Look for the cost, accommodation, and how to get there cheap at the bottom of this blog!
I spent the last day of my recent travels in Rome, Italy. I had already been to the location tourist traps, but felt it was essential to revisit the Colosseum and Vatican City. Ironically, the Vatican Museum and Sixteenth Chapel are closed on Sunday. Unbeknownst to me, I was in for a bigger treat that day!
Here is a video of St Peter’s Basilica from the outside, walking inside, and I took it earlier in the week:
It was just a good feeling knowing that I was there the same day that the Pope was well enough to make an appearance. Holy week was approaching soon, I am sure they were testing his strength and endurance for a very busy week. Unfortunately, I read that he had to cut his speech short due to lack of breath.
As I walked around Vatican City, there was a massive crowd lined up to enter St Peter’s Basilica.
How to get to Italy, cheap: I recommend flying Norse Airlines from Los Angeles to Rome for ~$220. You can get to Los Angeles cheaply from anywhere in Canada and the United States using Google Travel. Consider staying in LA a day or two, doubling up your vacation and save a ton of money.
Where I stayed: I stayed at the Freedom Traveler, which provided a single bed for 40 euros a night. A hotel can cost over $150, so consider renting a studio in this hostel under $100 for a good night’s sleep on the cheap. I stayed here twice, once before and once after my trip to Barcelona. The staff were awesome, ensuring I got my pick of beds/rooms based on availability.
The best local beer and meal: PIZZA! Suprise suprise, but there were so many corner stores selling freshly made pizza so walking past them was almost impossible for me. Vino/wine is so much more popular than beer in Italy. I would walk into a pizza joint with 10 taps, and they were all Vino!
This was my favorite, around the corner from Vatican City:
I picked three, as you can see in the top left! So yummy and the best I had in Italy!!
Would I return? Not to Rome – Once I spent a day at the Vatican and Colosseum, I was ready to move on and booked my trip to Barcelona to break up the week I had planned to stay. There are plenty of other cities you can visit to stay in Italy (Venice, Sicily, Milan, Capri, Amalfi coast, etc.), but the last-minute train tickets were over $200. If you want to stay in one Country, book your train tickets early as they can be 5X as much last minute, just like plane tickets.