ITALY: Rome

Hey guys! I’m really excited about today’s post.  I’ve been meaning to get this up on the blog sooner but life just got in the way I guess…still NO EXCUSES!  I mentioned previously that my husband and I took a vacation to Italy in October.  It had been a place I’d been drooling, dreaming about since I studied the language in college.

We spent 11 full days in Italy and traveled to quite a few places.  I plan on doing a post for each of the cities we visited, along with other useful information that could help you plan your trip to Italy or help you decide if you want to go there (trust me, you do!).  Our first stop was Rome!

Rome was our hub for flying into and out of Italy.  We arrived late on a Wednesday night to down pouring rain.  After waiting for over 45 minutes for our bus that never was going to arrive (thanks to some locals who informed us), we hailed a cab and reached our Airbnb safe and sound!  Phew!

We woke up early super excited to get our day started.  Our Airbnb was a short walk to the Colosseum so we knew that would be our first stop of the day.  We made a quick stop in our first ever Italian cafe.  I fell in love with the country right then and there.  We filled up on two cappucinos (due cappucini in Italian :)) and some breakfast croissants and continued our walk.

The Colosseum really needs no introduction.  It’s an amazing piece of architecture filled with so much history.  We purchased our tickets ahead of time online so we were able to skip the long ticket line and head straight for the pickup window.  I highly recommend this!

I was in awe the whole time we were there.  Did you know the Colosseum was built in 70 AD?!  It’s weird to think of the type of “entertainment” that happened in this place.  A sad realization of our humanity…

If you purchase a ticket for the Colosseum, that also gets you free access to the Roman Forum.  Score! 🙂

The Forum is right next door and is also amazing (duh).  This area was the center of Rome back in the day and is filled with ancient ruins.  We spent a couple hours just wandering the grounds.

I couldn’t get over what I was seeing!  I was spazzing out the whole time and I was okay with that.

After the Forum we decided to wander the streets of Rome.

We stopped at a little sandwich spot for lunch, called Smart Food, and enjoyed a panini and glass of Prosecco.

Our next stop was the Pantheon.  It’s free to enter and we did a quick little loop once inside. There’s so much history and it’s free so we figured why not?

The clouds cleared and the sun came out as we reached the famous Trevi Fountain.

It was packed with tourists all vying to get close to the fountain.  We took a few photos and continued exploring.

After the Trevi Fountain we headed toward the Spanish Steps.  

It’s a great spot to relax, rest your feet and just enjoy the view.

Check out the polizia behind us. :)

After checking out those spots we wandered back to the Monti district, taking our time and  just enjoying being in Rome.  We stopped at a little spot and ordered some pizza andare (to-go).  It was super tasty.  The streets here were quiet, less touristy and quite Italian.

Dinner was an interesting experience I guess you can say.

We passed by La Carbonara. I had read online that this place was great but because we didn’t have reservations no dice. FYI: MAKE RESERVATIONS.  We missed out on a few popular spots in Italy because we didn’t have reservations.  I’m sad we weren’t able to go to this place but next time for sure.

We found another restaurant a few doors down.  It was jumpin and the reviews online said it was great so we put our name down (didn’t need a resy for this place) and sat at the bar for a glass of wine.

While at the bar I commented that the kitchen was extremely tiny for the size of the restaurant.  My husband then noticed the “chef” putting frozen pasta dishes into a MICROWAVE!  No joke.  There were three microwaves working simultaneously.  I couldn’t believe it.  We finished our glass of wine and decided to get the heck out of there.  I had read online that you have to be careful for tourist traps and that places will just microwave food and serve it as authentic.  I had no idea this was actually true?!

We wandered for a couple blocks and found Taverna Romana; this adorable restaurant filled with locals.  We had to wait about 30 minutes for our table but the food was delicious and we had a great time.

After dinner we made our way back to our place.  We had a full first day in Rome packed with sight seeing.  It was time to get some shut eye because we were waking up early and taking the train to Sorrento (that will be my next post!).

We had such an amazing time in Rome.  While we checked out a lot of tourist attractions they were all “must sees” in our book.

There is still so much more for us to see in this historical city and I can’t wait to go back and explore some more.  Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or other suggestions.  I would love to hear from you!  Until next time, arrivederci!

xo, Jenneke Rose