Reply With QuoteThere will be a queue involved, but make sure you go and see the Sistine Chapel. I'm a complete philistine but that really was incredible. Michaelangelo - I take my hat off to you, sir.
Cheers,
Plug
Chaps,
After bags of useful info on Barcelona (and Venice and Naples thinking about it over the years), leading up to our trip this time last year, this Winters/Spring cultural city break of choice is Rome for Mrs P, Henry (13yo son) and handsome. We will fly BA and thinking we will have an apartment which we did last year in Barca.
McBeardy's thread last July was superb, but it would be great for any further ideas of area's, bars, restaurants, places and areas to stay and things to do. Any recommendations and experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Pitch
There will be a queue involved, but make sure you go and see the Sistine Chapel. I'm a complete philistine but that really was incredible. Michaelangelo - I take my hat off to you, sir.
Cheers,
Plug
Buy your tickets for the Colosseum at the Forum, not at the Colosseum itself - you can get a combined ticket, the Forum is well worth seeing and you'll have nothing like the same wait in the queue as you get at the Colosseum.
I think Rome is probably my favourite city.
Whilst doing 'everything' would be fantastic, I'd advise a tour of the colosseum above all. These guys were great:
https://www.walksofitaly.com/rome-to...FZMYGwodJncN4A
Also I would highly recommend a food tour to sample the real Roman food:
http://www.eatingitalyfoodtours.com
The greatest thing about Rome is that you can literally just wander around anywhere and you'll uncover some ancient wonderful statue/garden/building. The Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, whilst all free are just the beginning
Would suggest you pass through San Clemente. Going down through the different strata (three or four subsequent Churches) you go through religions and reach the very earliest areas of the Mysteries, the Mythraeum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basili...te_al_Laterano
Another unusual place is the Centrale MonteMartini: http://www.centralemontemartini.org/
It is one of the collections of the Capitolin Museums, being hold in a beautiful context of industrial architecture
Last edited by Franco; 16th January 2017 at 22:54.
Some great restaurants around Trevi fountain, agreed with not getting tickets at the Colosseum, we got ours at Palatino hill.
Also visit Chiesa di San Carlo al Corso, it's on Via del Corso not far from the Nike and Adidas shops, it totally took me by surprise where it was.
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Book Vatican tickets online before you go. You can walk straight in if you do that.
I only have a passing interest in art, but the map room and the chapel were stunning. It is a must do.
A morning at the Pantheon?
Agreed.Originally Posted by guinea
The Spanish Steps, Pantheon and Colosseum are other obvious must do's. Good watch browsing near the Spanish Steps too.
A search should pull up several previous threads on Rome.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
Been many times and will be popping back for a long weekend at some point this year.
I quite like to walk along to the Trevi Fountain late at night or the early hours.
Also - if you can spare the time a short metro and train journey (change on the outskirts of Rome) will get you to the ancient port of Ostia. Much better than Pompeii in my opinion, just as old with streets and amphitheatre etc but not usually any crowds.
I was going to mention Ostia Antica too (but couldn't be bothered to fight with my phone late last night).
Very interesting site. Not sure I'd agree it's better than Pompeii, but certainly as equally worthy of a visit and quiet as a grave when we visited a couple of years back.
A welcome break (on our way back to the airport) from the heat and bustle of Rome itself.
We didn't go to the Vatican (We will if we ever go again, I suspect, but my wife's not a fan of churches really and there was something on the day we headed there which meant we would have to wait hours for the queue to even start to move, so definitely plan any visit there ahead), but I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Castel Sant'Angelo nearby.
A fantastic medieval castle built on Hadrian's Mausoleum with great views of Rome from the top.
Some great eating to be had in the Trastevere area. Off the main beaten track for tourists (if not entirely free of them), but good prices and excellent food in some tiny restaurants.
M
Last edited by snowman; 17th January 2017 at 09:42.
