7 Days in Rome

[Phaneuf3]

As a spinoff to the San Fran thread.

I'm spending a week in Rome in a few weeks. Its a bit overwhelming as there's so much to do and see there. So CP, what's worth my time there?

[troutman]

do as the romans do

[simmer2]

There is an incredible amount to see in Rome, but if you are there 7 days you'll get to enjoy a lot of it at a reasonable pace. Just be sure to spread things out a bit so you don't wear yourself out.

Here are some suggestions for things you could do in a day.

Vatican for a day
St. Peter's and wandering around randomly for a day
Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain for a day
Roman ruins and Coliseum for a day
The underground graveyards in Rome and random wandering for a day
The beach for a day

If you enjoy partying, the pub crawls in Rome are a blast.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by troutman

do as the romans do

Pick pockets!

[getbak]

It's the eternal city, so there's really amazing history everywhere you turn. The Vatican is incredible (the Sistine Chapel is a masterpiece), the Colosseum is amazing, the Forum is spectacular, the Spanish Steps are pretty.


If you want something truly unique (and a little creepy), check out this place: http://www3.sympatico.ca/tapholov/pages/bones.html

Another link: http://eternallycool.net/?p=728

It's a tiny church on a non-descript road, easy to miss if you're not looking for it. Every piece of decoration inside the church is made from the bones of monks of the Capucin order who were displaced at some point when their original burial site was dug up. To honour their devotion to God, it was decided to literally build a church from their remains.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by simmer2

There is an incredible amount to see in Rome, but if you are there 7 days you'll get to enjoy a lot of it at a reasonable pace. Just be sure to spread things out a bit so you don't wear yourself out.

Here are some suggestions for things you could do in a day.

Vatican for a day
St. Peter's and wandering around randomly for a day
Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain for a day
Roman ruins and Coliseum for a day
The underground graveyards in Rome and random wandering for a day
The beach for a day

If you enjoy partying, the pub crawls in Rome are a blast.

And the nice thing is, you can walk to all of this, most is the old part of Rome. Most hotels have shuttle services that run at regular intervals and drop you off there and then you just make your day by foot after that.

There is also a huge park in Rome, if you wish to do jogging, walking, etc. , Villa Borghese park, just north of the Spanish steps. Many museums and galleries are housed in that park as well but some take limited numbers of people, so if art is your thing, better you get tickets ahead of time.

[chid]

Talk to 4x4. Although I am sure he'll be posting in this thread shortly.
I dont think you need an entire day for the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain..
While I was there I really enjoyed just random wandering, getting lost and finding neat side streets to explore.
I lived off gelato and the occasional margherita pizza, sucha good food.

[Phanuthier]

eat

[Locke]

Its a dump. Go to Florence instead.

Aside from that though, I was there for just under a week a few years ago and it would be really easy to fill the whole week with museums and cathedrals and such, but you should really prioritize what you want to see so you're not running around like a lunatic.

The Vatican and St. Peter's are a must though. If you're going to skip anything I'd skip the Coliseum, definately not as cool as you think it might be, not to mention you might run into the Senator's Gladiator Guy, he moonlights there.

[Incogneto]

Rome sucks. Get to Florence or Cinquo Terra!

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by InCoGnEtO

Rome sucks. Get to Florence or Cinquo Terra!

Cinquo Terra sucks. Go to the Bay of Kotor.

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by simmer2

There is an incredible amount to see in Rome, but if you are there 7 days you'll get to enjoy a lot of it at a reasonable pace. Just be sure to spread things out a bit so you don't wear yourself out.

Here are some suggestions for things you could do in a day.

Vatican for a day
St. Peter's and wandering around randomly for a day
Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain for a day
Roman ruins and Coliseum for a day
The underground graveyards in Rome and random wandering for a day
The beach for a day

If you enjoy partying, the pub crawls in Rome are a blast.

I just came back from Rome and other parts of Europe. You got all the bases covered for seeing the best of Rome.

Also, it's very warm and smoggy there right now.

[4X4]

A week! Finally someone doing it right!! To enjoy Rome properly you need at least 5 days. 7 days will be very comfortable. I have so many suggestions for you that I'm going to post in this thread later this evening after thinking about it.I lived in Rome for all of 2006, so my info may be a tiny bit dated, but the city hasn't changed much over 2500 years, so I doubt it'll be that outdated.

Before I got into it, are you going anywhere else in Italy and are you looking for a possible day drip or two? There are hundreds of things to do there, so tell me what you are most interested in.

