A Week In Rome

Have you ever been to Rome ?
You might eventually, since every ways leads to it !
I spent a week in Rome with friends in September, right before starting a new year of university (I like to travel until the last minute 😉 ).
I’ve been to Venice when I was a teen, but I’ve never seen Rome, that’s why most of the things that we visited were the basic must-see places and monuments.

I really enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere there, Italian people are very nice even though we didn’t speak much Italian. We stayed at a beautiful flat, with a gorgeous view on the roof that we got to enjoy every evening, with Italian food and beer ! :

 

Here’s a glimpse of everything you can see and visit during a week long trip ! 🙂

 

+ THE STREETS OF ROME

I know there are many must-see places in Rome, but actually just wandering around is awesome. The city is colorful, and full of small elements that make it pleasant to walk in.

 

+ CAT SANCTUARY

I have a thing (some might say problem) with cats, I just love them so much ! So guess how thrilled I was when I heard that there was a whole zone full of cats in Rome 😉
The cats live freely in old roman ruins that no one can access (you can find them in many other ruins too), but right next to it there’s a section where you can actually adopt them !

 

+ THE PANTHEON

This is one of the classic must-see places ! The Pantheon of Rome is very different from the one we have in Paris : the round roof is surprising to look at.

 

+ VILLA BORGHESE GARDENS

This is a huge parc where you can see the actual villa, it’s pretty and has many different things to see while walking around or relaxing. When we were there, we saw a guy who was making bubbles for kids, it was really fun !

 

+ VATICAN CITY

I think this is a huge part of Rome that, in my opinion, you either have to see it as a whole or not at all. There were so many things to see that I organized it in sections, I mean it’s a whole country after all.

 

The Pontifical Swiss Guard : they’re actually Swiss, as per tradition they’re responsible for the pope’s safety. They’re the oldest military units in continuous operation :

 

• VATICAN MUSEUM

There were just SO MANY beautiful art pieces in this museum, I didn’t even know what to take pictures of as I wanted to have a shot of everything.
This is also where you can find the Sistine Chapel, with very famous frescos form Michelangelo.

 

The school of Athens, a famous painting that I remember studying in school, it was awesome to see it in flesh :

 

WARNING : If you’re going to visit the Sistine Chapel, you have to cover your shoulders, knees, no cleavage, for women AND men. Also, talking and taking pictures is not allowed. That’s why this is the only picture that I have :

 

• ST PETER’S BASILICA’S ROOFS

Don’t hesitate to go up St Peter’s Basilica, you’ll get to see the small hidden corridors under the basilica’s roof ! It can get pretty claustrophobic, so if you don’t like confined spaces I don’t recommend it. But if you don’t care, you’ll get to see a stunning view of Rome :

 

• INSIDE THE BASILICA

And of course, you can’t miss going inside the basilica itself, I love how baroque and imposing it looks !

 

+ PIAZZA NAVONA

If you have the time, this is apparently another must-see, the Piazza Navona is the biggest touristic square in Rome. It was built on the ruins of the Domitien Stadium from the 1st century, and it kept its exact shape. I didn’t manage to take a picture of it, because there were so many tourists (and i’m waaay to small).

 

+ THE COLISEUM

I don’t think I need to introduce this one to you, it might be the one of the most known monuments of Rome ! It was awesome to actually be where many people fought to entertain the romans so much time ago.

 

+ THE FORUM & ROMAN RUINS

These ruins are definitely something you can’t skip, they’re what’s left of the extinguished roman empire and their civilization. It’s amazing to be able to witness even so little !

 

My friends and I, all happy in the ruins.
I didn’t know it yet on the picture, but I got an sunstroke that day : WEAR A CAP !

 

+ TREVI FOUNTAIN

You can’t say that you’ve been to Rome without paying a visit to the Trevi fountain, you just can’t. It’s actually the most crowded place I’ve been to I think, it was HARD to take that picture so I hope you’ll appreciate it 😉

 

+ ROMAN BATHS

If you haven’t seen enough ruins (or if you really really love them),  you can also visit the ruins of Terme di Caracalla, the old roman baths. I recommend renting the 3D vision device they offer, that way you can see how it looked back then and compare it with the ruins !

 

+ ALL THE FOODS !

I you read my other Travel Posts you already know this : travel is also about FOOD ! Let me show you where we ate awesome Italian dishes 🙂

• SUPPLIZIO

This restaurant was recommended by an actual roman, here you can it some Supplì. They’re basically rice balls filled with awesome flavor, and with a crunchy coating. You have many flavors such as tomato, carbonara, or even a potato one.

 

• AI SPAGUETTARI

What you HAVE to eat in Rome is pasta. Every type of pasta is delicious here ! I can’t remember the name of this dish, but it was rigatoni pasta (if I remember well) with tomato, pork, and parmesan. You have to know though that in Italia they serve their pasta very al dente, so they might taste “raw” to you if you’re not used to it. But it tastes so good that way.

 

• AI BALESTRARI IN PRATI

I know pizza is form Napoli and not at all roman, but I had to at least try out an Italian pizza ! And I definitely wasn’t disappointed, the crust was particularly amazing and way better that the ones we have in France.

 

• IL BOCCONCINO

Everything in this restaurant seemed so good ! I had their ravioli, it was filled with ricotta and vegetables, and pistachios. It was legit the best ravioli I ever had !

 

• DA BUCATINO

More ravioli ! Not as original as the first one, but definitely tasty. It was carbonara – like ravioli, definitely a great combination.

 

• OSTERIA CACIO E PEPE

Here we decided to finally try out some Italian Antipasti, and it was good ! Most of it was vegetable based, which can be surprising if you’re used to other countries appetizers such as bretzels or chips, definitely more flour based. For dinner, I had this amazing Fettuccini alla Bolognese, delicious pasta texture !

 

• LA PACE DEL CERVELLO

And finally the famous Spaghetti alla Carbonara, that has nothing to do with the recipe we have in other countries ! Here, the Spaghetti is served with sliced pancetta or guanciale, and egg mixed with the pasta cooking water, some parmesan or pecorino, salt & pepper, AND NO CREAM. It definitely tastes really different from what I was used to, but also so much better. About this restaurant, it’s not the best but don’t worry : we tasted many other carbonara pasta in other restaurants and they were always good ! So don’t hesitate to order some in any place really.

 

 

 

I had a bazillion more pictures to show but I think this post is already long enough ! There was just so many things to see in Rome. Maybe I’ll make a post later about the small unusual things you can also see there 🙂

How did you like my Roman adventures ?