Melanin in Italy
WOW! Where do I Begin? We are fresh off our trip to Rome and I can truly say that it was an amazing trip. I experienced this wonderful city with 11 beautiful women.
GETTING THERE
We flew from Atlanta, GA via Delta Airlines. The flight was initially supposed to be 9 1/2 hours but our pilot got us there in about 8 hours and 40 minutes. We flew into Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO).
WHERE TO STAY
My group stayed at the River Palace Hotel. It was within walking distance of the world famous Piazza del Popolo. Our reservations included the classic rooms. The rooms were very small in comparison to hotels in the US but it didn’t matter because we did not spend a lot of time in the rooms.
Breakfast was included in the price of our stay. I can honestly say I enjoyed the breakfast as much as I could. A few days I didn’t make it to breakfast because I slept in. On the breakfast buffet was the traditional continental breakfast items such as danishes, muffins, breads, pastries, ham, turkey, cheese, coffee, mimosa’s and water.
The half off happy hour from 5-8 daily was a plus for this particular group. The cocktails and wine were great. The bartenders were very pleasant and accommodating. The heavy hors d’oeuvres during happy hour is a must.
LANGUAGE
Most Romans speak Italian. There were alot of English speaking Italians as well.
CURRENCY
In Italy, they use euros as the currency. The US dollar is accepted but the value is less than the euro. Some stores and shops accept credit cards.
CLIMATE
Most people like to visit Rome in the summer months when it’s hot outside. However, I chose January because the temperature was much cooler and the streets weren’t as crowded as they are during the summer. The temperature was ranged from 55-60 degrees during our week long stay. It rained one of the days but it didn’t affect what we wanted to do.
THINGS TO DO
The Spanish Steps
A lively staircase of 135 steps, this landmark was made famous by Audrey Hepburn’s 1953 film Roman Holiday. They are a great place to people watch and start your window shopping. We climbed to the very top and had an amazing view of the city.
The Coliseum
On your list should definitely be the Roman Forum which houses the iconic Colosseum. It is also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. It’s an oval amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy. It’s built of travertine limestone, tuff, and brick-faced concrete. It known as the largest amphitheatre ever built at the time and held 50,000 to 80,000 spectators.
Hop on Hop Off Bus
The Hop on/Hop Off bus is a great way to see the entire city. We took a two hour bus drive stopping at all of the historic landmarks in the city. There were 8 stops along the route. We paid 25 euros per person to ride for 3 days.
WALKING
One of the best and safest ways to get around is by foot (lol). Seriously, I would not drive in Rome. Driving there requires some serious skills. Most people had mini cars (which we aren’t accustomed to seeing). Almost every vehicle outside of taxis and buses were like those tiny cars we saw Steve Urkel driving on Family Matters. And, to top it off, they park them anywhere.
WHAT TO EAT
Pizza, spaghetti, ravioli, seafood, lamb chops, steak, veal…..you name it, we had it. I personally liked all of my food choices. A few of the ladies didn’t but that’s to be expected. We “Americanize” all of our food here in the states so in comparison to the taste in other countries is definitely different.
You should know when ordering spaghetti in Italy, don’t expect to have tons of sauce or meat. Most of the spaghetti comes with a little sauce and no meat.
GELATO
Gelato is a popular frozen dessert. It is generally made with a base of milk and sugar. It was soooo good. We made several stops along the way while exploring.
WINE
You can’t go to Rome and not have wine. The wine choices were endless. We tried red wine, white wine, sweet wine and dry wine. We had wine with almost every meal. Most combos included an appetizer, entree and wine. The cost ranged from 15 – 20 euros.
SHOPPING
This was my second trip to Italy. My first one threw me for a loop because I had no idea I could shop for so little. This trip, I was ready. I had an extra suit case with me to bring back all of my goodies.
No matter your budget, you could shop until your heart was happy. We went in stores that had items as little as 4 euros or 4,000 euros. It was fun strolling through all of the designer stores trying on different items. I came home with a few good items.
OVERALL
Our experience overall was phenomenal. I highly recommend this destination and plan to make an annual trip to some party of Europe every year.
