I love Rome

Rome is an incredible city.

There are few places in the world that have its combination of sights, sounds, culture and food.

This was the second time I was visiting the "Eternal City" and I was very glad that it was the first place I was visiting after all the time stuck in Hong Kong.  Veronica had never been to Rome.  She had only briefly visited a few parts of Italy as part of day trips on a family cruise.  It didn't seem like that should even count as a trip to Italy.  Her memories of the place were fleeting and uneventful, with most of the time spent being hurried from one location to another.

That wasn't the Italy that I thought so fondly about.  Italy wasn't a country that suits rushing from place to place.  It is a place to be slowly savoured.

Rome in particular is a city to slow down in.  I've never been somewhere so large which is still so well suited to walking.  Every street, every corner you turn, you find yourself standing in front of some historical monument, something grand, or something small and beautiful.  Flying from place to place by taxi doesn't feel right.  You don't get the random discoveries when you turn a corner, you don't get to look up and see the day to day beauty of the buildings.  You don't get the occasional wonder of seeing a monument as it glimpses out from behind a row of buildings.  You just end up missing too much.

With Veronica, we went on our first few days to the great and famous tourist sites.  We walked through Piazza Navova, we looked up in awe at the Pantheon, we explored the Spanish Steps and its surrounds.  It was all lovely and gave us some incredible photos together in these picturesque locations.

On that first night, we wanted to embrace our surrounds as much as possible and so we were lucky to find a roof bar near to Piazza Navona.  The weather was far hotter than I had expected.  We were in the middle of the European heat wave and there was an oppressive feeling from the sun as it beat down on both locals and tourists.  The locals at the very least seemed smarter than most and avoided the worst of the day, whereas us tourists had to make the most of our limited time.  So off to the side of the famed piazza, we made up way up the elevator to find a relatively open roof bar.  It was late in the day, but the sun was only starting to set, giving way to the long dusk that has inspired countless artists for centuries with its gentle light.  We sat and admired the 360 view of the entire city.  We could see far off into the distance towards the hills overlooking Rome as well as the domed roofs of the various churches and monuments around the city.  Rome is a relatively flat city and so these vantage spots provide an ideal way to enjoy these summer evenings.  I was a bit surprised that there weren't more of these bars around the city. 

Since we had both seen many of the more famous monuments and historical sites around Rome on previous trips, we had less of a rush to get to each of these places.  Some people hate the tourist trail of location visits, but I personally think that it's great to see these different places.  After all, there's usually a good reason that these places are popular and visited by many.  However, for us we didn't have this need on this visit to Rome.  Instead, we took a much more relaxed approach and focused instead of far more experience based enjoyments.  We sat in cafes, we strolled the streets, ate the gelato and lingered in the restaurants.

The food in Rome is consistently incredible as well.  If you weren't to visit any of the famous tourist locations and just focus on moving from restaurant to restaurant, you would have an amazing holiday.  Wandering the old city of Rome, there were countless trattorias and pizza shops that we visited.  We tried to find the ones that had the best local recommendations and we were lucky to never be disappointed.  In a city with so many tourists, there are bound to be places which don't quite meet the mark or which end up relying more on their name than their product, but we managed to avoid those for the most part.  Even when we went to some of the places that had become globally popular and famous (such as Bonci), we were left amazed by what we ate.  The baked goods were particularly fantastic.  We ate ricotta cakes in the Jewish district, pizza rossa at Riscioli, crazy Roman pizzas at Bonci.  Each one was worth the trip. 

Visiting in summer also meant the Tiber River markets were in full swing.

The atmosphere at night was lively and exciting.  I remember how much I enjoyed walking along the river the last time I had visited and this time was no different.  It was nice to bring Veronica along the banks of the Tiber as she had never been.  The stalls were teeming with people and we found ourselves standing with the throngs of Roman locals listening to the live music.  Old ladies would sit all at the front, clapping along to songs that were clearly old favourites.  The crowd would cheer and sing as well.  The happiness of everyone was infectious.

Another lovely thing to do in Italy was to visit all of the gelato shops.

There were countless shops everywhere, so you were never far from being able to quickly wander in for a sweet and cold respite from the heat.  I was happy to try them all as and when we passed any, but we did find ourselves going back repeatedly to the famous old shop, Giolitti.  There was something about their fruit gelatos which seemed to have so much more intense a flavour than the other shops that we visited.  

The days passed by for us in strangely paradoxical manner - feeling both fast and slow at the same time.  It did feel as though we the time to leave had arrived quickly, but each day had felt long and full of activity and enjoyment.  I love the city of Rome.  It is one of the best places I have ever visited and I will always look for more opportunities to come back.