The Right Balances
The Right Balances
My advice has nothing to do with photography, but it might be useful to you. I've been to Rome a few times. I find that three days is enough to enjoy Rome as a normal tourist. By the fifth day, if I'm still in tourist mode, I get sick of it. I feel like screaming, "Alright! Enough! I get it: Rome was a big deal about two thousand years ago." It is so spectacular and there's so much to see, it's just sensory overload. With that in mind, I recommend not attacking the city with an attitude that you have to see every thing as quickly as possible. I also recommend being open to small things. Maybe hit something big once a day and then a couple of smaller things. Go to the park and have a picnic. Sit in a bookstore or a coffee shop longer than you might when on vacation. Don't do the guided tours or the bus tours. Basically, try to find the right balance of a relaxing vacation and sightseeing that works for you.
Regarding food, many of the restaurants abuse tourists: they overcharge and they don't give you very good food in exchange. There are excellent restaurants, but you have to know which ones. If you want to keep your cost down, look for a supermarket. Just say to a local, "Doe-veh un super-mare-ka'-to?" There's always one close by, usually a Punto chain store with green signs. If you get some bread, you can ask the people in the deli section to make you sandwiches. They don't charge extra for that. Two people can get a fresh lunch from a supermarket for under 5 euros and eat at a park bench by the Colosseum, or you can eat not very good food at a restaurant for 30 euros and feel cheated. I recommend saving food money for dinner time. Use a guide book to find a good restaurant, putting the 25 euros you saved on lunch towards whatever you might spend for dinner. Oh, and buy your bottled water or other cold drinks and snacks from the supermarket. A bottle of iced tea in the supermarket is about a euro. It's € 3.50 on the street. If you're careful and clever, and weigh out your options, you can make better use of your food budget with grocery stores.
As for what to see, besides the usual things, I'd recommend going to the
Santa Maria degli Angeli Basilica (i.e., St. Mary of the Angels Basilica). It's a large church near the Piazza della Repubblica. To start, there's an excellent fountain in that plaza in front of the church. Inside, the church is huge and majestic--but take time to appreciate the outer doors before entering. It has classic and creative architecture, paintings, and statues. It also has some marvelous modern statues; a nice balance of classics and modern pieces. Every time I go to Rome, I always go there first, in case I run out of time later.
