Rome, Italy

November 1 - 15, 2019

Rome, the Eternal City. This capital city has a history that spans 28 centuries. As the center of the Roman Empire, there is so much history here to explore. A stroll through the historical center is a stroll through history.

Vatican City, the center of power of the Catholic Church, is the smallest independent country in the world, ruled by the Pope and located right here in Rome. The St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel were amazing sights to see.

Pompei, tragically buried under volcano ashes for over a century, visitors get a glimpse of the well-preserved ancient Roman life.

Major attractions (Part 1): Campo De Fiori Market, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Tiber Island

Major attractions (Part 2): Alter of the Fatherland, Basilica Di Santa Maria & Campidoglio, Piazza Verona, Castel Sant’Angelo, Borghese Garden

Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill

Vatican City

Life in Rome

Pompeii

Voyagers tips: Check the “Life in Rome” section for travel tips.

Major Attractions (part 1)

Campo de Fiori Market

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

Tiber Island

Campo de Fiori Market

The Forno Campo de Fiori was a busy piazza and sandwich takeout place. The typical way to buy take-away pizza here is to fold up the rectangular thin crust pizza slice and serve it that way.

The most famous and the busiest outdoor market in Rome, this market has everything from spices and olive oil to flowers and fashion wear. We usually shy away from restaurants and eateries at the busiest tourist locations, but the popular Forno Campo de Fiori pizzaria at the corner was fantastico!

Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon...lots of visitors!

The architecture is quite unique, comprised of a series of intersecting arches.

A pano shot of a dome makes the walls look flat when taken from the center of the dome.

A striking 2000-year-old temple, now a church, the Pantheon is the best preserved of Rome’s ancient monuments and one of the most influential buildings in the Western world. Built by Hadrian over Marcus Agrippa’s earlier 27 BC temple, it has stood since around 125 AD.

Trevi Fountain

The crowd here is maddening.

Legend has it that if you throw one coin into the fountain, you will return to Rome. Two coins, and you fall in love with a Roman. Three coins, and you will marry that Roman.

We only had three coins with us, so Megan, Maren and Ashlyn each threw one.

They collect about 3000 euros a day in coins, which is donated to charity to give food to the needy.

The spray art looks amazing. But the fume is so strong, I wonder if these artists' health suffers from these fumes over time.

Trevi Fountain, a truly impressive fountain with a long history. Built on a major aqueduct. The latest renovation cost 2.2M euros and was paid for by Fendi, completed in 2015.

Spanish Steps

They recently passed a law forbidding sitting on the steps. Now you hear police whistle at least once a minute, telling people sitting to get up.

The crowd here is maddening, even in early November.

Fountain of the Old Boat, or Fountain of the Ugly Boat, depending on the translation.

The street directly opposite to the steps are full of high end shops like Cartier and Hermes. It was jam packed.

Trinità dei Monti church

Inside the church.

It started to rain hard with little warning, but luckily there was no wait for our bus and for the connection.

Spanish Steps, one of the most popular attractions in Rome, was built to connect the Trinità dei Monti church to the Spanish square below. The steps got its name from the fact that the Spanish Embassy is near the square.

Tiber Island

Tiber River runs through the west side of Rome. Tiber Island is the only island on Tiber River.

The bridge onto Tiber Island.

Basilica of St. Bartholomew.

Fatebenefratelli Hospital, established in 1585. The hospital is known for having sheltered Jews during the Holocaust by diagnosing them with a fictitious disease called "Syndrome K".

There's almost no one else at the lower level of the island by the water.

The Smart car is super popular here. I've never seen these cars parked like this other than in TV commercials. It flopped in the US but is the perfect car in this busy city.

The beauty of walking around in the city is running into random treasures. This is one example. No idea who carved it.

We stopped for some pizza and pasta for lunch on the way to Vittorio Emanuele II (Altar of the Fatherland) monument.

Tiber Island, a tiny island with a hospital and a church, also serves as a nice escape from the city hustle and bustle.

Major Attractions (part 2)

altar of the fatherland

basilica di santa maria & Campidoglio

piazza verona

Castel Sant’Angelo

borghese garden

altar of the fatherland (monument of Vittorio emanuele ii)

Top of the steps. This place really is big.

This elevator around the back takes you to the very top for 10 euros.

Nice view of the Colosseum.

The view from the very top is amazing, well worth the price. This is the angle for the Colosseum , Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.

These statues of the goddess of victory on the very top can be seen from everywhere in Rome.

Alter of the Fatherland, the largest monument in Italy, built to commemorate King Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of unified Italy.

Basilica di Santa Maria & Campidoglio

The inside of the church is very grand.

Steps up to Basilica di Santa Maria.

The steps up to Piazza del Campidoglio.

