Returned to Rome...

Turkey bound

Piazza di Spagna Roma ...a great place to people meet and watch 

I love Rome.

I just love the chaos of it, the fact that in just a few steps you can hear a dozen different languages, that everywhere you go fellow travellers are standing on street corners map in hand looking lost and that no matter how many times I come here I find something new.

  

Because I arrived without accommodation, I put my luggage in storage for a few hours while I looked for a place to stay.

It takes a few hours of walking in the nearby streets off Via Marsala and Giolitti but finally I find a room at Hotel Marisa right across the road from Termini Railway Station. For 60 euros, it is clean and convenient. It has a tiny but functional bathroom, hot water and wifi (5 euro extra) the breakfast ends up being pretty grim but the good location is hard to beat.

There are literally dozens of hotels, b and b’s and hostels located around Termini, particularly on and off Via’s Marsala and Giolotti which run alongside either side of the station.

After a hot shower, all is right with the world again and I walk in to the Spanish Steps where I have arranged to meet the girls. I can’t resist a home made gelato along the way!

This time I am pretty busy organising onward flights and accommodation and deciding what to do with my second small piece of luggage which is proving difficult and costly to haul around with me, so my Rome time is spent  walking each morning and meeting Lil and Ang (my young meditating buddies)for drinks and dinner each night.

A friend’s Mum kindly agrees to “bag sit” for me and even comes to pick it up as I have made a big mistake and booked 2 flights to get me to Cappadocia online for a day earlier than I thought and before I know it, I am sitting on the Pegasus plane waiting for take off, Turkey bound!

Some tips for Rome

If you arrive without accommodation, the tourist information booth located at Termini (go down platform 24 about half way down turn right near the car rental booths) will have a list of accommodation in the area you are interested in. Their friendly and knowledgeable staff (at least they were the times I was there) speak about 4 different languages each.    

There’s a luggage deposit (Deposito Bagagli) at Termini, downstairs also near Binario (Platform) 24. It costs 4 euro per item for the first 5 hours and is open from 6.30am to 11.50pm. You’ll need to show your passport to leave luggage.

Train to Fiumicino Airport

Tickets can be bought from the station or tobacconists nearby. They cost 14 euro for a 1 way trip and need to be validated in the yellow machines on the platforms. There are 2 platforms dedicated to this service, currently platform 27/28. Walk down platform 24 (located at far right of the terminal as you are looking at the trains) until you get to the end and turn right. Fiumicino train leaves approx every 30 minutes and takes 30 minutes to get to the airport.  

Talk soon

Mon x