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| Having wine and food on one of the Via's.. Planning our next move! |
Hey guys, I’m writing this blog on such a bittersweet note as I look back on fantastic memories made in the most amazing city. My boyfriend and I decided to go on a trip away to Rome. Since I’ve been a teenager I have been obsessed with Rome- a self-confessed history geek. I also used to love the Olsen twins they made a movie called “ Mary-Kate and Ashley Take Rome” here they whizzed around on vespa’s and seemed to have such a brilliant time! This sold it for me. I also have friends that have been to Rome and have gotten so many positive reports. Visiting Rome has been on my bucket list for ages so now I can finally tick it off!
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| Beautiful flowers on one of the streets. I love flowers, they are all so pretty. |
We spent two
nights and three days in Rome and while we got a huge amount done, we
definitely only scratched the surface. On every street there is a wealth of
history, beautiful architecture and just general prettiness. I think it’s safe
to say that I left my heart in Rome. So, if you are planning a trip to Rome I
would recommend staying a bit longer, ideally four or five days.
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| Vittorio Emanuele Monument |
Firstly you
need a place to stay while you’re in Rome. I would highly recommend the place
we stayed in. An absolute gem of a hotel located on Via Mario de’ Fiori (on the
corner of the Louis Vuitton shop- of course!). It’s called Spagna Inn. Such a
quaint hotel, with the most amazing location. Literally so central to
everything. We walked everywhere from here. I went onto booking.com and trip
advisor and found it. It looked pretty basic on the website so I wasn’t
expecting that much from the interior. All we wanted was somewhere with a good
location, that was clean etc. The room was lovely, small but adequate for two people
and the interior was so much nicer than it looked online. When I go away it
REALLY bugs me when there isn’t a decent mirror in the room to get ready and
also when there isn’t enough sockets in the room or the sockets are
inconveniently located behind the bed or something stupid like that. But no,
there was lots of sockets- to charge phones, plug in hair dryers whilst
charging phones, make tea- first world problems, you know :-P The bed was super
comfy and the pillows too and we had a large window that opened wide and you
could see onto the “via” (street). The only disadvantage to this hotel is that
there is no elevator. We were on the third floor so it wasn’t too bad.
Seemingly a lot of the hotels in Rome don’t have elevators as most of the
buildings are historically protected. This didn’t really bother us- there’s
endless things to do so we weren’t in our hotel that much.
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| The street we were staying on. So pretty. |
A few things you have to go see in Rome is the Spanish Steps, we were staying three blocks
away from here so it was perfect. You can just soak up the atmosphere and enjoy
and ice-cream on the steps. Tip: make sure to walk up to the top of the steps,
here you will find the most amazing views of the city. Oh and also for all you
make up lovers like moi, there is a huge Sephora directly opposite the Spanish
Steps, and in case you want a bit of
retail therapy along that road there is also Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari (
a girl can dream, right?).
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| At the top of the Spanish Steps. |
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| The views from the top of the Spanish Steps. |
The Trevi
Fountain is also a must see while in Rome. It is Rome’s most famous fountain
and when you go and see it, it’s not hard to see why. SOoooooo pretty. I would
definitely recommend seeing it during the day and also go and see it at night
as they have it all lit up. It’s a magnet for couples as it’s so romantic, we
even witnessed a couple get engaged. Very cute!
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| The Trevi Fountain. |
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| Dinner at the Trevi. |
Probably of
my favourite things to see is the Pantheon. It’s literally incredible. I was so in awe of this building. It was
built by the Roman’s and it was originally used as a place of worship but now
it is a church. I just couldn’t get over the architecture and the craftsman
ship. So hard to believe it was built hundreds of years ago with basic tools.
The Pantheon is set in a beautiful square with a fountain in the middle and surrounding
that is so many lovely restaurants serving the most delicious Italian food. On our
last day we watched the world go by with prosecco and beer and has the most
amazing pizza and lasagna
. This square is buzzing with ambiance
and activity. You
definitely have to have a glass of wine here whilst watching the world go by...
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| At the Pantheon. |
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| Loving life at the Pantheon. |
You can’t go
to Rome and not visit The Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Here you can explore the ancient ruins of the
old Roman Empire.. And when you learn of the history of
the Colosseum along with the reason for the architectural design, It adds an
additional element of wonder to it. Make sure you go EARLY. If you go midday,
be ready for the large crowds. We got a group guided tour of the Roman
Forum and Colosseum and I would highly recommend doing this. The tour guide
really brings it all alive and makes it real while also keeping it interesting.
We learnt so many new things while also enjoying the spectacular surroundings.
I think if you don’t get a guide then you wouldn’t know what you’re looking at
and it would all just be a bit of rubble. We got a guide recommended by trip
advisor on www.colosseumandvaticantours.com.
It cost €45 (sounds expensive but trust me well worth it) and we also got to
skip all the queues,that in itself is such a perk- trust me the queues are
longgggggggggg.
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| The Colosseum in all its glory. |
This is turning out to be a very long blog post (I hope I still have your attention!).
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Inside the Colosseum.
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You have to go to the Vatican- home of the
Pope. This is a city in a city. It was such a beautiful day
when we went to the
Vatican. We walked over and this took us about 40minutes. Sounds like a long
walk but trust me it’s worth it, Rome is
so beautiful that all the streets and everywhere you go is so pretty that you
just want to soak it all in and remember everything. St. Peter’s Square is
alive and thronged with so many people vying to get a glimpse of the Pope. Unfortunately
we didn’t have time to go into the Vatican (I told you you would need more than
three days!) but we still enjoyed looking it at from the outside and walking
around the gardens and the square.
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| St.Peter's Square. |
My top tips:
- Wear comfy shoes, you will walk
everywhere! And Rome is big! We walked everywhere, by the end of every day even
wearing comfy shoes my feet were so sore.
- Be careful of pickpockets! I was warned
about these and unfortunately I’ve been robbed before so I was extra careful
with my belongings and my bag.
- If you are flying into Ciampino then you
should know that this airport is tiny. So if you have plans (like I did) to do
some airport shopping on the way home then forget about it! It has one shop and
one café (the food is way overpriced) and one hall with numbers where the planes
depart. Checking in one hour before you leave will still leave you plenty of
time. The only good thing about this airport is that there is free Wifi.
- Make a rough daily plan of things you
want to do, otherwise you will be overwhelmed and get nothing done. You won’t
see it all as there is sooooo much to do and see.
- If you want a healthy breakfast with
health pancakes and smoothies, fruit, granola then go to Ginger Sapori e salute
on Via Borgognona.
- Don't bring heels away with you. Pretty much the entire city is cobble stones-so you will break your neck trying to wear heels plus look really silly!
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| Old Rome. |
The food and wine is amazing. Trust me.....
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| Italy is famous for its Gelato. Best ice-cream I've ever had! |
Ok so guys as you can tell I’m pretty enamored with Rome. If you ever get the opportunity to go then you HAVE to! On every street corner there’s something historical or beautiful. It’s the perfect destination as it has something for everyone. Culture, history, beautiful food, wine, iconic monuments, romance......
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| Old Roman Forum. |
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and maybe
you’d now like to go to Rome. This city holds such a special place in my heart
that words and pictures cannot convey.
Love Fiona X
PS. ALL roads lead to Rome so I will definitely
be going back…….
