Traveling to Europe has always been on my bucket list. Ultimately, we found that Italy was a great place to begin our European excursions. We made the decision based on the following: prices are relatively affordable, you can rent a car and drive on the right side of the road, and every photo I have ever seen of Italy has been stunning. We only had a week to spend and even though there are countless beautiful towns in Italy, we planned around visiting 3 major cities: Rome, Florence, and Positano. In this post, I'll focus on Rome!
We were about to embark on a trip full of spectacular sights, so what better than to bring along our good friend and photographer, Kelly Braman! All of the photos in this post are courtesy of Kelly Braman Photography.
Rome
Where we stayed: The most adorable guest house airbnb in Capena, just outside of Rome
Where we ate: Bar Gelaterio, Big Ali's Pizza (Capena)
We flew overnight into Rome and hit the ground running since it was morning when we arrived. We picked up our rental car and we were on our way. Research told me that we needed an International Driver's License, which Joey obtained by visiting the local AAA office a few weeks prior. The process was pretty easy. Honestly, I don't think the rental company even looked at it, but it was peace of mind having it.
We arrived at our airbnb, where the host graciously allowed us to drop our bags and freshen up before heading into town. I'd heard it's a bad idea to attempt to drive in the city, so we drove to the nearest train station and hopped on the metro into downtown Rome!
Exploring Rome was a whirlwind. While we didn't spend an extended amount of time at any particular place, we walked to all of the main sights. Starting at the train station, we went to the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. Most importantly, we tried our first gelato at the Bar Gelaterio right by the Trevi Fountain. To DIE for! I opted for pistachio, while Joey went for cookies & cream. If you do anything in Italy, get some gelato. Actually, get lots.
We'd like to make it back to Rome and take a tour of the Colosseum. I've heard it's really neat to see at night! Since we aren't huge museum people, I don't regret only exploring for a day. For our first time in Rome, we got to see the main stops, and that was good enough for us.
After a long day exploring the city, we made it back to our adorable airbnb and had our first taste of Italian bread, olive oil, and true Italian pizza at Big Ali's Pizza in Capena. Delicious, light, crispy pizza. Absolutely recommend if you find yourself in the area.
Doing our best to recover from jet leg and long first day, we woke the next morning and enjoyed some Italian coffee on the patio with our airbnb hosts who didn't speak any English. It was enlightening and enjoyable communicating in single words, body language, and charades! I couldn't help but feel giddy when Rosa, the host, sent us on our way with, "Ciao, bella!" Pure joy. Next stop, Florence!
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