Getting bummed out in Rome
Need travel tips to avoid getting bummed out in Rome like I did?
On my Italy trip a few years ago, the itinerary was:
- Venice
- Florence
- Rome.
I don’t recommend this particular order. My reasoning: the visit was in October, it’s colder in northern Italy. Starting in Venice would take advantage of warmer weather. However. This order also means:
- Smallest and quietest
- Still pretty small and can walk most places
- GIANT CITY EEK. Teeming with people, noise, traffic, mean scammers, and uniquely Italian annoyances.
So. After a delightful time in Venice and an equally delightful time in Florence, I arrive in Rome. Where I get scammed twice in the first hour! Twice, you say? How can it be? Well, the first was by the taxi driver who drove us from the airport to the hotel. Admittedly, M (my ex who I travelled with, formerly) became impatient with the taxi line and decided we should take a rogue taxi that was not waiting in the taxi line.
Tip 1: Don’t DO that.
After driving us all over unnecessarily and overcharging us, he refused to open his trunk and give us our luggage until we paid his exorbitant fee.
Tip 2: Don’t put luggage in the trunk of taxi.
This was very, very aggravating. We were tired. We got into our room, which, thankfully, was nice. M really wanted a Coca Cola and I offered to go out and buy her one. I got one a couple blocks away from a street vendor. The price seemed a little high, but until M asked how much I paid, I didn’t realize that I had been grossly overcharged. Really, Rome? First scammed by a taxi driver and next by a Coke vendor? Not a good first impression.
Of course there are many wonderful things in Rome. You know, the Roman ruins and stuff. The Vatican. The Sistene Chapel. Great art just everywhere. I saw a Holbein portrait of Henry VIII that I will never, ever forget. I saw Caravaggios, I saw an Artemesia Gentileschi. And that reminds me of one of my uniquely Italian annoyances.
Uniquely Italian Annoyances
It happened in the museum where Michelangelo’s David resides. (Which, I’ve been reminded, is in Florence. Not all problems were in Rome!). We got there, went straight to David, and amazingly, there was no one else around! Just gazing up at David, a lot, from every angle, and enjoying it immensely. We had 45 entire minutes till closing to continue drinking him in with our eyes.
At this juncture, we were rudely accosted and told to leave by the museum employee who had just decided to CLOSE THE MUSEUM EARLY. Yes. Only in Italy.
In Rome there was a strike and all the public transportation was shut down and we weren’t even sure we were going to be able to get to the airport to leave Italy, which I kinda wanted to do (leave) when people arbitrarily close museums and go on strike and it’s so damn hard to get anywhere. Because Rome is a giant loud and dirty city, teeming with honking traffic, and museum employees with no feelings, and mean taxi drivers! Wah.
Uniquely Italian Good Stuff
Well, but, there was our friendly taxi driver, (name unremembered). He was nice. He showed us this place where you look through a keyhole and (according to the Atlas Obscura) see “a sweeping view of Rome perfectly contained in the keyhole of a nondescript-looking door on the Aventine Hill, neatly placing the dome of St. Peter’s right in the center.”
There was walking around and encountering things I’d seen in slides in my art history class, the real things, and this amazing stuff is just part of the everyday landscape of the city. Rome stinks and Rome makes you want to scream and Rome is chock full of wonders.
I saw the Pope
When we went to St. Peter’s Basilica, it turned out the Pope was going to be there. We had no idea and just lucked out. When he walked by, I stood on a chair (not something I would usually do, as—rude) and I saw the Pope and he was pretty close. Maybe 15 feet away from me. It wasn’t one of the fun Popes, it was the German, but still.
While on said chair, I took a terrible picture of the Pope walking by in front of the Pietà, a beautiful Michelangelo statue that for some reason I did not take a photo of. A better photo of the Pietà can be found below. (Here’s another good one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aragao/6207918757)
The nave was as long as a football field. Everybody at the front of the church looked to be about the size of an ant. A service at St. Peter’s with the Pope? It felt like being a part of history.
And that’s Rome for you. History and exhilarating art while jacked up on espresso. Women with fantastic footwear. Standing on chairs, seeing Popes, getting kicked out of museums. Strikes, scams, rude gestures and amazing gelato. When do I get to go back?
Please share your experiences of Rome in the comments!
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“It wasn’t one of the fun popes, it was the German” muahahahaha…. Cynthia.. you.. of all people haha.. 🙂
Enjoyed reading the post and glad you did not find everything bad about Rome. Ellie & I love Rome and are thinking of making it one of our first trips post-Covid.
I meant no offense to Germans, lol! I’m sure if I went back to Rome I would love it, too. When will post-Covid actually be, do you think? *sob*
We loved Rome but your words ring true in many ways! I know this post is old but I have just discovered your blog and really love your style of writing! Very fun to read.
