonderful’. 

Final thoughts

All in all a lovely 4 day break with super weather (16-19degrees in Feb!), impressive architecture and gorgeous food! What more could a girl ask for?!