Roasting in Rome

A long-time favourite of Kelly‘s, Rome was always going to be impressive. Its history is the monumental, intriguing, violent and exciting kind that interests everybody. The stories of gladiators, Caesars, Roman legions and the Republic excite even the most unhistorically attuned traveller. Overlay the grandeur, sanctity and intriguing history of the Vatican and you have one fascinating city. Its just as well all roads lead to Rome, when you imagine what you’d miss by not coming here. Unfortunately for us though, it seems not many people do miss it; and the crowds are at times infuriating. Rome’s unique ability to preserve ancient monuments in a vibrant, living city makes it a very, very popular place. While it’s easy to detest the 20 million people (around the size of the Australian population) that visit every year, it even easier to see why they come. (Photo - Trevi fountain at night)


Most of them though, don’t stay at Casa Olmata, a rundown hostel near the main station with views of the top few bricks of the colosseum. Even though we looked at a few places to stay in Rome, in the end we were always going to end up at Casa Olmata, the place Kel stayed 7 years ago on her previous Europe trip. It sounded reasonable on the website but first impressions were not good. The rooms were small but cleanish, but the kitchen was tiny, and importantly only one plate could be found. Pots were also in a very short supply and cups seemed to have vanished altogether. What Casa Olmata lacked in kitchen implements though it made up for in character, and a kind of really rustic, renovators delight kind of charm. The roof was a (rusty and when intoxicated dangerous) terrace that provided a great area for meeting other guests. Night one saw us touring the sites (Colosseum, Forum, Trevi fountain and Spanish steps) with a group of recently graduated medical students from the UK. Other nights were spent on the terrace with a (thankfully less American) international crowd. And while the kitchen was hardly operational the 2nd nightly pasta parties (all you can eat pasta with wine for an unbelievable two Euro) kept the place rocking and the people happy. Dinner, bed and breakfast for twenty Euros in Rome is pretty hard to beat! (Photo - Colosseum with medical students and Kelly)

Our usual procedure of making lunch met with a small hurdle on day one in Rome. We had decided to visit the Vatican museums and St Peters early and arrived at an amazingly punctual 9AM. We had packed lunch, not yet made, and my pocket knife to make it. Approaching the entrance to St Peters I saw that we were not lining up for tickets but lining up to get through security. Then we spotted the big, very clear signs with a red cross over a knife, among other items. So we were in a pickle; chance the security check point and risk losing the knife or make the hour round trip back to the hostel to drop the knife back there. I choose the latter, keen not to lose the knife to a particularly vigilant security officer. So after the hour round trip to the hostel and back we were again lining up, this time at 10:30. Luckily the crowds weren’t too bad and the rest of the day went very well. St Peters, the Sistine chapel and the Raphael rooms were the clear highlights.

Otherwise only the increasing heat caused us any stress, it making a day visiting the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine rather exhausting. Half sad, but mostly relieved we said goodbye to Casa Olmata and headed to Sorrento, where we had found a 3 star hotel cheap on the internet. It was time to relax for a few days before meeting up with Kelly’s family in Sicily. (Photo - Forum)