3 Days in Rome (Precruise): Just Got Back

Rome, Italy

We stayed 3 nights at the Vittoriano Luxury Suites. It's on the 4th floor of a building in a great location just 3 blocks south of the Pantheon. The hotel is serviced by a small elevator and a very friendly and helpful staff. They only have 6 rooms of varying sizes. We booked the Matrimoniale Superior (Room 102). It is a very modern and comfortable room with free wi-fi, and includes a nice buffet breakfast each morning. Highly recommended. We walked to many of the major sites in Rome (for example: Pantheon - 5 minutes, Emanuele Monument - 10 minutes, Capitoline Museum - 10 minutes, Piazza Navona - 10 minutes, Trevia Fountain - 15 minutes, Colosseum - 20 minutes, Spanish Steps - 20 minutes) and caught a bus to The Vatican. Although The Vatican is also walkable in 35 minutes, a bus stop is just a half block away.

ROME DAY 1: Pantheon, Emanuele Monument, Chiesa di Sant' Ig****o di Loyola church, Piazza Navona and More...

We arrived from the airport too early to check in to our room but were invited to enjoy a free breakfast and leave our bags until the room was ready. After breakfast, we left to explore the area on foot. Hint: Rome is 6 hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time. To better acclimate to the new time zone, it's advised to keep active during daylight hours and not to nap. Out first stop was the Pantheon, just 5 minutes away.

The Pantheon is a former Roman temple built circa 120 A. D. It's now a church and a tomb (including Renaissance artist Raphael, and a couple of Italian Kings) so reverence is to be observed. The most impressive feature of the Pantheon's architecture is its domed ceiling with an oculus in the top. This dome is still the world's largest unsupported dome at 142 feet.

After about an hour, we wandered the streets for about 8 to 10 blocks in all directions just for fun and to get our bearings. (Hint: the free tourist newspaper-thin map of Rome is worthless. Bring a small decent street map with you). We explored several churches, Emanuele Monument, and came across several other monuments including Trajan's Column, Elephant and Obelisk, the ornately carved Column of Marcus Aurelius, Largo di Torre Argentina, Piazza Navona, and the Temple of Hadrian. Late in the afternoon we found ourselves at the Spanish Steps (pretty, but overrated).

You will get thirsty walking around Rome. However, you'll never need to buy water. Just carry a water bottle. Rome has 2500 drinking water fountains --- some are more ornate than others. The water is pure spring water piped in from the mountains above the city via an aqueduct created centuries ago. Hint: If you don't have a water bottle just cover the spout with your finger and water will come out of a small hole in the top.

We chose a couple of cafes with outdoor seating and free wi-fi for lunch and dinner. Both were good (but not spectacular) for food and people watching. More than anything else, they gave us a chance to rest.

ROME DAY 2: The Colosseum, The Forum, Trevia Fountain, Chiesa de Gesu, Capitoline Museum, and More...

Since we went to bed early last night, we were up early and arrived at the Trevia Fountain by 7:00 am, an easy 15 minute walk. There were very few visitors when we arrived and it was easy to take good pictures and enjoy the fountain. By 7:50 am, the tour groups and crowds began arriving in ernest so we headed for Chiesa de Gesu Catholic Church, a block from our hotel.

While the exterior is nondescript, it hides one of the most impressive interiors we saw in all of Rome. In addition to the magnificent frescoes on the ceiling (including a "dome" which is actually an optical illusion) and the beautiful architecture, Chiesa de Gesu also has a pair of relics: a chapel with the tomb of Saint Ignatiusa; and a reliquary containing the right arm of Saint Francis Xavier. He was co-founder of the Jesuits. It was said this arm baptized 300,000 people. If you want to see the rest of his body, it's entombed in Goa, India.

We headed over to the Capitoline Museum (Musei Capitolini) which is close to the Emanuele Monument. This is the first site we visited that required admission (€15) and it was well worth it. This immense museum is comprised of a pair of buildings on either side of a square designed by Michelangelo. We spent 2.5-hours exploring the museum and want to go back to see everything we missed. It's filled with paintings and sculptures, bronzes, and statues; including originals of the Capitoline Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus, Marcus Aurelius, Dying Gaul, and Discobolus (Discus Thrower). While exploring one of the lower floors, I came across a breathtaking passage with a panoramic views of the Forum and Palatine Hill.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat from a cafe on our way to the Colosseum for our 1:30 pm tour "Colosseum Arena Floor with Roman Forum". We booked this 2.5 hour tour online in advance with The Roman Guy for €49 per person (using a 10% off "ricksteves" discount code). It was well worth it. Our meeting place was just outside the Metro station across from the Colosseum (one of two places on this trip that gave us goosebumps just being there. It truly is an impressive site). Our group was small, with only 9 folks including our knowledgeable English-speaking guide. She gave us some history and an overview before we went inside. We skipped the ticket line and our security line took less than 2 minutes since we were able to enter through the lesser used "Gate of Death" on the backside of the structure. We went up some stairs, through an arch, and found ourselves on the reconstructed arena floor for about 15-20 minutes. This was AWESOME!