Things like spending a day at the beach in Ostia (sort of like going to Okotoks, except it's the Mediterranean Sea), going to Pompeii, if you really like ruins you can go to some of the Villas...

Is renting a car in your budget? Renting a scooter (I very highly recommend this, but only to people that are confident drivers).

If you tell me that you're going to Naples afterward or to Cinque Terre, I won't bother suggesting certain things because you'll experience them in other places.

If you're going to Rome only, then I can pretty much cover all the bases for you. 7 days is perfect. Almost everyone I've talked to that didn't like the city made fundamental mistakes such as staying in a campground or trying to go to the Vatican on a Saturday.

Also, tell me where you're staying. If you don't know, tell me what your budget is. I was a hostel owner when I was there, so I know accommodations pretty well.

[4X4]

Well, now that I've got all these memories bouncing around in my head, I can't get any work done so I'll just start yammering about Rome.

First and most important is that it is really, really bad for pickpocketing and theft. Always keep your valuables (of which there should be few) in the same pocket, and always have your hand on that pocket when in a crowd or even a moderately busy area. And don't trust children. They're some of the best pickpocketers because you don't suspect them.

Next, if you want to be treated with any respect, learn how to say please, thank you, do you speak english, hello/goodbye in italian. Chances of getting an ill-prepared meal go down 100x if you use some Canadian politeness and a few of their words.

Siesta is your friend. August is ridiculously hot and humid. Expect to see temperatures in the 30-40 degree range in the day and 25 overnight. Very high humidity almost always. Take a couple hours in the afternoon to find somewhere cool to chill. A long lunch in an air conditioned restaurant or go back to your hotel or hostel and take it easy, otherwise you'll be a total burnout by 9pm.

A very large chunk of Rome is walking distance. You can cover the churches, ruins and most of the tourist spots (trevi, pantheon, spanish steps, foro romano, circus maximus, vatican, vittoriano, etc, etc, etc) by foot. Especially since you have 7 days, you can take two, very leisurely days to wander around and see all those things. With the ridiculous heat, you're going to walk slowly. No need to rush. Wear comfortable shoes, cobblestone streets can make your feet hurt pretty quickly if you wear crappy shoes.
Also, this will keep you off the buses and metro as much as possible and trust me, being on a bus in traffic in Rome in August is no vacation.

When in Rome, take troutman's advice and do as the Romans. Meals are to be enjoyed. Stay away from touristy restaurants and go eat some authentic Roman food and eat it like a Roman. This means with wine. Wine and water are absolutely essential to a good Italian meal. Just order the house red or white, depending on the meal, and a bottle of water. All wine in Italy is good, so don't feel like a cheapskate for ordering the cheapest wine on the menu. If you're flush with cash, go ahead and order something expensive, but most of the time, it's not much different from the cheapest wine. Just costs more.
Seek out restaurants that are off the beaten path. Little hole in the wall type joints in little streets that have little traffic. These places are where you'll find the best meals and the best prices.
You absolutely must spend an afternoon wandering the super old streets of Trastevere, and eat in the most obscure place you can find. If the meal sucks, either you offended the restaurateur, or your taste buds are broken.

Rome is an awesome place to try new culinary adventures. Don't just stick to spaghetti and meatballs. The seafood is f'n awesome (there is a mussel dish that I can't remember the name of that is to die for). The jewish ghetto serves some great beef dishes (stracotto di manzo - so unbelievably good). Even chinese restaurants are sooo good (though the rumour is that you're eating cat)(seafood at chinese restaurants is great).

A meal should be 4 or 5 courses, and take more than an hour. Do this at least once if money is tight. If you're happening, do it every night and it'll probably end up being one of the highlights of your trip. Don't forget the vino.

If food isn't your thing, then I guess that was a waste of time to write, but that would be very unfortunate because one of the best experiences in Rome is dinner.


As for what to actually DO, I'll post again in a bit.

[4X4]

Vatican City. Absolutely stunning. You need more than half a day to do the Vatican. There are three important things to do at Vatican City.

First is St. Peter's Basilica (San Pietro). This is actually 1 and 2. There is the church, which is free to enter, and the climb to the top of the cupola to see the Vatican gardens and the entire city of Rome from up high. The cupola costs 4 Euro to use the stairs and 7 Euro to take the elevator (which you still have to climb stairs afterward).
Don't skip the cupola. To get there, once you're past security to enter the Basilica, instead of going in the front door, follow the path on the right which takes you around the side of the building. This is the admission gate for the cupola. If you do it first, the stairs down will put you inside the Basilica.

