Rome needs no introduction…. the influence of Latin words, proverbs, quotes…in our daily life … whether we realize it or not. From the broad gauge’s width, to the radius of some of the payloads, will you believe if I say are influenced by size of ass of ancient Roman horses ?
I will start with what I went through before the trip,
Fix the Duration: It was much more than a site seeing trip for me, to just see colosseum, a couple of important spots…the Vatican… and it will not take more than a day or maximum two. And you have all your lifetime to go through your photos back home J.
I wanted to feel Rome, walk through the streets, the non tourists streets especially. I wanted to give a try to get a feel of an Italian…though I know Rome will be different with its cosmopolitan nature, from Italy. And provided I loose all my money pick pocketed on the first day, I wanted to do it as good as possible.
To fix your durations for a quick tour, check this suggestions by national geographic:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/rome-walking-tour-1/
Book the Flight: Ryan air – it worked out cheap…
Ryan gave me a very good deal for a morning flight (7 am) which I later realized, was because reaching there by public transport from my place at time is impossible. There are shuttles from Midi station, but till Midi station I can’t reach before 6…So only choice, get a taxi for that 60kms… at 4-5 AM ! Still it was cheaper…
Book the Hotel: Booking.com – I could pick a few hotels, looking for near the Central station ‘ Termini’, and looking for reasonably good reviews. Ratings lie sometimes… for example, I will ignore a ‘the hotel staff was rude’ if it was written by an American. So, it depends….
There are many more sites as well to book hotels… I am just telling what I did… need not be the best way…
Climate: It is winter start in Italy( Dec first week), and it will be dark by 5:30. But the temperature ( 12-16 C)compared to Belgium(-4 to -6 C) is much higher… it was a good reason to choose this time.
Risks/ Mitigations:
Pick pocketers and bag snatchers: This was a very high risk as told to me. I had a lot of colleagues who had such experiences atleast one in their gang. And a quick fix from me; if you keep your purse in the front pocket and the pants is tight enough that you can feel it, your risk is reduced by 70% or more…Then comes the cellphones, laptops etc. But you don’t go with them for siteseeing. If the camera is always in your hands or around your neck, it is tough to take it out without you knowing it.
Preparation: I got some very good maps and books, from my colleagues. The best site I would suggest if you are going to explore Rome: http://www.enjoyrome.com/tourist/cityguide/main.html
Else, just take a Hop on hop off bus and enjoy 2 days… he will tell and show whatever you need to know as a tourist. It is safe too… hardly pick pocketers get in to them…
http://www.viator.com/Rome-tours/Tours-and-Sightseeing/d511-g12
If you are alone, or with no restriction to walk and walk fast…. Use this: http://www.romefreetour.com/
Budget Estimate: My budget estimate came to 1000 Euros, for 3 people, 4 days and 3 nights – including airport transits, flights, accommodation, food, siteseeing… everything… but atlast we finished it with 750 Euros… so for me it was cheaper than I estimated…
4 day Itinerary: I was to reach there on a Saturday morning 10:30 and fly back on Tuesday afternoon flight. It was a derivative from a lot of info from web, books, and then some discussions with colleagues:
Day 1: See if I can walk around, see if old Rome can be finished. Go for two of the three freewalking tours.
Day2 : As it is a Sunday, Vatican is not possible( they are closed except the last Sunday of the month). So if Saturday was fruitful, and Rome proves so small as I hear, and we could finish everything except Spanish Steps, trevi area and Vatican, then I was planning to take a bus day trip to one of the nearby places – Florence, Pisa, Naples, Capri…
Else, keep old Rome, for this day, as this was the day predicted with least chance of rain.
Day3 : Obvious choice… Vatican… and then walk to Trevi fountain… see the areas spotted so that though we take a little longer route… see much more….
Day4 : Don’t keep anything for this day… use it to go to the place where we feel like going once again, or somewhere we had to rush back.