Rome trip report
Feb 25th, 2004, 05:10 AM
#1
Original Poster
Rome trip report
My husband, daughter and I spent the February school vacation week in Rome. I had been there once before, last year with my older daughter on her college spring break, but neither my husband nor my younger daughter had been there before and I thought they would love the ruins, the compression of history into a remarkable modern city with classical and Renaissance underpinnings, and the food. I was right on all counts.
The flights
We flew British Airways from Boston to London and from London to Rome. I had read about the small carry-on baggage allowance on BA and decided to leave my wheeled carry-on at home because it was too heavy. This was a huge mistake. None of the flights examined carry-on baggage for size or weight, many people had rolling carry-ons, and I was really sorry I had to lug my bag all over the airports. Actually my husband ended up doing most of the lugging, so he was probably more sorry than I was. All the flights went smoothly and most arrived ahead of schedule.
The apartment
I arranged for an apartment rental through www.sleepinitaly.com. We had rented an apartment last year in Paris and loved the extra space, so we decided to go for it again. I read about sleepinitaly on this forum. After I rented the apartment, I read a negative report here about an experience with sleepinitaly and was somewhat concerned, but all went smoothly for us. The owners met us at the apartment as arranged and we paid them in cash for the rental. We had to get the cash at the airport from an ATM. As it was Sunday, and there were some recent comments here about the difficulty of obtaining funds from some ATMs on Sunday, I had been a little anxious about it, but the ATM spit out the required cash and all was well.
The apartment was very nice, on the second floor (first floor European) with a tiny elevator in an old building on a cobbled street near the Trevi Fountain, via in Arcione. There were dishes and linens but as a whole the apartment was less well equipped than the one we rented last year in Paris. We had to run out to get toilet paper, for instance, and there was no hairdryer. No big deal though. There is an internet center across the street, which was very convenient for keeping in touch with home. In the mornings there is a small vegetable market on the street, where I bought strawberries and wonderful oranges from Sicily every morning. Wine shops and cheese and salami shops are all within a block or two, as well as several gelato shops.
Transportation
We used the bus a lot. Armed with the Metro-Bus map available at the tabacchi, we roamed the whole city. We just bought individual bus tickets for one euro apiece instead of daily or weekly tickets since we didn't know how many times we?d be using the bus each day, and that worked out well for us. As long as we avoided rush hours, the bus wasn?t overly crowded. There was a bus stop two or three blocks away, on via del Tritone, with several lines going all over the city.
By our last night in Rome, I was exhausted and could only imagine going out to dinner in a different neighborhood if we took a taxi. We took a taxi to Trastevere, which was lovely, but we had a question about the cab. There were two meters, one appeared to be showing the time and the other the price. When my husband tried to pay the price he thought it would be from the meter, something like 6 euros, the driver said it was the other price, which appeared to be a running clock, and which showed a 12. Not knowing whether or how to argue, he paid 12 euros, and we are not sure whether we got ripped off or whether we are just clueless about Roman cabs. Either way, I was glad for the ride. The ride back to the apartment was in a cab that had only a single meter, which made it easier to understand, but there were already 7 euros showing on the meter when we got in. The restaurant had called the cab for us, and I understand that the meter starts running when the call comes in, but that seemed a bit high since the cab appeared within three minutes.
We had taken a taxi from the airport to the apartment, but while we were standing on line at the Vatican we were handed flyers from two shuttle services advertising good rates to the airport, so we used one of these to get to the airport the day we left. Both advertised two passengers for around 25 euros and three passengers for around 30 euros. The web sites are www.airportshuttle.it and www.romashuttle.com.
The trains
I am sorry to say that our experience of the trains was marred by thieves. We went to Pompeii, which I had done and enjoyed last year on the EnjoyRome shuttle bus. The bus is not running in the winter, however, so we took the train. The Eurostar from Rome to Naples was fine and it was easy to buy tickets from the machine at Termini Station. We only bought one way tickets because I didn?t know when we were coming back, so we had to buy tickets again in Naples on the way back. Unfortunately all the machines we tried there were broken, so we bought tickets at the ticket window.
The problem came while transferring to the Circumvesuviana at the Naples train station. As we were getting on the train there were several men blocking my husband?s way, and it turned out as the train pulled out and the men were gone that they had taken his wallet. We made a bunch of phone calls from our cell phone, cancelled his credit card and ATM card, and went on with our visit to Pompeii. Very unpleasant though.