Piazza del Campidoglio.

Am I seeing double?

piazza verona

Piazza Verona, a popular hangout place that’s long enough to contain three separate fountains.

castel sant’angelo

The sky darkened during our visit. The night view from the fortress is quite pretty.

We walked back to our apartment in the rain through St Peter's Square.

Castel Sant’Angelo (Castle of the Holy Angel) was built as the Mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.

borghese garden

The biggest garden/park in Rome.

A special exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art across the street.

Three statues?

We just happened to walk into a local celebration filled with performances and olive oil tastings.

We rented an electric quad bike to tour the massive park. This quad bike is awesome, you just pedal lightly and the electric motor does the rest.

We saw a big muddy puddle by the fence, which turned out to be perfect for reflection shots.

Borghese Garden is the largest park in Rome. It’s larger than Vatican City, which is a country. It’s a great place to get away from the city crowds.

colosseum, roman forum and palatine hill

colosseum

roman forum & palatine hill

circus maximus

colosseum

The Colosseum, one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, needs no introduction.
Voyagers tips: Book tickets online to avoid the long queue. Regular tickets are easy to book, but the special tickets with underground and 3rd tier tickets (the special tour through coopculture website is only 9 euros more) are sold out months in advance. This is a hidden treasure, as I didn’t see many mentions of it in my research. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in my booking and missed this special tour. Most people interested in underground purchases expensive 3rd party tours for over 100 euros, whereas the official tours including entrance tickets only cost around 26 euros.

roman forum & palatine hill

Three arches were built here, only two remain, one on each end of Roman Forum.

There is a perfect shot of the Colosseum from Roman Forum.

Temple of Venus, built by Julius Caesar. Only this wall remains today.

The tomb of Julius Caesar, very unassuming.

Another shot of the grave of Julius Caesar.

The arch on the opposite end of the forum.

A nice monument on the way up to Palatine Hill.

You can look down on the entire Roman Forum from Palatine Hill.

Palatine Hill is much larger than we expected. This massive piece of land resides right in the heart of Rome.

On the other side of these fortress walls of Palatine Hill is Circus Maximus, the stadium for chariot races.

Looking down at Circus Maximus. We also looked up at Palatine Hill from Circus Maximus.

Roman Forum, located right next to the Colosseum, was the center of civil activities in ancient Rome. Palatine Hill, adjacent to the forum, is a massive hill with fantastic views of Rome. Sadly, most structures at both Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were destroyed.

Circus Maximus

Where the chariot races used to take place, now only an open field of gravels and grass. A bit underwhelming.

A perfect view of Palatine Hill fortress walls from here.

A giant leaps over the walls of Palatine Hill.

Another giant.

Circus Maximus, the stadium once used for chariot races, is located next to Palatine Hill.

Vatican City

Vatican City, the center of the Catholic church, is the smallest independent country in the world.

St. Peter’s Square - Pope’s Angelus Blessing

St. Peter’s Basilica

Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

St. Peter’s Square - Pope’s Angelus Blessing

St. Peter's Square is super easy to access, you just walk right in. There is security check for Sunday Angelus.

There's a fountain in the middle of the square. It's called a square, but is really a circle.

Lots of people... looks like we're not the only ones wanting to see the Pope.

There he is!

The flag under the window marks the window from which he speaks.

St. Peter's Basilica next to the square is the source of the square's name.

There's no border per se between Vatican and Rome, just a mobile barrier during Sunday Angelus.

We attended Sunday Angelus at Vatican City and saw the pope!

Voyagers tips: There are two ways to see the pope without special access: Wednesday Papal Audience (easy to get tickets) and Sunday Angelus (no tickets required). We chose the Sunday Angelus, which is held at noon. There is a website to check his availability, be sure to check it before showing up.

St. Peter’s Basilica

The entire church is so immaculate.

Lots of visitors.

Pontifical Swiss Guards protect the Pope and the Apostolic Palace.

The climb up to the dome was fun. You can buy tickets next to the basilica and go right up.

Once you get to the base of the dome, you walk across to the other side for the next stage of the climb. This is a great spot to get a close-up view of the ceiling.

Looking down from the base of the dome.

The walls start slanting in due to the shape of the dome.

The higher we climbed, the more slanted the walls.

There's a rope towards the end to help people steady their footing.

We made it to the top!

360 view from up here.

Looking down at St. Peter's Square.

This part seems to be the private part of Vatican City not open to the public.

We come back down into the basilica.

This is probably the grandest church we’ve ever seen. The beauty and the details at every inch of the church is stunning. The climb up to the dome was a fun experience.

Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel

We walked around Vatican City's walls to get to the museum entrance.

Got to the entrance!

A dizzying amount of art collection inside the museum.

