Italy

All Roads Lead to Rome: Day 1

Happy Easter to Everyone! I've missed you all! You might all be sharing this wonderful Sunday with the family and friends hunting for the colorful eggs. While preparing today's post, I'm currently munching the chocolate bunny a very dear friend gave me today.

I just arrived back in reality after almost ten weeks in Italy for the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Prior to our working schedule, we took a sightseeing detour to see the grandeur of Rome and the famous architecture everyone has been talking about featured in popular films such as Roman Holiday, La Dolce Vita, When in Rome, Eat Pray Love, Angels and Demons..so on and so forth..oh we could go on with the list.

If you're based in Dubai and planning to explore Italy in few days by train, there is an interesting Emirates flight that is worth taking. It flies from Dubai Terminal 3 to Rome's Fiumicino Airport with a return flight back to Dubai from Milan's Malpensa Airport.

Upon arriving on a Thursday evening at Fiumicino Airport, there is a shuttle outside the terminal across the street that will take you to the city with a last stop at Stazione Termini. If you're travelling alone, this would be a better alternative. If you're in a group, you could also take a shared minivan service that will drop you off straight to your hotel for an approximate Eur 45-60 depending on the number of people and destination. It starts off at Eur 35 per person with an additional Eur 6 per person. For that we were being charged roughly Eur 47. Do take note that the airport is quite far from the city centre about 30km away.

We took the shuttle instead that cost us Eur 7 per person. There are two bus stops. We were booked very close to the Vatican City. As we were passing through Stazione San Pietro, I recognized the street, but we missed the bus stop. Two of my companions were seated at the far end of the bus. I was frantically hailing them to get down, but they didn't understand me and were merely waving back thinking I was having a great time. That wave cost us another Eur30 for a cab ride that took us round and round the city.

Beware of some cab drivers there. Some will take you for a ride, literally. We had the misfortune of meeting one that night, having realized only the next day when I checked it on the map that I got from the hotel reception.

We stayed in Starhotels Michelangelo for a very good rate including breakfast. It was the peak season and there were rumors of hiking up prices even more due to the events taking place at the Vatican City so we booked it online via Hotels.com weeks before travelling. We were pleased with that.

We ended the evening by a late dinner at a typical Italian pub and ristorante around the area and by booking two day tours the next day commencing at 8:30AM.

Check what happens next in Day 2

Ciao!