This experience alerted us to the pickpocket technique, which we had occasion to recognize again when we were taking the Metro in Rome a couple of days later. Four teenage girls were blocking my way onto the train and one was sliding her hand along my purse. She wasn?t going to find anything there but I kept a tight grip, shoved the girls and shouted at them. Effective, but unpleasant.
The sights
We spent a lot of time poking among old stones. I love that. I could never get enough of Pompeii, what an exciting place that is! Loved wandering around the Forum. We went to the Domus Aurea and to San Clemente, both of which offer fascinating glimpses of underground Rome. You get the feeling that you could take up a shovel anywhere in Rome and find something amazing underneath. At the Vatican Museums I loved seeing the statues that had been dug up all over the city. At the Vatican I also felt strongly the compression of the millennia. Paintings by Renaissance artists of Greek philosophers in Roman settings. History and civilization and religion and culture and art and actual buildings all tumbled on top of each other: for me that is the essence of Rome.
The restaurants
I returned to some of the restaurants I enjoyed last year and tried some new ones. We went to La Tartaruga, via del Monte della Farina, 53 (tel 06/6869473) which I learned about on this forum and enjoyed before. Had a delicious antipasto and homemade pasta with wild boar, which was lovely.
At Orso 80, via dell?Orso, 33, tel 06/6864904, we got the house antipasto, and this time I knew enough not to order a second course. They bring enough plates to cover a whole extra table. Four different preparations of eggplant, a plate of prosciutto and one of melon, stuffed vegetables, marinated whole artichokes, meat balls, an unidentified sliced vegetable I think was fennel, olives, balls of mozzarella, fava beans, fried rice and cheese balls, and oh yeah, they came around with omelets. After all this, my husband ordered grilled prawns because he had seen the giant prawns on our way into the restaurant. They were very tasty, I tried one.
Antica Taverna, Via Monte Giordano, 12, tel 06/68801053. I got this suggestion from the Scala Reale web site. A little hard to find on a winding cobbled street. A very lively place which was filled when we got there. They told us there would be a ten minute wait and brought glasses of sparkling wine for us to drink out on the street while waiting. Great atmosphere. I had delicious roast pork. My husband had a great pasta with sausage and cauliflower. My daughter had a spicy spaghetti all?amatriciana. After dinner they brought after dinner drinks on the house. Don?t remember what else, but the whole evening was a real highlight. By the time we were finishing, the owner had turned the radio up and was dancing in the back. The table behind us, with six young Italian men, had just been presented with three bottles of after-dinner drinks on their table. A middle aged guy sitting at one of the tables outside had sent glasses of wine to the table of two young women next to us, presumably because he was enjoying the view, which got better after the wine was presented.
We did eat at assorted other places for pizza and pasta and roast lamb and pork and veal, but these are the three that stick out in my mind at the moment.
The flights
We flew British Airways from Boston to London and from London to Rome. I had read about the small carry-on baggage allowance on BA and decided to leave my wheeled carry-on at home because it was too heavy. This was a huge mistake. None of the flights examined carry-on baggage for size or weight, many people had rolling carry-ons, and I was really sorry I had to lug my bag all over the airports. Actually my husband ended up doing most of the lugging, so he was probably more sorry than I was. All the flights went smoothly and most arrived ahead of schedule.
The apartment
I arranged for an apartment rental through www.sleepinitaly.com. We had rented an apartment last year in Paris and loved the extra space, so we decided to go for it again. I read about sleepinitaly on this forum. After I rented the apartment, I read a negative report here about an experience with sleepinitaly and was somewhat concerned, but all went smoothly for us. The owners met us at the apartment as arranged and we paid them in cash for the rental. We had to get the cash at the airport from an ATM. As it was Sunday, and there were some recent comments here about the difficulty of obtaining funds from some ATMs on Sunday, I had been a little anxious about it, but the ATM spit out the required cash and all was well.
The apartment was very nice, on the second floor (first floor European) with a tiny elevator in an old building on a cobbled street near the Trevi Fountain, via in Arcione. There were dishes and linens but as a whole the apartment was less well equipped than the one we rented last year in Paris. We had to run out to get toilet paper, for instance, and there was no hairdryer. No big deal though. There is an internet center across the street, which was very convenient for keeping in touch with home. In the mornings there is a small vegetable market on the street, where I bought strawberries and wonderful oranges from Sicily every morning. Wine shops and cheese and salami shops are all within a block or two, as well as several gelato shops.