Only about 25% of the arena floor has been rebuilt, giving you a glimpse at what it once looked like as well as excellent views of the underground hypogeum and a rebuilt animal trap door. From here we explored a couple different levels of the Colosseum (but not the underground nor the recently opened upper lever Bob Uecker seats, which require a different access pass).

Leaving the Colosseum, we walked past the Arch of Constantine to the Arch of Titus at the entrance to the Roman Forum. Our escorted tour included Julius Caesar's Temple, The Eternal Flame, Vestal Virgins Atrium, Senate House, Basilica of Atoninous and Faustina, Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine. Following the tour, we briefly hiked up Palatine Hill for some light exploring before heading back towards our hotel. We located a small grocery store where we purchased fresh bread, smoked meats and cheese, and took them back to the hotel to make a sandwich for dinner.

ROME DAY 3: The Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Scavi Tour, Castel Sant'Angelo, and More...

We got up early and took a 6:15 am bus to The Vatican (the smallest county in the world at 109 acres) for our "First Entry: Express Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums Entrance Tickets" tour, prebooked online with Dark Rome (City Wonders) for $58.75 per person (after discount). This tour granted us pre-ticketed special entrance access to the Sistine Chapel at 7:30 am. The selling point for this tour was access "30 minutes before any other group and 90 minutes before the general public, finding this incredible room empty" along with a group size of 20 people or less. We met our group across the street from the Entrance to the Vatican Museum at 7:00 am. Our tour guide led us into the museum, through the Gallery of the Candelabra, Gallery of Tapestries, and Gallery of Maps, to the Sistine Chapel where we had a lot of room to view and enjoy Michaelangelo's work. At 8:30 am, we had the option to exit the Sistine Chapel via a special skip-the-line exit to St. Peter's Basilica, or go back into the museum, unescorted, to explore. We chose to explore.

Our tour guide was good, the museum spectacular, the 90 minute jump start on crowds and the special skip-the-line access to St. Peter's Basilica were priceless. With 20,000 visitors a day, the Vatican gets very crowded. While the tour was entirely worth it, City Wonders didn't meet their promises. Our group was over the size limit by 15% and we had around four dozen other visitors in the Sistine Chapel with us when it opened. However, contrast this with the enormous hard-to-move-around crowds we encountered after 9:00 am and we considered ourselves very fortunate to have selected an early-entry tour.

Our second tour for the day was "The Scavi Tour". It was scheduled for 11:15 am, with an 11:00 am meeting time about a block from St. Peter's Basilica. This gave us only about 90 minutes to explore a few key exhibits in the Vatican Museum before exiting at 10:00 am via a special skip-the-line tour group exit for a quick visit to St. Peter's Basilica. This exit allows you to enter St. Peter's Basilica without going all the way back to the museum exit, walking 10-15 minutes to the Basilica, and then waiting in a two hour line! I'm told that this line, which we saw snaking all the way across St. Peter's Square in the sun, is a fairly constant 2.5-hour line all day long. While it's actually free to get into the Basilica, it's worth booking an official vatican partner tour just to skip this line.

St. Peter's Basilica is the largest "church" in the world. The opulence is breathtaking, from the high ornate ceilings (the dome is 385 feet up) and statuary to the marble and gold that is employed throughout. If you have time, visit The Vatican Grottoes. They are in the level below the floor of St. Peter's where many popes are buried. You can access the Grottoes by taking the stairs near the papal altar.

Below the Grottoes is the ancient Necropolis and excavations of St. Peter's tomb. These can only be seen on The Scavi Tour. The tour features everything from papal tombs to an ancient Roman street and St. Peter’s mausoleum. This incredible 90-minute escorted tour into the Excavations of the Necropolis (City of the Dead) underneath St. Peter's Basilica, is one of the most fascinating tours we took our entire trip. It's also one of the toughest tickets to come by in the Eternal City. Only around 250 visitors per day are permitted to enter, and groups are composed of approximately 12 people. Tickets (a bargain at just €13 per person) can only be purchased in advance (typically months in advance), via their official website.

