When In Rome…
After finishing up in Florence, Sean and I headed to the next major city of our journey — Rome — the home of the colosseum, the Vatican, and Caesar himself! But first, we made a pi tstop in Venice as a romantic vacation together in Italy wouldn’t be complete without at least a glimpse into this city of canals and gondalas, especially as the city is sinking and who knows how long it will be around for?!
Venice
We had 8 hours to explore Venice, get lost in the winding alleys, and do some shopping! Really, if you ever find yourself traveling Italy, this is more than enough time to see all the major attractions in this infamous city.
Venice is unlike any city I’ve ever traveled to. As the city is a mass of 118 floating islands, it’s understandable that there are no roads or cars, but instead there’s an intricate maze of canals with boats. The major mode of transport is via the water but if you are brave enough to travel by foot, be prepared to not only get lost in the narrow streets (which is hilariously fun), but also be amazed by the gorgeous bridges that connect the islands to each other as well as the stunning craftsmanship of the numerous artisans that reside in the city.
We didn’t have much of an agenda for the city which meant that we could take the day as it came at us. We wandered through the city, ate some amazing foccacia-style pizza (the typical Ligurian pizza) and went shopping. I had two items on my must-buy list for Venice — a Christmas ornament for our tree and Venetian masks.
Venice is known for it’s Murano hand-blown glass. There are literally hundreds of shops selling the glass so the hard part is finding a shop that sells the real glass that is hand-blown and not machine-made, but also doesn’t try to rip you off by selling it to you for the tourist price. In the end, we found a beautiful blue globe that will be a stunning addition to our tree this year.
Other than glass, Venice is also highly known for Venetian-style masks. I fell in LOVE with these masks but my pocketbook, unfortunately, isn’t deep enough to even come close to affording the ones I really wanted. I quickly learned that if I loved it, I shouldn’t look at the price haha… We eventually found an adorable shop that was run by the mask-maker himself, a welcome change from the shops that were just re-sellers. Sean and I both purchased some gorgeous masks that will allow us to remember Venice forever.
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Time’s up! It’s time to head to Rome!
Rome
Rome in one word — Bellissimo! No other city will blow you away by just walking down the street! At every street corner there is a gorgeous statue or ruins of the Roman Empire, it seems! We enjoyed a whirlwind four days in Roma (a pallendrome for Amor — love!). Here are some of the highlights…
Our Bed and Breakfast
The B&B we stayed at in Rome was in the historical center of town, very close to Piazza Navona, a large square with gorgeous fountains and statues.
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Sean and I both agree that this is our favourite place we have stayed at so far, owing to Adele, the owner of the apartment and our roommate for the four days we were in town. Adele speaks about ten words of English and we speak about 10 words of Italian so you can imagine that it would be hard to communicate. Despite this, we had numerous lengthy conversations with her (in Italian, English, Spanish, and French) about what to do and where to eat. She is such a beautiful person, both inside and out and so full of life.
One morning she invited us to have coffee with her at 8am where she served us breakfast and espresso and reviewed our days’ plans with us. It’s amazing what information can be expressed with a few words, lots of had gestures and even more laughing. She was a blast and a cherry on top of our Roman cake.
The City
Rome is such a lively, crazy city and I love it. The city is fast-paced and loud but there are also little oasis’ amongst the clamour where you can catch your breath such as Villa Borghese, a massive park where we spent an afternoon walking in the forest and going for a romantic rowboat ride at a small lake situated around a temple.
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The old and the new are beautifully interwoven with each other in the city where ruins from the Roman Empire may be found right beside a modern art gallery or restaurant. Walking through the city is like walking through a museum due to the archeological digs interspersed throughout the city as well as the hundreds of ornate fountains and sculptures found on what seems like every street corner!
