Your complete collection of all the best places to eat at some of the most common layover cities across the world! Other highly rated historic highlights you could check out if you have the time, include the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum.The Layover Locations List - Anthony Bourdain Episode Guide I have a soft spot for historic buildings, so love seeing layers of history showing through all the different period designs. The third thing on our agenda was simply to wander round the city streets and enjoy the beautiful architecture. I love eateries off the beaten track as well, because you often get a more authentic, local experience, with super friendly staff.
(Sometimes all restaurants along the most popular strips can offer the same cliché food options, for ease, and because they know they’ll sell well).
These less touristy food places are always charming, and often mean you can try different dishes. There are quite a few good places to eat around the colosseum, all with lovely views for more photos! However, if you head away from the tourist attractions and along the smaller alleyways, you’ll be able to find less expensive food options. Next on our agenda was to enjoy some authentic Italian food! We opted for bowls of fresh pasta, at a small restaurant overlooking the colosseum. Have fun with angles and see what you can capture! Italian food Below you can see some different viewpoints as you wander round the landmark. If you head out of the stadium, cross the road and up a sloped sidewalk, you’ll get a view of the colosseum without any cars or buildings in the way, like in the photo above. Of course, while you’re there, you’ll definitely want to snap some photos! There are some great photo spots inside and around the colosseum. We skipped this, and wish we had known more details as we explored the ruins. Pay a little extra for the audio guide, so you know what you’re looking at as you walk around. I’d recommend having a bottle of water on you as you wait, especially in the hot summer months. It’s huge! And, as you can imagine, entry queues can get quite long. People would watch gladiator fights here, and other forms of contemporary entertainment. The colosseum itself dates back to AD 80, and was built to seat up to 80,000 spectators. Along the route, we soaked in Rome’s historic streets, coloured buildings and friends sat sipping coffee outside cafés. So we structured our time around getting to and from the Colosseum, giving us a good understanding of how much else we’d be able to squeeze in.Īfter we’d caught the train to the city centre, we followed Google Map directions to take us towards the colosseum. The main attraction we wanted to visit was The Colosseum – the largest amphitheatre built during the Roman Empire, and a “must” for first-time visitors to Rome. After all, you don’t want to miss your connecting flight, or find yourself racing through the busy streets feeling super stressed! Choose one main attraction you’d love to do, and then you can work out your travel time from the airport and back, and have a clear idea of what other things you might be able to do while there as well. So, here’s our first recommendation: take a look at some online lists detailing the top things to do in Rome, such as this TripAdvisor one.
Rome, on the other hand, is a hugely popular city to venture to, and sees nine million tourists descending on it each year! What better place to spend our nine hours?! Not many people speak English there and the area is largely made up of peaceful, rustic villages surrounded by a patchwork of farmer’s fields, so it’s a real authentic, local experience. Paddy has family that spends half their time out in Marche, which is on the opposite coast to Rome, and is super non-touristy. And then there’s Venice, which is always like a fairytale to me! You can read about how we spent a weekend in Florence here. You have historic Pompeii, romantic Rome, insanely photographic Positano, and the incredible drive along the Amalfi Coast. You have the rolling hills of Tuscany, compared to high fashion Milan. You can travel to Italy five times and have a new experience every time. What I really love about Italy is that each region is so different. Paddy and I have spent quite a lot of time in Italy, however neither of us had ever visited Rome before! When we flew between Ibiza and Corfu, we noticed a connecting flight with a 9-hour layover in Rome, and thought it would be a cool opportunity to explore this Italian city for the first time! It was a whirlwind visit, but enough time to leave the airport, head into the heart of Rome, and check off some of the top tourist attractions before catching our next flight.