The Scavi office is accessed on the left (south) side of the colonnade (columns) as you're facing the Basilica, through the Sant' Uffico gate. They do not let you go through security until it is almost time for your tour. Go through security, show the Swiss Guards your reservation and say "Scavi". You then walk to the Scavi office which is a short walk up a driveway and to the right where you'll be checked in. If you are late, they will leave without you. Our tour guide was excellent and he was full of good historical information. This tour literally ends inside the main floor of St. Peter's Basilica. Had we not already explored it earlier, this would have been a good time to do so.

After lunch we walked over to Castel Sant'Angelo, also known as Hadrian's Tomb. It's a 139 A.D. fortress located on the bank of the Tiber, close to the Vatican City. The castle (€14) offers some interesting rooms and panoramic views from the top. Unfortunately you need to pay extra for a tour that runs only twice a day in English that will take you into the interesting subterranean sections, like the prison. The castle once protected the Ponte Sant'Angelo (Bridge of Hadrian) which now features a series of angelic statues.

Complete, very detailed review of entire cruise and precruise preparation:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/eastern-mediterranean.html

Great info and reporting

Thanks

Thank you for sharing! We're there in a little more than a month, and I'm glad that we (like you) have tours planned to skip those lines!

trosebery...

Have a GREAT trip!

#55worktoplay

You're welcome, and thank you.

Great information. Thanks!!!

Thank you so much for the great info!

Lots of great info and pictures - thanks for sharing.

It brought back memories of our visit to Rome, and makes me want to go back!

Great information. Thanks.

Thank your for the information. We were looking at using Dark Rome but are not sure which tour we want. My DH wants to hear the Pope's message and they offer a "tour" for that. We are also interested in the Scavi Tour and I would love to see the Sistine Chapel again but this time in a smaller group. So much to squeeze into so little time. I have also read Rick Steve's recommendation of "The Roman Guy" and I like the idea of seeing the Colosseum from a different perspective than my last visit.

We are staying at the Hotel Abruzzi right next to the Pantheon, I think I will love the location, close to everything.

Once again thank you for sharing.

Great help. Thank you!!!

Wonderful information! Thanks!!

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We are more excited now, after reading this. Didn’t think it was possible to be more excited. Cannot wait to see Rome with my New Hubby!

Thank you for all the info CaribbeanBound!

Awesome review. Thanks for posting it.

Thank you for the nice comments. Enjoy your trips. There is a lot to enjoy in Rome.

Thanks for your detailed review! We’ll be spending a few days (not sure how many yet) in Rome post cruise next year and this is very helpful! Did you feel the three days were fine to see what you’d wanted to see or did you wish you had an extra day or two?

(Recognizing that even a week pre or post cruise is not enough...[emoji4])

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Thanks for your detailed review! We’ll be spending a few days (not sure how many yet) in Rome post cruise next year and this is very helpful! Did you feel the three days were fine to see what you’d wanted to see or did you wish you had an extra day or two?

(Recognizing that even a week pre or post cruise is not enough...[emoji4])

 

 

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I will offer my thoughts since I have been to Rome a number of times. Of course whenever you go anywhere it is never enough, however my thoughts would be that with an extra day or two you would not really see much more of central Rome (Caribbean bound packed in the sights) but you would have time for a trip out to Villa d'Este, the Appian Way or further afield to Florence for a day by train (you can plan to do more than you would if you visited on a cruise).

Hun...

I agree with ollienbertsmum. We got done pretty much all we planned to do in the city. However, I would have liked an entire day in The Vatican and we would have spent at least two to three more hours in the Capitoline Museum if we had the time.

With another day or two, we'd indeed explore Appian Way, and would find a way to visit Ostia Antica near FCO. There are other places in the city worth visiting as well if we spent a week.

- Topher

Thank you CaribbeanBound and ollienbertsmum! [emoji4]

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Thanks for the review. Does anyone have a small decent streetmap of Rome ? Printable if possible.

Buy a Pop-Up map, they are very cheap from Amazon. Have several maps in one pocket sized package. We buy them for every city we go to.

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Or download a map of Rome via google maps and pin areas you want to see. You can pull it up while walking. Make sure wifi is off. Or, if using buses, download citymapper app. I can't read the Rome maps and these tools were really helpful.

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I see you read Rick Steves too, and do a lot of researching pre-trip! Thanks for the wonderful information. I'm currently planning my two day pre-cruise visit to Rome, and enjoyed reading about your adventures. Great report!

As for maps, I've also heard citymapper is a good app, so I've downloaded it. For hard copy maps, I like the maps in DK Eyewitness books - very detailed, which is essential for me. There's also a street finder index, which is helpful.

I appreciate the discussion here on alternate paper maps that can be secured prior to the trip. Folks should find this helpful.

Enjoy your trip.