conley39
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With three days, you'll be able to cover all the major tourist sites pretty well:Colosseum, the Forum, the Pallatine Hills, the Capitoline Museum, Mouth of Truth, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navonna, and Piazza di Spagna, St Peter's and the Vatican Museum. When you go to the Pantheon, it's worth going around to the left of the building and following the street to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (with the oblisk with the elephant in front of the church. The interior is worth a visit. The St Peter in Chains Church is worth visiting too.
If you're looking for cheap and close in Rome, a good option may be the Hotel Romano (75 euro)http://en.venere.com/hotels_rome/kolosse... It's very close to the Forum & Colosseum and within walking distance of two metro stops and the Termini train station.
Another option about 2 blocks to Roma Termini is the Serena (90 euro) http://en.venere.com/hotels_rome/esquili...
You can use the venere site to narrow down your search to a particular district and then sort by price, rating, etc. There are guest reviews of the hotels to give you an idea of what to expect. |
Spacehog
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I've been there twice for only a couple of days each time so I'm hoping I can help with sending you the same e-mail I sent to a friend a few months ago. I also sent a pic with it (Windows Paintbrush bitmap image) to which I referred to for a few things so my e-mail won't help in some spots unless you see the pic too. If OK with you, since I can't attach a pic here, I can always e-mail it to you if you'd allow it. If not, that's fine too. Let me know. spacehog@verizon.net
Attached e-mail:
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I won’t keep going on about Rome (unless you want me too – then I don’t mind), & I don’t know if you’re going to be there for 1 ‘full’ day, or just passing through during the day, but, especially since you’re crunched for time, I can recommend a couple of things should you feel ‘lost’ for ideas about what to do or where to go to save you the trouble of losing time. If I ever had to give anyone a crash&burn tour, this would be it:
#1 – And most important!!! (Yes, ice cream!)
Giolitti’s gelateria on Via Uffici di Vicario (It’s a very short street; you can’t miss it). If you like ice cream, you’ll go nowhere else. See the pink dot below.
Just look at the flavors: http://www.giolitti.it/ The quality is one of the best examples of good gelato I’ve ever had.
If you’re a fruity-guy like me (hmm.. maybe I should re-phrase that…) & like lemon (limone) don’t get the regular lemon but rather get the limoncello instead. Much tastier. And the melon (orange cantaloupe) was yuuuummy. Peach wasn’t bad either. The orange (arancia) was great, though a bit sweet, but the little bits of orange mixed in made it really good.
If you like figs - & I don’t mean the dried things you get in a plastic-wrapped ring in the supermarket but rather the fresh green or brownish/purply/blackish tear-dropped shaped ones from a fresh fruit cart, then get the fichi (fig). It actually tasted like they mixed mashed up figs in with the ice cream. I know it sounds weird but it was sooo good (if you like fresh figs). The noce (walnut) was also pretty good.
I’m not really into the ‘brown’ flavors, but my wife got nocciola, coffee, caramel, & rum-raisin, all of which were very good. All 3 sizes of cones get you 3 flavors.
If you’re really daring like one guy behind me, you can get the After-Eight mint & Cheesecake. (No, I wasn’t ‘that’ brave)
We went there 4 times. Oh man I miss it.
2 – For a nice walk through a typical old-street area, follow the green line. I don’t know where you’re staying, but we followed that strip from the right side (just a couple of blocks west of Piazza Barberini - where there’s a big fountain in a main square) & headed west. You’ll walk down a typical old street passing a few cafes, vendor carts, bunch of little stores, etc, which gives you a feel for the town. You’ll literally walk right into the Trevi Fountain too (somewhere right near the purple dot). It’s nice to see it lit up at night too. The Pantheon is right there as well. Very nice. You have to go in.
3 – The blue arrow leads you into Piazza Navona, one of the nicest piazzas in the town & also one with much activity at night, which it when it comes ‘alive’. Things like painters displaying their work for sale among other things. Kinda like hanging out in Greenwich Village in NYC but in a big open area & not near as bad due to lack of bums, hagglers, litter, pollution, car-pollution, etc. If you’re a night-time-activity-hang-out type of person, then it’s pretty neat here.
4 – The green line leads you over a bridge – Ponte Vecchio I believe. Over the bridge, turn left & head for St Peter’s Basilica. You can’t miss it. If you do nothing else, go here. Whether you’re a catholic like me or not it’s truly the only must-see. It was so gorgeous in there we actually stayed for 4pm mass on Sunday. The 1st statue to the right inside the church (behind the bullet-proof glass) is ‘THE’ original statue of Mary holding Jesus in her lap – one of the most well-known works (in case you’re interested in that sort of thing). You can pass on everything else; the colosseum, the ruins, etc, Castel San Angelo, but this you can’t miss. After going over the bridge, which is the most famous there because of the statues that flank both sides & also because it’s the original entrance bridge to the castle, head into the middle of St Peter’s square then look towards the right for a huge line of people looking to get in. It actually looks much worse than it is as far as waiting time. As you walk in the church foyer itself, you’ll see 2 big lines heading toward the right for the dome tour & crypt tour, but to get in the church itself, stay more towards the center door & go straight in. Your shoulders & knees have to be covered too. You have to see it to believe it.
*Note – I was there twice & have discovered that if you wait till later – around mid-afternoon – it’s less crowded. Up until 2-2:30ish it’s really crowded but as you approach 3:30-4ish, it gets much better.
Also, as an option (which we did) we booked a walk-tour with Angel Tours of Rome http://www.angeltoursrome.com/en/tours.htm
There are different ones, but we took The Saint Peter's, Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Tour. We took it with an Irish tour guide named Gerard who was very good, although a tad bit challenging due to his accent. This tour covers not only the church, but the Vatican museum & Sistine Chapel as well. I’m really glad we spent the money doing that. It was worth it.
So you have 1 of 2 options:
Browse the church by yourself or take the tour & see the church, museum, & chapel with a guide (which takes considerably longer). It was worth it. And he didn’t skimp on the time either. The tour groups they take are very small (only 12 people with us) & quite informative. It was only supposed to last something like 3 hours but actually went more than 4 only because Gerard didn’t mind giving us the time. This is one tour company that I’d actually use again, unlike others which left you feeling kinda detached for whatever reason. I knew when I got back home that I was going to be happy I did it.
As for the light blue dot – nothing special. It’s just one of a hundred outdoor cafes we hit for dinner but this place actually advertised sangria. Food was actually pretty good too. I’d go back. Other places may have sangria as well, but this one had a sign that advertised it so we just hit it. It was the place with the red tablecloths, not the one adjacent to it with the blue ones. But they’re all over the place & I’m sure they’re just as good. The menu was different because it had a theme of American names for all the food. The place was called something like Café Take-it-Easy (after the Eagles song I’m sure).
One last thing if you have time to see is the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately it may not be as pretty as you’ve seen in pictures with all the young‘uns hanging out & leaving their bottles & other litter behind, but if you can look past the mess, it’s actually neat to see that some Spanish King actually had them built. In one way, it’s just a bunch of plain ol’ steps – no big deal, but in another way, it’s nice that they were built there. My wife’s boss actually proposed to his wife on the steps. If you miss it though or if it’s too far out of your way, believe me it’s by far not the worst thing to happen to you. That’s just my ‘realist’ point of view.
So if you can make the time, go early for a nice walk, hit the church (tour or by yourself) & then the piazza Navona & Trevi Fountain at night. Those are some of the best things to do for a good taste of Rome - at least in a time crunch.
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