A trip to Rome ranks high on most travellers’ lists, thanks to its iconic attractions, art and architecture, a Mediterranean climate and delicious food. Rome has been on my bucketlist for so long but everytime something else came up.
I’ve heard the city is wonderful to visit in any season but specifically from April to June and late September to October is the best time to visit Rome. Starting in mid-June it gets really crowded though. The weather is great right now (April), sunny and not too warm or too hot.
Before starting this blog, you can always go to my Instagram account and watch some videos and more details of Rome and my Italy trip in my Italy story highlights.
What to wear in Rome?!
Usually it doesn’t matter what to wear in travel as long as you’re not too hot or too cold but sometimes in some countries or cities you have to be aware of political and religious beliefs and apparently some areas in Rome is one of them. The Vatican City, and particularly St Peters Basilica, has a strict dress code. They don’t allow shorts or bare shoulders for men or women, and women cannot wear miniskirts. From what I’ve heard and read, it is not negotiable, so if you show up, with bare shoulders, you will be turned away. A normal T-shirt and Jeans are fine though. I thought I have to share this before talking about anything else since it probably will affect your packing! Although I think that’s just the dress code for St Peters Basilica cause I was walking around like this and it was ok.
Taxi situation in Rome?!
You have to be really careful with the taxis in Rome. The only cars that are real legal taxi are these white cars:
There is no Uber in Rome but there is an app called “My Taxi” that you can use instead but based on my experience it doesn’t work that great. the best way is to just get one of these white cars old fashion or ask a store or your hotel to call one. Unfortunately, I got into a so called taxi in airport and the guy rubbed $40 from me (Long story)! He showed us his taxi card but apparently it was fake.
Hotel
I got to Rome after 11-hour flight in the middle of the day so our first day was almost a half day. The fake taxi that I mentioned above dropped us up at our hotel which was a 5-star hotel in the middle of the city close to all the historical places that were planning to visit. I really liked the hotel so far, the room is big and our window opens up to the city which is really nice.
1st Point of Interest in Rome
I read about this church and the sculls in the church that was interesting and I wanted to visit. The church is called Convento dei Frati Cappuccini but unfortunately the skull section was closed when I was there.
By the way if you have kids I don’t recommend going to this location because it’ll be a little creepy!
2nd Point of Interest in Rome
There are a lot of fountain in Rome. The fountains have been around since the ancient Roman times when water flowed freely from its aqueducts. The sound of water flowing from the many fountains throughout the city was a soothing contrast to the traffic noise Rome is also famous for.
This is the first fountain that we got into. Unfortunately I don’t know its name to search its location or history but all I can say is that it was really close to that church that I mentioned above.
Right next to this fountain oddly enough there was another fountain called Piazza Barberini. I was curious about the history of this fountain so in case you had the same curiosity you can read more about it here.
2nd Point of Interest in Rome
So far from my 1st day visit from Rome, Spanish stairs has been my favorite location. With its irregular butterfly design, the beautiful “Scalina Spagna”, or Spanish Steps are just one of these must see places when in Rome and a great example of Roman Baroque Style. It’s a great place to just sit down and enjoy the atmosphere and views of the Eternal City. The steps are a wide irregular gathering place consisted of 138 steps placed in a mix of curves, straight flights, vistas and terraces. They connect the lower Piazza di Spagna with the upper piazza Trinita dei Monti, with its beautiful twin tower church dominating the skyline.It was a little too crowded though but still I loved it especially with all the flowers.
The spanish steps ends with this beautiful fountain:
3rd Point of Interest in Rome
Right around the corner from the fountain that I just mentioned or south east of the Piazza di Spagna you’ll find Column of the Immaculate Conception which is a is a nineteenth-century monument. I honestly think Rome is a heaven for history lovers since every corner that you turn into there’s a new historical monument with an interesting history behind it. Try to get lost on the winding cobblestone streets and you’ll easily discover hidden treasures around every corner (be sure to pack a pair of comfortable shoes!).
4th Point of Interest in Rome
Since I was seeing a gelato in everyone’s hand, I started to crave it really bad and so we started to go down Via Condotti Street which was a street with every major brand that you can think of such as Prada, Versace etc. Other than shopping being an attraction for this street, the street itself was like a typical italian street that you’ve probably have seen in movies.
5th Point of Interest in Rome
We finally found our gelato place which was also a chocolate heaven called Venchi I. There was a long line there but it totally worth it.
6th Point of Interest in Rome
Right next to this gelato place, there is an area called Piazza di Pietra . There was a guy playing guitar and there were really good restaurants there that you could sit down and just enjoy a pasta meal with the music played right next to you. We tried Osteria dell’Ingegno .
Looks like Italian cuisine has 2 main course, one is a pasta dish with no meat and then a meat course. Carbonara is what we heard is the famous pasta dish in Rome although I wan’s a big fan but the meat was really good.
Last but not least is the dessert which I chose Tiramisu and it was really good.
One thing that I thought it’ll be nice to share is that locals in Rome are friendly and always eager to practice their English so don’t be shy to ask for help or strike up conversation; Romans are more than happy to tell you about their favourite places to eat and the best things to do in the city.
