Rome…a city of history, culture, food, and wine…a visit with the Pope too!!

After a wonderful trip through Spain with my Mom, and after I finally recovered from my horrible respiratory infection, we were off to Rome!!! Jos had been to the city before, but for me it was a first and I was so excited to see the ancient sites, the Vatican, eat pizza and pasta, and drink some amazing wines.

We landed on February 1 in the evening and were greeted at the airport by huge flocks and murmurations of starlings which had people ooh-ing and aah-ing. We took an hour train ride to our Airbnb, which was within a few blocks of the Vatican. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of taking a short subway ride instead of grabbing a cab, because when we got to the station closest to our lodging we had to walk up two very high flights of stairs (with our suitcases). No escalators or elevators in many subways.

We made our way a few blocks and entered a very old, but beautifully maintained apartment building. We were met by a friend of the Host and in his fairly good, broken English told us all about the property and the apartment. It was gorgeous….probably one of the nicest places we had stayed during our travels. It had plenty of room, with a large master, nice kitchen, and a lovely seating room. Glad we planned to stay for 8 nights in such a wonderful place and great location. After unpacking, we headed downstairs to a local restaurant to eat and try out our bad Italian. The food was good and the wine tasty, but what made this place cool was the dozen or so Vespas they had on display (I’ll try to include a picture).

Jos found out that on Sundays the Pope held a noon prayer in St. Peter’s square, so we decided to go over on our first full day in Rome. The crowd was not that big, and we had a good view of the Pope from his 6th floor window. We then went inside St. Peter’s Basilica - no line right after the prayer! Just like everything else in and around the Vatican, there are no words for this grand Basilica. Afterward, we did some grocery shopping and had a nice home cooked meal.

The next day, we left in the morning, hit our new favorite standup (at a counter) espresso bar, and then off to visit the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum. We had an amazing day exploring these ancient ruins. The Colosseum was massive (much bigger in real life), but the audio was hard to follow, and there was a lot of restoration, so we only walked around for an hour or so. 

We then walked up the hill to Palatine and explored some of the very old homes that have been buried and unearthed after thousands of years. Some very famous leaders of ancient Rome lived here. Our last stop was the Roman Forum, which we both agreed was our favorite visit of the day. It is unbelievable to think that thousands of years ago, ancient people walked and shopped on this spectacular forum area. Thanks to our modern movies depicting that era, you can almost see the people walking down the boulevards and trading their goods. I was amazed by how much of these ancient structures are still standing. We finished our day at a great restaurant, Sorpasso. The wine and food were crazy good, and we ended up back there one more time before the end of our stay. Thanks to someone Jos knows who recommended that restaurant!

On February 4th, we did a ton of walking around Rome, wandering into churches, the Pantheon (that was one of my favorite ancient structures that we visited….the ceiling was mesmerizing) and, after an excellent lunch at a cute little sidewalk café, we moved on to the Trevi fountain. The fountain area was really crowded so, after a couple of quick pictures, we went to our next stop: to pick up our tickets to see the Pope during one of his 'general audiences.' 

I then tried my first Rome gelato (it wasn't great - Jos blamed the proximity to a tourist spot), and continued our walking tour through some beautiful piazzas, up the Spanish steps (which, pretty much were just a hundred or so steps), and through a very pristine park in the middle of Rome, Villa Borghese. The park had busts of ancient artists and aristocrats, and an art museum Jos remembered fondly but which was already closed for the day. 

After returning to our place, we had a delicious evening at a place around the block that had one of the more impressive wine and spirits lists (most of which were on shelves around the restaurant). The food was spectacular and the staff were so very friendly and helpful. I would like to say the people in Italy, as in Spain (and pretty much around the world), were so wonderful to us. I think it is has a lot to do with how other people are raised, to be good to others and enjoy life. I also think it is because we made an attempt, albeit a bad attempt, at speaking the local language, being open to try new things, and just being nice human beings to those we met. This is one of my great lessons learned on our global travels: when you are nice to others, most often you get that and more in return.

Every evening, we were very happy to get back to our nice and comfortable apartment. I forgot to mention that there was a very old, and very, very small elevator in the building that Jos did not like in the least bit. It was good to take the luggage up and down, but we preferred to take the steps when we could. [Jos: it was a cage on a rope!]

