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March 2013: Barcelona, Rome and Prague Trip Report

March 2013: Barcelona, Rome and Prague Trip Report

Old Mar 18th, 2013, 07:41 AM
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March 2013: Barcelona, Rome and Prague Trip Report

And we're off! My boyfriend and I planned a 12 day European tour of Barcelona, Rome and Prague. Our plan was to fly from Ohio to JFK at 1:10PM on March 6th, from JFK to Barcelona at 5:25PM (EST), arriving at Barcelona at 7:15AM on Thursday, March 7th.

However, even my obsessive compulsive planning can be thwarted by a greater power --- weather! We got our boarding passes, were waiting for our flight and then received a call from American Airlines that our flight to JFK had been canceled due to the Snowpocalpyse or Snowquesterian or whatever they were calling it.

We tried to talk to the American Airlines representatives at the airport about how to reschedule. Basically, nothing was flying into JFK. I talked to 3 or 4 people expressing my willingness to take any available flight, fly to LAX, Houston, Atlanta, O'Hare, wherever. I was very disappointed by the service I was given. The one attendant told us there was nothing she could do - all international flights flew through JFK (obviously untrue), and that she could get us on the plane the following day. Then she looked and told us oh, no - not for 2 more days. At this point, I started crying (envisioning all my carefully orchestrated plans going up and smoke).

We decided to leave the terminal, go out to the ticketing counter, where they had more autonomy. Those American Airlines staff members were terrific! They booked us to fly to O'Hare, and then fly to Madrid, and finally arrive in Barcelona. We then sprinted through security to catch our O'Hare flight ....

And we made it to Chicago! Of course, we didn't have boarding passes for our next flight (just an itinerary), so we had to go out to ticketing again. We were now flying Air Iberia (Spanish airline that has a partnership with American). They printed our boarding passes for the OHD-Madrid flight and Madrid-BCN flight.

We then proceeded through security for the third time that day (at the end of all of this, we are now security experts!). Waited until 5:45 CST to fly to Madrid. The flight over was great. It was only half-full, so we were able to sleep and relax (as much as you can on a plane), until we landed in Madrid at 7:30AM (Madrid time)....

I will say, having never flown internationally to Europe since I was about 12, I found the Madrid airport overwhelming. We went through customs, and were trying to find our Barcelona flight that was supposed to depart at 9AM. We couldn't find it listed on any screens. We asked the Air Iberia staff, and they told us to go to Air Iberia information. At Air Iberia information, we found out that this part of Air Iberia was on strike. We trekked all the way across the airport and finally found someone to help us. Basically, out 9AM flight didn't exist (for us and about 4 other people) - and we never had any idea what happened to it. They were able to get us on a 9:40AM flight, which put us in Barcelona at around 11:30, just about 4 hours later than we anticipated.

When we arrived, we took the Aerobus for 6ish Euro a person. This bus takes you from the airport to Placa Cataluna, which was a five minute walk to our hotel (once I figured out which direction was south)!

Stay tuned for ... Day 1 and 2: Barcelona!

(I promise this will be more cheery than my dreadful flight experiences, but I was hoping that explaining all of our issues would make other travelers know what to expect.)
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 08:00 AM
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Great report so far INCLUDING what it took to get you there! Anxious to read more.
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 08:19 AM
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I'm off to Barcelona in June, so looking forward to this.....hurry up please
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 08:24 AM
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I agree with Dukey1...great report and IMHO, it does help when planning trips to read about when things go a bit "off-kilter". At least it prepares one for what might be thrown at them.
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 09:04 AM
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lor - look at it this way - with a start like that, the trip can only get better!

looking forward to more...
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 09:35 AM
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I'm along for the ride too! Looking forward to more....
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 09:45 AM
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Whew! Well at least you made it - and only 4 hrs late. Not bad at all, considering.

It never ceases to amaze me how you can have a totally different experience with the same company - just hundreds of feet away.

I, too, eagerly await more. We arrive in Barcelona (first time) 2 months from today.
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 10:39 AM
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Please talk about pickpocket experiences, if any. We're anxious about that. We're arriving in 2 months. Thanks!
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 10:59 AM
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General Planning and Context:

I know I said my next post would be about Barcelona Day 1 and 2, but I'm at work, and I forgot my journal. I took specific notes so that I could remember names of restaurants/locations. I'll try to post this evening, but I want to be able to be as specific as possible, so I’d like my notes.

