Things to do/Places to stay in Rome & Siciliy

[Special K]

On our last few trips, I have begun choosing hotels (still by cost, to some extent) from Rick Steves' recommendations, and we've been very happy with the results. The places tend to be smaller, friendlier, and more central. Closer to the culture.

My girlfriend and I went by Steves' recommendations for our stay in Croatia and Slovenia and were very happy about it, so I'm thinking Matt and I will do that in Rome. I figured we'd get something close to the city center so that we could walk to several places, and I've heard really good things about places near the Spanish Steps.

I love Rome. My favorite city in Europe

Sweet! I'm super excited now

Another food tip (when I say I'm experiencing local culture, I'm talking about food ): Some of the best budget food you'll find anywhere in the world is at a "Pizzareia Rustica". The less English spoken there, the better the place. They measure out pizza by the kilogram, cutting it and weighing it, and you can point and communicate size with hand signals.

Delicious.

Fabulous, we'll check it out! Thanks so much.

[techboy]

Fabulous, we'll check it out! Thanks so much.

There's actually a pretty good one a block or two from the Termini train station (where you will end up sooner or later). I don't remember exactly where it is, but it's in a strip mall kind of place, and it's recognizable by the lack of tourists and Italian-only staff.

[techboy]

One more thing: Make sure that before you go you check the Rick Steves website for updates/changes. We've had a couple of situations where I got upset that soemthing was wrong, only to return and find out that I should have checked the website.

Here's the Update page for Rome. I noticed this immediately:

Tickets to the Vatican Museums (which include the Sistine Chapel) are now available online at http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets. You can book tickets up to 60 days in advance and can reserve up to 10 tickets (€4 booking fee/ticket). The museum will send you a confirmation email — print this out and bring it with you — it includes a bar code they will scan when you arrive. With a reservation, you can skip the ticket-buying line. If you're going in the morning, we strongly recommend making a reservation. If you prefer spontaneity, go in the afternoon, when lines usually die down. The museum is open Mon–Sat 9:00-18:00, last entry at 16:00 (but they start ushering you out at 17:30).

I can't recommend pre-reserving strongly enough... the lines at the Vatican are obscenely long. The system wasn't in place when we were in Rome, but there's a similar system at the 5 biggies in Florence, and it was well worth the extra couple of Euros to bypass the massive lines, which can take hours to get through (and I've heard stories at certain popular sites like the Vatican or the Uffizi in Florence of people waiting hours, only to be turned away at the end of the day.)

[techboy]

Okay... my wife informs me that technically, the place where people wait in line all day and still miss out is Schloss Neuschwanstein, but the idea still applies: Lines are long, skip them if you can.

After a person has spent thousands of dollars to get somewhere, and only has limited time, it makes little sense to me to squander a precious hour or more just to save a few bucks (though i'm cheap, and I've been tempted, so I had to change my thinking to reflect this reality).

[NavyDave]

Another food tip (when I say I'm experiencing local culture, I'm talking about food ): Some of the best budget food you'll find anywhere in the world is at a "Pizzareia Rustica". The less English spoken there, the better the place. They measure out pizza by the kilogram, cutting it and weighing it, and you can point and communicate size with hand signals.

Delicious.

Heck I used hands signs (like pointing to the back of my hand) in the ristorantes there in Sicilia to inform them I wanted my steak and the skin of the pollo well done which led to chuckles from the chef and waiters there whenever I walked from my villa to their establishments.

[techboy]

Heck I used hands signs (like pointing to the back of my hand) in the ristorantes there in Sicilia to inform them I wanted my steak and the skin of the pollo well done which led to chuckles from the chef and waiters there whenever I walked from my villa to their establishments.

Next time we'll try the sit-down restaurants. Last time, we never got past the pizza, pastry, sandwiches and gelato. It was good, and we were on a budget.

[Special K]

One more thing: Make sure that before you go you check the Rick Steves website for updates/changes.

Thanks, I didn't even think of that. I'll definitely check that out before we head over.

I can't recommend pre-reserving strongly enough... the lines at the Vatican are obscenely long.

Yeah, that's what I've been told. I know my fiance is supposed to plan the honeymoon, but I'm a bit of a control freak and I've just taken it all over and am booking and reserving everything for us...I am used to always planning and researching all my trips anyway. And I know if I let him do it, he'd probably start working on our hotel reservation while we were 35,000 feet above the Atlantic. :laugh: