|
Rome - places a 13 year old shouldn't miss
Sure, we know the typical tourist attractions, but we are hoping we can get a list of DON'T MISS places in Rome that a 13 year old boy would love.
|
Subscribe to Italian Notebook.com for daily e-mails about interesting places in Italy, and in rome. Also eternallycool.com, which is a little more hip.
Climbing to the top of St. Peters and the excavations underneath the church should be interesting to him. If you don't go to Pompeii you could take a day to go to Ostia Antica. Or a day in Tivoli, where you can see Villa d'Este with a magnificent garden with the most amazing array of hundreds of fountains (fun to be there in the heat of summer). Also in Tivoli is Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa). |
13 year olds can be little kids or almost grown - don;t know which this kid is. But I would definitely get him heavily involved in planning what he wants to see and do. Aim him towards a couple of the student type guides - Let's Go or Rough Guides - so he can pick out what he wants to see/do. (the first time we did London/Paris with my step daughters - then 11 and 14 - they had very definite ides on some choices - not all of which we were enthralled with - so they went back to see Covent Garden again while we did some interesting galleries.)
|
|
The local gelato stand. If he's seen any of the Dan Brown movies he may like to see the Vatican or Pantheon. May enjoy going on a short train trip.
|
Hi mrsgo, I don't know if this is included in all the websites that worldinabag posted for you but in case not here is a website to review..most young fellows love it! Not me, I refused to go in. If you don't want to as it is located on the Via Veneto you can go to an outdoor cafe and have yourself a nice drink, lol.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/tapholov/pages/bones.html |
I have not been to Rome yet, however I have used ideas from this website for other locations in Europe. I have a 13 y.o. son as well. Hopefully you find it useful. Have fun!
http://www.travelforkids.com/Funtodo/Italy/rome.htm |
Get him to read up on the history of the colosseum and then he should enjoy that as well as other things. I know that they are a little corny but I think he would enjoy Rick Steves podcasts if he has an ipod. You can download them at no cost and then he can listen to them as you visit the main sites.
|
Last summer we rented an apt on the Campo De Fiori piazza. (myself, boys were 15 &12, dtr 9). Their best memories are of...the lazy evenings in Piazza Navona having their image drawn, listening to live music and watching the amazing street entertainment; early morning visits to the Campo de Fiori market - children can wander and talk with the Italian vendors, who make a good sales pitch to them and offer them a "special" deal - it's a real live Italian infomercial right in front of their eyes - the man with the vegetable peeler thingy is amazing - we bought several; the electric car tour through Rome (Angel Tours)- which we highly recommend if you can stomach the price - you drive ALL around Rome in a golf cart - I drove, and we laughed so hard, it was crazy - it really is worth it; perusing the shops - son was fascinated with the Roman gladiator shops - swords, helmets, body armor - dtr loved the Murano glass animals; feeding the pigeons by the fountain at the Pantheon; and or course, eating gelato and tossing coin in the Trevi Fountain at night; the Cappucin Crypt - and some french fries and a tshirt at the Hard Rock Cafe; and kid get a kick out of finding Michelangelo's paining of Biago in the The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel (with donkey ears and a serpent) . That's what KIDS love.
(Of course they enjoy seeing the pictures and knowing they went to St. Peters Basilica, Vatican Museum, Coliseum, Trajan's Market, Roman forum, etc., but it's where they laughed that was really special. |
I actually don't think of 13 year olds as a generic type, boys or girls. I've seen lots of children looking pretty miserable climbing up lots of stairs in churches, especially in hot weather. I've never cared much for gelato, and being 13 wouldn't have changed that. (My slightly older sister doesn't like pizza.) Some children don't like gruesome sights, and I persistently see them recommended for youngsters. Others don't want t-shirts with touristy things written on them.
Does the 13 year old like music? Sports? Noise? Quiet? Astronomy? Planet earth or politics? Most 13 year olds I know have opinions about what they like to do -- and are very eager not to be "shown" things by adults, prodding them to enjoy them. Can't the 13 year old boy be brought into the process of choosing? Most kids I know are whizzes with Google. |
Oop, sorry, I should have said that's what MY kids loved. Never meant to imply that children are generic and all the same. Very important to clarify that point, thanks zeppole for pointing that out. I forget that some kids might not like pizza, ice cream, laughing and scary stuff.
|
My kids were 13 (daughter) and 10 (son) when we went to Rome. They enjoyed the Colosseum, Roman Forum, gelato, pizza and the huge McDonald's near the Spanish Steps. My son enjoyed tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain, climbing the Spanish Steps and watching the street life on the Campo de Fiori piazza. He did not enjoy shopping or the hot weather. In general, he enjoyed walking everywhere, dodging the traffic and being in Rome. I've been lucky so far in my travels -- there have only been a few things my kids did not enjoy doing, but nothing that even came close to spoiling our day.
One thing I have to add -- I always keep museum visits short. We went to the Villa Borghese, and I'd say that it wasn't on the top of his favorites. But he did like a few of the sculptures and walking through the park to get to the museum. Even for me, the museum wasn't a hit, mainly because it was so hot inside that it made the visit unpleasant. |
Castel Sant'Angelo
Renting a bike or bike cart in the Borghese Gardens. Sitting on the Spanish Steps. Lots of teenagers love to congregate here for some strange reason. On late Saturday afternoons, hordes of teens do the passeggiata on the Via del Corso between Piazza Popolo and Via Condotti. Thin |
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:08 AM. |