The following day was our morning with the Pope… ok, it was called the Pope’s 'general audience,' so there were a few thousand other people with us in an auditorium, but it was pretty amazing to see him in person with a relatively small crowd. He does a 20 minute teaching (on this day he was teaching about the Beatitude 'blessed is the poor in spirit'), followed by a short summary translation done by bishops from many different countries in their native language. The Pope did both the Italian and Spanish version! (He's from Argentina.)

Now, I think most of you probably know that Jos and I are not Catholic, but it was truly an honor and privilege to see and hear the Pope in person. I’m a big fan of this Pope, as he is notably unselfish and focuses the church more onto helping the poor, sick, and others in need! If I were Catholic, I would be very happy with him as the leader of the church. We thought the audience with the Pope would be a solemn affair with teaching and prayers.. and there were both of these, but instead you would have thought U2 was performing on stage. After the teaching and prayer, the place erupted. Kids ran over the top of us to get pictures and see the Pope up close as he moved around the auditorium. Crazy!!!!  The colorfully dressed guards wouldn’t let anyone leave while the Pope was on his way to the exit, so we just hung back and looked on at the craziness. One last thing: at the end of the prayer, the Pope blessed all of the people in the audience, their families, and blessed any religious item that you had in your possession. In this case, Jos had quite a few new rosaries as some of Jos’ family are Catholic. After giving her Grandparents the in person Pope-blessed rosaries, she is the number one grandkid, forever!!! 

We continued with the Catholic theme that day and spent the afternoon at the Vatican museum. Including the famed Sistine Chapel (or 16th chapel as too many Americans would say). Touring the museum was a highlight of my stay in Rome. Its artifacts, art, and everything else about the museum were awe-inspiring and beyond description. We ended the evening at amazing wine bar/restaurant, where we sampled some amazing wines and had some tasty bites. The service staff were wonderful and helpful as we tried to explain the types of wines we normally drink. It was a lot of fun, and we found some new wines that we like.

The next day we stayed close to the apartment, caught up on some laundry and relaxed. Always good to do that when traveling….like long hiking trips, you need to plan some down days. Of course, we did still go out to visit our favorite espresso bar!!!

The next day, we did some exploring around the City, and then lucked into a table for dinner at Felice dal 1936. (Thanks to another friend of Jos for the recommendation!) It took us to a different part of the city, over the Tiber river, and seemed to be one of the more exclusive spots, yet not overly fancy restaurants in Rome. We sat right by the entrance, behind the host stand, but it was entertaining watching the owner meet and greet locals as they came in on a Friday night. It was a lot of fun, and the food and wine were to die for. After dinner, we had an unnecessary nightcap at a store with a small, unmarked stairwell.. to a basement bar: bricked, cavern arches, tavern style… As we were walking by outside, Jos remembered that she had visited this same hidden craft beer bar on a trip to Rome with friends - they'd all come in for the weekend to see a 6 nations rugby game. Anyway, the semi-secret cavern bar was neat, and we had a laugh when we received a piece of chocolate cake after trying to speak Italian and ask for a glass of not-sweet wine. Jos eventually got a beer.

During our last day in Rome, we did a little walking around, then watched a 6 nations rugby match at a local beer hall. The match was great, but the alcohol was horrible. [Jos: Jim hates beer. It was not horrible]  I should have brought my own!!! We capped off our last night with dinner back at Sorpasso, this time sitting up at the bar. We had a very fun conversation with a local who talked to us for an hour about his love for all things American. Fashion, cars, people, etc. He talked to us about his trips to the US and recommended some things we should do in Italy, although he was not a fan of Naples/Napoli, where we were heading next.. After a phone call, he made an abrupt exit, telling us his wife was going to kill him when he got home, as his afterwork cocktail had extended on quite a while.. The bartender mixed up some great Tiki cocktails, which more than made up for the bad drinks [Jos: it was fine beer!] at the bar that afternoon. Again, amazing staff and food.

We went home to pack up for our next move…..off the next morning by train to Naples….bring on the pizza!!!!

PLEASE NOTE THE WIX BLOG LAYS OUT THE PICTURES IN REVERSE ORDER, SO START AT THE BOTTOM.