Hello you! Thanks for being back to read some more in the new year! I’m so happy to be back with more stories from our Roman Holiday of last October. Our absolute first day in this beautiful city was to walk around the gorgeous and ancient neighbourhood called Trastevere.
It translates literally as across the river – I’m assuming as it is across the Tiber, west of what used to be the centre of the city.
We were staying in an Airbnb right next door, in the Aurelio neighbourhood, and we knew that walking was the best way to discover a city, so we put our sense of direction and legs to work to make it to Trastevere.
We got incredibly lost – first because despite there being lines on our map there was sometimes no sidewalks, no access to cross to the parallel streets, or simply walls and parks separating us from where we wanted to go. It took hours, but we managed it! At least, you don’t truly discover a city without getting lost a little bit, right?
We first admired the city from the Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi – we could see the Vatican on one side and the ancient city centre with the Colosseum from the other. We took a rest, had some gelato and headed out on our way to discover more of the famous neighbourhood’s small windy streets.
From there we simply walked and walked and walked. We saw the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola and the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. We had a delicious lunch on a lovely terrace off a tiny little street. We crossed to walk on the Isola Tiberina a little bit. We saw the Portico d’Ottavia, which was our first taste at the monumental structures of ancient Rome.
It was a lovely day! We got lost on the way back, of course, but we didn’t mind. That’s the wonderful thing about being on holidays – there are no rushes, no commitments, just the winding cobbled streets and the hot air of Rome in late October in front of you.
Did you pass by Trastevere when you were in Rome?xx