Last week, we took an early flight via Birmingham Airport and departed for Rome. The airport staff are always great with people with disabilities or travelling with young families. We were grateful that we were fast-tracked through most of the queues and went straight to security. At the gate, I do hate it when we have to take the shuttle bus to board the plane. It always takes so long to get everyone onboard and getting a visually impaired child up those metal stairs in bright light with loud engines running is not easy.
Predictably, the flight was delayed but somehow we managed to gain some time and got there on schedule. There are many options to travel to Rome from Fiumicino “Leonardo da Vinci” airport. You can take their train, cab or coach etc. We opted for the Rome Bus by Terravision, which we booked via the Klook app. It only cost us just over £5 each, compared to over £20 each if we’d taken the train. It was a nice saving as we were not in any rush to get to our hotel as our check-in time was 3 pm and we had time to spare.
The bus stops in front of Arrivals Terminal 3 at location number 14. The queue was massive and we had to wait for at least 40 minutes. It was a shame that you could not pre-book the seat. It was based on first-come-first-served. The timetable was also very irregular. Once we hopped onto the coach, there was free wifi and air-con. It was very much needed but it was still very hot. It was quite eye-opening sitting at the front of the coach. Our driver must have been a former Formula 1 driver as he drove us there in 35 minutes (it was supposed to take 50-60 minutes).
Once we reached Roma Termini station, we made our way to CC Palace Hotel Roma. It was about a 12 minute walk to the hotel. Luckily with the help of Google Maps, we managed to find the way to our hotel. The whole city has a lot of cobblestone footpaths and it was so hard to walk. I feel for those with luggage on wheels. The traffic was quite chaotic too.
The hotel that we booked was 4 stars and we were really happy with it. It is not too far to walk to many places, like the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and many more areas. Our large family room had a super king-size bed and two small sofas which had been converted into two single beds. We were delighted the air con worked so efficiently.
Breakfast was included (7 – 10am, different hot foods every day) and they gave us free four bottles of water every day. I have no complaints about the hotel room and their service. I can forgive the lack of view from the window (it just looked out at the back of buildings) as we often had the curtain drawn anyway to shield us from the glare of the sun.
There is a Pam supermarket next door and souvenir and other high street shops around so we had access to all regular conveniences.
As we were so near to tourist areas, most of the time we just walked to our destinations. We visited the Spanish Steps (about a 15 minutes walk), which is the monumental stairway of 135 steps. It was around 3pm and it was so hot. We approached from the top and walked down towards the fountain. It was so crowded.
We then popped into the shops to have pistachio gelatos and other desserts. Then we headed towards the Trevi Fountain. Many believe that if you stand with your back to the fountain and use your right hand to toss a coin over your left shoulder into the fountain, it will ensure good luck and that you will return to Rome in the future. We didn’t try it as it was too crowded. The whole place was guarded by police and other officials – we often heard the reprimanding sound of the whistle used to warn the tourists if they misbehaved. You are not allowed to touch the Trevi Fountain water.
At night time, we took a walk outside the Pantheon church, it was buzzing with people. As the weather was so hot, it seemed everyone went out for dinner much later. It was so crowded after 8pm in all restaurants and bars. There was a massive queue for Venchi ice cream (they have the best pistachio ice cream). We got sucked in and €50 later, we came out with a pick and mix of chocolates. Their ice cream and chocolates cost more (roughly 15%) when you buy them at the airport. The single cone is €3.70 outside the airport and €4.20 inside the airport. Their mix costs €7 per 100g compared to €8.20 per 100g inside the airport.
The next day (day 2), we walked to the entrance of the Roman Forum ticket booth to buy tickets. It took us roughly 25 minutes in the heat. As we have a disabled card and blue badge issued by Birmingham Council for Ms C, we were able to get a disabled ticket and a carer ticket for free. Between the four of us, we only needed to pay for one adult at €18 (for the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill) as children under 18 are free. I will write more about these places in my next post.
On day 3, we went to Vatican City, Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Again I will blog about these in my next post as it will contain a lot of photos.
On our fourth day, we were more free and easy. We were very exhausted by the heat. We walked to Rome’s historic Jewish ghetto for sightseeing. We then explored the shops inside Rome Termini and looked out for our return bus to the airport for the next day. They have quite a lot of shops and supermarkets. We even went to the McDonald’s to try out their pistachio McFlurry. It was alright as it was better than the UK’s flavours. Needless to say, Italian gelato is the best.
As Rome is preparing for their Jubilee, there are a lot of renovations around a lot of historical places. To avoid disappointment, if you’re going any time soon, avoid Piazza Navona. All their fountains are closed.
On our last day, after our breakfast, we quickly walked to Termini and took the bus to the airport. Their timetable on the website has not been updated as the timetable at the bus stop was different. Luckily we managed to take the 8.15 am bus to the airport.
Checking in was a breeze as we all had carry-on hand luggage and had our tickets printed at home. The place was super busy. Coming home was torturous as we sat behind two toddlers who took turns crying all the way home. They did not stop until we reached Birmingham. Plus their mum’s back was peeling. When I reached out for our backpacks, there was a layer of dried skin on our backpacks.
Rome is a lovely place but I wouldn’t go again in July/August when it’s just too hot. I’d go when it’s cooler and after all the renovations around all the historical buildings are complete.