Day 2 — Rome, hitting the ground running

Written by Wendy from the road · photographs by Tatiana

We arrived in Rome around 1pm and checked into our room at the Vatican Chic B&B. Our bed and breakfast was located about 10 minutes from the historic center by car and was about a 5 minute walk to the Vatican. Our room was very nice, it included breakfast and the staff was very responsive by WhatsApp anytime we needed anything.

We were hungry when we arrived so our airport taxi driver had recommended a place called Bonci Pizzarium. After dropping off our bags at the hotel we walked to Bonci and on our way there we came across a drinking fountain known as a nasoni. They're fountains that look like fire hydrants with the spout facing the floor that provide continuous fresh cold drinking water. The cold water hit the spot because the heat was unbearable. Bonci's pizza and sandwiches were a great way to start our food journey.

After lunch we took the bus to the historic center to meet up with our tour group. On our first day we toured the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona and Spanish Steps. It's helpful to push through the first day no matter how tired you are so your body can adjust from the jetlag so that is why we hit the ground running once we landed. The tour with EcoArt which lasted about 2.5 hours was great but we realized that we would much rather visit these sites on our own next time so that we could take as little or as long as we want.

After the tour was over we walked around the historic center which was absolutely amazing. Everywhere we turned there were great little shops, gelato places and restaurants. For dinner we went to Mas Food and Coffee which had amazing Italian food. The restaurant was near the historic center, down a small alley where everything was much quieter. After dinner we kept walking around and came across the best lemon sorbet shop called Limone' where we had lemon sorbet and bought a ton of cute souvenirs.

We were exhausted from walking in the heat all day so around 9pm we headed back to our hotel for the night.

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Places from this day

• Vatican Chic B&B — Five minutes' walk to the Vatican, breakfast included, staff on WhatsApp.
• Bonci Pizzarium — The taxi driver's recommendation — the first bite of the trip.
• The Pantheon — 2,000 years old and still the best room in Rome.
• Trevi Fountain — Packed, and worth it anyway.
• Piazza Navona — Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.
• Spanish Steps — End of the EcoArt walking tour.
• Mas Food and Coffee — Down a quiet alley near the centre — amazing Italian food.
• Limone' — The best lemon sorbet, plus a pile of souvenirs.