It was an early start after a comfortable night at the Sofitel on Friday night. However, as soon as our heads hit the pillow it felt that we’d had a very rude 4am awakening by our alarm phones. Despite this, checking out and getting from the hotel to LHR terminal 5 is so easy: it’s literally a five minute walk along an undercover walkway. 

London Heathrow was very busy even at that ungodly hour. But we got through security with our hand luggage and had a bit of time to relax before boarding and takeoff. Onboard the BA0552, we had the loveliest service from the inflight manager, Julie. She was very cheeky and kept topping up my glass with Buck’s Fizz. Her excuse was that it would be poured down the sink if I didn’t drink all the champagne!! 

We had a charcuterie board for breakfast which kept us going until we arrived in Roma. We arrived at Fiumicino airport at 10:15 and navigating it was a breeze. It was quiet too, so we got through the automatic security gates very quickly. We knew that we would be catching a train so followed the signage which was easy to follow. There was a ticket office that sold tickets for the Leonardo Express, which is a no stop direct train service to Roma Termini train station.  The tickets cost €14 each and take just over half an hour to get there. There is a cheaper alternative, a shuttle bus service but it takes longer to get there. 

At Termini, it was busy with the hustle and bustle of Saturday morning travellers. We exited the station and headed for the taxi rank. The Italian driver offered a ride for €20 which was a bit steep but at this point we just wanted to get to the hotel. It took us approximately 20-25 minutes to get to the HiSuite hotel apartment on Via Di Monte Giordano 21. Giulia, the receptionist, was super helpful throughout the whole check in process and even managed to get us into our room early. We dumped our bags and headed out. 

We’ve visited Rome before so we initially wanted to go to places that we hadn’t been to. Trastevere was on the agenda so we headed for the Ponte Garibaldi (bridge) which we crossed to access the Trastevere area. This is a very cool, hip and bohemian part of Rome which is where immigrants have settled as far back as the Roman times. It is quieter during the day which gave us opportunity to wander the streets easily. There is plenty of street art, which I love, so I took many pictures whilst we walked about, escaping the blazing sun when we could.

Time passed quickly and we realised at 1:30pm that we really should have something to eat. We found a pizzeria, Ristorante Carlo Menta, which was, thankfully, undercover. The temperature had hit mid 30s at this point and it was a welcome relief to be sitting in the shade. We actually couldn’t get over how cheap this place was. We had lovely pizzas which cost no more than €8. Coupled with a bottle of Soave for $18, it’s certainly much cheaper than the other side of the Tiber where there is a higher tourist footfall. 

We wandered around a bit more before making a quick visit to the Basilica di Santa Maria which is an old church that dates back to the 340s.  Inside there were beautiful 12th and 13th century mosaics. The ceiling was also adorned with a 17th century painting by Domenichino, entitled Assumption of the Virgin. This octagonal painting fitted in the ceiling that the artist had designed. 

We left the Basilica and it wasn’t soon before we found a cool little bar down a side street called Samovar. The heat and the early start had certainly taken its toll on me so I chose to have a soft drink with ice instead of anything alcoholic!  It was a great place for people watching and, again, cheap. 

Once we’d finished our drinks we decided to head back to HiSuite for a nap, seeing as it was nearing 5pm. We felt we should charge our batteries before going out for the evening as we’d had such an early start. On the way to Ponte Garibaldi, we passed a really cool person of colour who I really wanted to take a photo of. He was sat in a shuttered doorway, cool as a cucumber, with his guitar. However, we had no change to give him. He was totally fine with the fact I wanted to take his photo, and offered to sing us a song as well. I did feel a bit bad about not being able to give him any money but he just wanted to entertain us.

It took us about 25 minutes to get back to the hotel, and the chilliness of the air conditioning, which was a welcome relief from the mid 30 degree heat. After an hour’s nap and a cool shower, we got ready to venture back out. At this point, it was getting dark, so we decided to stay close to the hotel.

Just round the corner, on the Via Del Governo Vecchio, we found a couple of restaurants with plenty of outdoor seating. At the Fattoincasa restaurant, a cheeky waiter had remembered us from when we had passed earlier, so he soon found us a table outside.

Homemade – by Hosteria La Danesina (webmenu.pw)

There was a good choice of pizza, pasta, meat and vegetables on the menu, so it wasn’t difficult finding something that we liked. Service was very good from numerous staff and we were given full attention despite the restaurant being very busy. We had a lovely bottle of Valpolicella Ripasso to go with our meal too. We were even treated to an opera singer trying to earn some money, and he sang some great opera songs whilst we dined.

As we had got a very good second wind, we decided to go and see some of the sites of Rome, which are all lit up on a night. I’d only ever seen some of them in the day so I wanted to capture them in darkness.

Our first major stop was at the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. This imposing building was built over 100 years ago, in memory of the King Vittorio Emanuele II, who was the first king of Italy during its unification and liberation from foreign domination. More information is in the link below:

Altare della Patria – Opening hours, price and location – Rome

We then walked along to the right of the monument, until we reached some steps that took us up to the Piazza del Campidoglio. This was the first modern piazza to be constructed in Rome. In the centre of the square is a copy of a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius, and this along with the piazza itself, was designed by Michelangelo to face towards St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. This wasn’t the main reason we visited here: it was to carry on further to the right of the square to a brilliant vista point that overlooks the Roman Forum. To see all of the archaeology lit up at night was truly amazing.

Temple of Venus Genetrix

Temple of Saturn

The night wouldn’t have been complete without walking a few more thousand steps back down to The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II to head towards the Colosseum. There is quite a bit of work going on at the moment, around the usually traffic heavy roundabout. Most of it is now cordoned off so it means that the public can walk around easily. We accessed the Via Dei Fori Imperiali to head down to the Colosseum. It looked particularly striking that evening as it was lit up with the blue and yellow colours of the flag of Ukraine. We had no intention of visiting the Colosseum on this trip because we have been before, but it looked fabulous all lit up.

The magnificent Colosseum

At the time of taking this photo is was 11:08pm, so we decided to walk back to view Trajan’s forum (Foro Traiano), which is on the other side of the Via Dei Fori Imperiali and near opposite the Roman Forum (Foro Romano). We could see the glory of Trajan’s Column (Colonna Traiana), Trajan’s Market (Mercati di Traiano) and Basilica Ulpia illuminated by lights. It looked fantastic.

The beauty of this day is that we had had no agenda, which is what we had pretty much decided before embarking on this trip. No rushing about, just taking everything in our stride. We are lucky as we have visited all of the main sites already, so just wandering about allowed us to have a lovely, leisurely day. If people need to see specific sites then it is always advisable to book. For example, the Colosseum, The Vatican and the Pantheon (to name but a few) have long queues constantly so plan ahead. Going early is often better too, before the heat of the midday sun and many crowds of people

Rome Tourism and Travel Guide – Visitors Travel Guide