Transportation
We used the bus a lot. Armed with the Metro-Bus map available at the tabacchi, we roamed the whole city. We just bought individual bus tickets for one euro apiece instead of daily or weekly tickets since we didn't know how many times we?d be using the bus each day, and that worked out well for us. As long as we avoided rush hours, the bus wasn?t overly crowded. There was a bus stop two or three blocks away, on via del Tritone, with several lines going all over the city.
By our last night in Rome, I was exhausted and could only imagine going out to dinner in a different neighborhood if we took a taxi. We took a taxi to Trastevere, which was lovely, but we had a question about the cab. There were two meters, one appeared to be showing the time and the other the price. When my husband tried to pay the price he thought it would be from the meter, something like 6 euros, the driver said it was the other price, which appeared to be a running clock, and which showed a 12. Not knowing whether or how to argue, he paid 12 euros, and we are not sure whether we got ripped off or whether we are just clueless about Roman cabs. Either way, I was glad for the ride. The ride back to the apartment was in a cab that had only a single meter, which made it easier to understand, but there were already 7 euros showing on the meter when we got in. The restaurant had called the cab for us, and I understand that the meter starts running when the call comes in, but that seemed a bit high since the cab appeared within three minutes.
We had taken a taxi from the airport to the apartment, but while we were standing on line at the Vatican we were handed flyers from two shuttle services advertising good rates to the airport, so we used one of these to get to the airport the day we left. Both advertised two passengers for around 25 euros and three passengers for around 30 euros. The web sites are www.airportshuttle.it and www.romashuttle.com.
The trains
I am sorry to say that our experience of the trains was marred by thieves. We went to Pompeii, which I had done and enjoyed last year on the EnjoyRome shuttle bus. The bus is not running in the winter, however, so we took the train. The Eurostar from Rome to Naples was fine and it was easy to buy tickets from the machine at Termini Station. We only bought one way tickets because I didn?t know when we were coming back, so we had to buy tickets again in Naples on the way back. Unfortunately all the machines we tried there were broken, so we bought tickets at the ticket window.
The problem came while transferring to the Circumvesuviana at the Naples train station. As we were getting on the train there were several men blocking my husband?s way, and it turned out as the train pulled out and the men were gone that they had taken his wallet. We made a bunch of phone calls from our cell phone, cancelled his credit card and ATM card, and went on with our visit to Pompeii. Very unpleasant though.
This experience alerted us to the pickpocket technique, which we had occasion to recognize again when we were taking the Metro in Rome a couple of days later. Four teenage girls were blocking my way onto the train and one was sliding her hand along my purse. She wasn?t going to find anything there but I kept a tight grip, shoved the girls and shouted at them. Effective, but unpleasant.
The sights
We spent a lot of time poking among old stones. I love that. I could never get enough of Pompeii, what an exciting place that is! Loved wandering around the Forum. We went to the Domus Aurea and to San Clemente, both of which offer fascinating glimpses of underground Rome. You get the feeling that you could take up a shovel anywhere in Rome and find something amazing underneath. At the Vatican Museums I loved seeing the statues that had been dug up all over the city. At the Vatican I also felt strongly the compression of the millennia. Paintings by Renaissance artists of Greek philosophers in Roman settings. History and civilization and religion and culture and art and actual buildings all tumbled on top of each other: for me that is the essence of Rome.
The restaurants
I returned to some of the restaurants I enjoyed last year and tried some new ones. We went to La Tartaruga, via del Monte della Farina, 53 (tel 06/6869473) which I learned about on this forum and enjoyed before. Had a delicious antipasto and homemade pasta with wild boar, which was lovely.
At Orso 80, via dell?Orso, 33, tel 06/6864904, we got the house antipasto, and this time I knew enough not to order a second course. They bring enough plates to cover a whole extra table. Four different preparations of eggplant, a plate of prosciutto and one of melon, stuffed vegetables, marinated whole artichokes, meat balls, an unidentified sliced vegetable I think was fennel, olives, balls of mozzarella, fava beans, fried rice and cheese balls, and oh yeah, they came around with omelets. After all this, my husband ordered grilled prawns because he had seen the giant prawns on our way into the restaurant. They were very tasty, I tried one.
Antica Taverna, Via Monte Giordano, 12, tel 06/68801053. I got this suggestion from the Scala Reale web site. A little hard to find on a winding cobbled street. A very lively place which was filled when we got there. They told us there would be a ten minute wait and brought glasses of sparkling wine for us to drink out on the street while waiting. Great atmosphere. I had delicious roast pork. My husband had a great pasta with sausage and cauliflower. My daughter had a spicy spaghetti all?amatriciana. After dinner they brought after dinner drinks on the house. Don?t remember what else, but the whole evening was a real highlight. By the time we were finishing, the owner had turned the radio up and was dancing in the back. The table behind us, with six young Italian men, had just been presented with three bottles of after-dinner drinks on their table. A middle aged guy sitting at one of the tables outside had sent glasses of wine to the table of two young women next to us, presumably because he was enjoying the view, which got better after the wine was presented.
