Hey everyone ! Thanks for coming back to my blog to read about our amazing time in Europe! This post is about the 3 days & nights we spent in Rome. Hope you enjoy this post !
We flew into Rome from Berlin, on one of those early morning flights. I got to sit in the window seat on this flight, and it was so beautiful to fly out of Germany and into Italy! The flight was longer than I had anticipated, we flew on Ryan Air for about $27 a person! We booked an Air BnB for around less than $10 dollars a night per person! The Air BnB was extremely difficult to find. I had messaged with the host, but he did not get back to me, super frustrating!
We got to Rome, and we rode a bus from the airport to the train station, it about about $4 dollars a person all together. There is a ticket counter that can book both for you! The train was so nice! Once we got off the train we realized that we hadn't mapped how to get to the bnb, and we searched for wifi, which was really difficult! Everywhere we went wanted credit card information! UGH!
I somehow connected to the train station wifi, after trying for a while, and was able to get the directions. Unforchantly for us, the directions were not very clear, and we got lost. We followed the directions perfectly until we came across a plaza that had multiple right turns! Well we took the wrong right turn, but it just so happened to be the street that leads you to the Colosseum.
The Colosseum just sort of pops up out of nowhere, all of the sudden you're like woah, there it is ! I expected it to be in the middle of an empty field (no idea why), but it is surrounded by buildings and streets, restaurants and people. Some helpful hints to eating near monuments... don't they way over charge. Try going a street up or around, all you'll find the same menu but a few Euros cheaper per dish!
I think we were distracted by the Colosseum, that we decided to go down the wrong path. After a while, we figured that we were lost. We asked some locals, and shop keepers for help to find the street we were looking for, but they kept telling us we were far, far away (we actually weren't). Most of their advice was wrong, or made us go in a crazy round-about way.
My advice? Defiantly pre-map out walking directions to your hotel (etc), and try to familiarize yourself with the map/ surroundings before you leave for your trip! It's a lot to plan such an elaborate and extensive trip, but it will save you time and frustration during your trip, and thats the point, you want to savor every second of the trip, and not get hung up on the details! I did this for our trip to Ireland in 2014, and it went much smoother!
Here is a picture of a building near the plaza we took the wrong turn at.
So we were lost, so exhausted carrying our seemingly heavier by the minute backpacks, hungry, and frustrated for a few hours walking in the same few circles, until we decided to give up, and rest. Once this happened, we realized we were on the right street, yay! We made it to the Air Bnb, and were greeted by a worker. I had to pay extra, for taxes, which we were pretty pissed about because it was not described by the host. Keep this in mind, that what you book online might not include the countries taxes, we ended paying a few times for taxes upon arrival! So make sure to have spare change when you arrive at your destination!
The Air BnB was fairly nice. We had a big room, but the description said that the room had two beds, but it had one and two cots. We managed, but seriously?? We roll with the punches, but just in case, always expect that things are not always as them seem on Air bnb! THe bathrooms were shared... btw, most hotels in Europe have shared bathrooms, not just hostels, but it was difficult to find most hotels that had its own bathroom! Maybe it was because we had a low budget. But hey, we didn't want to spend our money on hotels, when what we were there for was to see the sights! We spent small amounts of time in the hotel! I would highly recommend going cheap for the reason explained above, Ha!
We rested at the hostel, and then Jeff and I went to find a restaurant near by. It was an American themed restaurant, I got the spagetti bolognese, and Jeff got a burger I believe. We really enjoyed the food! Right around the corner from the restaurant was the most amazing gelato place! I got a small mint chip! It was my first gelato in italy, and I still wish I could have more!
Our second day in Rome, was magical! Our first stop was the Colosseum! On our first day, we did not get up close and personal with the Colosseum, we just got near it, so we decided to start there because we were staying so close!
It poured on us for the first half of the day, but luckily we packed rain jackets. There were many street vendors trying to sell us ponchos and umbrellas, which became a nuisance to us. By the way, everywhere in Europe has beggars, scammers, and street sellers, it's important to not buy from them, or be rude! Some people we came across were relentless, and it is super frustrating, but ignoring them is the easiest. The colosseum is about $20 dollars to enter, so we decided that getting close was enough! We then walked towards the Roman Forum.
