WhyRoam_Header

Water Fountains in Rome

By

Rome’s water supply has been piped into the city from the countryside for centuries via ancient aqueducts.  The water is crisp, clean and fresh.  The city of Rome makes this great water free and available to everyone with the many public fountains located throughout the city.  In a time where it is the norm to pay upwards of €1 (in many cases more … much more) for a regular size bottle of water, it is refreshing (no pun intended 🙂 to find the sought after product for the low, low price of free.  It is so nice to be able to stop and fill up my water bottle with cool, fresh water when out and about in the city.  This is something I am thankful for on a regular basis, especially on warm, sunny days.  

Not to mention, the fountains are beautiful.  They are all so different and unique, and it’s always fun to stumble across a new fountain.  I have included photos of several different fountains I’ve come across throughout the city.  Keep in mind, it’s just a small sampling of the many fountains Bella Roma has to offer.  


Fountain in Villa Borghese Park

Fountain in Piazza Venezia

Fountain in Largo Argentina

Fountain near Piazza Campodolgio

Neighborhood fountain in Montesacro

 

Cheap Wine in Italy

By

Italy is known for producing great wines.  I bet a plate of pasta and a full glass of wine are two of the first things to enter into your mind when Italy is mentioned.  (At least they are for me :-).

I love a good red wine.  I completely and utterly adore it to be exact.  Even before moving to Italy, my palette was always drawn to Italian reds.  Montepulciano, Chianti, Barolo, Amarone, Lambrusco, Brunello … oh Brunello!  Enough of my obsession.  On to the cheap wine.   
 
There are several supermarkets (I use the term supermarket loosely) here in Italy that offer very reasonable prices.  Two of them are In’s and Eurospin.  The first time I visited In’s and saw their prices for bottles of wine, my jaw dropped.  Literally, I stood there speechless with my mouth open, just staring at the wine.  My mind could not fathom the price tags staring back at me.  I honestly turned and asked if it was some sort of a joke.  Once confirmed it was not, I then asked how the store could charge so little.  
 
What were the prices you ask?  Are you sitting down?  €1.79, €0.99, €2.29, €1.19.  Yep, that is for a bottle!  In the States, I was used to paying a minimum of $10 for a bottle of wine.  Mind you, $10 was the minimum, and then it was usually for a bottle I picked up from the supermarket out of convenience and it was something basic like Merlot, Cabernet or sometimes a Malbec (juicy red wine produced in Argentina).  My mind started computing that I could now by 9 or 10 bottles for what I used to pay minimum for 1 bottle.  JACKPOT!  I even saw a bottle of Brunello (one of Italy’s top wines, and my favorite wine) for around €12.  The same bottle will run you around $90 (or more) in the States.  DOUBLE JACKPOT!
 
I am assuming the reason for the low cost is because the wines are produced locally.  Many of them come from small, local producers, not big industry leading wineries.  I know the wines I find here are not necessarily the ‘cream of the crop’ or the top of the line, but they are great for a girl on a budget who enjoys a regular glass of wine with dinner at home.  Cin cin!
 

The New FREE Audio App by Rick Steves

By

Love Rick Steves?  Yeah, we do too!  He recently released a new Europe travel app.  The app includes Rick Steves’ self-guided tours for many museums, sights and historical walks throughout Europe.  That’s right … throughout Europe, not just Italy.  


You can download the FREE app to your Android device, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.  Don’t have one of these devices?  Don’t worry, you can also listen to the content directly from your computer.  


*For the FREE iPhone app, click here.  


*For the FREE Android app, click here.


*To listen FREE directly from your computer, click here.


*You can also find many travel books by Rick Steves in our online store here.  

© copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

Why Rome?

Public Transportation

By

Although I seem to have a love/hate relationship with the public transportation of Rome, most days I love it.  



When I lived the in the States, I drove a GMC Yukon, a large sports utility vehicle (SUV).  While I loved my truck and wouldn’t dream of driving a smaller vehicle, I really like the fact I don’t have to drive anymore.  I can get just about anywhere I would like by train, bus or metro.  This applies to Europe, not just Rome.  Living in Rome, the capital city of Italy, we also thankfully have access to fairly cheap flights and trains to take us anywhere in Europe. 



You can’t always depend on public transportation (this is where the hate part of the relationship comes into play).  Sometimes trains run late or bus waiting times seem a little too long when you’re in a hurry to get somewhere.  Depending on the time of the day, transportation may be crowded and you may not always find a seat.  It also really stinks to wait under an umbrella for a bus when it’s raining.  Then there are the dreaded transportation strikes where the unions feel like they have to ‘punish’ the ‘regular people’ in order to get the attention of the ‘big dogs’, but we won’t bother to go into detail on that.  


On the other hand, however, public transportation is a much cheaper option.  As you can imagine, my large sports utility vehicle (SUV) used its fair share (if not more) of gasoline.  And as we all know, gas is not cheap these days.  When I owned my truck, I had to pay a good deal of money each month in order to be able to use it … monthly note, insurance, gas, maintenance, repairs (when they unfortunately happened).  


Here in Rome, I pay a monthly fee of €63 for a ticket (this is less than what I payed just for gas each month).  The monthly ticket allows me unlimited use of buses, trams, trains and the metro … access to all of them inside the city and any direction outside the city up to 60km.  Not bad!  I now do not have to pay a car note, insurance, gas, maintenance or repairs.  I also don’t have to search for a parking place each day, or navigate my way through traffic (the worst).  


While some days I would still like to just jump in my truck and go, I really prefer using public transportation.  I definitely prefer the difference in costs!  

A Day Trip to Tivoli

By

As great as the city is, sometimes you just need a little break from the city life.  This past week we escaped the city for an afternoon and headed to Tivoli.  It was my first time visiting Tivoli, but it won’t be my last.  I was smitten with the ancient, picturesque town.  Tivoli is where ancient Roman emperors built their ‘summer homes’ just a short distance outside of Rome.  Rome is filled with antiquities, but did you know history and settlement of Tivoli can be traced back to 13th century BC?  Pretty incredible!  

We decided to visit Villa Gregoriana.  We had heard Villa Gregoriana had beautiful waterfalls, and boy did we hear correct.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  We had a wonderful afternoon there…complete with waterfalls, rainbows and amazing views!  

Be sure to wear comfortable shoes.  The steps can be a little difficult to manage in certain areas.  Be prepared to do a good bit of climbing up and down stairs too.  Don’t let the steps deter you though, the villa is worth a visit.  

Once you make your way through the winding trails and waterfalls, you will exit the villa near the Temple of Vesta.  The temple was dedicated to Vesta, the goddess of hearth and home in Roman mythology.  

Directly next to the Temple of Vesta is a charming restaurant with the quaint town of Tivoli as the backdrop.  We did not have a chance to eat here as we arrived a little early for dinner, but we will plan to do so next time because it looked really lovely.  

Below are two short videos of the waterfalls and rainbow we saw during our visit.  Hope you enjoy!