Rome - Cobble stones and Piazzas

Jun 27

Jun 27 Rome - Cobble stones and Piazzas

After a cultural overdose for two days I decided to see the other side of Rome - shopping, back streets, all the little Piazzas, some other touristic spots.

The first day I walked all the way down towards to Colosseum from Via Veneto, it was a long touristic walk, stopping by fountains as I ticked them off my list. A touristic map of Rome was my most faithful friend for those 7 days. I made my way past Piazza del Repubblica and down Via Nazionale while window shopping. the view is quite amazing where you can see the white memorial monument at Piazza Venezia.

I took a slight detour on Via del Boschetto, I read on a blog that there were some nice local boutiques there where you can find the not so expensive things and rightly so. 75 and 76 numbers on that street had some lovely non-expensive stores and I know I spent a fair bit there. Having done a bit of shopping I decided to wonder around and turned onto Via Leonina at the end of which there were the Sunday markets. And I was so lucky, it felt like the Newtown of Sydney and they had some really cool things around. After a bit more of indulgence it was time for another sort of indulgence and so I wondered a bit more and ended up in my most favourite of all Piazzas in Rome - Piazza della Madonna dei Monti.

It is simply the cutest little spot adorned by of course its very own little fountain and steps where you can just see the 20 year olds sitting around catting up with friends. it is surrounded some really nice restaurants, shops and bars. Full Monti being one of the cocktail bars I came back to and this was when I decided the next time I'm in Rome (and of course I will cause I dropped three coins in the Trevi) I will be staying in Monti.

The next day I walked north of Via Veneto and made my way towards the gardens, then walked up to Piazza del Popollo. There is a nice walk up a hill from where you have a spectacular view of not only the piazza but also all of Rome, it was quite breathtaking. Taking a turn around since that is practically the end of the city where you reach the wall, I walked back around towards Via dei Condotti lined with all its designer bags.

Found a gorgeous street with a lovely lunch spot which for the life of me I can remember, but it sure was divine and I shared my meal on the bar with a lovely guy from London who was in town for of conference. You really do meet some interesting people while travelling alone.

Rome is a gorgeous city with so much life and so many many layers to it, more of which I was sure to find out the next day at the Crypts and Catacombs tour.