Late on Monday night I returned to Farnham from a whirlwind few days in the Italian capital, Rome. Kat and I, along with our fellas, decided to take a short city break to explore a city we'd all been desperate to visit - and it didn't disappoint! Having not traveled to mainland Italy before (only the island of Sicily many years ago when I was much younger) I was oh so ready to soak up the culture, architecture... and food. In a brief three days, we managed to fit in all the main sights - the Vatican, Colosseum and Forum, Spanish steps, Vittoriano monument, a whole load of basilicas ... the list goes on. Unfortunately the Trevi fountain was closed for renovation works - another reason to go back I guess! We booked our accommodation through Air BnB and stayed with the lovely Roberta, in an apartment about a 25 minute walk from the Colosseum. The room was so much cheaper than any hotel in the same area and had free wifi and breakfast. Roberta gave us great tips and information about the city - I'd highly recommend her apartment, just click the link above for more info.
I was completely blown away by Roman architecture, the buildings are just phenomenal. You have to remind yourself to look up every now and again just in case you miss something spectacular! Despite seeing the Sistine chapel in the Vatican and several other churches or basilicas, to me
San Carlo al Corso really stood out - situated on the main street in Rome Via del Corsa. Its a must see! We also made a last minute trip up to the top of the Vittoriano monument, which gives amazing views over Rome. We (unintentionally) managed to coincide this with sunset which was just dreamy. As you can imagine, I was in absolute food heaven. Crispy pizza, home made pasta, creamy buffalo mozzarella, bruschetta, cured meats, tiramisu... and gelato. Oh my the gelato. Until you go to Italy, you've not tasted real ice cream! We quickly made our way to Giolitti after hearing rave reviews, and quickly fell in love. Between us we tried a whole load of flavours - chocolate, coffee, tiramisu, white chocolate, hazelnut, oreo, nutella, even custard! And as if that wasn't enough, it comes topped with whipped cream. I'll say that again. Whipped cream. I'm drooling at the memory, agh. Speaking of tiramisu, that was the real love affair of the holiday for me. It finished every meal, made its way into my ice cream and then on the last day we found a place that sold tiramisu in a box. If I could have filled my suitcase with them, I would have! Thank you, Pompi. Needless to say I took about a million pictures. Get yourself a cuppa, it may take a while!