Wednesday 3 September 2014

Holiday to Rome

A few weeks ago my parents sat me down and told me they had                                                                   something to ask me.
I immediately thought I was in trouble to be honest, but instead they asked me if I would go to Italy with 
my brother, who was mad to go but wouldn't go alone. Of course I jumped at the chance to go 

Getting and staying there:  The one thing about getting to Rome from Ireland is you have to go from Dublin. Our flight was at 6am so we traveled up the day before and stayed in The Abbey Court Hostel which is just off the main street, it has a Cinema room and a hammock room and it organises transport to the airport too which is handy. We flew into Ciampino airport which is about 35 minutes from the city, we took the bus there and we were able to walk to our hostel. We stayed in The Pop Inn Hostel which for location was amazing, not a lot of facilities compared to The Abbey Court, and there was a few small broken tiles in the bathroom (still in the shower unattached) but it was clean and had internet and all we did was sleep there. BTW: There is an accommodation tax in all of Italy that was 2 euro per person per night, so it cost us 12 and I believe that has increased since we left and it has to be paid in cash.

What we did: I am all about the bus tour, it gives you a feel for the place and a map and you see how to get around and the bus tour had a stop 2 minutes from the hostel so on we jumped. Compared to other cities I thought Rome was tint, in a good way, it meant lots of things were pretty much in walking distance. 
On the first day we also headed into the Coliseum and BTW: If you are between 18-24 and have I.D you get into Coliseum for 7 compared to 12:50. 
On The second day we went to The Victor Emmanuel 2 monument and took the lift to the top and there was the most lovely view you can see the Forum The Coliseum and St Peters Basilica. We took a tour of the Pantheon which was really interesting and informational and only cost 10. we ended up in a few random but utterly beautiful churches and museums. BTW  we headed to Palermo Turismo Catacombs and I wasn't allowed in as my knees were showing, I had a cardigan but still I wasn't allowed, and they don't have anything to cover you, in other churches and buildings like that they do provide shawls, but I learned to carry a scarf too for your legs.
 
The Vatican:  The tour group at the Pantheon informed us they also did tours of The Vatican. It did cost us 45 (and those over 24 would pay 50) but we wouldn't have to queue at all which was something I wasn't looking forward to, so I felt it would be worth the money.There was about 25 of us on the tour and we were given ear pieces to hear what our lovely stereotypical Italian woman tour guide who gave us lots of info on statues and the map room and The Sistine chapel. We actually split from the group so we could see more areas such as the bust hall and The Raphael room and The Egyptian room. The Sistine chapel is a thing that everyone should see in their lifetimes!! If your neck doesn't hurt from looking up your'e not looking enough! 
The Basicila is just a marvel to look at the whole church even (go to the Crypt too under the church if you can). supposedly it can seat 60,000 people!! The art in the whole place is staggering and I didn't even see half of it and we were there for about 5 hours.

Food and Drink: Our First night I for some reason wanted to head to the Ghetto to see it (maybe because I had headed to the one in Paris). We ended up eating there too, but we got pizza, I don't think my brother would have appreciated Jewish food but I saw some of those Restaurants too. We also got Kosher Gelato (who knew that was a thing!) The second night we ate by the VE monument and that was a mistake, it was too touristy and the pasta wasn't great and it was more expensive and very MEH. The third day we ate early after The Vatican and again had Pizza. We walked a fair bit away from The Vatican so the price would be more reasonable price and I accidentally....ordered half a litre of wine at 3pm... I am a massive Coffee drinker, so finding a good coffee place was paramount on this trip. It was actually on The Pantheon Tour where the Tour Guide recommended Caffe Sant'Eustachio. I went there straight after the tour and ordered an Espresso......and then another one, it was unlike any coffee I've ever had. My brother even had some, he didn't exactly appreciate it but he's still drank coffee from a famous place. For gelato,the tour book we had mentioned Giolitti and it was in proximity of The Pantheon too, though it was kinda hard to find the gelato was just unbelievable.


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