Obviously, this gives a little insight into the type of person I am. My boyfriend and I are in our late 20s, and neither of us had ever independently planned an international vacation. We had gone to resorts in Mexico before, but this was the most traveling either of us had ever done (independent of school trips or family vacations as teenagers).

We booked our roundtrip flight to Barcelona in September, and we chose Barcelona because 1) we’d never been and 2) it was the cheapest place (that we could fly) to fly into in Western Europe. From there, I created a spreadsheet of where we could fly in Europe that we had never been and prices. We picked Rome, because the flight from Barcelona to Rome was about $80 (Vueling Airlines), and Prague, because the flight from Rome to Prague was about $100 (Alitalia). In hindsight, I would have flown from the US into Barcelona but flown out from another city. We ended up flying from Prague back to Barcelona for one day, and that wasn’t the smartest planning on our part, but hey, we are learning! I booked all of the flights in September as well, and we were flexible as to where we wanted to go, so we got really decent rates.
I also used TripAdvisor extensively to select hotels in those three cities. More on this later, but I was so happy with all of our selections.

Packing: We bought the largest possible carry-on rolling suitcases and never checked our bags. If someone had told me a year ago that I would have gone to Europe for 12 days with only a carry on suitcase and my purse, I would have laughed in their face. However, I think this was one of the best decisions we made. With all of our constant plane changes (as evidenced already) and frantic scrambling, I am so happy we weren’t dealing with lost luggage/checked bags. Also, every airline employee who helped us would say, “are you checking any bags?” and when we replied no, they would always say something along the lines of, “okay, good.”

Budget: We were trying to stay around $2500-$3000/person. Of course, I haven’t tallied everything yet, but I think that was pretty accurate. For our US-Barcelona flight, plus all of our within Europe flights (4 in total), it was about $1400. We budgeted $100/night per hotel, and we hit that mark. Unexpected expenses were typically around transportation to and from the airport (more in later posts). We took out around $200 Euros before we left, used our credit cards as much as possible (did not have a chip/pin card, but had no issues) and used the ATM twice (once in Rome, taking out an additional $200 Euros and once in Prague taking out about $250 in CK equivalent).

Itinerary: Because I am very much type A and also a bit of a nerd, I planned a general itinerary of each day. Yes, my boyfriend did make fun of me for scheduling free time. But, that’s just the type of people we are. I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it did for us. For the sights we knew we wanted to see, I booked tickets in advance. In every case, it was well worth it (as we didn’t have to wait in line). Before we left, I printed our itinerary, every flight confirmation, hotel confirmation, sight confirmation and took it to FedEx/Kinko’s. I had them bind it for me in a spiral bound itinerary. It cost like $5. It was SO worth it. I wasn’t looking for papers, trying to find an email confirmation; It was all in one place. I also added blank pages at the end for a journal/notes section. I do not care that I looked like a dork, it was so incredibly helpful!

Anyway, when I get home tonight, I will try to write up Barcelona Day 1 and 2 (after consultation with my cool itinerary of course
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 11:04 AM
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Going to Barcelona in July and also excited to see the next part of this!
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 11:08 AM
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I like your style!
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 12:08 PM
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lor...I soooo like the way you roll. In fact, you remind me of me during my first few travel adventures after finding Fodors. When I traveled to Central Europe for 4 weeks (yes using only my 21-inch carry-on bag!)with a friend, I did exactly the same thing you did, by binding all my confirmation forms/emails. Now I just buy a "clip-able" report cover and put all the papers in there, works like a charm! ;-)

Looking forward to more!
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 02:10 PM
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I think you sound like a fun person to travel with! I do the same type of trip planning for our group and they always tell me to quit acting like a teacher. I just find it helps to have some type of plan. They always say it was the best trip ever afterwards. Can't wait to read more.
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 05:15 PM
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Thanks everyone for the kind words! I’ve been a little busy, so I can at least post Barcelona Day 1, and I’ll try to do Barcelona Day 2 tomorrow!

Barcelona Day 1

Due to our problems at the airport, we arrived in Barcelona a little later than expected. Based on a friend’s advice, we took the Aerobus (seriously – what a convenient means of transportation) directly to the city center of Barcelona at Placa Catalunya. After I figured out which way was south, I was able to take the 5 minute walk to our hotel, the Hotel Aneto. A friend who had previously stayed in Barcelona recommended it as it was almost directly on Las Ramblas and only €65.