Crossing the street is definitely an acquired skill in Rome. On main roads it is not uncommon to find an uncontrolled crosswalk. You would be stuck there all day if you waited for the vehicles to stop for you. Instead, the generally accepted method of tackling this feat is to start walking out into the traffic straight-on and hope to God the cars stop for you. I’m not kidding. The first time we tried this out we were a bit nervous (and rightfully so!) but by the end our four-day stint in Rome we were crossing the street like we were born and raised in the city.
One of the reasons it’s a bit nerve-wracking to cross the street on foot is due to the crazy driving in Italy. It is not uncommon to see cars that are scratched with dinged up bumpers or drivers texting while driving down extremely narrow two-way streets. The sheer amount of people in Rome also makes parking quite difficult due to (I assume) the lack of spots. This predicament has made Italian drivers become the best parallel parkers I have ever seen. It was common to see a car parked with only a few inches leeway both behind and in front of the car. I have no clue how these cars get into or out of these spots! I am a bit terrified to be picking up a car in a few days to say the least!
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Restaurants
Eating out in Italy is quite a different experience than in Vancouver due to lots of cultural differences. For instance, breakfast in Italy consists of little more than a pastry and coffee. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anything protein-rich like sausages or eggs unless you go somewhere touristy advertising an “American Breakfast”. With all the pastries, pasta, and pizza, it’s definitely been a carb-loaded month. Sean often hears me say something along the lines of “what’s a girl gotta do to get a fruit cup around here” or “I would kill for a salad right now”.
The espresso here is some of the best I have ever had! It’s so good, in fact, that we’ve taken to drinking it two times a day — at breakfast and as a digestive after dinner. We can’t get enough of it! We went to a café in Rome that is touted as having the best espresso in the city and I can wholeheartedly agree. Never before has Sean drank a coffee (espresso, at that!) black without any sugar. It was just THAT smooth.
Speaking of coffee, the Italian’s find it quite odd if you order a cappuccino outside of breakfast. Just don’t do it unless you want a weird look. Along the same lines, don’t order an espresso with your meal outside of breakfast as that is also considered odd. It should be ordered at the completion of the meal as a digestive aid.
Another funny coffee experience we had is when we ordered Americanos with cream on the side. They got the Americano part down pat. However, there is something called “crema” in Italy which is a sweet whipped-cream like substance that is often used in desserts and pastries. And that is exactly what we received on the side of our coffee. For future reference, cream is called “panna”. Use that word instead to avoid getting a ridiculous stare and whipped cream with your coffee.
Meal times are also different than in Canada which has tripped us up many times. For instance, lunch is served usually between 1 and 3. If you miss lunch, restaurants close completely (actually, everthing closes) so that shop owners can go home and spend lunch with their family. Restaurants won’t open again until 7:30 for dinner so if you missed lunch, be prepared to have a huge appetite for dinner. This has happened to us so often that I’ve told Sean that we need to set an alarm for 1pm asking us if we’ve eaten yet. Also, if you go for dinner anytime before 8–9pm this is considered an early dinner. I’m not kidding. As you head further south, dinner becomes later and later…
The last cultural difference we’ve noticed which has been a huge change for us is that hardly any restaurants serve chicken! As it’s a staple for us at home, this has been one of the largest changes we’ve had to get used to. The primary meats we’ve seen on menus are all sorts of seafood, pork, and beef. I’ve taken to almost being a vegetarian for the most part as all I ever want to eat is buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes. Caprese salad. Caprese pasta. Caprese bruschetta. Margherita pizza. So good.
One last completely awesome thing we’ve realized is that if you buy wine at a store, not only will the clerk uncork the bottle for you but they’ll also provide you with plastic glasses in which to drink your wine! It’s common to see groups of people or couples drinking at viewpoints in the park or even just drinking a beer while walking down the street. I think it’s fantastic!
The Colosseum
You can’t visit Rome without seeing the Colosseum. Partly because it’s COLOSSAL and very hard to miss but more importantly, because it will take your breath away. We toured the Colosseum using Rick Steve’s audio guide (free app for your phone, highly recommended) and the way he presents it, you feel almost as if you’re there watching the action that happened almost 2,000 years ago.
