Why Rome?
I've always wanted to check out Rome and so did Adam, and after hearing all about it from his brother. The flights were really cheap for our dates and I've done a few places in Italy before but never somewhere as popular as Rome and so it just made sense to go. This was mine and Adams' first trip together and It had to be somewhere special for both of us!
Quick tips-
Not many places have websites, so you just have to turn up
Bring cash around with you. Some places take cards, some do not
The weather is hot on some days and rainy on others so make sure you pack for both
Most of the pizza we got from little street corners was priced by weight rather than a slice! So if you're on a budget good to be aware of this!
Where we stayed in Rome
Adam was a little nervous about staying in a hostel (not for long though..) so we ended up finding a little hotel behind Corte di cassazione called 'Bella Italia Vacanze'. The hotel itself was impossible for us to find, as it was basically an apartment split into hotel rooms, but after a few phone calls, we found we needed to be buzzed in through a doorway into a courtyard and up some stairs. The staff members were really nice and friendly, giving us tips on what to do and where to go and the room itself was HUGE! The bathroom was also really big, and the bed was comfy. This hotel actually comes with breakfast included, which we didn't know until the morning of our third day, but we found it had little what we wanted and decided we'd rather find some nice cafes to have breakfast at. Also, everyone at the hotel was really friendly, and we met a family that gave us some recommendations.
Day 1- Flight, hotel and pizza!!
We had an evening flight to Rome and we arrived around 8:10 pm. So, we really just wanted to get to the hotel and out for dinner. Once arriving at Rome's airport, we realised we missed the direct bus and headed straight for the train into the city centre. For this, however, it meant getting the train to the centre and then the metro to our hotel. We did get on the wrong train in the city centre and ended up going in the opposite way and due to being tired and hungry, we ended up ordering an uber.
Once we eventually found the hotel and checked in we googled the nearest pizzeria and headed towards it. We went to a place called 'Pizzeria Malaterra', it was a really nice dinner, and we each had a pizza and a bottle of wine to share. There was a little bit of a communication issue with some of the staff but then an English-speaking waiter came over and sorted us out. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and went straight to bed.
Day 2- The pope, sightseeing and Lambrusco
Our first stop this morning was to grab an espresso and some food. Round the corner from our hotel is 'Gran Caffè Valadier'. We really went in just because of the pastries and little cakes they had on display. We told the waiter what we wanted and enjoyed our breakfast (well, Adam shot his espresso due to not liking strong coffee!).
We then started making our way towards Vatican city which was a short walk away from the cafe. Due to the time, we were visiting; it was All Saints' Day (1st Nov), which is a religious holiday. Roman churches are the focus of attention and the pope would read out the Angelus prayer over St Peter’s Square. We ventured up to St Peter’s Basilica and went inside and honestly; I have never been so amazed by the interior and size of a church before. Everywhere you look is something different and the colours are just incredible. After having a look around, we headed back out to St Peter's square and found a spot to wait for the Pope's prayer.
The speech was in Italian but you were able to listen on the phone in English and we really enjoyed following what he said. Plus, it was incredible to even witness something like this.
By the time the prayer had finished, we started to get a little hungry and walked back into the centre. I had found online a pasta place which I was keen to try out but due to no availability we ended up walking down some of the narrow roads until we can across 'il pastaio di roma'. This is a tiny little pasta cafe with limited seating but cheap, fresh pasta. We both went for the carbonara and it was a really nice lunch and filled us up nicely for the afternoon.
We really only planned just to sightsee this afternoon. So, we made a little route to see all the sights. We first headed towards Piazza Navona, and then headed down a street towards the pantheon (we did look at going in but the line was really long) and then towards Trevi Fountain. The fountain was incredibly busy with people taking photos, throwing pennies (if you throw it over your back, it's good luck) and street sellers asking to take your photo. We did give the penny toss a try, but because of the barriers around the fountain being so far up, my penny missed (very sad). After that, we headed down another road to the Spanish steps. We decided to climb them all the way to the top, take some pictures of the view, and came back down. At some point during this walk, we also stopped off at one of the ice cream shops, which was delicious.
