When in Rome!

For the longest time when someone would ask me which city I wanted to visit at least once in my life, I would say Rome. Two main reasons; I'd heard a lot about it from friends who had been there and I wanted to see all the historical marvels myself (Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, etc).

In 2013, while doing my Masters degree in London, I planned a 'post-exams' trip with a friend of mine. We were supposed to spend three days in Rome and then go on to Paris to join some of our other friends. As luck would have it, my visa didn’t come through on time and I ended up going directly to Paris and missing my much awaited trip to Rome. After this incident, I guess it's safe to say, that visiting Rome this July was truly a "dream come true". If you want to know my opinion on the city, read on ahead :)

Before I get into it, just some general information: My visit to Rome was part of a 30-day trip (mid July- mid August, 2015) all over Europe in which I went to about 14 cities. My travel buddies were my parents and my sisters, (sounds cliché, but they are also my best friends in the world). I can’t help but compare each city to the other places I have visited, and that will probably be obvious in my writing.

A street near the Pantheon

I’ve been relating my trip stories to a lot of my friends and because we visited so many places, I feel like I’ve been a bit harsh on Italy. Maybe because it was the first stop and it was the hottest (apparently there was a heat wave in the country at the time). Or maybe because the train system was the most ill-managed (caused us to miss several trains and waste a whole day in the country). I don’t know what it was but in hind-sight, all I remember right now are all the things I loved about Italy. So I’ll probably be focusing on the positives in my posts [even though some of you may have also heard some negative thoughts from me in real life conversations.]

Because this is my first travel post on the blog, I feel like I need to explain some things about the way this will work. I’m not going to go over each and every thing I did in each city, because let’s face it that would get a little boring. So I’ll talk more in detail about some of the things I feel like I have something to say regarding.

Rome, as fate would have it, turned out to be the first stop on our month long Euro trip. It was initially going to be our last stop but our visa came late, so we had to change the itinerary and long story short, we ended up in Rome.

I always imagined Rome to be very clean, sophisticated and (at the risk of sounding weird) small scale and quaint. Don’t ask me why, I just thought it would be more town-like than metropolitan-city-like. However, if you've been there, you'd know that Rome is anything but small scale. From the trees to the buildings to the historical landmarks, everything in the city is massive. I was a little disappointed and surprised to see that the city isn’t very clean. I’m sure it’s largely due to the tourist population that infuses the city in the summer months, but still, I expected it to be much cleaner than it was.  So basically, Rome was nothing like what I imagined it to be, but I still really really liked it.

I loved the tall, towering trees all over the place, they’re the first thing you notice when you enter the city center. Another thing I instantly loved  was the old-world feel in the city, it was like being thrown back a 1000 years or so and being in the middle of a history book (of course you’d come back to reality when another tourists’ selfie stick was waving in your face– but you get what I mean). Every corner you’d turn there would be a 100 year old monument or ruins of an old castle in front of you; it was kind of intimidating and awesome at the same time.

Treeeees!

I think one of my favorite parts of Rome were the small, winding streets that led up to the Trevi Fountain. They reminded me a lot of the streets of Latin Quarter in Paris, which I visited back in 2013. Except that these were the real deal.  Walking through the streets during the evening, listening to local musicians playing on street corners and buying little trinkets along the way was exactly what I’d always imagined being in Rome would be like. The Trevi Fountain (which was unfortunately partially under construction at this time) was also gorgeous, and as with everything in Rome, much much bigger than I imagined.

The Spanish Steps and Piaza di Spagna, a short walk away from the Trevi fountain, were so lively and charming. Once again, the area reminded me of something in Paris; the steps outside Sacre Couer and how they’re also bustling with people and energy at night. I really loved the atmosphere of this whole place.

I truly believe that some of the most beautiful and interesting things you see in a city, you sort of just stumble upon. San Marcello al Corso is an example of one such  marvel that we found by chance, while in search of the Pantheon. It’s a beautiful church, located somewhere between Piaza Venezia and Piaza de Popolo, and in my opinion it is totally underrated. I’m posting a few pictures of it below. Plus similar to the streets leading up to Trevi, the streets all around the Pantheon are also so charming and ‘Italian’, it’s totally worth it to explore this whole area on foot.