The colosseum was used for gladiator battles; they battled wild animals as well as each other to the death. This seems to me like an extremely morbid form of entertainment but to each his own. The arena floor is missing (time does that kinda thing) but the underground tunnels that were sort of the “backstage” is thus visible which was pretty cool. This is where the gladiators warmed up and animals were kept in secret cages to be released in unknown locations in the arena to catch the gladiator off-guard.
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Gladiators that performed well were akin to our hockey stars today. Spectators could buy merchandise emblazoned with their name as a keepsake as they were the ultimate celebrity!
Back then, to get in to the colosseum you had to present your “ticket” which was a piece of terra cotta which indicated your section number and row number. Due to the large number of entrances/exits they could clear out the entire arena of 50,000 spectators in 15 minutes flat. The general set-up of the Roman arenas are used to this day due to how efficiently they worked. It was an engineering masterpiece!
We saw so many other buildings from the Roman Empire such as those in the Roman Forum, Palantine Hill, as well as the Pantheon and they were all incredible. But for the sake of brevity, I’ll just say that Rome will take your breath away with the amount of history contained in one city. It’s unreal.
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The Vatican
Rome is home to the Vatican, the most holy spot in the world for all Catholics. The Vatican Museums contain more precious pieces of art than many small countries and are not to miss if you ever have a chance to visit.
The Sistine Chapel is where Michaelangelo spent four years painting the famous fresco on the ceiling. When he was first asked to paint it, he declined insisting that he was not a painter and instead, made sculptures. Again he was asked at which point he relented and spent the next few years creating one of the biggest masterpieces on Earth. Quite a feat for someone who is “not a painter”. This story is a testament to the fact that you REALLY can do anything you put your mind to!
Our last stop on our Vatican tour was St. Peter’s Basilica, the most beautiful church in all of Rome. Saint Peter, Jesus’ right hand man, is said to be buried beneath the basilica in the tomb which is not available for viewing. The basilica is massive, and covered in gold and marble. Mass was starting near the end of our visit and it was quite beautiful to hear the organ playing and watch the procession file into the section of the basilica designated for the mass. It’s easy to see why Saint Peter’s Basilica is visited often by both those religious and even those who are not. It is stunning.
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There are around 900 churches in Rome (this is one of the holiest cities in the world, after all!). It is not uncommon to pass both priests and nuns as we walk down the street. One day I decided to count the number of priests we passed that day — 11 — and that was a slow day! Very different from back home where it’s uncommon to see a priest outside of a church!
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The Vatican has its own post office and so before we left we sent a postcard home with a secret message to each other to be read upon our arrival. It was a nice way to end our trip to Rome and also gives me something to look forward to upon our return!
Palazzo Valentini
Palazzo Valentini was recommended to us by our AMAZING host, Adele (see above). Every day when we would get home from our adventure around Rome, she would ask us (in Italian) whether we went to Palazzo Valentini. When we, yet again, informed her we hadn’t she would insist that we had to go first thing in the morning when we woke up as it was “molto molto molto molto MOLTO bene!” (very very very very VERY good!). As a side note, our Italian language skills are coming along nicely.
Sean and I had never heard of Palazzo Valentini as it wasn’t mentioned in either of our guidebooks, nor on the top things to do in Rome lists. All I can say is that Palazzo Valentini is a hidden GEM in this city! It took us underground to an excavation site of a high-class residence in Ancient Rome. We walked over the site on glass walkways and they used modern technology to help highlight the features of the residence so that we could better picture it. It is relatively very well preserved and much of the painting, mosaics and structures are still intact. You can almost see the ancient Romans in the bath houses and wandering through the houses. It was one of my favourite memories in Rome by far. I now understand why Adele kept insisting that we go! Bellissimo!
Coming Up
We have finished our tour of Northern Italy. Next up is the South of Italy! Stay tuned to hear about more of our adventures!!
UPDATED TRAVEL STATS
Churches: 24
Espressos: 34
Cities: 12
Gelatos: 11
