panteon quer

This years traditional birthday trip took us to Rome.
Rome has so much to offer! The sun (of course!), the food (we both go nuts for Italian food!) and probably most importantly the architecture and culture.

Needless to say, if you are in Rome for the first time, there are a lot of tourist attractions, you need to see:  the Colosseum, Pantheon, Vatican (St. Peter’s Basilica, the Museums), Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps (those were our top 5), Roman Forum, Campo de Fiori and so much more! Just walking around you already feel like in an endless open air museum!

col unten

Vaticanmuseums

fingern

trevi

It’s a city best seen walking, so take some comfy shoes (I didn’t and I regretted it on the 2nd day, but then you have an excuse to go shopping in Rome… and that’s not bad either) and get around as much as possible. You’ll need some energy, but don’t worry, the sun (we were so lucky in January!) and the amazing food will keep you walking and admiring the eternal city. Pizza, pasta, fish…here’s a list of our favorites:

pastabarThe foodie highlight of the trip was il Pastificio – a tiny (homemade, fresh) pasta place, where you can choose from 2 kinds of pasta dish and get them on a plastic plate with a plastic fork with a small cup with red wine…doesn’t sound so appealing? Well, it was the best pasta, we’ve ever had! Eaten standing between a lot of Italians and all of this for 4€. It’s just around the corner of the Spanish steps so you’ll probably be nearby at some point.

pizzaPizza could not be missed, obviously. I have to confess I’m not the biggest pizza fan (I know, I know…I don’t understand it either) so we tried to find something that would satisfy us equally. On a walk to Campo de‘ Fiori we’ve found a small fancy place that offered pizza with zucchini flowers (big fan!)! Yummy!

fresh fishFor Sebastian’s birthday we went to the Fish Market – a great place in Trastevere, where you can choose your fresh fish and eat it in any variation, from sushi, to fried. The restaurant itself is hip and pretty full with young people, it offers nice wine and great fish for affordable prices!

Last but not least we cooked and enjoyed breakfasts in the sun at the terrace of our nice Airbnb appartment – just go to the supermarkets and you’ll find many delicious things to try. Even better, go to small shops, like the pescharia in Via Labicana 55 (or 53 ?)  where you’ll get super fresh fish and the seller will show you with vibrant gesticulation, how you are supposed to cook it. I’m sure you can find such small local shops nearly everywhere outside the tourist areas.

nighttime

Nights in Rome can be equally delicious – starting with aperitivo, a light pre-dinner drink, in our case mostly a Spritz (Prosecco Aperol) with a small appetizer, which you can find nearly everywhere. After eating pretty late, it’s time to get some drinks and let me tell you, we’ve found one bar that we really miss back here in Berlin:

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barbar shop tresen

The Barber Shop looks like fancy vintage  barber shop from the street, but once you enter  the cellar (if you get past the door man), you’ll be sucked into an amazingly comfy atmosphere with great music and a level of mixology, you haven’t even dreamt of. Kind staff and audience make it a great experience.

Another area that’s nice at night is Monti – you’ll find nice bars like Blackmarket or Ai Tre Scalini, which has amazing wine.

Last but not least we have this tradition to always buy a vinyl in each city we visit and we’ve found a pretty nice Vinyl store – Goody Music. Not far away there’s Via del Corso, where you can buy new shoes, if you were as inconsiderate, as I was and then there’s Galleria Alberto Sordi, probably the prettiest shopping centre, I’ve ever seen.

goody music

einkaufen

brunnen fisch

peter

san schirm

We’ll come back, Rome! We’ve fallen in love!