Rome Was Amazing!

I've been back from Rome since Tuesday and have been psyching myself up to write about it ever since. I took 300 photos (which I've whittled down to 140) and went everywhere I could except for the Vatican - which means there's a lot of stuff to write about!

We spent a brilliant 4 days pounding the streets taking in as much as we could. Rome is stuffed full of beautiful things and around every corner was something remarkable - 2000-year old ruins, beautiful architecture, towering statues, secret gardens, massive entrance doors, and huge plazas. Rome doesn't really do things on a small scale...

The architecture in Rome appeared quite consistent. The buildings were my idea of aesthetic heaven with square symmetry and straight lines. They all had shutters and massive doors with little ones secretly hidden inside. They were imposing and bold and I thought they were stunning. Even newer buildings had been designed to fit this ideal so there wasn't this awful mish-mash of elegant old buildings and nasty 60's carbuncles.

The food was simply outstanding. It was cheap (if you knew where to look) and we spent very long lunches at little trattorias drinking wine and eating pasta. The wine was 8-10 Euros for a litre and we had one for lunch and one at dinner most days! The coffee was just gorgeous and served exactly as it should be - which is to say not in buckets with a tonne of shit on it.

I love how the creator of Starbucks wanted to recreate Italian coffee for the masses but made such a hash of it they won't allow one single Starbucks to open in Italy. Italian coffee is smooth, dark, strong and hot. It cannot be beaten and shouldn't be fucked around with. I have very strong feelings about this as I've written before. It also costs about 90p a cup which is a gift from heaven if you ask me.

Another ritual we seemed to fall into most days was eating ice cream. There were so many places to find astonishing flavours that we just had to try as many as we could. I rediscovered chestnut ice cream which I first come across in Sorento and completely forgotten about. I introduced it to BBF and he was more than grateful.

Rome is quite hectic but not a patch on Naples. Lots of scooters zip around and, with cars coming at you every direction, you have to keep an eye out. What look like zebra crossings are in fact meaningless and even if the green man is lit up, you still don't have right of way. We discovered you just have to stride out and hope for the best! We only saw 2 brave cyclists the whole time.

One afternoon we met a Yorkshire couple outside the Colosseum looking for directions into the Palatino and Forum. These suckers had just paid 20 Euros to have their photo taken with a mock 'Gladiator' (read bloke in Reebok sandals and a skirt) and they couldn't wait to get home. Bizarrely this bloke was saying how Rome was really dirty and how he'd never knock the UK again. I'd swap Rome for Scarborough any day and I felt grateful we weren't those kind of travellers. Obviously you have to seek out the good places and avoid the touristy ones.

The only thing I'd change if I went again is to have 3 full days there instead of 4. Our feet were absolutely killing us by the second day even though we used the bus a lot. We got a Roma Pass for 25 Euros so could use the public transport for 3 days and get into 2 major attractions. This doesn't include the Vatican but the Colosseum, the Palatino and The Forum count as one and The Pantheon is free anyway as it's a church. You can also jump the queue with the pass. 

One of the nicest moments was the first night we arrived. We dropped our bags at the hotel and took an amble into the centre. We found a little place and had wine and pizza outside while we circled places on the map we wanted to see during our stay. We then went for a wander, turned a corner and there stood the Colosseum. The place was deserted, all lit up and it looked stunning. We stood looking at this age-old monument in the warm night air and felt really lucky to be there. It was a great start to our holiday.

In fact, if you live in the UK it would be possible to go to Rome for a day. It was only £60 return each to fly to Fiumicino, 14 Euros for the train from the airport to the Termini station, and then the food and transport were really cheap. You could get there late morning, fly back in the evening and only spend around £150 You'd need a bit more for the sights but for a couple of hundred quid you'd have an amazing day in Rome. 

So I would have to say that my birthday trip was a resounding success. We had a great time and BBF even bought some presents out for me including a card from Dillinger that he'd nibbled and scratched to authenticate. I've spend 3 birthdays in Italy now and may spend the next one in Muscat with Star Trek Girl. But for my 40th birthday, all roads led to Rome.