Back in Rome (and the Vatican)
After 16 years, we find ourselves back in Rome, the Eternal City, and on this occasion together with Xander and Eloise. Our return to Rome brought us via the high-speed train from Milan, a great train ride that whisked us away at speeds of up to 300 km/h, all while ensuring an really smooth and comfortable ride.
On this visit we decided to stay in an AirBnb located within Rome’s Prati district, a short 5 min walk from Vatican City. After navigating the Metro, finding our AirBnb and settling in, that first night we strolled the local area and found a nice restaurant to have our dinner at, where we were served the best Carbonara pasta we had during our Italian trip.
The next morning we had an early start as we wanted to visit St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and we knew that the doors were open from 07.00am. We didn’t quite make it at that time but arrived at Saint Peter’s Square at about 07.45am and joined the line to enter the Basilica (which at that time in the morning was still a fairly long line). It took us nearly an hour waiting in line before we managed to enter the Basilica, but just was we were entering we look behind us and saw massive lines, already then stretching around the square.
Suz and I have visited St. Peter’s Basilica during our previous trip to Rome, however the church is a truly remarkable sight, and we were eager to introduce Xander and Eloise to one of the world’s most significant and renowned churches. Stepping inside the basilica, you’re immediately struck by its immense size, which has the effect of making you feel quite small in comparison and the inside is awe-inspiring, decorated with extravagant decorations, including sculptures, mosaics, and frescoes that tell stories of art, faith, and history.
As we had previously done it, we decided not to ascend the dome this time, as the lighting conditions at that time in the morning were less than ideal for enjoying the panoramic views, and the lines to reach the top were too long. Nonetheless, you could tell that Xander and Eloise were impressed by the visit and it was fun to share this moment with them.
We returned to our AirBnb after our visit, had breakfast (which for me consisted of my standard Italian breakfast of a cup of Cappuccino and a Cornetto (the Italian version of a croissant which is sweeter than the French version). After we had eaten and rested we left and made our way to Castel Sant’Angelo, which on our last trip had seen however not entered. As there were next to no lines in wait we decided to enter and were pleasantly surprised over what it offered in terms of combination of styles being Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance elements. And not only this, it provided some great panoramic views of the city of Rome and the Vatican.
We left Castel Sant’Angelo, crossed the Tiber river across Ponte Sant’Angelo and entered the historic centre of Rome. We walked along Via dei Coronari, an narrow walking street, passing antique and boutique shops, cafes and small food stores where we grabbed some lunch. We eventually came across Piazza Navona with its trio of fountains.
As we stood near the Neptune Fountain, one of the numerous vendors selling inexpensive sunglasses approached us. Now, Xander recently broke his sunglasses so he needed new ones but we didn’t want to appear overly eager. Xander examined a few pairs, and the seller initially offered them for €15. Politely, we declined the offer and began to walk away. The seller then called out with a reduced price of €10, and eventually, he lowered it further to just €5 which we agreed upon and Xander now had his new sunnies.
Continuing on our walking tour, we arrived to the Pantheon, where admission now apparently comes with a fee and there were some pretty big lines to get in. We joined the line and it seemed like by the time you reach the ticket window, you’ve already had a glimpse of the interior and could just turn around and save yourself some money. Nevertheless, we paid the entrance fee and stepped inside to explore and share with Xander and Eloise the history of a building that’s over 2000 years old.
After the Pantheon we made it to the Trevi Fountain which was swarming with people and it was hard to get even close to get a photo of it. All of us ensured that we threw a coin each into the fountain to follow the tradition and ensure that we return at some point. At this point we were all quite hot so we grabbed some cold drinks (well semi cold at least as it seems that all fridges are open fridges and cold drinks are hard to find and you have to dig deep to the back to find any) and sat down for a moment to relax.
During the afternoon we visited Open Baladin, a craft beer pub highlighting its own craft beers as well as other craft beers from Italy and around the world and later that night we dined again in the Prati area before we went for night time walk around the Vatican.
The next morning, we all decided to enjoy a well-deserved sleep-in and while getting ready for the day, I was checking the details to ensure that I had our e-tickets to enter the Colosseum available on my phone. As I looked at the tickets, I saw that the date on the tickets was for the previous day, and we had missed our chance to enter the Colosseum. We were all disappointed, as we had been looking forward to this visit (and I had spent a considerable amount of time waiting for those tickets to become available online). However, there was nothing we could do about it, so we decided to make the best of the situation and appreciate the Colosseum from the outside (again). The one silver lining was that we still had our 24-hour entry to the Roman Forum and decided to make the most of it and explore this historical site even if we couldn’t enter the Colosseum as planned.
So that’s what we did, we immersed ourselves in ancient Roman history and explored the ruins of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill where we also enjoyed great views of the city.
After exploring the ruins, having lunch and ensuring that both Xander and Eloise still had their hands after visiting The Bocca della Verità, where legend says that if you place your hand into the mouth and tell a lie, the mouth will snap shut cutting of your hand, we made our way to the Trastevere area.
Trastevere is a charming and historic neighbourhood in Rome where we walked along cobblestone streets, past colourful buildings with ivy-covered facades, local markets and a number of piazzas (where we again found some great gelatos). I even managed to find a small craft beer place called Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fà where Suz and I enjoyed a beer whilst Xander and Eloise again played UNO (this is becoming a recurring theme).
Our tour continued and we visited another one of Rome’s iconic landmarks, the Spanish Steps, where Xander, Eloise and I climbed most of its 135 steps, providing a great vantage point for people-watching (and to locate Suz who was sitting by the fountain).
Later, we revisited the Colosseum, this time after dark, seeing it illuminated which provided a different perspective (and almost made up for not being able to enter it). It would have been a great and memorable way to end our explorations of the eternal city…. however, trying to get back onto the Metro proved difficult as there were only automated ticket machines and EVERYONE was having problems trying to re-load their cards. We ended just paying the extra euro and just getting new cards to avoid that problem and returned to the Prati area for our last night out.
It was great to return to Rome and revisiting its iconic landmarks (and maybe next time we’ll actually get to enter the Colosseum) as the Eternal City never disappoints, however we were surprised over the amount of tourists everywhere and had hoped that our visit in late September, almost October, would have cleared most of them out, but I guess Rome’s popularity as a travel destination draws visitors year-round. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed our time in the city and it was a great way to conclude our time in Italy. We have made great memories with the kids that hopefully they will cherish and leave an impression on them for years to come.
