1. Good weather,
which is practically guaranteed almost year-round
2. Ice cream.
Here you can eat the best gelato
in the world, and probably the widest variety of flavors (in La
Palma, at the crossroads between Via Maddalena and Via Delle
Coppelle, there are 150 different flavors to choose from)
3.
Photography. There’s almost always a great photo subject in view,
and the light and colors are perfect
4. Eating breakfast at a
market, for example at Campo dei Fiori. A favorite was eating an open
panini or ciabatta sandwich, made before our eyes with a ham and
cheese filling we had selected. Heavenly with freshly grated
parmesan!
5. Sipping a cappuccino on Piazza Navona, watching the
people and the painters
6. The view from the cupola of St Peter’s
Basilica
7. Listening to live music while eating dinner in the
Trastevere district.
8. Sitting on one of the benches in the
Borghese Gardens and dangling our feet over Rome beneath us
9.
Bringing history to life with the help of a good book
10. There
are public fountains almost everywhere, and the water tastes
great
11. Rome is much cleaner than it used to be (though there’s
still room for improvement on that score)
12. In effect, Rome is a
city-sized, open-air museum
13. Embracing getting lost, wandering
aimlessly in the narrow streets until we find ourselves in a
neighborhood where there are no tourists, only Roman locals!
14.
Eating. Everything. All the time. Pizza, pasta, bread, pastries and
ice-cream
1. Without some sort
of guidance (either from a tour guide or a good book) walking around
and looking at the huge number of ruins can get boring
2.
Exploring this city in summer means a lot more walking under the hot
summer sun than you might suppose – things look a lot closer on the
map. What’s more, the cobblestones can be a nightmare in thin-soled
shoes…
3. There’s almost no shade, and very few benches where
you can stop and take a break. Even those trendy little street-front
eateries aren’t so common, though after so much walking all you
want to do is sit down for a drink and a bite to eat…
4. In the
area around certain famous landmarks (for example the Colosseum)
there’s literally nowhere to stop and eat something, which in such
a tourist magnet is more than ridiculous…
5. Difficult to find a
really good pizza anywhere in Rome
6. Massive lines outside all
major attractions. Even at the La Palma ice-cream shop we had to
stand in line for an unbelievable length of time.
7. Italians can
be unreliable
8. Life practically stops during the siesta
9.
Accommodation is very expensive
10. The metro network covers a
limited area, the metro cars themselves are in bad shape, and the
underpasses are dirty
11. Even a
cappuccino is expensive in the more popular places (€4-7)
12.
The Tiber is neglected in some places. It would be good if it was
possible (and affordable) to take a short cruise on the river
13.
A lot of old buildings, even palazzi, are run-down and
dilapidated
14. Huge numbers of homeless people, especially around
Termini railway station
15. Some staff in shops are surly and
unhelpful; often the people on the street are more pleasant than
those whose job is supposedly to be pleasant and helpful. Still, you
can see in the faces of some locals that they’ve had it up to here
with the tourist hordes
16. A lot of peddlers on the street
selling fake designer gear made in China (often African migrants)
17.
Many restaurants are closed in August
18. Too much litter on the
street
19. The life of a solitary traveler can be made
unnecessarily stressful by the lack of public restrooms
Rome - Trevi fountain - terrible crowd - Elter photo
