Flying from northwest Spain to Rome, my discount airline had a 10-kilo carry-on limit. I don’t recall ever actually weighing my bag when packing…but it turns out it was exactly 10 kilos (22 pounds).
I had a special reason to pack light on this trip. A month ago I flew to Europe — a bit nervously — one week after a hernia operation. Ten kilos was about all I could hoist. My doctor said there was no hurry to get it fixed, but I love feeling healthy when traveling…I didn’t want to travel feeling like bits of my guts were popping out like naughty chicks in an open basket. After a month on the treadmill of Iberia, I’m fit as a flamenco guitar.
Landing in Rome, I tried to stay mentally in Spain until I got all those guidebook files finalized and emailed back to my ETBD editors. But I failed. It’s so exciting to research this great city.
Rome has a fixed taxi rate: €40 to and from the airport. On the curb a big, new, officious sign (next to the €40 sign) said the trip cost €60. I asked a cabbie what he charged; he said €60 to the center. It seemed like a scam. Later I quizzed an honest cabbie; he explained that while city cabs are limited to €40, regional cabs can charge €60 because they’ll have to dead-head back out of the city. Many dishonest city cabs seize the opportunity to point to the sign and charge tourists €60. Any cab with “SPQR” on the door is a city cab and legally can only charge €40. Scam scuttled.
My theme this trip is to help travelers stretch their dollars and maximize their experience. Rather than opt for the taxi default (i.e. just pay the €40 and get right to my hotel), I decided to do the smart budget move and rely on public transit. I paid €11 to zip into town on the train and €16 for a one-week transit pass, which will cover all my bus, metro and tram travel in Rome for my stay. And I had €13 left over to go shopping and stock my hotel pantry with five days worth of juice, water, fruit, veggies and munchies. (I was impressed by what I lugged up to my room for little more than the cost of a plate of pasta.) It took me less than an hour door-to-door (from the airplane, to the train, to the central station, onto the bus and then a 100 yard-walk to my hotel).
I’ve been here four days now and only just stepped into the Pantheon. It was literally the most crowded I’ve ever seen it — a human traffic jam slowly flowing in, then out, with parents holding their little ones high as if to make sure they had enough air. I haven’t even seen the Colosseum, Forum, or St. Peter’s yet. I’m doing lots of hotels, restaurants and odd sights that are new to me or that I haven’t seen in over a decade (my researchers visit these places annually, when I can’t).
With my favorite local guide, Francesca, I revisited Ostia Antica (Rome’s ancient seaport, which rivals Pompeii and is a simple 30-minute side trip by train from downtown) and polished up my self-guided walk, in hopes of producing an audio tour covering this site this winter. We rented bikes for a pedal through the Villa Borghese. And, even though she hates the Cappuccin Crypt (with its thousands of neatly stacked human bones, designed artfully to remind us vacationers of our mortality), I got her to take me through it, and to translate the descriptions in each boney chapel for my new guidebook edition. (One chapel has a clock, without hands, made of bones — the explanation reads, “once Sister Death takes you there, the afterlife is eternal…there is no time.”)
With each Rome visit, I book a driver for an entire day. I generally line up all the hotels in town I need to visit in smart order on a page, and we systematically visit each one. With a car I can do three days’ work in a single day. This time, I spliced in three far-away sights I had yet to see: the Museum of the Roman Resistance (about the citizens’ heroics during the Nazi occupation), the Auditorium (a wonderful contemporary “park of music” concert venue designed by Renzo Piano — outside of town but clearly the way to connect with Rome’s culture scene), and the Catacombs of Priscilla (the cute, intimate, least visited — and now my favorite — of the catacombs).
At Ostia, I was frustrated with the worthless descriptions posted throughout the site. I read several, hoping to beef up my existing guidebook coverage. The words were many but worthless. I commented to Francesca that only in Italy are fancy guides called “docents,” and that the only place in Europe I’ve ever actually heard the English word “didactic” used is here in Italy — and from people trying to impress me. Francesca taught me the Roman concept of aria fritta — literally “fried air.” The phrase describes any wording, that’s, like these descriptions, greasy and heavy but contains nothing of value. Much of what tourists read and hear in Italy is aria fritta.
