Many ways lead to Rome - May 2015

 These wise words we ,unfortunately, had to experience the hard way. Arriving at the airport we got the information that all flights have been cancelled due to a fire at the airport in Rome. So what? We checked the train schedule and took the next train to Rome and arrived only 7 hours later in our lovely room. The B&B Flat 285 was very close to public transport station as well as very close to the Vatican and we enjoyed the friendly welcome.

 

As you can imagine, we walked a loooot! But Rome is definitively worth a visit – here are my personal highlights:

 

  • Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel – I highly recommend to book a visit in advance – you can book it directly at the official page of Vatican: http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Servizi_Visite.html - also a trick to enter the Peter's dome at no additional charge.
  • Meet the pope on sunday – by coincidence we seen him at his preach for Mother’s day :-) 
  • All impressive ancient buildings: Colosseum, Pantheon, Forum Romanum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Angels Castle, Peter’s Dom, Vatican you can’t get enough! There are some tourist pass you could get, we didn't bought one -  however check out first which way brings the most value for you but it’s worth to see. 
  • For a relaxing stroll in the park with a wonderful view over Roma go to Gianicolo
  • Bargain about a bunch of Selfie-Sticks as Souvenir

 We had delicious food and I guess it’s impossible to eat something bad in this City. Especially these places brought me to Food-Heaven:

 

  • Aprerol Sprizz everywhere! - Cheers!
  • Mamà - Small bistrot, restaurant and lovely ambiente. Amazing Tuna Mango Tatar!
  • Angelina a Trevi - Probably the best pasta and Tiramisu I ever had in my life
  • Cafè Cafè - Got recommendation by Mila- very cute Bistrot next to the Colosseum.
  • Nanu - Very cool Bagel and Salad bar!

 

Grazie Mille Roma for these wonderful days in the capital of Italy.

 

The only downside of this trip was that – although Alitalia confirmed on the phone that everything is fine with the flight back, it was not. Arriving at the airport and not seeing our flight on the list concerned me already. As the staff said there is still chaos and the flight will still be ok we queued for checkin. At the desk we got then informed that the flight has been cancelled too, what a surprise. We had then no other choice than catching the next train back to Switzerland. The fight for the return of the payment for the flights just started by then. After more than one year I got finally a small refund. This is by far the worst service I experienced of an Airline so far. If you have time, rather take the train to Rome or flying Swiss :-)