All roads lead to Rome, how to Live like an emperor in one of the worlds oldest cities. Rome, Italy

All roads lead to Rome, how to Live like an emperor in one of the worlds oldest cities. Rome, Italy

June 14, 2018

capital that is almost 3,000 years old, and the Colosseum, all roads lead to Rome, and if you travel you’ll end up here. It’s a very different city than I expected. First, it’s huge, sprawling, and second, the history doesn’t dominate the city but is interspersed within it, often randomly. Bit’s of historical ruins preserved next to a deli and movie theatre. Or a partial dig near a main street.

We started with a Segway tour because they’re cool (scoff..) hrm – but at least you can cover a lot of ground in one day without getting low batt. Our tour guide was both knowledgeable and funny, which made it easier. I think this was our fifth Segway experience and Europe and probably the best.

All the major sites were hit; the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Roman Forum, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Mouth of Truth and the Arch of Constantine. BTW, I don’t think it’s true about sticking your hand in the Mouth of Truth, I mean there’d be a pile of fingers a mile high.

At least we knew where we wanted to go back to.

Visiting the Colosseum is still rather complicated, there’s an online system, but they sell the tickets months in advance and the many Italian tour operators snap them up within minutes to resell to tourists for triple the price.

1. Things to see

There’s one ticket needed just to get in, then others needed if you want to go to the basement or the third floor. We bought tickets for the third floor but in the end, just never went in at all. It was enough to take photos from the outside during sunset. There’s a small hill you can walk up to get great views – just look for all the photographers with their tripods set up to get that perfect postcard shot that’s been taken 10,000 times before.

It’s also interesting to walk around the Colosseum (at least the back), it looks completely different than the one side view you always see.

The Roman Forum is also crazy, however again, it was better to photograph from the hilltop than actually walkthrough, at least for us, on a hot day.

Our hotel was close to Trevi Fountain, so we visited twice, it’s almost always packed with visitors but you can’t deny it’s appeal. There’s also a lot of gelato shops around. Real gelato is harder to tell from the fake stuff, the fake is whipped with air and brightly colored, the real gelato lays flat, is dense and the colors are much duller. Both are delicious.

The Forum and bird

Fountain

Around Rome

Lit up

Two sitting men

Fountain

More snaps

Colosseum

2. Nightlife

Lots more nightlife in Rome than Venice or Florence. Open Baladin (Via degli Specchi, 6), was a great place for food and a huge selection of microbrews. We visited twice.

Lots of nightlife

3. Spend

Lots of souvenirs with Rome, the Colosseum and every kind of kitsch imaginable.

4. Food

For one of the first times, I asked the concierge for advice, they were more than happy to send us on their way to a few places, all turned out to have the worst possible food. So, maybe they got kickbacks. Can’t say that we had any great food in Rome, except at Open Baladin which was more of bar food.

Delis

5. Getting Around

Taxis via an app were pretty responsive, a few times we got caught out and nobody would come to pick us up. An hour walking through Rome at night isn’t the worst thing though.

6. Costs

Our hotel was right across from a grocer, cheaper, plus fun to shop for local brands and snacks. Eating out, taxis, drinks were all pretty inexpensive for such a big city.