San Marcello al Corso 

When you’re going to Rome, you automatically reserve an entire day of your trip for the Vatican City. We had quite an adventure on the way to the Vatican , which literally involved me running after a little thief (inside a bus), grabbing her, and my sister body searching the girl to recover her stolen iPhone 6. I’m just putting this in here as a warning to future travelers. I know we all hear about pick-pockets all our lives and we think ‘oh it’ll never happen to me’, that’s exactly what we thought, but then it did!

We were extremely lucky to be alerted by a stranger on the bus that something fishy was going on; he kept pointing to our bags and then to the little girl that had previously been standing next to us and was at that time making her way off the bus. I guess ‘fight or flight’ mode kicked in and thank God for it, because without thinking about what I was doing, I ran after the girl the second I heard my sister yell ‘my phone’s gone’. At the time, you don’t really realize what’s happening because it all happens so quickly but I do remember feeling extremely scared about grabbing a little girl by the arm and thinking ‘what if she doesn’t have it’/ ‘I’m harassing a little kid’! 

Really can’t be thankful enough to God that we got the phone back, otherwise it would have put a damper on the whole trip. Later found out from other bus passengers that she was Romanian gypsy and quite a well known crook, we were told her name as well but I’ve forgotten it now. So word of caution is to be careful on Bus no. 64 to Vatican City. Apparently it’s notorious for this kind of thing (my sister later found out with a bit of Google searching)

Altar of the Fatherland

Switching gears a bit, general word of advice to people travelling to Rome – book your tickets for EVERYTHING in advance! This advice saved us so much time, I can’t thank the people enough who warned us. We didn’t have to wait in long queues at the Coloseum or the Vatican Museums, which was seriously very relieving because the lines went on for days!

Being an idiot, inside the Vatican Museums

I’ve been to Topkapi Museum and The Louvre as well, and they really don’t compare to the grandeur of the Vatican Museums. It has also been maintained really well and there was all sorts of restoration work going on even now, so hats off to the Romans, but it was really something else. Other than the Sistine Chapel, my personal favorites were the rooms with all the tapestries and maps and the Raphael rooms. Definitely can’t put my finger on my favorite room in the museum.

Inside the Vatican Museums

I think St. Peter’s Basilica definitely takes the cake for the most marvelous basilica I’ve ever seen. It was just so magnificent and intricate. We literally sat on the floor for quite some time just staring up at the ceiling. Then there was the altar and all the statues and the floor and I can keep going on and on. Please don’t be discouraged by the long lines outside it when you go to the Vatican City. They move very quickly and entrance is free with your ticket to the Museums so you MUST go.

A glimpse into St. Peter's

Other amazing (popular) monuments in Rome which you must see if you visit: Colosseum (duh!), Pantheon, Altar della Patria/‘Altar of the Fatherland’. All three of these monuments are magnificent in their own right, the only reason I’m not going into detail about them is because I’ll probably just end up repeating things like ‘wow’ and ‘I loved it’ :p

Last but not least, one of the most enjoyable things we did in Rome was eat out at various amazing restaurants and devour lots and lots of gelato! This is a must do because Italian food is famous for a reason, its epic. I’m wrapping up the post with some info regarding one of the yummiest restaurants we ate at (there were a lot but I forget the names now). It’s called “Caffe Leonardo Pizzeria”, situated at Piazza Mignanelli, very very close to the Spanish Steps. Order the pasta dishes, they are to die for!

Penne Arabiata - scrumptious!

Before I go, some general traveler tips for the city:

1. Take a hat, umbrella and/or fan with you, it's boiling in the summer.

2. Pack lots and lots of sunscreen.

3. Take care of your belongings when out and about. Literally clutch your bag!
4. Eat a lot of pizza and pasta!

P.S: I’d like to give a special shout out to Nimre and Aleena, two people who really helped me plan out the ‘Things to do in Rome’ itinerary. Thanks girls, you were a big help!

Happy wandering. Hope this post helps someone plan their trip in some way!