Before moving to Belgium we planned a vacation with my parents in Italy. Because all the moving was so sudden, we did not cancel the plan, I just went back to Genova for a few days and met my parents there. Apart from Genova a main, 3-4 day trip, was planned to to the city I should have visited a long time ago: Rome (“Roma” being the real name).
Because it was quite a long trip, I thought of covering this in three parts presenting the different faces of Rome in different posts. My first post will be about the city itself: places to see and general aspects of it.
One can get to Rome very easily so I am not going to discuss that in detail. What is important, is how to get around once you arrive there.
Taxis: one should take care, there are a lot of “sharks”: drivers who will charge a LOT for their fare. If no other option is available at least agree on the trip price before you get in. Luckily we got away from them, because the first taxi driver we met, was not one of these dangerous “predators”. (There was a minor argue about this among them, when they saw that we would not get into their taxis…).
Buses: I guess there are daily or even weekly tickets, but since we did a lot of walking, we always bought 75 minutes tickets for €1.00 each which are also available for the metro, but only for one ride. There are also automatic ticket-machines in big bus stops. The buses come and go in a quite regular way (very uncommon in Italy 🙂 ), so that is surely a plus.
On foot: get a city map, you’ll need it 🙂 .
One of the most interesting things in Rome is their many fountains. There are a number of big squares, with one or more beautiful fountains in it, which are definitely worth a visit. Some of the major squares/landmarks of Rome are the following:Piazza Navona (The Navona Square), with three very nice fountains (Fountana dei Quattro Fiumi, Fontana di Nettuno and Fontana del Moro). Another nice square, which is actually famous because of its fountain: Fontana di Trevi is the Trevi Square. The square where the Spanish Steps are: Piazza di Spagna is also worth to pay a visit. I think the list can go on and on as there is a huge amount of artistic squares with fountains and monuments stacked in this great city.
It is interesting to note, that among the many fountains, there are also a lot of small fountains/taps with drinking water in it: the water is actually so clean, that tourists and locals drink from it (which is great in the otherwise burning hot days of Rome). Note that most of these places are only present in the newer part of the city. The old part, with the Roman ruins lacks these precious places (so it is stacked instead with small stands selling half a liter of water for €2.00-€3.00 a bottle).
There are also a lot of bridges above Rome’s single river, the Tevere. I would also advise a stroll among the river banks to admire them. The city in general is quite clean. It is by far not as clean and ordered as the northern cities, but since I have also visited Napoli for example, well it is much better than that. What was interesting is that among the large number of restaurants, there was a quite wide range of servicing quality at a quite narrow range of prices… in some places the service was… well I do not want to say disgusting… but very near… Of course there were places which were really professional: a pizzeria called Pizza Re close to the fountain of Trevi, had really good food and the waiters were very friendly and had a professional behavior.
Another important thing to see is one of the biggest parks in Rome: the gardens of Villa Borghese. I would advise not to go there from the Metro station “Spagna”, but rather take a bus which stops exactly at the entrance. This is because the first option would take the kind tourist to the middle of nowhere next to a quite busy road, from where one would have to stroll through a waste-land like place in order to get to the park entrance…
The park itself is great in my opinion. A lot of people rent bikes or ride the park train to get around (it is that big). Of course the main attraction of the park is Galleria Borghese which houses a lot of paintings and sculptures. There is also a zoo, horse-back riding squares and there is a lovely lake also on the western part of the park.
All in all the city has a lot to offer by itself and this without taking into account the Vatican & other temples or the Roman heritage…
