Ah, the eternal city, Rome. We came here to celebrate the New Year’s Eve and to check out this amazing place. Our main focuses were the historical sites and of course, pizza and pasta, and we were not disappointed at all.
The road to Rome
We arrived by airplane to the Fiumicino airport, placed to the West from Rome. We chose to use a shuttle between the airport and the city and for this option you will pay around 5-6 euros each. The destination was Termini Station, some 30 kilometers away, so you should be ready for a 30 to 60 minutes bus ride. Of course you have other ways to get into Rome from Fiumicino but we found this one the best fit for us.
One personal note we would like to add here, once arrived at Termini, we expected to see lots of Italian restaurants, but actually we were surprised to see lots of Mc Donald’s. There were two of them only in Termini, so we decided that our first meal in Italy will be at Mc Donald’s. We actually do not recommend you to do that, since we’ve paid around 6-8 euros each and, as we discovered later, for that kind of money you can enjoy a great piece of Italian pizza.
The Roma Pass
This is the city pass of Rome that will get you all kind of discounts and other advantages. We bought it from Termini as soon as we arrived, but you can also order it online or search for a different selling point. There are two options, the 48 hours one and the 72 hours one. We chose the 72 hours option for the price of 52 euros. From the advantages you have with this card, we would like to mention the free use of public transport for all the 72 hours, which is great, free access to the first two attractions you choose to visit from their list and a special line at the Colosseum. Also good to know, with the card you will receive some papers with various information about places that you can visit and a very nice map of Rome which you can use it while there and of course keep it as a memory after :).
Saint Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro)
In our first evening here in Rome we decided to visit Saint Peter’s Square since it was very close to our apartment. Being one of the main attractions in this great city, it is truly marvelous. The view was even more impressive having the winter decorations, with all the lights and Christmas themed ornaments. Here the Catholic people gather for all kind of events, to listen to the Pope’s speech from the well-known balcony.
You can spend a good time here in this square, without any money, just admiring all the statues and decorations. Maybe this is truly impressive in the day also, but we came in the night and saw all this pieces of art with the lights mounted near them. We think these lights make them even more glorious and impressive.
Colosseum (Colosseo)
Probably the most iconic structure here in Rome, it is really monumental. We arrived here using the subway. The station is right next to the landmark, so while you are getting out from the station, filled with little shops with pizza and other stuff, the Colosseum starts to reveal itself in front of you, with an image that will cut your breath. This was one attraction we dreamed to see for a long time and when we finally got there we were not disappointed at all. It’s just amazing to see a structure with the size of a modern-day football stadium and then think about how old it is actually. The only thing we did not like were the huge waiting lines to get in, and even for the special line for Roma Pass holders we’ve mentioned earlier, the line was still very long. Surprising, we did not have such long wait time as we expected, maybe around 20 or 30 minutes and we’ve got in.
One of the first things that we’ve noticed once inside were the access ways that are so many and so complex that you can really fairly compare this stone-made, ancient arena with a modern stadium. We don’t know if you can reach all levels and areas, we did not managed to do that but you can just go with the crowd of people, countless people and that will actually guide you through. We recommend a visit here 100% to explore and enjoy this wonder of the ancient Rome.
About the pricing, there is a ticket for 16 euros that will include, besides the Colosseum, the Forums and Palatine Hill, which we will talk about next. But, if you have a Roma Pass, they are all included in the list of attractions.
Forum and Palatine Hill (Palatino)
In the area next to the Colosseum you will find the Palatine Hill and the Forum. It’s a great place to take a walk after your visit to the Colosseum, a walk that will keep you in the same time of Ancient Rome. The area is filled with remains of the old buildings and you can also find some nice sightseeing spots. Obviously you can start with the one near you, the Palatine Hill. If you are searching for a different spot, we will give you a hint. You can try a place called Campidoglio. This is the smallest of the 7 hills of Rome and it was the religious centre of the city. From some areas of this hill you can admire the ancient ruins we were talking about.
Pantheon
Our journey through Rome took us to the next attraction, the Pantheon. Originally this was a Roman temple completed in 126 A.D. and what makes this structure special is the source of light for the inside of the building. It has a large hole on the top of the ceiling, called an Oculus and this is the main source of natural light.
Now it’s used as a church and there is no tax for visiting, so you can check it out to see with your own eyes the greatness of this Roman landmark. Try to keep quiet while inside, since it’s an active church, people are inside praying, not just visiting.
Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi)
Probably one of the most popular tourist attractions here in Rome, it disappointed us a little, but this is only our opinion. On the fountain is sculpted the event when the Romans found a new source of water near the city, the source of the aqueduct from which the fountain takes its water. Trevi is beautiful, but we did not like the crowds near to it. Lots and lots of people standing near it makes nearly impossible for you to have a clear sight of it or to take a picture.
Usually people throw money into the water, we don’t really know why, but as a fun fact, we understood that around 3000 euros are thrown here every day by tourists.
Vatican
Finally, Vatican. One of the places we were most interested here in Rome, came with a little surprise. The lines, the lines were huge. Hundreds and hundreds of people waiting in line. We waited for around 2 hours and in this time we needed to refuse over and over “special offers”. You need to be careful, there are some people who will ask for money, saying you will skip the line if you pay them, but they did not look very trustworthy.