After our wander, we fancied a drink and headed towards 'The Abbey Theatre Irish pub'. It's a cosy little pub with really friendly bar staff that had moved over to Rome from Ireland. The pub was packed full of people and the ambience was great. The best part of this place was definitely the espresso martinis. They add baileys into them so it was really nice and creamy. After a few drinks in here, we headed for dinner.
For dinner we headed to 'la piccola cuccagna'. Adam's brother recommended it to us before our trip. It's a small little restaurant down a side alley from Piazza Navona, and we generally had the best evening. We sat outside in between lots of other guests and really enjoyed our meal. The best part about this place was the staff. We made good friends with one of the waiters and we spoke about Brighton and England and him about Italy and his work. We did get very drunk here as the red wine just tasted great. We ended the evening asking for some sweeter wine and out came a bottle of Lambrusco, and that just topped it off for us. We ended up getting an Uber home and going straight to bed.
Day 3- Colosseum, tiramisu and The Hard Rock Cafe
We started the day off by trying breakfast out at the hotel and then headed for the entrance of the Colosseum. It was a little hidden and filled with groups of students, so we did get a little confused about where to go. I already bought tickets and an English guide online before we went, so once inside we had to wait for our guide to turn up.
When she did, we were handed earphones and a little mp3 player that would make it easier to listen to what she was saying. The tour was great, and we were taken to areas which you could not access if alone (under the Colosseum). She told us everything about the colosseum and bits about ancient Rome. In the end, we were given the opportunity to look around ourselves and we took some pictures.
Once finished looking at everything, we headed for some lunch. They have loads of restaurants next to the colosseum (well across the road) and so we decided to go a little further in. We came across this amazing restaurant called 'Trattoria ristorante luzzi', we were able to get a seat outside that had a road leading to the Colosseum and had a great meal (it was also really cheap).
After our meal, we headed back to the area of the Colosseum and headed for Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (which is included in the Colosseum ticket). We had a walk around there and took some more pictures and read a little about the history of the area. By this time, I was getting a bit burnt out from history and we decided to head back to the main city centre.
We now fancied something sweet and, of course, nothing better than Tiramisu in Italy. I read online about a place called 'two sizes', that had many different flavours of tiramisu and we had to try it out. I went for a peanut butter one and a strawberry one. It was incredibly sweet but really hit my sweet spot.
We had more of a walk around after our Tiramisu, going back to the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. We people-watched for a while, tried out the lime scooters and headed back to freshen up at the hotel. For dinner, Adam really wanted to go to the Hard-rock cafe. It was more expensive than what we had for other dinners, but the memorabilia was cool.
Day 4- Bad luck, carbonara and a bar crawl
We started off the day pretty early as we had booked a pasta-making workshop outside of town. We made our way to the bus and travelled about 40-50min by bus to the pickup point by Laurentina Metro Stop. Once arriving, we realised no one was waiting for us. A little anxious about where we had to meet, we phoned up the tour asking if we were meeting somewhere else. The tour said that they didn't actually have any guests coming today as they were on holiday and we shouldn't have been able to book it (this was a Viator issue, not the tours). A bit upset, we both headed to get some breakfast at 'Bar Mezzaluna Roma'. This didn't disappoint, however, as it was the best bakery item we had all the trip. I had this amazing chocolate-filled croissant and I generally still think about it to this day.
On the bus back to the city, we rang up 'La Fraschetta di Castel Sant’Angelo' (which was the restaurant I wanted to go to on day 2) to book a seat for just after lunch. We headed straight there, and both ordered a carbonara, which came in one big pan and a bottle of red wine. This carbonara was the best we have had and I've never seen Adam eat something so fast! The lardons were amazing and tasted great, the pasta was fresh and the sauce was packed full of flavour (I'd definitely recommend it here on a trip to Rome- but make sure you book!). Whilst at the table, we decided to book another experience, going on a ghost walk that evening.