We checked into the hotel, and a quick review for anyone interested. We picked it based on location and price. It was very cheap, but safe and in a great spot. From the hotel, we walked to all of the major attractions (with the exception of Sagrada Familia). Rooms were very small and sparse, but they were safe and clean. The hotel clerks spoke English and were helpful. Wifi was free and easy to access. Something that caught us off guard when we checked in was that they asked for our passports (all hotels we stayed in did this, we just weren’t expecting it). Also, when we would leave, the front desk would hold our room key and return it when we came back. Kinda weird, but easy enough to deal with. So, Hotel Aneto – recommend if you’re after price/location. If you want a luxury hotel, I’d skip it.

Anyway, we checked in and decided to go for a walk. We walked around the Gothic Quarter, using Rick Steves (as I consider him my BFF at this point). Loved the architecture, loved the weather, just had a fantastic time strolling about.

Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch around the Barcelona Cathedral. We were just very hungry, so we sat at the first place that looked decent. It was called ‘Café Restaurant’ and it was just okay. I’m sure it exists for the sole purpose of attracting tourists who are just starving and want to eat outdoors while looking at the Barcelona Cathedral. And for that, it served our purpose. Food was so-so, but coffee was great!

I had purchased tickets in advance for the Picasso Museum, so we had to be there by 3:00. Tickets in advance were €11, and we were able to pick them up at the counter. I’m not sure if it was a slow day, but there was no line whatsoever, so buying tickets in advance may not have been necessary. Neither of us are big art people, but we enjoyed the museum and felt that it was a really interesting collection. It really takes you from Picasso’s early days to his more contemporary cubism work that he’s known for. We were glad we stopped by.

We continued exploring after the Picasso Museum and walked around Las Ramblas and the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter some more). We went back to the room to get ready for dinner, which we wanted to stay in the El Born area (by the Picasso Museum). Something that really surprised me about Barcelona was how walkable everything was. On the map, it seemed like the distance from our hotel to the Picassa Museum was SO FAR, but it was only like a 10, maybe 15 minute walk. So we headed over to Sa Gar Di (a Rick Steves recommendation) that was a fantastic tapas restaurant! Servers would come around with hot tapas or you could go inside and pick cold tapas. At the end, you were charged by the number of toothpicks on your plate, which equated to about €2ish a tapas. We loved the hot tapas, and it was a great experience sampling them.

After dinner we strolled around and discovered Placa Reial, a lovely little plaza directly off Las Ramblas. We could not get enough of this place. I’m not sure if it’s really touristy, but it was this fantastic plaza that had restaurants on all sides. In the center of the plaza were fire dancers, entertainers, musicians, etc. The atmosphere was just so fun. We stopped at Rei de Copes (a bar), grabbed a seat outside, and started downing pitchers of sangria. We anticipated that each pitcher was going to cost us about €30, and were shocked when it was only €14 for a pitcher. We stayed out until around midnight or so just watching people and listening to the various bands playing.

At this time, we were slightly tipsy and really wanted some drunk food. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any late night vendors selling food, so I begrudgingly admit that we went to McDonald’s and ordered late night food … in Barcelona, Spain! Horrifying, I know, but seriously needed after our day! ☺
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 06:31 PM
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Just loving your trip report! Can' t wait for more! And I'm definitely visiting Kinkos before our trip, great idea!!
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Old Mar 18th, 2013, 06:53 PM
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Sounds like a terrific first day. I also use Rick Steves as a resource when planning trips, he is now know to me and my travel companions as "Uncle Rick" ;-)
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Old Mar 19th, 2013, 04:02 AM
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I love the idea of binding the itinerary with all of the confirmation #'s etc. I will definitely do this. Can't wait to read more!
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Old Mar 19th, 2013, 04:38 AM
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Barcelona Day 2

Ahh! A fresh new day – our first full day in Europe! We woke up in some serious need of food, so we headed down to Mercat de la Boqueria, a large market directly of Las Ramblas. This was about a 3 minute walk from our hotel and I loved it! This market reminded me a bit of the Pike Place Market in Seattle, and I had a blast just snapping pictures and looking at all of the different foods. It really was beautiful. We grabbed breakfast (some fruit) and some coffee and strolled around a bit.