My challenge is to recommend guides that give meaning to the sights without being “didactic.” Rome’s walking-tour companies are many and hard working, but they frustrate me here. I meet lots of tourists here using my guidebooks and quiz them about their experiences. When one couple said, “We just took a tour from so-and-so’s company,” I asked “And how was it?” — because I had been concerned about the quality of teaching by that outfit’s guides. They said, “The guide was a sweet 23 year old Irish kid. He rattled off dates like you couldn’t imagine. And at the Vatican Museum, he showed us how, in one tapestry, the eyes of the guy follow you when you walk across the room. He joked that ‘Maybe it’s the carabinieri.’ In another tapestry, the table actually did the same illusion trick. It followed us across the room!” That was exactly what I’d feared. They loved the tour, but I think, while they were entertained, they learned almost nothing of value.
Yesterday, I spent two hours on another company’s tour and lived through one of my biggest pet peeves: guides who tell stories of things that happened in that neighborhood (with plenty of professorial qualifiers), but don’t tie the wealth of visuals surrounding you to the people living there, past and present.
You can read a book without flying to Rome. A walking tour (which costs triple the price of that book) should connect you vividly to the place: Sit on a threshold worn by the nervous heels of a century of prostitutes…eating a fava bean picked up from the market that, for a thousand years, has sold local peasants their standard green…under the watchful eyes of a hooded heretic whose statue reminds you that he was burned on this spot because this neighborhood — even with that papal palace looking down on it — was filled with trouble makers. And this neighborhood remains, to this day, Rome’s center of non-conformity.
I visited one café which I like and recommend, in spite of its lousy food, because it’s cheap, friendly, shady, and far from the tourists while close to the Colosseum. They’ve started advertising a “Rick Steves menu”: pasta, a hamburger, and a Coke. I told them that’s no Rick Steves menu. Updating this book is like weeding a massive garden.
Hiking back to my hotel, I met a couple both dressed as if out of a safari catalog and each very short. They got really excited and (in Lollipop Guild unison) said, “We’re your biggest fans.”
Great post, Rick. Thanks again for taking us along on your adventures!
You are a mindreader! Just yesterday, I was thinking “wouldn’t it be nice if Rick had an audio tour for Ostia Antica?” I love Rome, thanks for taking me back there vicariously.
Great post. It takes me back to my Roman vacation a few years ago.
I am enjoying your blog. I can’t wait to hear about Montenegro and Bosnia, as I have always wanted to go there.
Rick your blog took me back to rome with its many beating hearts, which are those neighborhoods filled with vital people, talking fried air, and walking hand in hand each evening, as family groups, kids beside and in front, teen age and older girls holding hands leading and following one other and watching. The teen boys too are watching and waiting in small groups, and choosing. Wonderful francesca, guide to the guides-like you-made my local walks in rome supreme on three different trips. Yes, maybe it is time for another rome tour. Having just arrived back home in oregon, this traveler still remembers the adventures of spain last week, and am planning on traveling on… soon again. Larry from springfield
I suprised my wife with a honeymoon in Rome when we were married 3 years ago and was sure to pack along your guidebook, which quickly became our favorite – one of the more residential restaurants you guided us to led to a memorably pleasant evening of food and relaxation. As for tour companies, we loved _Context: Rome_ – they limit their group size to a maximum of 6 or so for most tours and all the guides were amazingly knowledgeable. In fact, we were quite amazed and delighted to see our guide from Ostia Antica when we got home; he was on the Discovery Channel talking about the archaeological dig he was working on there, in one of the closed-to-the-public parts of Ostia Antica.
Funny thing…we ate at that cafe in Rome and they were so excited for us to try their “Rick Steve’s menu” that we didn’t want to disapoint them. It wasn’t that good, yet all the Italians around us had wonderful looking dishes we would have loved to try. The moral.. In the future we will walk around and look at meals before ordering and summon up the nerve to politey say no to what they think Americans want.
