Reminiscing about Rome

For the Christmas holidays we rented an apartment for a week in Rome to do a bit of sightseeing and to celebrate Christmas. It was a good time of year to go, not too many tourists and actually still a pleasant temperature to be outside, especially when the sun was shining. As with many European capitals, there is always more things to see and do than you have time for, but I think we managed a fair amount during our week at a leisurely pace.

We were also fortunate to know a local who showed us around some of the less well-known areas, starting with the district of Trastevere. It is a nice area to walk around in with small streets and quaint shops. We also enjoyed an excellent traditional ‘pizzetta’ at Pizzeria ai Marmi. We ventured even further out of the city centre to go to Eataly, a large space that is a mix between a supermarket and a food court specialising in traditional and local Italian products. While not limited to Rome, as there are Eataly locations around the world, it is definitely an Italian experience.

Eating in Rome is an experience in itself. Even though we rented an apartment for the week and did quite a bit of cooking there, we ate out quite a few times in some great places. We had an excellent, leisurely Christmas Day lunch at MOMA with delicious and unique food and friendly service. We also enjoyed eating at Hosteria Grappolo d’Oro where we had a percorso romano, enjoying several courses of traditionally Roman food. We did Asian one night at the chic Green T restaurant near our apartment – not your average Chinese restaurant. I would also recommend Tre Scalini on Piazza Navona for their famous truffle dessert (delicious), but the rest of the food for dinner (or lunch) is overpriced and not great. We had our last dinner at Babette which had an informal setting, but tasty food.

Apart from eating our way around Rome we did also do some sightseeing. As we wandered around Rome we saw some of its most famous monuments. Not too far from our apartment was Piazza Venezia and the dominating national monument dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II. Inside the building there are some free exhibits about Italy’s military history as well as the history of the unification of Italy – with some explanations in English. The views from the terraces behind the monument are also worth it. We didn’t pay the 7 euros to go up the elevator to the special viewing gallery on top, but I’d imagine you’d get some incredible views there too.

We did the obligatory coin toss at the Trevi Fountain – luckily there weren’t too many people there when we went. Next we carried on to the Spanish Steps and did some luxury window shopping. We climbed up to see sunset above Piazza del Popolo from the Villa Borghese Gardens. We came another day specifically to see the Gallery there, which has a very unique ticketing procedure. You have to reserve your tickets in advance for a specific time frame that lasts two hours, once those two hours are over you and the other visitors in that group are escorted out. They have a very impressive collection that is definitely worth a visit and the audioguide is also quite useful for some of the paintings where there is no written description.

We also passed by Piazza Navona and checked out the Christmas market there, but is was kind of underwhelming compared to the one they have in Brussels. Some good food stalls, but most of the the stalls were carnival style games with chintzy prizes. Although the Grom ice cream shop just off the square is highly recommended they even do hot chocolate and coffee with ice cream (caffè affogato) if gelato is too much for you to handle in December!

We also visited another country (sort of) – the Vatican. On one of our evening passeggiatas we wandered around the outside of the Vatican all lit up and with a huge Christmas tree in Piazza San Pietro. On Sunday morning, we also went to see the Pope give his message from the balcony window, not the main balcony as I had pictured in my head. Almost the whole square gets filled up with people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. A few days later we dedicated a whole day to see the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica.

You do have to wait a bit to get into the museums and you get hassled quite a bit by people offering tours. However, we resisted hiring a guide and going through the fast lane, but it paid off as in the end of the ‘slow line’ only took 15 minutes to get in. There is lots to see in the museum and I was glad we went early in the morning, but there is not enough time, even if you spent all day there, to see everything.  It’s a shame the entrance fee is so high, as it discourages you from going again.

I really enjoyed the map hallway with all the different parts of Italy and the Raffaello rooms for the artwork (almost more than the Sistine Chapel). The museum even had a contemporary art section was quite unexpected! The Sistine Chapel was well done and impressive, but quite crowded which kind of ruins the peacefulness.

After the Sistine Chapel we took group exit which lets you go directly to St Peter’s without queuing again outside. We bought tickets to do the dome climb all the way on foot (500+ steps), no elevator for us! The first part was quite doable for most people of average fitness, the second part was more tricky. At one point as you going around dome the walls are crooked and you walk half leaning over making the last bit very dizzying! However it was absolutely worth it! We also timed it well as the sun was just starting to go down as we reached the top of the dome.

We also took in some lesser known churches. We saw the first Jesuit church, Chiesa del Gesù, which has remarkable sculptures and an impressive dome that almost seems three dimensional. Another Jesuit church also had a very interesting ceiling. As you enter Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola it looks like it has a very impressive dome, but as you approach you realise it is an optical illusion and in fact has no dome – it is just painted to look that way from some angles! We also killed some time in the colossal basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri near Piazza della Repubblica.

Of course a visit to Rome wouldn’t be complete without seeing some of the major archaeological sites. We got the combined ticket for the Colosseum and the Roman Forum which is good for a single entry to each over 48 hours. We were at the Colosseum quite early in the morning so we were ambitious and decided to do both in one day. The lines to get in weren’t very long, especially the one for the Roman Forum.

You can easily do the Colosseum in less than two hours, even with the audioguide. The Roman Forum is much bigger and requires quite a bit more time. In both places I would say the audioguides are not really worth it as there is quite a lot of written information in English and Italian.

Be prepared to fight with other tourists (mostly at the Colosseum) to see things and take photos, because even though it was December it was jam packed. I’m just glad it wasn’t 40° and sweltering – better 10° and sunny.  If you manage to climb the Palatine Hill in the Roman Forum, it offers some great views of different parts of the city of Rome.

Rome is full of archaeological sites – some still being excavated dating from the Roman period also to more modern sites. Another site worth mentioning that is worth seeing that is not too far from the Colosseum is Circo Massimo. Here you can see the ruins of a chariot racing stadium, which has recently been redone. However, as with all the ruins you need to bring your imagination with you!

It is easy to see why Rome is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, especially for North Americans “doing Europe” in two weeks. There is always more to see, as the city has so much history and culture. It is hard not to be amazed by all of this.