Just booked a trip to Rome - recommendations?
 

Just booked a trip to Rome for the gf and I for a few days in August.
There's the obvious Vatican City / Colosseum / Spanish Steps etc etc. which we'll do of course but does anyone know of somewhere that's nice and not too far from Rome? Somewhere a bit more rural and less crowded that we could travel to for an afternoon?
We timed it so we'll be there on a Sunday which holds a big flea market (gf loves those flippin' markets) though we've read that you're likely to get pick-pocketed and should leave all valuables except some cash at the hotel http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Also my girlfriend is Japanese though has a student visa for here in the UK. On her Visa it says she has multiple re-entries to the UK and I have searched high and low (on the net) and can't see anything that may stop her from getting her back into the country.
When I worked in Japan and left the country and came back I had to pay to get a special re-entry permit (annoyingly). I'm certain she doesn't need to do anything like that but I'm also a bit cautious.

How long will you be staying, and where? I went to Rome last year and I've got an absolutely epic "Rome in two or three days" tour, handpicked, ready to be used again by someone else. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Do not, under ANY circumstance, let the pope follow you into the shower.

And soap on a rope, use it.

Otherwise, isnt there a big park with a Villa there? Used to be a relaxed place. Tho that was 6 years ago.
Cant remember the name.

Make sure you find the room from "Room in Rome", and stay there. http://messenger.msn.com/MMM2006-04-...ades_smile.gifhttp://messenger.msn.com/MMM2006-04-.../thumbs_up.gif

Go somewhere else? Rome is a terrible place. It is a woefully overcrowded, dirty as hell, smog filled cesspit. There are many worthwhile things to see in Italy, some even in nice cities... but other than the Colosseum and a stolen building or monument or two, there is not much worthwhile in rome... at least not worth fighting through the unwashed locals. I wouldn't trust those people anymore than I would trust Moroccan vendors in spain.

Unless you plan to go up to the tower at the vatican (not worth it) or get all of 3 seconds to look at the sistine chapel ceiling (you won't get to take photo's) while being crushed like a sardine, or are catholic... I would avoid it, buy some photo's/postcards from a vendor and just lie and say you went. It will take all day and suck. You are much better off spending $10 per cup drinking latte's across from the collosseum in that tourist trap area than wasting your time at the vatican.

There is no real country area near rome, just miles and miles of dirty italians.

Trevi Fountain, Four Rivers Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Pizza Del Popolo, Villa Borghese Park, Roman Forum ruins. Go to the top of St Peter's Basilica too, as well as what you mentioned.

You should have her call her embassy immediately, I had a Columbian GF when i was in Ireland and they would not let her past security at gatwick. We also went to rome, had no issues with every other country, but the security told us rapid movement on a student visa sends them red flags. Its a very common method for people to illegally immigrate.

Yeah I'll still try and call them though there's no contact number, it's so hard to get information. I think I'll just have to call the embassy general line and try and get some information out of them.

Thanks for all the advice chaps.

The Spanish Steps and Colosseum are tourists traps. Don't bother.

You will want to see the Panethon, of course, and the Imperial Forum, Baths of Caracalla, and Capitoline Hill and museum. These are absolute musts. If you're staying more than two days, then by all means go to the Villa Borghese (you'll need reservations), San Pietro in Montorio, Sant'Ivo, Santa Maria Maggiore.

I also hear you can score good hash in the campo dei fiori.

Don't you mean the Pantheon?

Also Villa Torlonia, Mussolini's old villa.

You'll love it, but it's hard on the old feet.http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/cool1.gif

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Here's one story I will never forget, visiting the Colosseum (which is, in reality, a must for any tourist):

My girlfriend got lured to a stall where a foreign salesman tried to sell her a small, ugly, cheap-ass statue of the brother-and-sister gods (Diana and...?). I could tell it wasn't worth much, but my girlfriend was totally in awe of everything she could get her tourist paws on, so I checked the price on the bottom. It said €70. I burst into laughter at the ridiculously high price, to which the salesman hastily replied:

"No no no, that's the American price!"

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

(He went on to lower his price "especially for me" to €30, when I decided to bid no more than €20, to which he replied it was "real marble, not made of chocolate!"... So we settled at €25, which is probably €5 for what the thing was worth, €10 for the smile on my girlfriend's face and €10 for the comedy replies from the dude selling it. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif)


The view from the top of the Spanish Steps is nice, you can see all the way back to the St. Peter's Cathedral. The church is a nice contrast of serenity, compared to the crowds at the Steps themselves.

Sometimes it's okay for a tourist to behave like a tourist. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/biggrin1.gif