Next, I wanted to walk towards Eixample to view the different architecture. Bringing along my BFF, Rick (Steves), to act as my tour guide, we started walking north on Las Ramblas. At this point, I would like to note that since we had packed only a carry on, we clearly had packed for functionality. Primarily, I had solid colored sweaters, scarves and some accessories. My bf had the same type of get-up. In Eixample we looked like hobos. It is clearly the expensive/trendy area of Barcelona, as evidenced by the designer stores (Chanel, Gucci, etc.). Again, I didn’t think we looked like total bums until I was standing next to Chanel. ANYWAY, I highly recommend a walk around this area.

We primarily stuck to Passeig de Gracia, and highlights for me included: the Block of Dischord and Casa Mila. What struck me throughout Europe when looking at these beautiful buildings is that at one point, they were just single family homes! Amazing! I had also recently read “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which is an excellent book that takes place in Barcelona. So as I strolled about, I kept picturing scenes from the book. If you’re about to go to Barcelona, read this book – it’s fantastic!

On our way back towards Placa Catalunya, we were famished, so we decided to pick a spot. We stopped at Qu Qu (Quasi Queviures) to grab a bite. I felt SO vindicated when I started drinking my coffee, perusing Rick Steves and realized he recommended this restaurant – however, we had just decided to stop in on our own. I know this shows how dorky I am, but I immediately felt that we’d made a good decision. It was really great. Huge selection, great people watching. We sat and imagined what it would be like to stroll into Prada and just on a whim come out with a new pair of shoes (that probably cost more than our entire vacation). Again, loved it!

After lunch, we took a cab to Sagrada Familia. I am sure there is a cheaper way to get there, but given our time, this was our course of action. It cost about €10, so not too horrible. I had purchased tickets in advance for our tour, and I am SO glad that I did. The line was insane. Everyone I knew who had been to Barcelona previously told me to visit Sagrada Familia – that it was a must see. But, I didn’t know that much about it, so I had just told the bf that we’re going to see a Gaudi church. He wasn’t that impressed until he got there, and then we were both in awe. Saying it is “big” does not do it justice. It is absolutely incredible, and probably my favorite church that we saw on our trip (including the Vatican; I know, I’m sacrilegious that way). I just loved the architecture. It was over the top, but in a beautiful, naturalistic way. We probably stayed for an hour and a half. We bought the audio guide, which I’m glad, because it helped us understand what we’re looking at. I hate to just look at things and have no understanding of the historical context, I like to read all of the signs and listen to tours. So (even though I had some technically difficulties figuring out how to work the audio tour – which is just me being technology illiterate), I recommend the audio tour as it really added some depth to the tour. After exploring Sagrada Familia, we took a cab back to Placa Catalunya, and began a stroll down Las Ramblas.

Our aim was to walk directly south on Las Ramblas, ending up at Port Vell. I loved walking down Las Ramblas and watching all of the vendors and people watching. I should point out that I’m actually someone who enjoys airports as I like to people watch, so I could have sat on a bench all day and been perfectly content. Anyway, we made it down to Port Vell, looked at the Columbus Monument and strolled along the port. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

At this point, it was about 4/5ish so we decided to take a quick nap (as we were dying) and get ready for dinner. In Barcelona (as in pretty much all of the places we visited), the night starts much later than we are used to. So, we headed over to Placa Reial around 8ish for dinner. (Our flight to Rome was the next morning, so we knew we couldn’t stay out too late). We had dinner on the plaza again, at a restaurant called Rossini. We had another pitcher of sangria, and had a fantastic time watching the piano recital going on. Apparently, some type of arts council in Barcelona puts on a 24 hour piano recital where anyone off the street can just walk up and play music. It was so neat to watch. We were constantly in awe of how vibrant the city was, how much was going on, and we definitely decided Spain>Ohio.

After watching the piano concert for a while, we grabbed some gelato (delish!). We strolled back to Las Ramblas and purchased a seriously overpriced beer so that we could just sit on the street and watch people. Around midnight, we headed back to our hotel.

Summary of Barcelona: We absolutely loved it! The weather was fantastic (60s), it was energetic, beautiful, friendly and inviting. We only had 2 full days, and I would have definitely added time on to keep exploring. We did not see Park Guell or Montjuic, so if I come back, I would definitely like to see those places. Also, while our hotel served its purpose, I think if we came back, we’d like to stay in a less “touristy” area than Las Ramblas, see a new part of the city.