The paintings inside the Sistine Chapel is breath-taking.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There are supposedly over 200 animals in this painting. We lost count.

There was a special Egyptian exhibit when we visited.

There was a treasure hunt game for the kids to locate certain pieces of art. It was a great way to keep the kids engaged.

Julius Caesar statue.

We stepped out to the courtyard after the rain stopped.

The spiral staircase back down is a signature photo op of the museum.

Looking up from the bottom of the staircase.

A whopping six million visitors come to the Vatican Museum each year. The sheer size and massive art collection is overwhelming. Sistine Chapel, located inside the museum, is breath-taking.

Voyagers tips: Be sure to pre-book tickets online to bypass the long queue. We booked an early spot at 9:30am in November and got in in less than 10 minutes. It was still crowded inside though. Get an audio guide if you’re not doing a tour, it’s super helpful, especially inside the Sistine Chapel.

Life in rome

We learned a lot about life in Rome during our two-week visit. This is a compilation of our learning for future travelers. Please ignore the redundancy in pictures with other section, as this is a compilation of all areas in these topics.

neighborhoods & transportation

food

shopping

neighborhoods & transportation

Major trains go to Rome Termini station, but there are several stations around Rome, and a simple search on trenitalia.com or italiarail.com will get you the best route to your destination station.

We picked a nice hotel apartment complex near Vatican City. We enjoyed breakfast on rooftop terrace.

Look up at the bus stop sign to confirm the stops and make sure you're going in the right direction.

Rome was rainy when we visited in early November. Standing in the rain at the bus stop is no fun, so download the taxi app (there's a link through MoovIt) in case it rains hard.

Some buses are pretty empty, others are jam packed.

Rome is a great city to walk around, and you can find pleasant surprises while walking. We enjoyed walking around, and only took metros/buses to come into or leave city center.

Parking is tough and traffic is crazy in city center, don't plan to rent a car in Rome unless you're a pro and don't mind searching for parking.

The metro works well, but the routes are few and far in between.

Neighborhood: Most of the major attractions are on the east side of Tiber River, with the exception of Vatican City. The metro in Rome does not cover the entire city, so if staying outside of city center, try to stay close to a metro station. We stayed close to Vatican City but was not close to the metro, and relying on the bus system was problematic at times. If we were to do our trip again, we’d stay on the east side of Tiber River.

Transportation: The combination of train, metro, buses and trams make up the transportation network in Rome. The main train station in Rome is the Rome Termini station on the east side. There is one general ticket for all city travels, it’s 1.50 euros per ticket and is good for unlimited in-town travel for 100 minutes. It’s good for local trains, metros, buses and trams. Some buses show up very infrequently, be careful about this when choosing bus routes. Stay away from buses that come once every 35-45 minutes unless you have too much time to kill.

Transportation app: MoovIt is fantastic! It not only calculates the best app, but also shows you the bus schedule when available. It also shows you the direction on the phone when trying to figure out which direction to head towards.

food

These stuff olives were tasty! Meat inside, breaded and fried on the outside.

Found a nice boba shop next to the Pantheon, highly recommended!

We ordered this massive sheet of family size pizza. Freshly baked, it tasted so good, and was a steal at 13 euros.

Typical Rome style pizza, cut into rectangular slices and charged by weight. Can be eaten open faced or folded up.

Tiramisu shop selling nothing but tiramisu, and a long line of people line up to buy it. It was really good, very creamy. Too rich to eat the entire piece though, it's best shared.

Needing a break from all the Italian food, we found a sushi ingredient store and decided to make sushi rolls for the first time ever!

The rolls may not have looked pretty, but man, they tasted so good!

Pasta carbonara, a unique sauce combination of eggs, cured pork cheek and olive oil.

Anchovies on pizzas are pretty salty.

The Central Market (Mercato Centrale Roma), accessible from Roma Termini station, is a foodie's heaven. The guy at the ramen shop is super friendly, but it's far from authentic, I'm afraid.

The Flea Imperial Red Ale was amazing! Strong yet smooth, it's almost like a blend of beer and red wine. So good!

Pizza and Pasta are stable Italian food, of course. Sandwich shops are around every corner also. We grew to love the Rome style of pizza, where they bake huge long sheets of pizza, and cut individual pieces to charge by weight. The thin crust pizzas are then folded up when eaten, almost like a calzone. The fresh ones are delicious!

After five weeks in Italy, we were craving for Asian food. It was surprisingly difficult to find Asian restaurants near our neighborhood west of Tiber River. We finally found one tiny shop selling sushi ingredients and other Asian food choices like tonkasu ramen and gyoza, and we almost bought the entire shop.

shopping

Campo de Fiori outdoor market. Lots of spices, flowers and olive oils.

