When in Rome

Good afternoon lovely bloggers,

I’m going to be doing a blog post which is a little different to what I normally post but I thought that I would share with you all my adventure to Rome. I have always wanted to visit Italy (mainly because I love pasta and coffee 😉) so where else is a better place to start exploring Italy than it’s capital itself. My boyfriend and I visited Rome for 4 nights, 3 days and I started to worry that we wouldn’t have enough time to visit all of the landmarks and appreciate the cities beauty but 3 days was enough.

Once we had landed in Italy, we caught the train to Termini station which was a 15 minute walk away from our hotel. Termini station is one of the main stations in Rome and is the second biggest station in Europe.. Fun fact of the day 😉.  The train station has many shops (mostly expensive ones lol) and restaurants including a McDonalds which I probably got too excited over haha! Yes yes yes, I know I’m in Rome and I shouldn’t be eating McDonalds but I love going to McDonalds all over the world just to see what different things they sell.. Weird, right? Haha!

One thing that I loved about the underground trains in Rome is that they had air con!!! If you’ve travelled in London before, you know that this is a luxury in a train 😃.

The train tickets on the underground are a little different in Rome from England. In Rome, you pay for the amount of time you are going to use the train rather than where you’re travelling to and it is very cheap! You get the choice of a 24, 48 or 72 hour ticket or a single ticket is valid for 100 minutes. For a single ticket, it was under €2 which is ideal! When getting the train, it is so IMPORTANT to time stamp your ticket!! They have machines that do this for you before you board the train but it is your responsibility to do this otherwise you get a fine!

In every train station, they either have a kiosk in or outside selling tickets for attractions or city seeing buses. There are people on the street selling these too but it’s up to you whether or not you trust them to sell you legitimate tickets. To play it safe, I would buy them from official ticket offices in the train stations. My boyfriend and I bought a ticket for a city seeing bus called ‘Hop-on Hop-off’ and it does exactly what it says in the name. It takes you all around Rome, stopping off at the main attractions whilst giving you a guided tour. Again, you get the choice of a 24hr, 48hr and 72hr ticket which was perfect for us as we were only going for 3 days! Again, I can’t remember the exact price of the ticket but we bought a 72hr ticket for around €30-40. Some might think that it is expensive but it was just so ideal as it came to every stop outside the attractions every 30 minutes so we never had to worry about travel! The bus company also do attraction and skip the line tickets for attractions like the Colosseum and Vatican.

Colosseum

The colosseum is a MUST. It is just so breathtaking and beautiful. You have many people outside the attraction trying to sell you skip the line tickets and most of them try and feed you bullshit lies. We even had one man tell us that there were no toilets in the Colosseum so if we wanted the toilet, we should buy tickets with him so his company would provide us with one.. Huh? Just to let you know, there were toilets haha! They also try and tell you that you’ll be waiting in the queue for about 3 hours so it’s best to get tickets with them. I totally understand that you can be in the queue for a while as it’s such a popular attraction but we waited about 20 minutes to get in but I suppose it all depends on what day and time you go. I think we went about 2pm. Again, it is totally up to you whether or not you’d like a guided tour but my boyfriend and I decided not to and to be honest, we didn’t miss out as there are notice boards all around the Colosseum telling you interesting facts and you also over hear some of the tour guides speaking haha!

Tickets for JUST entrance to the Colosseum is €12.00 but if you’re from Europe and between 18-25 years, then you get tickets for €7.50 which is fab! However, if you go on the first Sunday of the month, you get in for free!

Roman Forum and Palatine Hill

I didn’t get a photo when inside the Roman Forum but you can see it in the distance next to the Colosseum! If you bought tickets to enter the Colosseum, entrance to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are included in the ticket which is good! The ticket is also valid for 2 days so you don’t have to visit both in the same day but you may aswell as they’re right next to one another. When visiting these attractions, wear comfortable shoes as it’s a bit of walking to find the exit!

Altare della Patria

I didn’t know much about this building before I visited Rome but it is worth going on top of because it gives you the most beautiful view of Rome. It is also where I took the photo above of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. This building was built in honor of the first king of unified Italy. The building is all white and has some beautiful carvings in the walls! It is a lot of climbing to get to the top and the entrance of the building but it is so so worth it. It has a glass lift that takes you all of the way to the top of the building. It might not be ideal for those scared of heights but the views are breath taking! The tickets for the lift are roughly €6.00 each. This was my favourite building in Rome.

Trevi Fountain & Spanish Steps

For someone who is obsessed with fountains, Trevi Fountain was just a dream to visit and I actually visited every day (sorry to my lovely boyfriend 😜). Trevi Fountain is absolutely beautiful but even more beautiful when it’s lit up in the dark. When you visit, you’re meant to throw a coin in your right hand over your left shoulder which we didn’t do at first so of course, we had to do it again 😉.

The Spanish Steps is only a few minutes walk away from Trevi Fountain so you may aswell visit these landmarks in the same day. I loved sitting on the Spanish Steps, I felt a bit like Blair Waldorf haha! I just felt like nothing in the world was a worry when I sat there overlooking the busy street. Another little interesting top tip/fact, you’re not allowed to eat or drink whilst sitting on the steps so keep that in mind. At the bottom of the steps, to my delight was another fountain (the Fountain of the Old Boat). Unfortunately, I haven’t got a picture to show you – sorry! This landmark is also the home of expensive hotels and designer shops.

Whilst you’re in this area, I suggest that you visit The Pantheon. This was my boyfriends favourite building!

The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel 

Breathtaking is the only way to describe the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. I don’t have any photos of the chapel itself as it’s strictly no cameras! When you visit the chapel, make sure that you’re covered up. I wore cropped culottes (as it was too hot to wear jeans!) and brought a scarf with me to cover my shoulders and chest! I would highly recommend that you buy skip the queue tickets for these attractions as you could be waiting there for ages! We bought them from our sight seeing bus. Please be prepared for how busy it is going to be as inside the museum, they have big rooms where the art is and then one door to get out of into the next room so as you can imagine, you’re a bit like packed sardines haha! I would also suggest not to go on a Monday as that is one of the busiest days as it is closed the day before.

Piazza Navona

Piazza Novona is one of the most popular squares and my boyfriend and I ate here every night. It has so many restaurants that look onto the square. In the middle of the square, they have street artists, dancers and magicians that are so talented! They also have many people selling you junk toys but you get that everywhere you go in Rome, you just get used to it lol. The square also has 3 fountains (that’s why it was my fav 😉). The square just has such an energetic atmosphere – we loved it!

 

I would highly recommend going to Rome. It is honestly breathtaking and has such a good atmosphere. Just be careful of people on the streets trying to get money out of you – don’t take photos with people dressed as Romans unless you want to pay them and do not fall into the trap of receiving free gifts because they will hunt you down so you give them money haha!

Enjoy Rome, eat lots of pizza and ice cream!

If you read all the way to the end, you’re my fav because I know this was a long post. If you’ve got any questions about Rome, I’ll try my best to answer them!

Also, if you’re struggling on what to pack for a city break, head over to my ‘City Break Essentials’ blog post which can be found here: https://thatcasualgirl.wordpress.com/2017/07/18/%E2%98%BC-city-break-essentials-%E2%98%BC/ (got to plug my own posts every now and then 😉)

All photos are my own and got taken on an iPhone so that’s why they’re not amazing haha!