Next up: Rome! (March 9-12)
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Old Mar 19th, 2013, 04:58 AM
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"Spain>Ohio"

That made me laugh! For only two days, it sounds like you accomplished a nice mix of seeing "stuff" and just soaking it all in.

I am currently reading "Shadow of the Wind" - I love it.

Great report!
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Old Mar 19th, 2013, 09:21 AM
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After our stay in Barcelona, we took a flight to Rome via Vueling Airlines. We left our hotel at 4:30AM, taking a cab. We would have taken the Aerobus, but it doesn’t operate that early. So we were stuck paying about €35 to get to the airport. We arrived with plenty of time because we were a little concerned about using the budget airlines. However, our experience with Vueling was extremely pleasant.

One thing we noticed that was true for all of our flights. There is no boarding by group. All of a sudden, a group of people starts to form by the terminal. Then, one random person decides, hey, I want to get on this flight. They give their ticket to the flight attendant and all of a sudden, it’s like the floodgates open and everyone starts pouring onto the plane. This was highly stressful for us, as we had (by far) the largest carry on suitcases, and we wanted to make sure we had overhead space. After we noticed this phenomenon of boarding, we always lurked by the ticket counter like creepers to avoid being last on the plane

Our hotel in Rome, the Hotel Giuliana (http://hotelgiuliana.com/), picked us up from the airport. I highly recommend Hotel Giuliana. It is very close to Termini Station and is really a great deal. For around $100/night, we had large, clean, comfortable rooms. All of the staff spoke great English and were incredibly helpful. We paid €2 for wireless for our 4 day stay. Breakfast was great and included (as it was for all of our hotels besides Hotel Aneto), as it had pastries, cereal, fruit and freshly made coffees. As coffee lovers, Europe was a fantastic experience!

After checking in around 10 (our flight arrived at 9), we took a nap. We were just drained. After our nap, we walked to Trevi Fountain, which was probably a 15-20 minute walk if you don’t get lost. However, if you are as directionally impaired as I am, it’s more like a 30 minute walk. I’d like to point out that you really only need to take about 3 streets to get there, but that was a little challenging for me. In addition to our Rick Steves books for all 3 cities, we also bought the Knopf pocket maps, and those were really helpful!

We walked around the Trevi Fountain and ate lunch in that area at a small pizzeria. We noticed that when we would order a pizza to share, that was viewed somewhat oddly. It didn’t seem that most customers shared entrees (or at least it didn’t seem that way to us). But, we were trying to be somewhat conservative during lunch so that we could splurge at dinner.

After lunch, we continued our walk to the Pantheon. I think this was one of the neatest things we saw. I loved thinking that it was 2000 years old and this well preserved. I was fascinated by the large hole in the dome (the only light source) and how this building had weathered all of the elements for such a long time. There is also a neat obelisk in the plaza by the Pantheon, and I liked seeing those around the city. There is no admission fee for the Pantheon; you can just walk right in.

We used another Rick Steves recommendation to grab some gelato at Gioliti by the Pantheon. It was tasty, but they definitely had little patience for our lack of Italian skills. So, I’m not entirely convinced I got what I asked for – but still yummy!

Then, we continued wandering about and found ourselves at the Piazza Venezia, where we were able to walk to the top of the Altare della Patria, where you could take great pictures over the entire city of Rome.

We rested up a bit before we went back out for dinner. We found a restaurant right by our hotel, Ristorante Strega (http://www.ristorantestrega.it/). We LOVED it! We had delicious bruschetta, pasta dishes and a bottle of wine. We were able to eat outside, and it was packed. I highly recommend this restaurant.

After dinner, we tried to figure out where the nightlife was. It turns out, there’s not tons going on by our hotel (located at Via Agostino Depretis, 70), but we walked across Nazionale to Piazza Barberini and stumbled across Pepy’s Bar. (http://www.pepysbar.it/) Had a blast! The waitstaff was incredible to watch. (We are huge fans of Bar Rescue, and we kept thinking this was a model Jon Taffer establishment). It was filled almost entirely with locals, drinks were great, late night snacks were delicious. For people watching, we had a great time, and the few bottles of wine helped with that as well Afterwards, we went back to our hotel as we had a Colosseum tour scheduled for the next morning.
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