After our lunch, we decided to walk more around Rome and go down streets we hadn't been down yet. We tried out a takeaway Aperol spritz from 'Romoli bar' (Adam wasn't the keenest) and also grabbed ice cream from 'gelateria del teatro'. The ice cream here was so creamy and it was all made using fresh ingredients. I'd definitely recommend an ice cream from here if you are passing! We also tried an Italian McDonald's as an early dinner (as you've got to try it in every country). We then ended up in the 'jazz cafe' with a few drinks before our ghost walk.
When the time came to go to the meeting point of our ghost walk, we made our way and waited for the guide to turn up. But as the time was approaching the start of the tour; our guide was nowhere to be seen. We waited 5 minutes after the start time to see if anyone turned up and then a couple phoned the agency we booked the tour through. Yet again, the tour was cancelled (proper bad luck) due to the guide being ill and so we decided to drink away our bad luck on a bar crawl.
Our first stop was 'Ristorante Mimesi'. We stopped here because it was the first place we saw that would give us a drink. I got a mojito, and it tasted great but it was only us and another couple inside and we wanted somewhere a little more lively (the staff and design were nice though). Next on our crawl was 'La Botticella of Poggi Giovanni'. This is a really nice bar with a huge menu of cocktails and some monkey nuts to snack on. The football was on and the bar was really lively, full of locals and tourists. I really enjoyed all the drinks I had, but the menu is so big I can't remember any! After feeling like we spent enough for the evening, we decided to head home. But actually, we walked past another bar called 'Drink Art Gallery' which had loud music going on and thought we'd stop for one last drink. The decor in this place was great, and the drink was good. We then finally made it home.
By this time, we were hungry again (and drunk) so we ordered Deliveroo pizzas to the hotel. By this point, I fell asleep and left Adam to do the ordering. The whole menu was in Italian and so he ordered what he thought was a pepperoni and 'margarita with a topping'. The pizza took ages to come and when it did arrive, the pepperoni was fine, but the other had anchovies on it! (I'm not usually picky, but anchovies are disgusting). Anyway, we shared Adams' pizza and hoped our bad luck would not go into the next day.
Day 5- Pancakes, Under Trevi fountain and home
In the morning, we checked out of our hotel, but left our bags in the lobby and headed out to find some pancakes for breakfast. We found a little cafe called 'Casa & Bottega' which had a great selection of breakfast items and good coffee. We didn't have much of a plan today other than seeing any sight we missed.
Our first stop was the Alter of the Fatherland. We didn't really know much about this place, but we saw people going inside and thought we would check it out. It's huge inside and the views get better as you get higher up. There is a lift that takes you to the top, which takes cash only, so we ended up going back out to an ATM and back in to go to the top. The views are incredible and you can see the whole city from up there.
For lunch, we headed to 'Mami', as I was keen to try arancini whilst in Rome. We got a portion of Supplì, Arancini and Croquettes. I really liked the arancini, but it maybe was a little too much for me and the croquettes were nice but similar to what I'd get at home. Worth it though to try something new. After this, we popped down the road and grabbed a slice of pizza from a little takeaway pizza slice place(I can't find out what it's called).
The last stop on our list was to go under the Trevi fountain. Round the corner from the fountain is a little doorway with stairs going beneath the fountain. It's a really small museum-type thing that has bridges that overlook the water and structures below. It has a few displays of artefacts found and also a little history about the fountain, but we didn't spend that long in there.
When the time came to head to the airport, we headed back to the hotel and got the shuttle bus to the airport for our flight back to Gatwick.
Overall, I'd really recommend Rome for a little weekend away. It's got a bit of everything and nothing is better than pizza, pasta and gelato! I was a bit disappointed with being let down by the tours as I think that would have really made the trip special, but we still had a good time anyhow.
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