Rome, Italy

This was my 3rd time in Rome. It was easily the best of the 3.

We arrived late in the evening from Ljubljana, and it was too late for the trains from the airport, so we got a taxi to the hotel. We used points (of course!) to stay at the Le Méridien Visconti, owned by Marriott. It’s in a great location near several subway stops and a big park where people walk their dogs. Since it was late, we went straight to bed.

Hotel breakfast was included for being platinum members, so we ate early and then caught the subway over to the Vatican for our tour. That’s a separate post.

After our tour, we realize it’s impossible to go anywhere quickly in Rome. It’s not because of the traffic. It’s because you can’t not stop along the way. It’s impossible to not pass some amazing building and stop to look at the art on it.

In a little alleyway, we found a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop with vegan pizza. It was a great lunch, and we were off again.

After more walking, we stopped in something that’s like a Barnes & Noble to use the bathroom. We found that they had a cafe that not only had soy milk for coffee but also vegan apple pie and muffins. Rome is awesome. La Feltrinelli book store is awesome.

We started making our way over to the Colosseum. Again, we stopped a bunch of times to see amazing spots from history and beautiful sights along the way. We got sucked in by this amazing Piazza Venezia with the grand tomb of unknown soldiers / alter of the fatherland.  Mark it down to return when we have more time.

Continuing towards the Colosseum, we passed the Roman Forum. There were also a ton of street performers.

For the Colosseum, we’d booked online and had a time where we could show up and skip the line with our tickets. Great move, since the line was 2 hours long when we arrived.

I’ve taken pictures outside the Colosseum on previous visits but never gone inside. It was awesome.

We got the audio guide, and it honestly had too much information. It had so much information that we didn’t even finish it. We saw only the main levels, even though our ticket included the underground areas. We just didn’t feel like continuing it, because the audio tour had more than an hour of information just for the main level. I love history, but it was dragging on and on.

Outside, there’s a beautiful arch, we got some more pictures, and then we caught the bus back to our hotel. We rested up for a bit before meeting a friend for dinner at Ops! It’s a pay-by-weight buffet, and it was really good.

After this, more sightseeing. We walked to the famous Trevi Fountain.

Then we walked to the famous Spanish Steps (it’s illegal to sit on them now, which is why there are no people in my picture).

From here, we walked down this cool street with cartoon characters in Christmas lights, then ended back at our hotel for the night.

After breakfast the next morning, we headed back to the Piazza Venezia area.

When we got off the bus, we thought this was a side entrance up to the top of the alter of the fatherland. Imagine going up all these steps and finding it’s not where you wanted to go. Oh well, the Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli was beautiful.

Back down the steps and over to the alter of the fatherland & tomb of the unknown soldiers.

Next, we walked down to the Roman Forum, which is included in the ticket to the Colosseum. I’m glad you don’t have to do them all on the same day. We were able to take our time and just stroll as we pleased this way.

From here, we walked over to the Pantheon. Unfortunately, the line to get in was HUGE, so we didn’t wait.

I remembered a gelato shop with tons of vegan options nearby that I’d been to before, so we wound through the little alleys and enjoyed some gelato in the sunlight near this tiny little car.

It was time to head back to the hotel to check out. They held our suitcases at the front desk while we got dinner, which was nice.

Rifugio Romano near the train station (Termini). Oh boy… This place is awesome. This could be among the best meals of my entire life. We had lasagna & carbonara as our main dishes. We shared an appetizer of fried olives stuff with soy meat. We had a giant tiramisu for dessert.

It was so good that we ordered a pizza to take with us on the plane. Yes, we were THOSE tourists, bringing a pizza through the airport. Don’t be jealous. It was still delicious on the plane that night to Malta then onward to Cairo. Rome is awesome. Amazing.