It is hard to write everything you can experience and see around you in Rome. The scenery is indescribable, there are old buildings, details, foliage, everywhere. Despite being clique, the best way describe Rome is to say you have to be there to experience the awe. I could not take a picture that could capture the true beauty, but I tried! Rome was all that I thought it would be and then some. Oslo, and Berlin are updated metropolitan cities, where as Rome, feels like an old European destination that you want to experience when backpacking through Europe!
After we walked through the Roman Forum, we walked towards the Trevi Fountain. I was so excited to see the Trevi Fountain, needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised that such a monument was in the middle of large old buildings. I expected it to be in the middle of the plaza. We walked along narrow cobbled stone streets and came across the bright white fountain!
It's hard to get pictures of the front of the water & the fountain, because of the small space and all of the tourists that get in the way. In the picture above you can see the tight space the fountain is in.
After seeing the Trevi fountain we walked along one of the cobble stone streets towards the pantheon! It is pretty much a straight shot! All the big monuments and tourist sites are really close to each other in Rome. Rome seems like such a large city, due to all of the history, but it is pretty easy to see everything even in just a day!
The inside of the forum is beautiful, but every picture I took turned out blurry, oops!
After the forum we walked back towards our hostel and found a restaurant to din at! I got lasagna, it was soooooo good, and Jeff got a salami sub. The food is Italy was so amazing. Every meal I loved! Berlin had the best food over all, when I consider groceries as well, but I loved eating out in Italy more, if that makes sense ! I didn't take any other food pics, I believe, but I did happen to get a pic of my lasagna!
We then headed back to our hostel and rested for the rest of the day. As the evening went on, we got hungry, and Jeff and I went and got Italian style pizza, basically glorified bread, and stopped by that amazing Gelato place! MMMMM! Did I mention that I loved the food???? Jeff and I also stopped by a market near our hostel, and bought some snacks and water and razors. We did not pack any, because we had carry-ons. So, we hadn't shaven for over a week, eek! It was amazing to use them! In Europe, you just flow with the bummin', you go weeks without washing clothes, and other regular hygienic activities, that when you get home you feel so privileged that you get to do it!
The next day, our 3rd day in Rome, we decided to wake up super early and walk over 3 miles to Vatican City, to see the Vatican. Fun fact: the Vatican, isn't technically located in Rome, it is in the smallest country in the world, known as Vatican City, score for us, we were able to add a surprise extra country to the amount we were racking up during this trip, haha! Another fun fact, or a tip rather is, to make sure you dress appropriately when going to the Vatican, they have strict dress codes, such as no shoulders, stomachs, or legs above knees showing, other wise you may be forced to wear bags over your body to enter, or be denied. You can look up the regulations online, that's what we did! As we walked we crossed a beautiful bridge I had to stop and take a picture of!
We finally made it to the Vatican, and stopped by an old castle, I don't remember the name! It rained again on us. We hid for a while in a few shops, and I got a cute pair of earrings! Then we walked towards the Vatican. It was so beautiful! It is exactly the way I had pictured it, and then some! It is free entry, and the line was not long at all. Beware of people trying to sell you a tour or "skip the lines" they are just trying to scam you! The inside of the Vatican, I would describe as very Gawdy, lots of paintings, statues, marble floors, gold everywhere, It was bad lighting, so all of my pictures turned out terrible! So I won't post any here.
We walked back towards the hostel, and stopped in what I would call a small "village" neighborhood, and ate delicious pasta. It was such a beautiful little local area. With the bright orange, and green buildings, and flowers everywhere. There were lots of vendors selling beautiful jewlery! I loved that little piece of Italy. Rome & Vatican City was such a great introduction to Italy. The next morning we woke up, packed our bags and headed to the train station. Dani & Shane were taking the train to the airport to catch a flight to Lisbon, Portugal, and Jeff and I booked a train ride for about $30 dollars to Firenze Italy or Florence. One thing, I do not understand, is why in Italy all the towns are different names in English, I feel like we should call them by the names of country.