We did eat at assorted other places for pizza and pasta and roast lamb and pork and veal, but these are the three that stick out in my mind at the moment.
Feb 25th, 2004, 06:09 AM
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Hi Nikki
Enjoyed your report. Made my feet itch to go back. We had an "interesting" experience at La Tartaruga last May - we were the only table served the night we went, so the owner spent time in conversation with us that we really enjoyed (in addition to the delicious food).
What was the Feb. weather like? We're thinking of a trip for this time next year.
Enjoyed your report. Made my feet itch to go back. We had an "interesting" experience at La Tartaruga last May - we were the only table served the night we went, so the owner spent time in conversation with us that we really enjoyed (in addition to the delicious food).
What was the Feb. weather like? We're thinking of a trip for this time next year.
Feb 25th, 2004, 07:19 AM
#7
Original Poster
Rookie, the weather was mostly good. We had pretty heavy rain one day and some insignificant misty drizzle another day, but otherwise it was dry with temperatures in the fifties during the day and forties at night.
Ira, We knew about not letting people touch us. That just didn't seem to cue us to the trouble here. People don't really seem to be touching you, you're trying to get past them. Impossible not to touch anyone getting onto a crowded train. The lesson I took away is that if someone is blocking your way onto the train, they are doing it to steal from you. These guys got onto the train right in front of my husband and then stopped dead in front of the door. They were pretty well dressed guys in their thirties or forties, looked like commuters. This happens, don't try to get in that way. Go to another door.
Renee, have a great trip next week.
Does anybody have a clue about our taxi situation? What's up with the two meters?
Ira, We knew about not letting people touch us. That just didn't seem to cue us to the trouble here. People don't really seem to be touching you, you're trying to get past them. Impossible not to touch anyone getting onto a crowded train. The lesson I took away is that if someone is blocking your way onto the train, they are doing it to steal from you. These guys got onto the train right in front of my husband and then stopped dead in front of the door. They were pretty well dressed guys in their thirties or forties, looked like commuters. This happens, don't try to get in that way. Go to another door.
Renee, have a great trip next week.
Does anybody have a clue about our taxi situation? What's up with the two meters?
Feb 25th, 2004, 08:23 AM
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Nikki:
Great report!! Isn't Rome wonderful.
The last two times I've been to Rome I have tried to find Antica Taverna with no success. Can you give me an idea on directions to get there? I am renting an apt. in Trastevere this fall for a week and can't wait.
Great report!! Isn't Rome wonderful.
The last two times I've been to Rome I have tried to find Antica Taverna with no success. Can you give me an idea on directions to get there? I am renting an apt. in Trastevere this fall for a week and can't wait.
Feb 25th, 2004, 08:25 AM
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Re taxis -- I don't know how they work in Rome either. My one personal experience happened this past summer. We were out wandering late at night, after public transportation had stopped running. We were on the way back to the hotel (Columbia near Termini -- we stayed for one night and were leaving for the US in the morning) and were really too tired to walk. It probably would have been another fifteen to twenty minutes on foot, but we took a cab. The driver took a route I would have expected (I was looking at a street map). It was all fine. At the end of the ride, though, he pressed a few buttons and that pushed the fare up. The ride was probably a little over 10 E. Maybe surcharges? I had no clue.
Pickpockets: My mom was pick-pocketed on a Paris Metro with largely the same technique. It's too bad this happened, but well, we all learn our lesson one way or another. We actually ventured into a Paris police station to file a report with my very limited French. I've the report filed somewhere. An interesting souvenir of sorts.
Pickpockets: My mom was pick-pocketed on a Paris Metro with largely the same technique. It's too bad this happened, but well, we all learn our lesson one way or another. We actually ventured into a Paris police station to file a report with my very limited French. I've the report filed somewhere. An interesting souvenir of sorts.