There is so much to see but try not to miss :
Pantheon
Castel Sant'Angelo (along from the Vatican)
Vatican both the Basilica and Museum for the beauty of the art
Colosseum
Chilling around the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps
I love Rome. Such a walkable city. Have a careful think about where you want to stay- personally area around Piazza Navona is sweet spot for me. Allows you to walk to Trastevere, Vatican, Colosseum, Spanish steps etc. Lots of lovely places to eat and great atmosphere at Navona and Pantheon. Avoid Termini- cheap and dangerous at night.
The one thing that can be difficult to find at sensible price is outside eating with terrace/view- Campini al café du Jardin above Spanish steps is one of the few we have found.
All of the above plus:-
Wear comfy shoes as youll walk miles
buy all your tickets online to avoid the horrific queues
dont go to st peters on wednesday as the pope gives hos weekly audience and will be packed
if you suffer from claustophobia or dislike crushing crowds skip skip going up the dome of st peters
do all the usual tourist haunts but try go up on the roof on the monument of victor emanuelle (just by the Forum) as the view of the city is fantastic http://www.romesightseeing.net/monum...r-emmanuel-ii/
take some time to sit, have a vino and people watch
look up some of the best things are above you
you dont have to go on organised tours (I hate them) get the audio guides and go at your own pace
watch Rick Steves on youtube
pop into any old church you walk past they're all awesome
Thank you so much guys there is some great stuff there.
Apartments have always worked well for us with one left in tow so any experiences out there.
Many thanks again chaps.
Pitch
Forgot about Rick Steves!
Downloaded a few of his guides onto my phone and they were great.
So much to see in Rome - actually more than enough for a lifetime. Much has already been mentioned in previous posts. Most of it is within walking distance.
I'd suggest a visit to Palazzo Dorij Pamphilj (on Via del Corso near Piazza Venezia). The palazzo is impressive by itself and it has a huge art collection. There you can see Velasques' famous protrait of Pope Innocens X - maybe one of the best portraits ever made (one could mention Tizian's portrait of Pope Paul III in the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain, in the same legue). When Innocens X saw the finished protrait, he is said to have said: "All too true". He was out of the Paphilj family and there are stories about his sister in law who dominated him very much and even moved in with him in the Vatican and oversaw the cooking of his meals.
As others have mentioned, the San Clemente church is certainly worth a visit (situated on the road between Colloseum and The Lateran Church). BTW, the bronze doors at the entrance of the Lateran Church was taken from the antique Curia (the senate building) on Forum Romanum and is thus 2000 years old.
The Pantheon is the proof that concrete can last when it is properly done. Yes, it's a concrete building like many other Roman buildings. In the buttom the concrete is mixed with stone. Higher up it is mixed with crushed bricks and in the cupole it is pumice. The idea is to make the building as light as possible so the everything is under less stress. Another secret was mixing a special kind of volcanic ash in the concrete which made it water proof and able to harden under water (not necessary in Pantheron but it came in handy in the many Roman bridges across rivers etc.). The bronze doors is the original Roman doors from around 150 AC. Pantheon originally also had bronze roof tiles but they were taken down and melted to make the helix shaped colums at the main altar in St. Peters Cathedral.
A very beautiful, quiet and peaceful place is the Protestant cemetary adjecant to the Cestius Pyramid. British poet Keats is buried there (written on his toombstone is "Here lies one whose name was written in sand"). Close to the cemetary is the old Porta San Paolo (in Roman times Porta Ostiense). If you walk back towards the Trastevere drop in by the food shop Volpetti in Via Marmorata. They have a huge selection of very delicate prosciutti and cheese as well as other traditional Italian foods.
Don't miss the bridge to the Tiber Island which has been there since the Romans built it. Close to there is the outlet of the antique Cloaca Maxima whis is still draining the area around the Colloseum.
As for eating there are many, many great places to go. Traditionally one says that is you see a priest enter a trattoria, it's worth to visit - it's good and affordable. We like "L'Orso 80" (Via dell Orso 33 north of Piazza Navona) for its "Antipasto Misto della Casa". It's so big that it can pass as a full meal, but they'll frown upon you if you don't order a main dish too. Their other dishes are great too. Avoid places with "tourist menues".