You can even find hats at Campo de Fiori.

Fancy shopping near Spanish Steps.

Outside Centro Commerciale AURA, where we found a hypermarket named Pam. Very good selection.

Shopping is big in Rome. For local market flair, go to open markets like Campo de Fiori. For high end shopping, head to the Spanish Steps. Small supermarkets can be found throughout the city, but if you want decent selection, you have to go outside of city center and look for a hypermarket. We visited a Pam store at Centro Commerciale AURA, which had a wide selection of products. It was also the only store we found selling plain notebooks, which we desparately needed for home schooling. The only notebooks we found in Florence were fancy ones at arts store for 13-16 euros.

Pompeii

getting to pompeii

pompeii ARCHAEOLOGICAL site

getting to pompeii

The regional train from Naples to Pompeii can be rough when crowded with standing-room only. It's about 35 minutes.

Even during off-season, our train to Pompeii was standing-room only for a while.

The Pompeii station is quite small, with only two platforms, one on each side of the tracks.

We visited on a rainy day during off-season. There was no queue to get in.

Pasta Carbonara, a must-try in Italy. It has eggs, guanciale (cures pork cheek) and Parmesan cheese in it. It got mixed reviews at our table.

Pizza with anchovies. It was salty.

Pompei Scavi Villa Dei Misteri is the train station for visiting Pompeii.

Back in Rome, the train station is very modern and large.

Mercato Centrale Roma (Central Market Rome) is connected to Roma Termini station and is hugely popular for both lunch and dinner.

This beer I randomly chose was so good! Flea Bastola Imperial Red Ale. Nutty, fruity, strong yet smooth, almost like a cross between beer and red wine.

The metro train to west of Tiber river is on the other side of the Termnini station, connected to the main part via underground tunnel.

There are three ways to get to Pompeii: (1) by train, connecting at Naples, (2) by car, self driving, and (3) guided tour with passenger vans. We chose to go the train route as Ivan was feeling a bit under the weather and wasn’t comfortable with the 5-hour round trip drive, but with the delayed trains and standing-room-only regional trains coming back, we would’ve been better off driving ourselves. It would’ve been a much cheaper option for a group of five also.

Voyagers tips: (1) Once arriving at Naples from Rome, look for the “Circumvesuviana” sign to get to Pompeii. You have to go out to the main area of the train station, turn right, then left around the bend to go downstairs. It’s best to ask information desk if necessary, it’s a bit confusing. (2) A good restaurant choice in Pompei is Ristorante Pizzeria Pompei, only around the corner from the archaeological site entrance, has good quality food, and is cheaper than the places right next to the train station or right outside the entrance.

pompeii ARCHAEOLOGICAL site

The column and the entire sight is so much better preserved than, say, the Roman Forum in Rome.

The Great Theater. Maren was performing to a less than enthusiastic crowd. Maybe her singing is ahead of her time.

The great theater is so well preserved.

The statue in the Pompeii Forum. Like the Roman Forum, this is the most important place in town.

The temple of Apollo, right next to the forum.

The temple of Jupiter. Jupiter (equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology) is the king of the gods in Roman mythology, so his temple is right at the head of the forum.

A marble bathtub inside the grand bath. It looks really nice, I wouldn’t mind taking a bath in it!

Four inspiring gladiators.

This is the hot bath in the public bath area. The Roman baths include hot, warm and cold baths. The hollow area underneath is for them to burn things to heat up the water.

This was supposedly a big pool.

The bodies left cavities that remain long after the bodies decomposed. Plaster was pumped into the cavities to create these casts.

The courtyard of the public bath facility.

A city wouldn’t be complete without a place for the oldest profession in the world. This brothel was small but surprisingly well preserved with vivid pictures.

The wall art left no doubt about the purpose of this building.

The "bed" inside one of the small rooms in the brother.

This place is massive!

The mosaic floor in this building is perfectly preserved.

There were baths, temples, restaurants, and many are probably just people’s homes. They do take some imagination to bring it to life.

A big pond in their yard, perhaps? This was obviously a rich person’s home, but I don’t know what this was exactly. It looked really cool though.

The amphitheater was used for gladiator fights and circus events. It is believed that other amphitheater such as the colosseum are modeled after this one since it’s the oldest.

Cartwheel time!

No idea what they were doing.

Mount Vesuvius is the volcano that erupted. You can see the outline but it was a bit muggy.

Pano shot from the center of the amphitheater. We had the amphitheater all to ourselves for a few precious minutes.

Pompeii, a city destroyed and buried by the ash of a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D., was forgotten until the rediscovery in 1748! The ancient city is very well preserved. The day trip from Rome was long and tiring, but the site was absolutely stunning. One of the most amazing sights of our world tour so far.