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Two nights in Rome

We were in Rome over 35 years ago for five nights. Neither of us liked it. We found it chaotic, loud, very dense and a bit unkept. We had just come from Paris where there were beautiful buildings and manicured gardens and did not appreciate the contrast. After a long hiatus, we started traveling again in Europe a few years ago. We have since enjoyed both Athens and Naples which led us to wonder if we would like Rome more now than when we were in our 20s. So when I lost the “bet” on ITA prices to Sicily to go down again, I booked us on Delta through Paris to Rome for about $500 a ticket less with the idea that we could spend a couple nights in Rome first.

We didn’t arrive in Rome until after it was dark. It was a short walk to our guest house, Sofia’s Suites Guesthouse, where we paid about 127 Euros a night for a well-designed but smallish room with a king bed through Booking.com. No breakfast but a fridge so we bought food at a nearby convenience store. I wanted something walking distance from train station but quiet and this fit the bill. It wasn’t quite as close to the sites as ideal but workable. I was glad we could easily walk from the train station (10 minutes) as the line for a taxi was long when we arrived by train from the airport.

There are three major differences we observed returning to Rome after so many years. 1) it is much more crowded; 2) many more people speak English, and 3) there now is Goggle maps. The latter meant that after we ate a quite good dinner across from where we were staying we walked to the Trevi Fountain. Goggle maps took us down lots of narrow streets and alleys for about 30 minutes until we reached the fountain. It was 11:30 pm at night. We couldn’t get over how many people were at the fountain. Apparently, it was relatively uncrowded as there were twice as many people the next day when the GPS took us past the Trevi fountain on our trek through Rome.

We had decided to focus our first full day on doing things we had never done in Rome. So the next morning we took a GuruWalk with Maria Grazia of Jewish Rome. These are “free” tours where you make a donation. We had a group of ten, about half of which were Jewish. We are Catholic and ironically so was the guide. But she knew her Jewish history. Two of the Jewish men were quite familiar with it and I could see them nodding appreciably when she went into certain details. One of the interesting details was that the Jewish community was long standing in Rome and during World War II most of its members were taken in by other families before the Nazis arrived to “relocate” people. Still the tour was perhaps a bit long but that may have because of the particular people on the tour. Others must have thought so too as two of the tour members dropped out at the two hour mark.

We then ate lunch just outside the Jewish Ghetto area (which are not the original buildings which were torn down). Our sandwiches were good and I paid in cash but didn’t count my change. Later when my husband tried to use that change to buy something from a vendor, we discovered that I had been given change in Canadian currency!

The other thing I booked was a tour of the Galleria Borghese. Make sure you buy from the museum’s website (which may take some persistence as it seems to be down a lot) as there is considerable mark up by tour operators. You have to reserve a spot in advance. The regular entry price is 15 Euros. We paid 23 Euros for entrance and a tour. I would really recommend this option as it allows you to easily see the highlights in the two hour allotted slot. I was quite taken by Bernini’s masterpieces. I simply gasped when we walked into the room with Apollo and Daphine. The scale of the museum makes it easy to appreciate the art and we are hardly experts.

I was able to wear my small cross body purse into the museum but our backpacks had to be checked.

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2462 posts

continued

We walked here from the Jewish Ghetto which took longer than I had expected. My husband wisely talked me out of taking a detour to Mr. 100 Tiramasu that many have raved about. As it was, we only arrived 10 minutes before our tour started. The museum is located in the Villa Borghese Gardens which we had thought was scruffy in our 20s. I suppose it is no less so today but enjoyed it more as we no longer compared them to the manicured gardens of Paris.

The following day, we left our luggage at the guest house and walked around to see from the outside as many sites as we could before we needed to catch the train to the airport for our flight to Catania, Sicily. We saw the Parthenon, which was as stunning as I remembered, Piazza Novena, which was not, the Roman Forum, and the Coliseum. Piazza Novena was one place in Rome that we remembered fondly as we sat on the piazza and ate gelato several times enjoying the views. It is much more upscale than it was 35 years ago. There were only restaurants on the square now; we didn’t see any gelato stands. And there were many more people.

We then walked by the Roman Forum, trying to remember where we had been previously. It seems that there are more designated walkways than when we were there earlier as we just wondered around, which makes sense with more tourists. We continued our walk to the Coliseum. Even the sidewalk was unpleasantly crowded and the lines to get into the site were unbelievable. We walked beyond the Coliseum to get some photos but decided to take the metro back to the train station to avoid having to wade through the crowds again. Of course, there was someone trying to help people buy tickets but I said no. And then on the metro which was crowded but not unreasonably so, I noticed a man making his way across the car we were in for no apparent reason. I intuitively put my hand on my small cross body purse and kept my eye on him. As I went to get off, a woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what time it was (my watch was on the wrist of the hand on the purse). I shook my head no and said “no, no” rather loudly.

Overall, we enjoyed our time in Rome. I can see very clearly in our short visit how expectations influence your experiences. We suspended some of our expectations from earlier and that allowed us to enjoy Rome more for what it is. At the same time, we were disappointed when we revisited a place we had held close to our hearts for many years.

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6265 posts

BethFL, the first time we visited Rome, my reaction was much the same as yours. However, we have since returned several times, and every time I enjoy it more. Last year we made a point of spending a week there before a RS tour, and had a wonderful time.

And yes, it is more crowded now, and yes, there is more English spoken. Prices are higher, as they are everywhere. It has become one of our favorite places to visit. Go figure!

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11056 posts

Beth, glad you enjoyed your repeat visit. We have always loved Rome, more than Paris. We were there in January 2020 just before COVID.

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2291 posts

I enjoyed your report, BethFL. I gasped at the Bernini’s too.

Posted by
138 posts

Thanks for sharing your report BethFL. I’m glad to hear about your experience with guruwalk as I am considering booking a tour for my upcoming trip.

Crystal

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3183 posts

Thank you so much for this short visit report. I got sick on my first visit to Rome, so have never actually seen it. I have a feeling I will like it though, I bet it’s very different from where I live in Alaska!😜

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2462 posts

Thanks all.

Crystal-I had a different Guru walk in Sicily not work out. But this individual would not confirm the tour until 2 days before and then he changed the time to earlier in the day before we were to arrive. So if you don’t get a confirmation in a timely manner, I would not count on tour actually taking place.