Our favorite coffe bar is Tazze D'Oro (Via Degli Orfani 84) very close to Pantheon. They roast their coffee themselves. If you make espresso at home you can buy their coffee beans to take with you (have them vacuum pack it). We did that. It added an extra dimension to our espresso.
Last edited by Leif; 18th January 2017 at 21:55.
Thank you again guys and really appreciate the above Leif thank you for taking the time.
We are considering what area to book an apartment and it's looking like near Piazza Navona or east in the Trastevere neighbourhood.
Any thoughts on these or apartments would be greatly once again.
Ta
Pitch
The food tour I suggested took in this cemetery among others things and was throughout Trastevere and really was superb. We visited around 8 to 10 food establishments and they were all at least 3rd or 4th generation from memory. It was 5 or 6 years ago but fantastic, as the reviews on TA confirm.
Went across for Wife's 30th in summer 2015 (jesus, feels like yesterday!) for a long weekend and had a great time.
She studied Architecture so she was walking about pointing at things with a geek boner. Anyway, we saw all the main tourist attractions and had a great time.
We stayed at the Royal Court hotel which was a 3/4 minute walk from the main train station and was very nice, they upgraded us for free as I gave them a heads up that it was Nikki's 30th and gave us free champagne, was a nice touch. They also gave us the room at the top of the hotel that had a private terrace.
It really is a nice city to walk around, impressive to think that everything was build so long ago with very limited methods.
Vatican & Basilica Tour - worth doing, was pretty cheap IIRC and quite extensive. Allow a morning/afternoon for the whole thing.
Colloseum - maybe the most underwhelming of all the attractions. glad we went to see it but its pretty much a shell now. half of it was being held up by scaffold.
Pantheon - very cool, in amongst lots of tall building with narrow streets so you don't see it until you're right there. fascinating construction.
Trevi - was empty/closed when we were there. some maintenance going on but we did get to see it.
Spanish Steps - Very cool, very busy and if your Wife is a ginger, then be prepared to get stared at! we were given a heads up to be careful for pickpockets but we didn't come across anything dodgy. quite a few 'looky-looky' men trying to sell you roses but nothing too intrusive.
piazza navona square - worth seeing, good buzz with lots going on, live painters, mime acts etc. There is a market close by too if someone with you has a keen interest in 'Tat' that will never be used....ever.
Getting round the city - many things are walkable but we did get metro passes in case it was too hot. pretty easy to get day passes. most newsagent's sell them and the service is very good, we used it to get to and from the colloseum.
Eating out - we did a lot of walking and sort of forgot to book places to eat. But that didn't matter, the hotel was in a very nice area and we were able to just show up at restaurants and get a table. some had a 15 minute wait but they were happy to give you a drink while you waited, it was all very relaxed and stereotypically Italian.
walk everywhere - it's closer than you think, Avoid the metro - dirty, old and full of muggers - my wife had her purse nicked despite us being on the lookout. The police were no help other than providing the crime reference for the insurance claim.
Castel St Angelo was a real highlight along with the Roman forum and Pantheon for me. St Peter's was worth going round but I was underwhelmed by the Sistine chapel.
May not be of interest but we took a taxi to the Olympic stadium area. We walked up to the place and they just let us in. Huge bowl of a stadium, highly impressive.
Start a diet 1 month before you go.... that way you'll feel less guilty about all of the excellent pizza. Pasta and gelato that you will get! The food really is superb. Make sure u try dishes with fresh veg - which is incredible in Italy!
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Oh one other thing - visit as many churches as you walk past. Lots of the marble/paintings/statues from palaces etc r there! And they're obviously free!
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Apartment is all booked near Piazza Colonna and contact with the owner has been fantastic.
I used the Ulmon App for Barcelona last year which was superb and have bagged the pro version for logging info into like must sees, grub etc...
Many thanks chaps and any further food recommendations would be appreciated.
Paul
I had my say about Rome in another thread (I made several posts) starting with:
It's looming chaps so any further thoughts would be appreciated
Many thanks
Paul
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