When in Rome...
... Eat a lot of pasta, see the sights, and load up on pictures! Starting off our visit to Italy with beautiful and historical Rome.
So much to see in a city that dates back how many centuries, didn't even really think about food - at first. Then after seeing all pictures and places to eat, outside of pizza and pasta (which totally lives up to the hype, as long as you don't end up in a tourist trap which can easily happen). There's also quite a bit of seafood and of course gelato, coffee, desserts, etc. So here we go!
Arriving early afternoon we had time for one stop, the Pantheon! You can see it though the alleyways as you're walking towards it. The size is overwhelming! Then you see all the tourists, wonder how long it's going to take to get in, send the husband into the line while you take pictures and then be pleasantly surprised the queue moves super fast! I thought the inside would have been bigger, maybe because there actually weren't that many people inside compared to those waiting outside or that I was expecting more after being blown away by exterior. Regardless, very happy we made the stop.
A couple blocks away is the very famous gelato shop Giolitti. Absolutely flooded with people, can barely make out the flavours with all the bodies in the way. It was delicious and refreshing, however, I can't say it was the best we had during our trip. A must-visit because it's an icon but you'll find tastier and cheaper... My fave places that we tried out to come ;-)
I booked as many skip-the-line tickets as possible since standing in a queue is a waste of time. The best thing was booking the early access to the Vatican, skip the line and get in before the crowd does. Arriving just after 7am for check-in we were inside the Vatican Museum (above) before 7:30 and had a tour guide explain the history of the tapestries, maps, etc. We get to the entrance of the Sistine Chapel just before 8am when the doors open. I've heard from many friends that it's normally shoulder to shoulder, can't imagine trying to lean back to see the masterpiece on the ceiling in that kind of crowd. Happy to grab a seat on the back bench and take as much in as possible. The company we used was City Wonders and would recommend them.
By the time we made it to the veranda to see St. Peter's Square there was a line that snaked about 1/4 the way around square, it was only about 10am! It was a hot and sunny day so standing in that wouldn't have been pleasant.
Jet lag isn’t so bad, you can use the time to go to the super early things like 7am tours. It’s funny, sleeping isn’t that important on vacation but is top priority back home.
Around the corner from the Vatican is a pizza place called Alice Pizza, recommended by our guide. Order by the slice, everything looked amazing and we were famished so we certainly bit off more than we can chew. Actually worked out, having done the touristy thing - look for the pie with the least slices left and order that - we essentially had a taste of each pie! The more popular local flavours did not work for us non-Italians (fish apparently is a popular flavour!) but we still were stuffed from the different types of cured meats, mushrooms, veggies toppings
Later that evening we wandered to Trastevere since there's lots of shops that open late along with restaurants and bars. We had a nice drink at a trendy place called 404 Name Not Found. Friendly staff and cheap beer and wine. The highlight though had to be the dinner we had at Da Enzo, the pasta was fabulous!
The wait was about an hour and I was totally regretting not grabbing a snack at 404 but it was worth the wait. The traditional lasagna (above) and carbonara was 5/5! Carbonara (below) seems to be the specialty and go to in Rome so it's a must try. At Da Enzo they use a pork cheek bacon that has a nice hint of smokiness and just the right amount of crisp. Who doesn't love lasagna, let's be honest. The meat sauce was perfectly seasoned with a right thickness. Watery meat sauce is a tragedy (which you'd often come across with lasagna at home), makes the pasta too soft and ruins the whole dish. The tiramisu was also delicious, not overly sweet, smooth cream and coffee with ladyfingers soaking it all in.
We joined another skip the line tour for the Colosseum and Roman Forum (Walks of Italy). The guide, Guido, was full of information but also monotone like a jaded junior high teacher. So you want to listen and learn but struggle to keep focused. Well worth it to have him lead the way since there's so much to see and loads of other tour groups but would have been more enjoyable if he had just a wee bit of enthusiasm.
When I researched how we'd explore the Colosseum I had seen so many picture of the exterior, with the one side that had crumbled because of the many earthquakes, but not many pics of the inside. Without the guide's explanation we couldn't have guessed half the things and what they were for. Like in the image above, this was where many of the animals, from all over the world, were brought into view - using man powered elevators! Well slave powered pulley systems, each animal, could be hippos, giraffes, leopards, skunks, etc, would be brought up at different times to increase the suspense for the audiences, rising from different parts of the stage. The larger animals, like elephants and lions, would come through a side entrance. All animals were kept in the dark and starved for several days to ensure they would come out enraged and attack the first thing it saw. Who would have known?
The Spanish Steps was just around the corner from our hotel. Typically packed with visitors. It was a pleasant surprise when we were leaving to go to the train station one early morning to see they it was almost completely empty. The contrast from the night before is actually kinda magical, to feel like you have the place all to yourself after seeing literally thousands of people just 10 hours before bending and reaching to try and get a selfie that doesn't have 25 people photobombing you. It was peaceful, nice way to leave Rome and head to our next destination - Florence.