When in Rome...

December 2015-January 2016

...you pack a huge amount of stuff into your trip! 

We flew in to Rome and landed early afternoon. After a slightly crazy drive in the shuttle, we were dropped off at our hotel.

We had a very cheap lunch at Navona Notte, a pizza, mussels, pasta, bean dish and flatbread for €25, and a nice bottle of red for an extra €12.

The Pantheon was amazing, even better than we'd expected. Rach in particular was pretty awestruck. And to think it was built 2000 years ago, and it's still standing.

Roman Gelato is also pretty tasty. We tried some interesting varieties (e.g. millefoglie) as well as standards ( hazelnut, berry). I tried coconut gelato for the first time and developed quite a taste for it.

Our hotel was small (only 8 rooms or so) but comfortable. They also told us as we checked in that they'd put on their traditional appettivo for us on New Year's Eve. We expected a glass of wine and some cheese - and instead got a bottle of prosecco, a platter of cheese, salami, crostini with caviar and salmon, and a big box of chocolates.

New Year's celebrations at the Colosseum were cool but odd.  The Colosseum was an amazing backdrop, but as the countdown finished the expected fireworks were nowhere to be seen or heard, apparently due to terrorist threats in other cities. Instead people set off their own - sparks and loud bangs erupted from within the crowd of thousands of people. Rach was less than impressed with the explosions - she felt that if there were actually gunfire you probably wouldn't have known.

We saw the pope! Papa Francesco (as he's known to the locals) addressed the audience in St Peters Square on New Year's Day. He brought the house down with his witty banter and had the audience of thousands eating out of the palm of his hand. There was also a lot of papal merchandise - mugs, coasters, rosary beads, calendars all bearing his face. I did feel a bit sorry for Pope Benedict though - he was completely overlooked on the papal merchandise front, in favour of his predecessors and successor. Rachel thinks it's probably because he looks so evil.

We tried to have a look around inside the Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore - but Papa Francesco had to ruin that for us, with an appearance at the church overwhelming it with visitors. Thanks, Francis!

We also ran into Frank later that night. He was more than happy to pose for photos, but wanted money for some strange reason...

After a short trip back to the hotel, we were out again to have dinner at Enoteca Barberini, a place recommended by one of Rachel's workmates. We had some top quality pasta, and I particularly liked my mozzarella and tomatoes.

Rome is such a nice place just to "roam" - there are amazing sights just about everywhere.

The Trevi Fountain.

The Colosseum at night is a sight every visitor to Rome should see. Away from the crowds, you can really appreciate this wonder of ancient Roman engineering and how it still stands despite the efforts of earthquakes, time, and pillagers in bringing it down. We also had a great vantage point looking over the Foro Romano (Roman Forum) where you can fully appreciate the efforts of those ancient Romans (though to be fair it was mostly the work of their slaves).

Pizza. Generally pretty spectacular in Rome. Pizza bases in Rome tend to be quite thick, some just like bread rather than what we're used to as pizza  while others can be the "traditional" thin pizza base, and simple with only two or three toppings. We had a few slices at Pizzarium Bonci, a jam-packed, manic little pizzeria just behind the Vatican City which were pretty much heavenly. Slices are often sold by weight (e.g. 20 euros per kg). The prosciutto and cheese pizza came out tops.

The Vatican Museums were pretty cool. I booked our tickets online so we were able to skip the crazy, several hundred metre-long queue - but still we had to avoid the attentions of the scammers and frauds who offered to skip the lines for us. One even started to insult as we walked off, thinking we were Australians. Raphael's Rooms and the room of maps were highlights for us, along with the Sistine Chapel which is one the few attractions which lives up to its reputation.

St Peter's Basilica was impressive - for the short glimpse we had, anyway. After waiting over two hours to get in, we were on a tight timetable to see the impressive view from the top in time to get to our food tour.

This reminds me of a band looking out into a crowd at the start of the show. They're actually the saints at the top of St Peter's Basilica. 

Our Trastavere food tour was excellent. Among the highlights were drinking wine in a 2000 year old ancient Roman cellar, and eating delicious porchetta at a deli. Among the lowlights, being the only people in an 11 person tour not from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, not interested in Pennsylvanian universities, nor in finding the Pennsylvanian-themed beer bar in Rome. 

That's me looking through a wine list. It was about a thousand pages long.

This is the Pons Fabricius, the oldest original Roman bridge. It's been standing since 62BC

And of course, we went inside the Colosseum. While more impressive from the outside, it's still important to see the inside, where thousands of people would crowd in to watch animals and people slaughter each other. We also wandered around the Palatino (Palatine Hill) complex and the Foro Romano, both of which were slightly confusing jumbles of stone, but interesting nonetheless. 

Our last outing in Rome was lunch, possibly the best meal we had. It was a small restaurant right near the Pantheon, so it should have been a tourist trap - but it wasn't. It was cheap, excellent quality and laid back, with a lot of locals eating there. We finished off Rome with deep fried artichoke hearts, pasta and wine.

This is just a tiny but delicious fraction of all the food we ate.