Roma
Roma
You're never too old for a spring break trip with your mother- even if you're 25 and living on another continent. Our trip started with a packed Iberia flight from Madrid Barajas to Roma FCO on the Friday morning of Semana Santa mid April.
We took a taxi from the airport, about a 45 minute drive and the most efficient way to travel is when you've checked a bag to ensure you have all the instagram outfits for your iconic first time in Italia.
The air was warm and our taxi driver was warmer. We communicated using a combination of google translate and Spanish since that's the closest I speak to Italian. He gave us his local recommendations and was the perfect first impression of Italy.
We arrived at our airbnb, just two minutes from the colosseum - in the heart of tourist central. Just where these two tourists needed to be. Our traditionally timeless classically chic Italian apartment was perfect. One bedroom with a small terrace just big enough to smoke a cigarette on. A chic roman style sculpture in the bedroom with mismatched retro furniture and a cherry red tile floor below wood beamed ceiling. Iconic. You could feel the hundreds of years of history above your head and below your feet. You could hear it too with the poorly insulated windows letting in the sounds of life at all hours.
The streets buzz with Italian men waiting to hit on you- or not really waiting at all. Stopping you in the street and asking for your whatsapp even when you tell them you have a boyfriend. One can appreciate the directness, I would advise all girls to head to Rome for an ego boost. In fact I might go back now that I'm single again.
Walking the streets that first day I felt the familiar buzz of exploring a new city and a new country. This time with my mom is just as special for her. Her first time in Italy, a place she’s dreamed of going for as long as I can remember. I remember it’s her first time living too.
We are starving so naturally the first place we go is the nearest gelateria.
We chose salted caramel with coffee and raspberry and lemon for our breakfast combinations. We walk among the ancient architecture with no real agenda, hoping to get lost in the history.
We find a plaza with a terrace with a glorious view in a historic part of the city and decide it's time for a coffee. It's the quiet hours of the afternoon now with only really a few other tourists about. We order cappuccinos at a time that is unholy to the Italians but our waiter didn't mind our overzealous Americanness.
We wandered the streets finding museum grade fountains and ogling at the remnants of the roman empire every corner we turned, a new fascination and new people to watch with in awe. The glamour is decadent and evident even in the police cars, your jaw drops when you notice its a Lamborghini polizia.
At this point we had starved ourselves enough to head to La Matriciana dal 1870 for our early dinner reservation. As the name suggests, the place has been open since 1870 and is a well renowned spot. I’ll set the scene: white table cloths and glassware perfectly placed, light Italian jazz on the speakers and waiters in formal attire, classily ignoring the guests in laid back Italian style. They serve you promptly but are never too busy for a casual conversation with their buddies. We didn’t mind.
I had to have a glass of red wine, of course, and we started with the fried artichoke. An incredibly crispy deep fried, whole artichoke with no breading necessary. Salted perfectly. This might have been our favorite dish of the night. For entrees I got the traditional carbonara. They say there's four traditional pastas you have to try in Rome: Carbonara, Cacio e Pepe, Amatriciana, and Pasa Alla Gricia. For dessert we had a carmelized pear that enticed us from the counter when we first walked in.
We walked home happy and satisfied, stumbling upon new gems of the city that glowed differently in the moonlight.
Vatican City
Day two started bright and early with a trip to Vatican City. Ready by 9am we decided to walk a bit and hail a taxi instead of forcing an uber down the narrow cobblestone street of our accommodations. After about 15 minutes of stressing for a taxi to drive by the silent 8am streets of Rome, a nice young man in his 30s saved us in his Mercedes van taxi. He drove us the 30 minutes to Vatican city telling us all of the history along the way in his perfect English-Italian accent.
Once arrived it was a crazy mob of people also attempting to enter. We didn’t realize there would be an early morning crowd to beat but i guess when in rome Easter week during a Jubilee year, expect people everywhere at every time.