Great post, Rick. Good idea on producing an audio guide for Ostia. I visited there when in Rome a few years back, and a solid audio guide would have made the otherwise fine experience to Ostia that much better. I’m glad you promote O.A. in any event; it’s a great day trip out of the city center, and it gives a nice isolated impression of ancient Rome. Ciao! Ryan Morrison
Went to Italy in 1995 and totally fell in love with the country. I returned this past year and was very disappointed. The tours I took, it appears that Italians don’t know their own history (some things they were saying were just not true), they were too busy talking on their cell phones, kissing friends on two cheecks, etc…then having to pay additional money to light up the statue of moses, viewing ceilings in churces etc. was a shock..they were even selling calendars with handsome priests..yes the city is still majestic and has not physically changed since 1995, however, it appears it’s all about money, more money and power…how the romans haven’t changed over the centuries
I’m so excited your in Rome, Rick. I’ve been researching my upcoming trip to Italy (1st week in June) and spent the day looking at tour companies, their websites, and feedback on tripadvisor (which seems to always be good, maybe to good to be true?). I had almost decided to book tours of the Vatican and Colosseum but this blog is making me hesitate. So which tour weren’t you happy with??? I’m dying to know! I’m also groaning because I would love an audio guide to Ostia Antica. I’m so happy to download your guides to the museums in Florence and tour of Venice. It’s hard to use the guidebooks in museums when you’re traveling with 4 people. But my kids have i-pods so now they can listen to you and not mom reading out loud from “Rick Steves” again!
Great post, Rick … a reminder of all the hard work that goes into your guidebooks and TV shows to anyone who thinks “all Rick Steves does is travel Europe for a living … what a great life!” It *is* a great life, I imagine … but it certainly seems like a lot of hard work too! For a massive city like Rome, I can only begin to comprehend how difficult it must be to keep the information up to date … especially for hotels and restaurants. There are just so many of them! I’m glad you’re feeling better too, after your surgery. Keep on traveling!
Were you in S. Maria di Trastevere by chance on 4/29/09? I thought I saw you as I was being loaded into a cab. I had just fallen and broken my foot on the cobblestone walk. I was sure it was you but was in too much pain to stop and chat. Your guidebook on Rome was my bible while we were there as your other guidebooks have been on our other vacations. Thank you for making our experiences in Europe so much better.
Great post Rick…..this may sound funny but the next time I am in Rome I am going to try to find the cafe you mentioned….a little fun task ….. I think I know the area it may be in though you don’t say exactly……and I am going to order the “Rick Steves’ menu”……should be good…..keep bloggin’
Mr. Steves: Back in November 2006, I spent my last night in Italy hanging out in Trastevere. There’s a really cool live music club called Big Mama. Talk about some great R&B! Those Italians were getting down; I mean the live act had full brass horns, matching lavender suits led by a small man with a big soulful voice named Gino Marullo. It was a nice capper to my 4 days in Rome and 10 days in Italy. If your still in Rome, Rick, you should check it out. (That goes out to everyone else as well). Reading all the other comments confirms just how special the Eternal City really is. Your guidie was a tremendous help in refining my itinerary, Rick. As always thanks, and stay healthy and safe.
good stuff Rick – thanks for the insight
Rick, “Humility is the last and greatest obstacle on the road to sainthood.” Or another way to put it: whenever I’m tempted to view people as munchkins, (I’m 6’4″ and blue-eyed) I picture myself in an SS uniform and I quickly get over my supercliousness. Do you really mean to be so rough on the very people who have made you a millionaire? ie- the middle-class types who aspire to learn more by discovering Europe? Whenever someone says they admire me, my response is NOT to ridicule them in public. I hope the short lilliputians who so admire you never stumble upon this blog entry. As I recall, you started with “Europe through the gutter”. Has your big bank balance made you forget where you started? I write this as someone who admires you and has defended your views in the past.
Your experience on the Vatican tour reminded me of my own. I hired a guide named Aldo in front of St. Peters. My favorite statement he made during the tour was: “I know God must love poor people. He made so many of them”. A true learning experience.