That is so nice to hear, Tina! Thank you. I have to go back to Rome so I can write a post all about loving it. I wasn’t in big city mode after Venice and Florence. 😉
Such a fun article, Cynthia! It is so refreshing to read an honest post about a travel experience. You are likely not alone—I can completely imagine those things happening to many people.
I got in a little trouble for it Kevin! 😆 But personal experience is of course what shapes our impressions about a place. I’m more than willing to try Rome again. I know many people who were negatively impressed by Paris, and that is a place I love beyond words.
As soon as I save up enough… It will be such an adventure.
She just said yes… Provided I pay for very thing because she is a poor struggling student 🙂
Awesome! When are you going?
I have always wanted to go to Rome. Not so my husband.
So will send this link to my daughter and pray she gets the message.
Sounds like you and your daughter should plan a trip to Rome, Kavitha! Thanks for reading!
I hate that you had such a bad experience in Rome. My husband and I went there in 2016 and it was our favorite city. We did a mini Europe vacation of London, Paris, and Rome. And everything you described about Rome happened to us in Paris and left a bad taste in our mouths for Paris (transportation strikes, cab drivers ripping you off bc the metro was down, rioting and burning cop cars, and the cherry on top is the morning we flew out of there was the morning the plane disappeared from the same airport). But Rome was by far our favorite. We went in late May and had perfect experience. Food was delicious. It wasn’t crowded at all. I kept a pretty good itinerary that we stuck to. Where we stayed we were able to walk to everything and avoid having to use transportation. We did do a shared cab from the airport instead of the train. It wasn’t a horrible experience but I’ll probably take the train next time. We’re going back in 2 more years. I hope you’ll give it another chance. We’re debating adding Venice and Florence or Naples and Positano to our Rome trip next time. Hopefully it will be just as wonderful there as Rome was.
Hi Debbie, thanks so much for stopping by. It just goes to show…Paris is MY favorite European city (so far), and I’m sad you didn’t have a good experience there. I promise it can be a magical place. I’ll make you a deal: please, give Paris another chance and I will give Rome another! I have heard so many people enthuse about Rome, not the least in these comments, and I know I need to go back. I don’t know anything about Naples and Positano, but can highly recommend both Venice and Florence. The Uffizi in Florence is so incredible, and Venice itself is a work of art. Keep me posted on your itinerary 🙂
I absolutely LOVE Rome and will be enjoying my 3rd visit this year. I enjoyed Florence and Venice as well, but Rome is my favorite.
As pointed out above, David is in Florence – in several locations if you don’t mind viewing a copy.
I am a woman who travels solo and I always put a good amount of time in researching a location before I leave home. That would have given you a “heads up” as to the strong possibility of strikes, changeable hours of operation, taxi protocal, etc. My train schedules for the Puglia region even has specific trains which are guanteed to run in the event of a strike, and others which won’t.
I hope you return to Rome, fully prepared, and you will find it to be a vibrant city with more to offer than can be absorbed!
Hi Cathy! Thanks for the note about David. I was blurring it all together. I would love to return to Rome, and I’m sure I will be better prepared next time. As I noted in reply to the below comment, this was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and not a criticism of Italy or Italians. The negative experiences tend to stand out, but overall my visit to Italy was wonderful, and I must write more about that. I appreciate your stopping by and taking the time to comment.
Everyone’s travel experiences are unique and I understand that not all your experiences in Rome were pleasant, but I would like to comment on a couple of the things you mentioned;
First, the Sistine Chapel is spelled with an S. not a C.
Second, if you flag down a gypsy cab in just about any country as opposed to waiting for a registered cab, you can expect to be taken for a ride, (pun intended).
Also, your post reads like you saw Michelangelo’s David in Rome, which for those who haven’t been could be misleading. David is located in the Accademia Museo in Florence.
Lastly, Rome is a repository of many of the world’s most spectacular artistic and historic treasures. It is full of hospitable, kind and generous people, the architecture is unparalleled, the food amazing and the culture different from ours. Many of the pitfalls can be avoided by taking time to do a little research before embarking, and yes it is a large city with all the benefits and drawbacks therein, and has been for well over 2000 years. Travelers who expect trains, museum hours and other experiences to be unimpeded by the differences that make travel the adventure it is, might want to go to Germany instead, even if, in their opinion, the best Pope’s don’t come from there….😁
Snap! I stand corrected. Yes, I learned my lesson about gypsy cabs in Amsterdam too :(. Of course I must blame this on the impatience of my travel partner. I completely agree with what you say about Rome and about traveling, though I understand my post may not express that very well. I intend to write another one to make that more clear. It was meant to be humorous, and I actually feel that the pitfalls and crazy things that happen are just part of what makes travel so wonderful, and each place so unique. I would go back to Rome in a second. Tongue in cheek about the Pope, of course! :0