Roman Holiday – First time in Rome!

I still can’t believe it. We are here! In Rome!

We booked a 14-night Mediterranean cruise including Greece and Turkey, which starts in Rome and ends in Barcelona. Check out our full itinerary and our other guidance for different ports here. This is our first time in Rome, so we took the chance to arrive a couple of days early to explore the dreamy city.

We arrived at Leonardo da Vinci – Fiumicino (FCO) airport around 11am, local time. The immigration and customs were moving fast and it was easy to get through. The hotel we booked offered airport transfer for a flat €50 fee for the two of us (the pickup was handled by a third party the hotel contacts). It was super easy to find the driver with a sign once getting out of the baggage claim area. Our hotel is located in the city center, it will be slightly more expensive if taking the taxi. There is also a train option going directly to Roma Termini, which is the the city center station, however, the station is five-minute car ride (20-min walk) away from our hotel, with luggage we decided not to mess with it.

The driver did not speak much English, which didn’t bother us too much. We booked Hotel Bolivar, a Choice hotel. It is not a fancy hotel, but I had enough points with Choice Hotels saved up so that we could stay in Rome for free! Check out my other post on how I used points and frequent flyer miles to stay in Europe for 10 days for free!

Due to some construction nearby, we had to take a back alley to get to the hotel. I was worried if our mini van would fit in the narrow alley and turned out the driver is a lot more skilled than I am. Later I found out pretty much all Italian drivers are better drivers than me! We will get to that later.

It was a smooth ride. However, here came the problem when we arrived at the hotel. The driver’s card reader was NOT working! When we booked the transfer, we confirmed if card could be used. We had a chaotic week before heading out and we usually try to avoid get currency exchanged at the airport, as a result, shame on us, we had ZERO euros on us…the hotel does not have an ATM onsite either…fortunately, there is one two blocks away so we can run over to get some cash to pay the driver. Lesson learned! Bring some euros in cash with you to prevent the similar embarrassment we had!

The hotel is a historic building, and the decorations and facilities might seem a bit dated. But the rate was affordable comparing to most hotels in Rome. Our room was clean and cozy and we found the location was convenient and walkable to almost all of the major points of interest, which led to by-far-the-most-steps walked on our vacation.

We took a nap once we settled in (It’s exhausting to travel to another continent!) and woke up around 4pm. We decided it’s time to explore!

We booked a night tour of the Vatican City with Sistine Chapel on Viator, so we had about 3 hours to spare. We decided to check out Piazza Navona since it is on the way and only 15 minutes away from our hotel.

We sat at a random restaurant to get some food and I didn’t know that I was about to have the best spaghetti I had ever tasted so far! No reservation was needed. Once we grabbed the empty table, a server quickly came to take our orders. We were told everything is handmade daily at the restaurant, including their tiramisu! The tiramisu was different than the ones I used to have, but it is super rich and fluffy.

After dinner, we were heading over to meet our tour guide at the Vatican City. I was initially planning to take the public transportation, but we decided to walk off the delicious food we just had. It’s about 25-30 minutes walk.

We met with the tour guide around the corner of the Vatican museum at about 7pm. It was a small group with about 10 people. Once everyone arrived, the guide led us to a side entrance of the museum. No waiting in line at all.

It is overall a religious area, both males and females need to cover their knees and shoulders to get in. There were vendors by the main entrance selling scarves to cover your shoulders if you’re not wearing long sleeves or do not have a scarf with you. I did my research beforehand so I have one ready. Once inside, the guide and his staff went to the ticket booth to collect everyone’s tickets and headsets. You can use restroom or get a drink from vending machines during this time.

The tour took about an hour or so, Sistine Chapel was the last stop of the tour. The guide collected the headsets before aparting with us. No picture taking is allowed inside the chapel and people must maintain quiet. You can stay as long or as little as you wish to admire the masterpiece. It was super crowded as you can imagine.

Once out of the chapel, you can continue to explore the museum until it closes at 9pm. We instead, decided to grab a bite and drink from the on-site cafe. Unfortunately, by the time we made to the cafe, food was no longer being served. So we ordered a couple of beers to enjoy our first Italian summer night. As it was getting closer to closing time, the cafe staff was starting to chase people off from their outside seating area. But there are plenty of benches in the garden and you can take the drink with you without any problem.

It started to get dark, we sat in one of the benches in the garden, soaking in the nice summer night breeze, sipping local brews, looking around the ancient buildings and imagining what it is like to be the Pope. Life is good after all.

To be continued…