Rick, Can you answer this question? How long do you spend in a hotel or restaurant so that you can get a feel for it? 20-30 Minutes? Do you always ask for the owners? When do you let prospective hotel/restaurants know they have made it in the book? Oh and the Americans wearing Safari gear in Rome probably have Y2K suplies back at home! LOL!
Gosh Rick, you’ve now started ridiculing the punters for their physical attributes? “I met a couple, both dressed as if out of a safari catalog and each very short.†Why didn’t you just take the pacifier out of your mouth and tell them to their faces in your slow, simple, babyish English that they too were presenting themselves as fools? That might have been kinder.
This is ripe: Hiking back to my hotel, I met a couple, both dressed as if out of a safari catalog and each very short. They got really excited and (in Lollipop Guild unison) said, “We’re your biggest fans.” Rick, you’re the poster child of the “he who knows best” judgemental liberal. Meanwhile Rick walks around like a cloud of stink, wearing the same shirt and pants for the third day in a row. Rick, did you write this before or after you washed your underwear in your hotel sink?
So, how evocative would the description have been if he had said “I met a couple who told me that they were my biggest fans?” Maybe he could have found different words to describe this couple, but I’m sure people would have found fault with it as well. Why the horror of using a sink to rinse out underwear? It was washed that way for millennia prior to washing machines. I think all of us can see this couple in our minds and I’m sure it brought a smile to many. Not a smile of derision, but a smile of how great it is to see such enthusiasm for travel and Rick’s way of travel. Pam
Rick.. my 2 girlfriends and I met you in the lobby of the hotel and have a picture with you.. that was awesome!! :)
I was getting really bored…until you started getting picked on by midget lovers. Rick, that is just blatant anti-Safari-ism.
I’m a little disappointed in the description of his fellow travelers. At 5 foot 2 inches, I have very little control over how tall I am and since we are a culture that values height (don’t know why) his comments border on cruel. If you are short, you can get away with it. He is not short. Add in the fact that they were complimenting him, and it takes on a very mocking tone. (I personally would be offended if someone tole me I sounded like a member of the Lollipop guild because I was short) Does it make the writing more interesting…yes, but at what cost? If you mock and hurt people’s feelings, you have failed. My mother taught me that and it has always been true. Bullies get a lot of laughs at other people’s expense, but it doesn’t make it right….even if people are laughing.
I just love when liberal tolerance is on parade.
How about Randy Newman’s song–Short People Got No Reason to Live. Lighten up, folks,
Here is a list of accomplished “short people”. btw, I am a fairly tall man 6′ 6 1/2″ and trust me, short people have no corner on being the butt of height jokes. It has never bothered me in the least. I like being tall. I completely understand the awe people experience when they look at me…and the stunned, babbling comments. I also have to laugh at unflattering comparisons, but they mean nothing. I’m as smart as most and can dunk better than some, never get lost in a crowd and I can pick up most people and kiss ’em while they kick their legs as if I’m a dinosaur and they are breakfast. http://members.shaw.ca/harbord/heights3.html
My, aren’t we a sensitive bunch! I admire Rick’s writing because it has wit and is so descriptive of the events. I also have seen those people vacationing in Europe that, by their attire alone, SCREAM I am and American on vacation among the heathen in Europe…”should we drink the water or just watch these people who can’t speak a decent language like English.” Rick pokes as much fun at himself as he does anyone else. If you are short, grow up (no pun intended), if you are offended then suck on some limes because you are only seeking to take offense, and if you are wearing safari clothing as you walk the Vatican, please, please, please, carry a Canadian flag with you. I love this blog!
I am short 5’2 and can not believe all these nasty comments about Steve. Painting a picture of the people one meets while in Europe or at your local market are apart of lives joys. Where would we be with the characters? I was once on a bus due to a general strike on a train to Brussells when a green haired Irishman with a huge drum strapped to his back stated” This is my drum and she is coming with us, oh and I should give you fare warning I have not bathed in three weeks.” Because I write about this does not mean I do not like Irish people, drums, or green hair. Quit the contrary this gentleman gave me a very vivid olafactory remebrance. Very Proust. Give Rick a break I am short and can perform the lollipop guild scene quit well. Keep on traveling. P.S. Heading to sorrento for a week and then Florence and rome, first two weeks in June can not wait.