Feb 25th, 2004, 09:28 AM
#10
Original Poster
Barb, don't give up on finding Antica Taverna. It is a little confusing, and my map does not appear to be entirely accurate as to the location of the little street it is on, via Monte Giordano. It is off the via d. Governo Vecchio, perhaps near the v. d. Avila. It was a little unclear in the dark exactly what street corner we were on, and we sort of walked in a circle around it before finding it. We approached it by going North on v. Chiesa Nuova from the Chiesa Nuova bus stop on Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
Feb 25th, 2004, 10:12 AM
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Hi Barb,
If you go to www.multimap.com and enter
"via di Monte Giordano 12" and "Rome" you will see right where it is (mostly).
If you go to www.multimap.com and enter
"via di Monte Giordano 12" and "Rome" you will see right where it is (mostly).
Feb 25th, 2004, 12:01 PM
#13
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Hi Nikki -- Thanks for the trip report. We'll be in Rome in two weeks!
Do you recall how much your meal was at Antica Taverna? It sounds like great fun and I'm hoping it's within our budget. Thanks.
Do you recall how much your meal was at Antica Taverna? It sounds like great fun and I'm hoping it's within our budget. Thanks.
Feb 25th, 2004, 12:59 PM
#14
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Robdaddy, we've already got the credit card bill for Antica Taverna. I don't know the figure in euros, but it came to $70.40 for the three of us. Hoping that's within your budget.
Feb 25th, 2004, 03:54 PM
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Nikki, I am glad you had a wonderful trip but so sorry you had the experiences you did with the thieves. Trully this part of going frightens me. I want to be so steal proof!! I hope this is possible.
Feb 26th, 2004, 05:02 AM
#16
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Robbiegirl, I hope my experiences don't discourage you. Really we had only a couple of disheartening hours as a result of the pickpocketing. The things I am glad we did: I made copies of both sides of everything in our wallets before we left home. We brought two sets of these copies with us and left one in our house.
Since we were in Naples when the incident occurred and our copies were back at the apartment in Rome, we called our neighbor at home and asked her to go to our house and get the phone numbers to call to cancel the credit cards. We then called on our cell phone, which we had had activated for international use before we left home. (That's the second thing we had done right.) That way we didn't have to return to Rome to take care of this business and could enjoy the rest of the day in Pompeii.
Although the thieves had charged two thousand dollars(!) on my husband's credit card in the hour it took us to make these arrangements, we will not be responsible for paying it. The ATM card was also a debit card, and despite the warnings I have read on this forum there was no damage to my husband's checking account. I don't know whether that was because we were just lucky or because the bank was right when they told us that nobody could access those funds without my husband's PIN number. My own ATM card is not also a debit card, and I still feel more comfortable about that.
In any event, if you have the information so that you can call and stop the damage as quickly as possible, you will feel more in control of the situation. This did not ruin our trip by any means.
Since we were in Naples when the incident occurred and our copies were back at the apartment in Rome, we called our neighbor at home and asked her to go to our house and get the phone numbers to call to cancel the credit cards. We then called on our cell phone, which we had had activated for international use before we left home. (That's the second thing we had done right.) That way we didn't have to return to Rome to take care of this business and could enjoy the rest of the day in Pompeii.
Although the thieves had charged two thousand dollars(!) on my husband's credit card in the hour it took us to make these arrangements, we will not be responsible for paying it. The ATM card was also a debit card, and despite the warnings I have read on this forum there was no damage to my husband's checking account. I don't know whether that was because we were just lucky or because the bank was right when they told us that nobody could access those funds without my husband's PIN number. My own ATM card is not also a debit card, and I still feel more comfortable about that.
In any event, if you have the information so that you can call and stop the damage as quickly as possible, you will feel more in control of the situation. This did not ruin our trip by any means.
Feb 26th, 2004, 09:54 AM
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Glad to hear about the Antica Taverna. My favorite! That was one of my "little finds" when I went to Rome and I recommend it on my websight.Such a nice friendly place away from the hustle of Rome. You are correct, it IS hard to find!
http://richardab.home.comcast.net/Fl...caTaverna.html
or
http://richardab.home.comcast.net
http://richardab.home.comcast.net/Fl...caTaverna.html
or
http://richardab.home.comcast.net
Feb 27th, 2004, 03:00 AM
#18
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RichardAB, I enjoyed your website, thanks for the link. Funny how many of us are talking about this one little restaurant hidden away on a winding street. I did get the feeling in that neighborhood that several places looked equally welcoming and fun,and I wish I had the opportunity to try them all.
Feb 27th, 2004, 12:02 PM
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Hmmm, I am glad you like it. I have so much work to do on it and so little time. i statred the section on Paris but i still need to finish Amsterdam and Munich! OH NO! I am going to Spain in a month and need do do that too!