The museum itself was incredible. Everything from ancient Egyptian art to ancient Rome to ancient Greek styles. The vastness was overwhelming. The grand marble rooms, the millions of hours spent carving beautiful ancient faces. The detail on busts of ancient officials warms your heart when you see that same roman nose in people you love passed down from generations. After about an hour of exploration we needed to stop for breakfast and we chose the beautiful cafe in the outdoor courtyard. We had fruit and cappuccinos and some lemon gelato for breakfast because we just can't get enough. This was not just any gelato, but served in the peel of the lemon, it's maybe the best gelato we’ve ever had and we still reminisce on it fondly months later.
After breakfast we resumed our self-guided tour, spending a total of five hours in the Vatican museum. Partly because we first entered the Sistine Chapel I was so overwhelmed by the vastness of the ceiling I missed the most famous one- The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. The main reason we were even there. One thing about the Vatican is it operates in a circular route only going one way. So in order to see it again I couldn't turn around and go back, I had to start from the beginning and run my way through until I got to the sistine chapel again and made sure I saw that fresco. Amazingly I also learned on this tour a fresco can only be painted with the plaster still wet. Creating that everlasting look binding the colors and the permanence of the plaster. Makes the painting even more amazing when you realize they were on a quick time constraint and working upside down to paint the ceiling.
After five hours of constant walking and ooing and ahhing at the museum we were ready for lunch. We went to Mama Eat- with a name like that it’s no surprise it was ridiculously good. The best pizza I've ever had and gluten free. Pistachio cream, lots of cheese and mortadella cured meat. Obsessed, think about it weekly even months later. The best part was eating that while drinking a gluten free beer. I would go back to Rome for the food scene alone. We were raving about the food and fueled up again to continue our tour of vatican city believe it or not. We still had to go to St. Peter’s Basilica. We had tickets to go to the dome at the very top hours prior in the day, our travel agent’s mistake (me) not realizing how long you actually need at the Vatican museum. They let us up anyways after we toured the grand cathedral.
The only qualm is we had to throw away our leftover best pizza ever before entering. It still pains me to think of that impeccable pie in a garbage bin. We saw the procession of pilgrims coming to enter through the holy doors as they are only open for the jubilee year which only happens every 25 years. Getting to see this on such a special year was magical.
Even though we aren't catholic we had to walk through the doors for good luck, of course, as good Christians. Then we made our way over to the dome portion with our late elevator tickets thinking that was it. I want to highlight the importance of buying the elevator tickets thinking that was it. NO. The basilica is older than I can even imagine so they could imagine putting another elevator in. We still had to walk what felt like THOUSANDS of stairs. Never again.
These weren't just any steps. These were narrow steps in a winding hallway you couldn't stand up straight in. It turned so much we started to get dizzy from all the circles we were walking in. So steep, but felt like you weren't really getting anywhere. We had to stop and take breaks at the windows every so often to catch a breeze and only then did you realize the elevation.
Once to the very top of the dome, it's a small circular area packed with people and fenced off aggressively to avoid any accidents. The 360° views of Vatican City and the entirety of Rome are an incredible sight to see. You only need a few minutes until you take those crazy stairs back down and kiss the ground.
On the way out I had to get some holy water and I had to get it blessed by a priest. We are at the Vatican after all. I got so lucky because the priest was literally on his way out the door when I stopped him and asked for a quick blessing.
For dinner, we headed to the foodie capital of Rome, also known as the Trastevere neighborhood. The ambiance was perfect at Taberna Triulissa as we sat on their outdoor terrace with portable furnaces to provide the perfect cozy dining experience. A wine pairing to go with our meals, light music the perfect volume, people chattering around having fun on a friday evening, it was our favorite dinner in Rome. We started with a caprese salad with four different types of tomatoes and the freshest mozzarella. Followed up with our pastas brought to us in the large pans they used to cook each dish. A specialty of the restaurant is they serve you your pasta dish in large silver cookware, trendy and functional. We were far too stuffed for dessert but we finished with a limoncello shot to digest the evening. And finally finished with a walk back to our airbnb passing by many young people just starting out on their night.
The Day I Fell in Love with Art
The next morning I wore my cutest outfit and didn't care that it was raining. We had an early morning guided tour at the Borghese Gallery. What originated as a way to pass time quickly became our favorite attraction in Rome.