Glad you are in Rome for a week. I’ve been there a few times and have used your book for quite a few walks. Love the walk of all the churches. When you rented the bikes to go around “Villa Borghese” didn’t you technically go around the gardens since the Villa is just a building? And I’ve also taken the train out to the airport and thanks to Roman traffic it proved quite a bit faster and a more pleasant trip – I definitely advise that for everyone!
Thanks for the entry. Perhaps you were in a bad mood when you bumped into the safari-clad couple? Or were they overtly obnoxious? Honestly though, this is your blog. We read it because you’re providing us with a little bit of Europe AND because we enjoy your personal insights. ..those whose wear safari clothing in the city are kind of asking for it…they should know they’ve banished the lions from the coliseum ages ago…
Presuming additional descriptive detail adds interest it might be interesting to discuss alternatives to ‘safari-clad’ without judgemental implications. I think ‘vertically challenged’ is an accepted nonoffensive descriptor for that condition of stature.
Love the anecdote about the Ricknik Lollipop Guild! Wait, re-reading your post, it looks like you deleted the munchkin reference.
Tom don’t look now but the Munchkins are back !?!
Fellow Hobbits, Don’t look now but the Orcs are back!?!
Rick, You have a great job. :) My personal thanks for helping me with my Italy ‘fix’ when I am not able to be there. The sense I get is that you sort of feel, “obligated” to go out of Italy and show us more, but just can’t wait to get back to Italy. *smile* Are you, by some chance, a fan of the TV show known as ‘Commissario Montalbano’? Perhaps a quick ‘gita’ to Montalbano sites for all of the fans of the show? Thanks most sincerely for keeping us connected to places we long to be.
Rick, We are the couple from Tulsa who met you that rainy night in Rome at Ristorante del Giglio. We had just finished your recommended three-week tour of Italy with a GPS and a Smart car. We were struck by how you could be enjoying a quiet dinner without any waiters or owners hovering around. We almost “blew your cover” by recognizing you but you were so gracious to chat with us as you finished your meal. Have a wonderful time in Italy.
I really enjoyed meeting you at Hotel Nardizzi as you were checking it out on a rainy day in Rome. Your books gave me another fantastic trip to Italy that lasted for two weeks. ciao e presto
Re: the munchkin reference–hmmm, ego check, Rick. Just because you’re a minor celebrity doesn’t mean you can make fun of people in the name of writing (what you think is) a clever phrase.
Hi Rick- Great blog. I do enjoy reading it. Thanks for updating your travel books. As a training travel agent…I love the insight to traveling in Europe that you do!! Thanks again!!
I’m 5’1 and frequently poke fun of myself because I’m short. I am Sicilian and, well, Sicilians tend to be on the short side (hence, Pacino, Pesci, Scorsese). But I do have a serious problem with making fun of people who have the physical condition known as “dwarfism” and other physical disabilities that cause extreme short stature (or extreme tall stature for that matter). Thus, I take offense to the term “midget” or “munchkin” because it’s indirectly poking fun of people who have a disability that makes them extremely short. In any case, I thought Rick Steves’ comment about the short people was a bit pointless. I would like to see more sophisticated writing from him. I want to hear more about the cultures he experiences and not about Rick being stopped on the street and adored. When he travels to Bosnia and Montenegro, I want to read all about the cultures and the people…not about Rick.
Rick, it’s been seven days since your last blog and we are pretty much finished with the comments about short people. How about a new entry soon?
You could at least set a good example by spelling correctly. sight=site I hardly think that is a typo!!
Love the post, Rick, great job! Louisa, Perhaps if you snapped your fingers, a new blog entry would appear quicker. Sheesh. And I hope you’re being sarcastic, b/c you don’t exactly pay Rick for these blog entries, now do you? Beggars aren’t choosers, now stopping begging and whining already.