The price to enter Vatican is 17 euros the standard access. We think it deserves the money, but we strongly recommend to search for a guide also. There were lots of guides around, but we were not interested and we don’t know how much they cost. Why we recommend a guide is because once we’ve got in we realised there are lots and lots of pieces of art and we would’ve liked that someone tell us details about them.
Anyway, inside Vatican. You will find here around 7.5 kilometers of corridors filled with statues, paintings and other art pieces, so prepare yourself for a very long walk. We were absolutely amazed by the multitude of pieces of art and the beauty of them. Probably the main attraction here is the Sistine Chapel, placed at the end of the galleries tour. Probably you know, but we did not, so we will just mention here for others that don’t know either. We expected that the famous painting from the Sistine Chapel to be huge, in plain sight, but actually there are several paintings of the same size and you need to search for the famous one. And you are not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel.
Outside this museum, you can find a place to eat, some kind of food court, but we don’t advice you to eat there. We’ve tried it but the food was not so great and pretty expensive from our point of view, so if you can you better wait to eat something outside Vatican.
There is also a garden, a very nice garden you can walk through, very pleasant, with Orange trees and a big sphere. We understood that this sphere is called “Sfera con Sfera”, or Sphere within a Sphere, and it’s part of a series of bronze sculptures found in various places of the world, as the Tel Aviv University or UN Headquarters in New York.
People’s Square (Piazza del Popolo)
This large square in Rome is placed right next to the northern gate of the old city. Here we’ve found some parades (probably because the time of the year) and a very steep hill. You can climb to a place called Terrazza del Pincio from where you can have a great overview of Rome and some of its landmarks. Also you can find some nice restaurants in this square, but we will talk about them a little later.
The streets of Rome
We wanted to write this as a different section to not mix this info up with the attractions. We’ll write a little about where you can eat and what you can do on the streets of Rome.
If you want a good fancy meal, but a little expensive, you can check a restaurant called Rosati, in People’s Square. We’ve had here probably the best lasagna ever, but a bit expensive from our point of view. Something to eat and something to drink will cost you here at least 25 euros for each person.
A different kind of place to eat, that we’ve found amazing, is located on a street called Via del Corso. If you walk in a straight line from Piazza del Popolo to Altare della Patria, this is the street you will walk on. The restaurant is called La Fontana, it seemed to us quite small, with almost no place to eat, we just bought some pizza and ate it on the street, but we cannot explain what amazing pizza we found there. We’ve also found it very cheap comparing with more fancy restaurants, for around 10 euros you can take more pieces of pizza, and you will find it difficult to eat them all. We’ve seen some bad reviews of this restaurant on the internet, talking about other food they have there, we actually don’t know how the food taste like, we just ate pizza and we loved it, it’s your choice if you want to visit or not.
We also tried other places that sadly we don’t remember, but we remember one aspect. Try to avoid the special offers. We had for several times such offers, at around 12-16 euros, that will have some starters, a main course and desert or a drink, but they were very low quality, we were very disappointed.
You can also try the street food, as the booths from the subway station near the Colosseum. For 2-3 euros you can get a nice slice of pizza or some kind of pies.
About the cabs in Rome, we’ve found them very expensive. It did not seem to trick us, since the price was shown on the display, but we’ve paid around 18 euros from Ponte Umberto I to Piazza del Popolo (2 kilometers). Maybe he offered us a nice tour of Rome, since we had no idea where are we and how far away we are going :).
As for activities on the streets of Rome, there are plenty, especially near the Trevi Fountain. From artists drawing portraits, to all kind of things to buy, to actors, human statues and painters using weird tools as spray paint and fire. We add a video below to see what we’re talking about:
New Year’s Eve
As we said at the beginning of this article, we were here to celebrate the New Year’s Eve, driven by the marvellous photos you can find on the internet with the fireworks near the Colosseum. And we couldn’t be more disappointed. Let’s begin.
Around 2 or 3 hours before we’ve started searching for a place to see the fireworks and we were a bit confused. Huge crowds of people moving, but in different directions. Some heading to People’s Square, some to the Colosseum. We thought the Colosseum was the right pick for us, since we wanted to see that spectacular image from the internet. Once arrived, lots of people, the building in our sight, the champagne ready. And then, the countdown. And then, nothing. There were very few fireworks, popping up in random places. The sound of them was all over us, but from other places. Then we realised that probably the Colosseum was not the right choice and it seemed that the fireworks show was in other places and not here. So we would not recommend you this place for New Year’s Eve, maybe People’s Square was a better choice.
In the end, the subway station. Guess what? That huge amount of people who were with us had the same plan as us, to leave with the subway. So actually you will find yourself stuck at the station entrance, with the police not allowing too many people to enter (which we find it a very good idea), and we’ve waited around 30 minutes to be able to get into the station and to the subway.
That was our experience in Rome, as we remember it. We hope you’ve found useful information in our memories and we wish you a great time in the Eternal City if you plan to go there.