Getting a guided tour from a knowledgeable art expert going through an old rich guys collection makes me want to go back to grad school with a masters in art history. Would that pair well with my journalism degree?
What is the most beautiful sculpture? Well beauty is subjective but in this case, these are the most beautiful sculptures I've ever seen.
The gallery includes a large collection from Bernini- a genius and diabolical man with a gift from God himself to make marble slabs emote. Bernini was the first to give sculptures movement and facial expressions and a damn good story. He caught them at their worst or best, that movie movement that tells you every painful thing they want to say with a glance frozen in time.
Greek legends come to life watching the look of horror on Daphne’s face as Apollo attempts to grab her before she turns herself into a tree to escape man’s desire.
In utter amazement we spent the best three hours of the trip, starving from the lack of breakfast but being fed in a much better way. Coming from a foodie, this art made me hunger for more and now I'm ravenous to revisit Rome.
Of course because our travel guide (me) yet again put us in a time crunch, we had to trek to the other side of the city to make it to our colosseum visit on time. Again, she booked last minute and there were no guided tours left so we did it on our own. It was overwhelming, overpacked, and under-explained. It's one of the seven wonders of the world so I'm required to say it was great but I don't need to return.
Finally we walked around until I found a hole in the wall on google maps with good reviews and open at this early dinner hour. We just wanted to have our meal and crawl into bed after 30,000 steps. It was traditional and italian and a bit touristy. I had a limoncello spritz and a whole pizza to myself. I cried to my mom about my relationship at this dinner because somewhere deep in my heart I knew something was wrong. Firstly, he was supposed to be in Rome meeting her that weekend since it was one of the only times my boyfriend and my mom would be on the same continent. And I knew something was off when he "couldn't make it work” not knowing what couldn't work was the guilt that he had cheated on me but looking back it's more obvious than it was in the present.
We went back to the airbnb exhausted but happy to be comforted by the one person who could always make me feel better.
Flattery on the final day
The next day was a bit brighter and more leisurely. We had cappuccinos and pastries for breakfast at a local spot where the server told me I was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. I wondered if he said that to every tourist or if I really am that girl.I decided to go with the latter and we made our way to the Roman forum and Palatine Hill. It used to be the center of the city back in the ancient Rome days where everyone would gather. Now it's an architectural site included with your passes to the colosseum. Large gardens and still stand strong as well as remnants of the old marketplace and archeological digs they're still working on to this day. We spent the overcast morning walking through the park and exploring. Then we made our way into the city to see the Trevi fountain. We waited in a short line, thank god for April lines being mild, and took our photos. I unfortunately forgot to throw my coin in but im not much for superstitions anyways. It started to pour so we stopped at a secret rooftop at the top of a hotel with the perfect view of the fountain. Another limoncello spritz and then we were off to the Spanish steps. The beautiful baroque staircase connects two piazzas with a church at the very top. The steepness gives you a beautiful view of the city.
We perused some leather shops after walking the steps and eventually stopped for another cappuccino. Next stop was the Pantheon. Can you tell it was our last day in Rome?
The old roman temple with a large dome is now a catholic church. Striking architecture and depictions of Jesus Christ and his disciples circle around the rotunda.
Now we are on to Limoncello spritz #4 of the day for those keeping track, at Piazza Navona. Another famous plaza with a gorgeous fountain sculpted by Bernini, who we learned about yesterday. Now it's raining again we had to take shelter with a few drinks until the rain stopped at a terrazza with umbrellas and a very flirty waiter who gave me his WhatsApp on a business card.
Finally finishing up our day with a dinner reservation at Due Ladroni. I switched over to red wine and paired it with an incredible beef risotto. My mom made friends with an American journalist in the bathroom and gave her my contact information for freelancing purposes. I should probably network with her soon.
I left the city in love with Rome, loving art and losing my love. Travel is supposed to make you see the world differently, question things, and change your spirit. You’ll always take those magical parts of the city with you. A reminder when you’re back home a beautiful place does exist where you were happy, even if it was fleeting.
The next morning we headed to Roma Termini train station to continue our adventures in Venice…