For the first time that I can remember, television ads are running for Italian tourism. Yet, Rick says the Pantheon was more crowded than he had ever seen. Is tourism noticeably down in Italy? And Shawn, I am “stopping begging and whining”, just suggesting that I, as most others, am always eager to hear more from Rick.
Geez, chill out people! This post should have incited zero anger and zero social commentary. We’re tall, we’re short, we’re big, we’re little, we’re smart, we’re dumb. It’s Friday and almost summer. It’s all love baby! Peace
I agree with Louisa, Rick. I know you’re busy, but please tell us about Rome!
Ah Roma! Thanks so much Rick for all the updates and info you provide. We were in Rome and the Italian country side (Tuscanny) last March 2008 for a week or so. Flew into Rome, and took the train to the airport. We also almost got scammed for a taxi to the centre, but then got a ride with a private taxi firm, who only charged 50 pounds. We didn’t see any signs on the taxis and the man picked us up in a black car! He said he was from a private taxi firm. A bit less than your taxi ride. We stayed at the Marriott Rome, outside the city centre, and took a bus into the Vatican, St. Peter’s Square and centre. Your blog is really great, keep the up-dates coming!
Something tells me the nice but badly prepped Irish guy worked for Angel tours. We took an evening tour with them. Cute but on an auto-cue. When I asked what the church by the elephant obelisk near the Panteon was the guide said “oh just another Catholic church”. Looking in your book we saw it has a statue by Michaelangelo!
Good ending Rick. Two “short people” saying “we are your biggest fans”. I would have been laughing all the way back to the hotel. Nice one, Rick.
Thanks for the reminder about the weekly transportation pass. We’ll be heading to Rome & vicinity mid -June. If you are looking for other great B&B’s to check-out this trip, please consider visiting Il Colle degli Ulivi B&B in Zagarolo just outside Rome. I’ve traveled extensively for years and this B&B is a true gem because of the personalized travel experience you get from its owners, Ivano & Tehri. Thanks again for all of the great info you provide – I’m a big fan!
We were fortunate to have Francesca as our guide for ancient Rome in 2007. She was so descriptive of the ruins and the grandeur of Roman civilization that she had us teary eyed. You are right. The best guides bring history (or the area) visually alive and leave you with an emotional connection.
Rick, heading to Rome in late August before going to Malta, using your book as our sole guide…your description of the Vatican, and nuances about the artists, have finally inspired my 10 & 13 year-old boys to be at least slightly interested, before that it was “more old stuff”…I think in the long run you will save us hundreds of dollars, and make the visit much more worthwhile…thanks
We also ate at that cafe near the Colosseum in 2007–it was horrible, by far the worst meal we had in Rome. It is no exaggeration to say that the “Rick Steves menu” was worse than a McDonalds burger, and twice the price. We had another very average meal at a restaurant near the Spanish Steps that was recommended by your Rome guidebook. The bad news is that we decided not to trust any more of your restaurant recommendations. The good news is that we ventured out on our own, followed the Italians, and ate well the rest of the trip.
The best way to ruin a good cafe, hotel, or other travel site is to tell the world about them. I enjoy your shows and books, but I could never bring myself to tell you of my favorite lunch time place in Florence or the fantastic and cheap middle eastern lunch counter in London. Those who get their noses out of guide books and find those places on their own deserve to be the only ones to know…..for at least ten to twenty years.
A person mentioned my company Angel Tours, I hope you understand that we often get folks arriving with guide books, so we know there is no room for BS. (please dont confuse BS with Blarney, blarney is a way of talking the truth) Folks often point to something not included in a tour,if the guide had said what was in the church most folks would want to go in there and then, in our experience. making the tour go on and on which is not always fair. Sometimes we do offer more and do, if the group can handle it keep wandering. But she should have told you at the end to go back to see the statue. Anyone at any time can come on our tours with a book, we will live up to our knowledge and standards. By the way, Ricks book is often wrong as well. In my 7 years in Rome reading often many history books I see so many contradictions but thats the nature of the “Truth”