Destination: Rome
My original plan for Day 8 was to get an early start and head for Rome as soon as possible. But some quite savage overnight storms had disturbed my sleep and I was a bit too blurry eyed to rush anywhere. Luckily I had been checking the weather every day and had put the raincovers on my TentBox the previous evening. So I had stayed very cosy and dry in my lovely nest among the trees, despite the tempestuous mediterranean conditions outside.
The storm having passed with the sunrise, it was another glorious day, so I decided to have a nice leisurely start instead of rushing off. I chilled at the campsite with some freshly brewed coffee, listening to the sounds of the Tuscan countryside for a couple of hours until I was ready to drive.
Stop 1: Happy Village Camping
It was roughly a 2 hour drive to next campsite in the Lazio hills, 15km north of Rome. As this would be my base camp for the next few days, it had taken me ages to decide on which campsite to book. In the end I went for Happy Village Camping, as it was set in peaceful countryside but had great connections in and out of the city. I wasn’t disappointed, it was a fabulous site on the side of a beautiful wooded valley, and getting to and from Rome could not have been easier.
I picked a lovely sheltered, relatively private pitch on one of the touring terraces, before heading for the shuttle bus. The bus runs almost every hour to the nearest town Prima Porta, where you can get a train every 20 mins into Rome. The buses run from around 9am until 10pm, which means you can spend the whole day in the city, getting to and from the site with ease.
The shuttle bus picks up and drops off from a dedicated stop immediately outside the campsite, which makes it very convenient. It’s also really easy to get taxis if you need to be in town outside of the hours the shuttle is running.
Stop 1: Prima Porta
Prima Porta is a busy little station and right next to the central bus terminal for the town. The shuttle bus drops off and picks up from immediately outside the station which is great. Train tickets can be purchased from the machines inside the station, I just got a one way ticket each time I travelled and it was only €1.5 each way. I would recommend taking a picture of the stops between Prima Porta and the city, so that you know when to get off, particularly on the return journey.
The train takes you to straight to one of the main terminals in Rome, Flaminio, which is located on the busy Piazza del Popolo. The journey itself takes around 20 minutes. The Flaminio metro station is right next to the train station which is handy for reaching other parts of the city. I would definitely advise taking a photo of the first metro map you see for reference until you become familiar with the layout. I didn’t see many metro maps, and it can be hard to get near the few there are in the very busy stations.
Stop 2: The Colosseum
I had booked my Colosseum Tour months before via Get Your Guide and was really excited as I headed for the Colosseo metro. I met the provider, Discover Rome just outside the station. There were about 20 of us on our tour and there seemed to be some delay in it starting. It turned out that the storms that had kept me awake the previous evening had flooded the sewers in Rome. For this reason, the underground part of our tour had been cancelled for safety reasons as the sewers had flooded the undeground of the Colosseum. Slightly disappointing, but the provider couldn’t have been more helpful, immediately refunding part of the cost of the tour. Still excited, we headed over the road to the Colosseum entrance where we met our guide Paul.
While is is quite expensive booking a guided tour as opposed to wandering about on your own, it’s a completely different experience. For a tour like the Colosseum, I’d go for a guided tour at least once. There was nothing that our guide Paul didn’t know about the Colosseum, or in fact about Rome. He was literally amazing and entertained us for the whole 2 hours we were touring the Colosseum, right until it closed.
Of course, everyone is familiar with the Colosseum as it looks now. But Pauls stories and in depth historical knowledge, painted a vivid picture of what it would have been like through the centuries. Even being at the Colosseum was a dream come true for me, but having it brought to life was very very special.
Having such a fabulous guide more than made up for not getting to see the underground tour. And although I got a good look at the Palentine Hill and Forum, I didn’t get to visit them in person either, due to the delay starting our tour. I am planning to go back to visit some of the things I missed, and hopefully we’ll get Paul as our guide!
Stop 3: Piazza Venezia
My next stop would be to check out the Piazza Venezia which is a 15 minute stroll from the Colosseum. The centrepeice of the Piazza is the relatively modern ‘Monumento a Vittorio Emanuelle II’ which is quite imposing. A guide on one of my tours the following day shared that it is not altogether popular with residents, who call it ‘the typewriter’ or ‘wedding cake’. It does seem somewhat at odds with the more ancient monuments but is certainly impressive.
It has a museum inside that holds, among other things, the tomb of the ‘unknown soldier’ respresenting those who lost their lives during WW1.
Due to preparations for the 2025 Jubilee, the area around the Monument was closed off during my visit. I have added this to my ever growing list of things I’d love to go back to see. I’d especially like to visit the unknown soldier and take the glass elevator to the top of the Monument as I’ve heard it has a great view of the city.
Stop 4: Trevi Fountain
By this time, I had realised that my schedule for the day had gone out of the the window. I’d been hoping to visit The Mouth of Truth, made famous by the film Roman Holiday. But the church housing it was now closed and would not be open the following day. Another one for the ‘revisit’ list!
I decided to make the most of my day by visiting something on my itinerary for the following day, the Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous fountains in the world. Not only is the fountain quite beautiful, it had also featured in a classic film called ‘La Dolce Vita‘ and another called ‘Three Coins in the Fountain‘. By now it is probably becoming clear I spent far too much of my younger life watching films!
It was a lovely walk to the Piazza di Trevi and I was just loving being part of the eternal city. I could almost feel a buzz of excitement as I got close to the fountain, and as I turned into the Piazza, was stunned by the sheer number of people! There were literally thousands of visitors rammed into the tiny square.
It was lovely to see the fountain, but I think I’d really like to revist at a time when it is a lot less busy. A long weekend in Rome outside of the main tourist season is most definitely on the cards.
Overnight: Happy Village Camping, Prima Porta
Having had another wonderful day adventuring, I decided to head back to my campsite as I had a very early start the next morning. Picking up some freshly made pizza from one of the many takeaway stalls along the Via del Corso was a very good call!
Heading back to Flaminio station via the Piazza del Popolo I stopped to catch some atmosphere, enjoy my delicious pizza and take one last picture before catching the train.
Arriving back at Prima Porta, I could see the Happy Village shuttle bus waiting at the station. It was really busy, the last few of the day are always crowded but they seem to squeeze everyone onboard. I had luckily bagged a window seat for the 15 minute journey, and feeling the cool breeze was wonderful after the heat of the day. And it was lovely to hear the excited chatter of so many nationalities as everyone shared stories about their day in Rome. Arriving at the campsite, it was literally just a one minute walk to my pitch and bed.
Climbing into my cosy TentBox for another fabulous nights sleep, I rolled down the windows to catch a little more of the lovely breeze and set my alarm. Tomorrow was going to be another amazing day!