We had been meaning to visit Rome for some time now, but never got around to doing it, so we booked it, and we went…
So on Friday, we set off to Bristol around 10:30, once arrived and parked up, and with the knowledge that the pre-pay technology didn’t work – we had a quick beer after struggling through security, and we were on holiday – 2.5 hrs from Bristol to Rome.
Great train from the airport, the Leonardo Express, which takes you right into the heart of Rome in about 30 mins – you can get your ticket at the airport, and it really is easy. Once in Rome, we wandered over to the hotel.
I had booked two hotels, The Independent Hotel and The Navona Palace Residenze di Charme, both had decent reviews, but the Navona was right in the middle and noisier than the others. Baring in mind we had to get from the station to the hotel and then back again, I took the executive decision to keep us in the Independent, which was 5 mins from the train station.
Great guy at the counter, and we had been bumped to a room with a balcony, which was nice. After a quick relax, we walked into Rome proper for our first view of the place.
First thing to notice was how warm it was, baring in mind this was the beginning of December, I think we had over packed the warmness, we took a right out of the hotel, a right and a left and walked down a road with loads of armed guards outside the building – I assume this was the embassy’s? The we got to the Quirinal Palace with mor armed dudes, down the steps and another right and we were at the Trevi Fountains. Which are some fountains.
Took some photos of people taking photos, and was amazed by the number of people not actually looking at the attraction but taking selfies of themselves – all a bit odd for me, and something which happened more and more throughout the trip. After having a look at this stuff, we headed down Via delle Muratte towards the Pantheon. Just follow the road, and it takes you right there, passing many hawkers, who at this point we just ignored. We got to the Pantheon at the exact second it closed, so we carried on past it and over to Piazza Navono – where we thought we might have to put up with a Christmas market – but there wasn’t one.
We sat in one of the many restaurants, and looked at the prices – 21 Euro for a large beer, o we got up again and carried on walking around. Almost opposite was another place with a nice guy who wangled us in, medium beer was I think 9 euro – medium is half a litre, which is a little bit like a pint. We had two of those and left a little bit poorer. As we were leaving a hawker with bags did a splendid deal with an Italian customer who, no messing told the guy he would give him 15 E for the bag, which had initially started at I think 50 – something for later.
From here we walked down the allies until we got to our second hotel – it was really in the action, and I was happy with the choice we made. We walking aimlessly for a bit and passed quite a few places, until we found ourselves back by the Pantheon and a food place that had been packed previously. We sat outside, me in just a shirt, and had some very pleasent seafood spaghetti and a large beer. Food was grand and the beer was massive, a large beer is a litre, and came in a sort of stien that I had to use two hands to lift.
After a return along our original way in, we got back to the hotel and had a final drink on the roof top terrace. Rome was nice.