22nd to 26th of August, 2019.
Rome! The birthplace of so many nations! The scenery for so many movies (sometimes just the plot)! The dream of so many people and travelers! A romantic city, full of fun and history. And finally, here I am now.
No one single CS could host me. Everybody out of town or leaving too far or were jerks. Great starting! And I send a lot, but a lot of requests. I do not care, I do not need you people, I have my own and best version of me. I can manage.
So I go to this very cheap backpackers hostel and try my luck. It is when I first meet Simon. Handsome and lovely guy from my beloved Cork, in Ireland. He is this tall and long blond hair guy, who can maybe confuse you at first moment but them he starts to talk and you realize the size of his heart. We get along pretty well and pretty fast and then try to find an alternative to my problem. Because you see, the prices I saw in the website are not quite like that. First, there are some taxes that you must pay to Italy. Ridiculous! Serious, Italy is the mother fucking country more capitalist ever! They hate the tourists! Hate! I wish that just for a while, nobody, no one single person decide to come to visit the country. No tourist for six months, and then, ha-ha, I would like to see how the Italians would survive. Then I would like to see the changes in the behavior with us, the foreigners / tourist that they hate so much. Anyway, apart of that, apparently, the capitalist owner also it changes the prices everyday, according to his mood, so it was quite expensive for me. With a little help of Simon, I got to pay a bit less for two nights. But not followed: I would spend my first night in Rome there, to be able to have a shower and rest, so next day I would be fully prepared to walk around; second night I would go somewhere, just to find a place where I could “hang out” for the night; third night I would sleep in there again and leave very early to the Vatican; and then on that Sunday, I would take my stuff out of Rome, camp somewhere and hitchhike next Monday morning to my volunteer work in Montalcino.
This first afternoon I go try to find a backpack in a second hand shop and to buy a new camping mattress in one of my beloveds Decathlon. The backpack did not work but the mattress yes.
Back at the hostel, I meet some nice people, including the other volunteer working there (Simon is also a volunteer), Nico, from Colombia. Simon says: “I will cook dinner!”, so I do not need to worry about cooking that night. We go to the supermarket together; I learn from him that I can drink the water from the fountains, which are much better than the tap water; and we have nice talks all the time. I like him as an old friend, someone that I can count with.
We eat and talk with the two lovely girls from France. They are so kind, calm, young and lovely naive. We play frizz ball and it is sad that I have to go and sleep. I would like to spend more time with them. So that is the first goodbye.
Next morning, Rome! I allow myself to sleep a bit more. I need rest enough to spend my whole day walking. I cook porridge, pack and leave my stuff out and after tips and help to make a good two days plan from my dear Simon, I leave. Also, of course, packed with food for the day.
Piazza della Republica; Via delle Quattro Fontane; Fontana di Trevi; Palazzo di Giustizia; Piazza del Popolo; Villa Borghese; Piazza di Spagna; and Via Vitorio Veneto, covering basically the North half of the centre of town. Plus, of course, all the charming streets of Rome, which give you a wonderful feeling of being alive in one of the oldest and most important cities of History! And coming back I even got a melon for one Euro!And that it was my first day in Rome!
Piazza Venezia; Foro Romano and Old City; Colosseum; Monte Palatino; Circo Massimo; Isola Tiberina; Teatro di Marcello; covering basically the South half of the centre of town. Plus long stops for resting in front of those wonderful monuments.
It is a good plan to see most of the city centre. You can of course add some other sights, more squares, churches and fountains. Just have in mind that if it is not a Piazza or a Fontana, you probably will need to pay. I am not surprise though if they soon start to charge for those too. Fontana di Trevi it is super crowded all the time and if you have any plans of going inside the Colosseum, arrive early. But really early. It is also incredible from the outside though, the place from where probably you will have the best pictures anyway, so… Spend sometime at Villa Borghese because it is beautiful! Check the stone busts around the place, from famous Italians. I did not go inside the Isola Tiberina but since the history behind is quite interesting, I think it worth a visit. And if you have some extra time, a bit after the Colosseum, going South West, around the Piramede Metro Station, there is a wonderful cemetery, the Non-Catholic Cemetery, truly beautiful, that I think it worth to see. Actually, that whole area is beautiful and full of ruins.
At the hostel, again, I cooked my dinner and prepare myself to go to see Simon at his other job, in a Irish Pub. I was excited to be in a Irish Pub again. They are the best! And the music… I also supposed to meet the girls in there. We had briefly said our 2nd goodbye during the afternoon at the hostel, because they were not sure if they would make it to the Pub. I could not order any drinks not just because I am poor but also because the Pub it is extremely expensive! I do not know why. In Ireland they are great with the prices too. But Simon make it sure I could have a glass of water with a slice of lemon all night long. It looked a lot like Gin and Tonic actually.
The girls manage to come. Yay! But they could not stay longer. Which it was a shame because I wanted them to enjoy the music but the band would come back just after they left. We had some nice pep-talk before they left, though. Lovely girls! I hope I can see them again in Paris. I stay a lot longer, until 1 a.m. But the band it was so good! And they were still playing when I left. Long time since I had enjoyed a live band. I was a bit concern about coming back walking alone but it was fine, nothing happen.
They guys let me crash in the couch instead of going somewhere else in the town and Simon even offered me to come to a bed when he arrived from the Pub. So cute, my big brother! But I said no, of course.
