The flight was pretty smooth. While we had good intentions to sleep for a few hours, we weren't able to sleep a wink. Our seats were in the middle of the plane next to bathrooms that were busy round the clock. Delta served hot towels, dinner, multiple rounds of drinks, and breakfast before we landed and we enjoyed the TV's on the seat in front of us with tons of movie choices. I watched Crazy Rich Asians.
We changed and freshened up in the airport in Rome before getting through customs, getting our luggage, and finding our transportation. I had pre-arranged a car company to pick us up, but since Delta switched our flights it was a bit of a fiasco. Thankfully a woman working at the airport let us use her phone and helped us talk to the company. They sent someone right away and we were on our way to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Nazionale in the city center. It was a perfect location - walking distance to all the major attractions and located in the plaza with the Parliament so it was guarded by the police 24/7. We dropped off our bags and set out to find a quick lunch.
The hotel recommended a cute pizza by the slice place right down the street and it hit the spot! We used the map provided by the hotel to walk to the Piazza Navona to see the three fountains. It was stunning! Cafes and shops lined the Piazza and were lucky enough to hear the church bells ring marking a new hour.
Next up was the Pantheon. We were able to go inside and see the oculus at the top. This was probably my favorite Piazza, as we eventually realized how close it was to our hotel and was always our path going places and coming back to our hotel daily. There were always street performers and busy cafes full of people. I just loved it!
We walked on to the Trevi Fountain from here and we could hear the water cascading down a few blocks away letting us know we were getting close. This was probably the busiest attraction out of the four we saw that day and it was pretty hot at this point in the day. I needed water (running on no sleep and hot temps = exhaustion). Once I was re-hydrated we enjoyed tossing a coin into the fountain in the hopes that we'll return (it worked the first time for me years ago!) and getting up close to the water.
Our final stop for the afternoon were the Spanish Steps. There's a fun fountain at the bottom of the steps and designer shops lining the streets leading up to the steps. Scott climbed to the very top, but I hung out in the middle trying to fight off the street vendors selling their things illegally (I did get to watch two vendors get chased down the steps by the police!).
At this point in the afternoon our room was ready and we were both ready for a nap and shower. Walking back we stopped at Giolitti's for our first Gelato of the trip (and certainly not our last). We were so lucky to have the number one ranked Gelato shop right by our hotel. I tried pineapple and strawberry and it was to die for! Our room had a great view of the Parliment with windows that opened wide in both the bedroom and the sitting room. We took a nice two hour nap, took a shower and got put back together to head out for dinner.
Dinner was at a restaurant I found on Tripadvisor before we left in the Campo di Fiori area of Rome. It was such a cute piazza with outdoor restaurants, a mime performing in the street, and a two person band walking around from restaurant to restaurant performing. I had the Carbonara and Scott tried the Cacia e Pepe (the two most recommended pastas in Rome). They were delicious! We split a bottle of wine and enjoyed our evening, even though we got lost walking back to the hotel. But, if getting lost takes us through the Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, a random church, a fun wine shop built in what looked like a cave, and another Gelato shop, I didn't mind one bit.
Friday morning we ate at the hotel with their breakfast, which we learned (and how quickly I forgot from studying abroad...) that breakfast in Europe is either sweets or a sandwich with lunch meat. So, sandwiches it was! We started off for the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Everything I read said to buy tickets at the Roman Forum for both attractions and the line would be shorter and they were right. We bought tickets with a timed entrance to the Colosseum shortly after. The Colosseum is so amazing on the outside and so not what you're imagining on the inside. The inside is kind of disappointing in a way, but we still really enjoyed our visit and using Rick Steve's audio guide to help us understand what we were looking at.
The Roman Forum was up next and it was very hot at this point. Again, Rick Steve's audio guide was really helpful and we would pause it to look around and take things in. Scott was really into hearing about the history. We climbed up to the Palantine Hill to get an amazing view of the Colosseum and Roman Forum at the end of the tour and he still says that was his favorite part of Rome. It really was breathtaking. We had a great morning!
We were more than ready to get out of the sun and grab some lunch. We walked back towards the hotel and stopped at a restaurant for some pizza and salad. It was so good! We picked a spicy salami pizza and it did not disappoint!
We took another nap at the hotel late afternoon and got showered and ready for dinner at Roscioli's that we had a reservation for. This came highly recommended by my brother and sister-in-law so we made a reservation since they don't take walk-ins for dinner. It was near the Campo di Fiori again and we had a table in the wine cellar in the basement. Scott picked a ravioli stuffed with Oxtail and I opted for a gnocchi with the Cacio e Pepe sauce. It was pretty good and the dessert served at the end was a nice touch. We strolled back to the hotel (getting lost again) shopping for souvenirs and buying bottles of wine to take on the cruise ship.
Our last full day in Rome we had tickets purchased ahead of time for the Vatican Museum. We ate the breakfast at the hotel again and took a taxi to the Vatican Museum. It was a breeze getting in to the museum, skipping the line. There was so much to see! I'm so glad I wore my tennis shoes, even though it probably looked funny with a skirt and top. The Sistine Chapel was as amazing as I remembered and Scott loved the Egypt exhibit.
After leaving the museum we went over to St. Peter's Basilica and waited in a short line. We were already pretty worn out from walking the museum so we opted not to climb up all the steps to the dome at the top to see the amazing view, but no regrets! We walked around, took it all in, took our pictures, and were ready to grab some lunch in Trastevere.
We were more than ready to sit down and eat somewhere, but we wanted to get to Trastevere, which was quite a walk along the river. It was so well worth the walk! It's such a beautiful part of Rome with ivy and foliage growing along the sides of the buildings, cute restaurants and cafes, and cheaper prices! We grabbed a late lunch at a restaurant where I did a 4 course meal with bruschetta, lasagna, roasted chicken, and tiramisu. And the wine - it was so cheap and good as a house wine! Scott didn't mind strolling the streets drinking beer. It was such a nice afternoon.
I had found a bar recommendation on Tripadvisor that had craft beer in Trastevere and with a little help from the waiter at lunch and our map, we found it! It even had a Founders sticker on their wall! We found our way back to the hotel and decided to stay in for the evening, only venturing out to buy a few last minute souvenirs and a few more bottles of beer to have back at the hotel. We played Yahtzee on the iPad and had a quiet evening in packing to leave for the port in the morning. We woke up in the middle of the night to the loudest thunderstorm we had ever heard! It was so cool. I even got up to take a video of it!
Our time in Rome had come to an end for the time being. In the morning we were off to Civitavecchia for the cruise to Greece!
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