Rome August 2023

Vlog from Rome
Getting around:
We had to spend the night at fiumicino because we landed at 12am and no Airbnb was going to check us in that late. At 5:30am we got on a bus that was 6.90 euros per person to get to Rome. The busses are at the very very end of the airport. There might be easier ways to get to Rome but we followed this video:
• How to Get From Rome A...
Our Airbnb was right next to a subway station but that line was conveniently under construction when we were there and the actual station was gated off. The only way to buy train/bus tickets was from the subway stations which you couldn’t get into. The busses don’t accept cash and most of the time their validation machines and credit card machines were broken. The busses were also very inconvenient and broken. We also never saw people pay. Apparently you can get a big fine for not paying so be careful I guess.
Getting to the Ciampino airport was very easy, we bought our tickets from the Roma Termini station for about 2.70 euros per person. Don’t buy another ticket for the shuttle that takes you to the airport from the Ciampino train station.
Food:
We were recommended these places by someone who is from Italy: Da Fortunata, Da Felice, Pastaeat, and All’Antico Vinaio.
We didn’t want to go to a sit down restaurant so we chose Pasta eat- it’s more of a fast food spot where they make the pasta right in front of you. Next door to Pasta eat was a pizza place called Bona that sold pizza by weight. There are lots of these but this place was just close. I really liked both and would recommend them if you don’t want to do a sit down restaurant either.
Day 1:
Like I said earlier we took the 5:30am bus to Rome and got there at about 6:30am. From Termini we walked to the Trevi foundation because you’re supposed to go early to beat the crowds. I forgot to record it but it was maybe a quarter of the people in the second half of the video. It was super pretty. Max kept falling asleep. We both wanted to leave so we went to this fancy McDonald’s for breakfast we kept seeing in videos. The only fancy thing about it was that statue lol. The manager was really rude to us. We ate and left. There are definitely places with bathrooms. Unpaid ones aren’t as common but they’re there. We also very quickly realized how much locals hated tourists. After that we went to the Spanish steps. Then our Airbnb host let us check in earlier at 11am so we checked in and our quick nap we wanted to take lasted until 5pm but it was fine. In the evening we got dinner and visited the pantheon and piazza navona.
Day 2:
We slept in today because we had to get up early for Pompeii the day before (i definitely recommend visiting it). We bussed to the Trastevere area and walked around. We walked to the colosseum from there. Before going in we looked at souvenirs and got gelato. The inside wasn’t as colossal as we thought it would be. It was really cool but it was also hard to imagine what it was supposed to look like before it was broken. We also got kicked out after an hour of being inside because apparently they were closing even though there were later time slots you could select on their website. We came at 5:50 and got kicked out at 6:50 which was enough time for us to see everything but I still wouldn’t recommend going so late. So book in advance because we booked two weeks before and almost everything was full. Then we walked to the trevi fountain again to take nicer photos without our bags and everything and went home.
Day 3:
Today we went to Vatican City. We got there at 9 and only had to wait about 40 minutes to get in. But come earlier if you can. We also didn’t get tickets to the Sistine chapel but St Peters basilica was enough for us. It was very impressive. I really liked visiting it. From there we bussed to the Roman forum. Our tickets for the colosseum also gave us access to the forum. The inside was kinda disorganized. There were a bunch of ruins and columns laying around and it was like the colosseum where you couldn’t actually imagine what anything was supposed to look like. If you really wanted to you could see enough of the colosseum and the Roman forum from lookouts without actually buying tickets to get in but I’m still happy we went. We spent a few hours there and went home.
Day 4:
All we did today was bus to see the Circus Maximus because you couldn’t see any of it from the Roman forum. Then we took a train from Termini to Ciampino.