The Basilica is just unbelievable. No point in describing it. You just have to see it to believe that such a building exists. Depending on your interest in art and religion, you'll spend anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (or maybe more) taking it all in.

The third part to Vatican City is the Museum (the Sistine is in the museum). To get to the museum, you head left out of the piazza (if your back is to the Basilica) and follow the Vatican wall until you hit a line up. The line is long. Very long. Depending on the time of day (or the day), it can be up to 3 hours long. A trick I learned was to go around 1 pm. At that point of the day, the line is only about 30-40 minutes. The risk though, is that the museum closes at 4 or 420 or something. There is so much to see in there that you simply wont see it all. Chances are that you'll go into sensory overload and you'll stop caring after seeing your thousandth sculpture.

If you just sort of follow the crowd or the signs for the sistine, you'll get there in about an hour or two. Try to save at least 15 minutes for the Sistine. Beware that the Raphael rooms are right before the Sistine and you may find yourself staring at some of his frescoes for a while.

[Yeah_Baby]

Off topic by what took you Rome 4X4?

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Off topic by what took you Rome 4X4?

LOL. The truth? I was heading to Vegas for a weekend with the boys and a petty criminal record for a fight I got into when I was 18 was grounds for the Yankees to nix that trip. As I was driving home from the airport with a pocket full of money, my sister, who was traveling Europe at the time, called to wish me a good time in Vegas and when I told her I got dissed, she suggested that I meet her in Rome.
I was on a plane the next day and while I was there, I made friends with someone she had met there and him and I put our money together and opened a hostel.
It was a total blast, but the novelty wore off a year later and I decided to come home and get back in to career mode.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by 4X4

LOL. The truth? I was heading to Vegas for a weekend with the boys and a petty criminal record for a fight I got into when I was 18 was grounds for the Yankees to nix that trip. As I was driving home from the airport with a pocket full of money, my sister, who was traveling Europe at the time, called to wish me a good time in Vegas and when I told her I got dissed, she suggested that I meet her in Rome.
I was on a plane the next day and while I was there, I made friends with someone she had met there and him and I put our money together and opened a hostel.
It was a total blast, but the novelty wore off a year later and I decided to come home and get back in to career mode.

Wow,. thats sweet man.

[Jagger]

Originally Posted by 4X4

First and most important is that it is really, really bad for pickpocketing and theft. Always keep your valuables (of which there should be few) in the same pocket, and always have your hand on that pocket when in a crowd or even a moderately busy area. And don't trust children. They're some of the best pickpocketers because you don't suspect them.

No truer words have been spoken.

We were robbed outside of the Coliseum by a group of young girls.

Funny story actually. You walk past them and they all start pulling, jostling, and yelling in your face, pretending to try and sell you a newspaper of some sort. They then lifted my 'dummy' wallet. I learned this trick from extensive travel in my youth. My valuables are in a money belt under all my clothes while my wallet only has a little money in it, just in case of crooks etc. Anyway, even though it was only my dummy wallet it still pissed me off when I noticed it missing a few yards away from where they did the deed. I turned back and approached them yelling for my wallet. Of course, they acted all dumb and a little frightened it must be said! I had a good travel beard going by then! One of them had a shawl with a 'baby' in it. Aha, I thought, the perfect place to hide your spoils, in a shawl with a pretend baby in it. So I go over and grab the shawl only for the REAL baby to start bawling its eyes out! Much screaming ensues with a few more Italians involved. It was quite the gong show going on. Then, lo and behold, my wallet appears from nowhere. Amazing! I'm not sure what they thought I was going to do to the baby but, whatever, I got my $10 (in lira) back. Hey, it's the principle of the thing!

That put us off Rome unfortunately and we left for Florence then Venice the next day.

[Phaneuf3]

@ 4x4 wow - thanks for all the info - looks like excellent stuff that i'll need to read in more detail to get a halfway decent plan worked out (and then just forget it and wing it once we get there )

to answer a couple of the questions you had - we're spending 3 weeks in italy. 2 down in some small towns in calabria to get married and meet all the new inlaws and then one week to ourselves in rome. i've been trying to pick up some italian but am having a hell of a time. i've got the basics down but beyond that it gets pretty sketchy. luckily the wife is fluent so i got myself a free pass.

i'll probably have some more questions for you once i have a chance to read through some more of your info in better detail.