Weekend Travels in Rome, Italy: Scrapbooking My Adventures

For years now, Rome has remained a top bucket-list travel destination for me. And in February 2023, I had the incredible opportunity to visit the Eternal City.

Rome has tons of incredible sites to offer to tourists and travelers, from the Vatican to the Colosseum to the Pantheon to tons of Cathedrals and lots of ancient Roman structures. Since my trip to Rome only lasted from Friday night to Sunday night, I barely scraped the surface in terms of what I saw. That said, I definitely made the most of my limited time in the city, and I made sure to see the sites I was most excited to visit.

I spent only a weekend in Rome, but that was more than enough time to feel awestruck by the rich history and stunning architecture of the city. In this post, I scrapbook my adventures in Rome, Italy.

I was lucky enough to spend this time in Rome with two of my aunts. They traveled to Europe to visit me during Semana Blanca, a week of celebrations where schools close in Andalusia. Since I taught English as an auxiliar de conversación in a primary school, I got that week off of work.

Since my aunts visited for that entire week, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel with them to several cities I had never visited before. After Rome, we continued on to Pisa, Florence, Venice, and Prague! Follow along with my blog to read my posts about the rest of our travels in these beautiful cities.

Well, without further ado, here’s my virtual scrapbook of my weekend trip to Rome, Italy!

Day 1: Dinner and Gelato

6:30PM–7:00PM: Arrival in Rome

Since I spent the day traveling, my first day in Rome ended up being just an evening—but that didn’t stop me from taking advantage of every moment I had there. Around 6:30PM, I arrived at my hotel and dropped off my bags before heading out to grab something to eat…

7:00PM–8:30PM: Dinner at L'Insalata Ricca

My first night in Rome, I ate a delicious Italian dinner at L'Insalata Ricca, a restaurant that offers plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. Along with some traditional ravioli and salad, we tried their tasty vegan lasagna. I definitely recommend the place to anyone looking for Italian food with a vegan spin.

We relaxed and had a nice, slow meal. And we were sure to save room for dessert…

8:30PM–10:00PM: Gelato and Exploring

After dinner, one of my aunts and I went for a walk around the city, admiring how some historical sites were lit up at night. In particular, we admired Castel Sant’Angelo, a riverside fortress built in the second century.

We walked with the intention of finding a place to get some gelato, and soon enough, we stumbled upon Gelateria La Romana. This gelateria, which has multiple locations around the city, had a wide array of gelatos to choose from, along with crepes and other desserts. My aunt and I split a three-flavor cup of gelato and a crepe, and we definitely weren’t disappointed! My first gelato in Italy was delicious, as expected!

Around 10:00PM, we made it back to our hotel to turn in on the earlier side, which was important because we had an early start the next day…

Day 2: The Vatican, the Pantheon, and Other Exciting Sites

5:45AM–9:00AM: Vatican Key Masters Tour

On our second day in Rome, we woke up before the sun to get to a very special, intimate tour of the Vatican. We walked in a small group with a historical expert tour guide as we followed the Vatican Key Masters around to open all of the doors of the Vatican in the hours before it opened to the public.

Our tour began at 6:00AM, so we had to arrive at the Vatican by 5:45AM. We felt very groggy, but we also felt excited for the unique experience to come.

As our guide explained the history of the Vatican, its rooms, and its artwork, each participant in the tour got the chance to to turn a key and open a door. After each door opened, we saw the lights turn on and illuminate the unbelievably orate rooms inside.

In particular, the Sistine Chapel absolutely took my breath away.

As our tour came to a close around 8:30AM, we saw tourists steadily filtering inside. By 9:00AM, the rooms and halls of the Vatican were teeming with people.

I couldn’t be more grateful to have gotten the chance to see the Vatican through this incredible tour. It was magical to have such a private experience in the Vatican. And our tour guide was deeply knowledgeable, as well as thoughtful and charismatic.

When our tour concluded, we were allowed to continue exploring the Vatican and its museums as long as we liked. We spent another half hour in the museums, but by 9:00AM, we decided to head out, seriously craving some food and caffeine.

9:30AM–11:00AM: Breakfast at Café Mémé Bistrot

We ate breakfast at Café Mémé Bistrot, a cute restaurant with both traditional and unique breakfast options. The owner gave us recommendations based on our tastes and dietary restrictions, and we loved everything we ate.

After breakfast, we wandered around for a bit on the way back to our hotel, where we rested for a bit before heading back out into Rome.

12:00PM–1:00PM: The Pantheon

When we left our hotel, we went straight to the Pantheon, hoping to luck out with a short entrance line. But to our dismay, the Pantheon had been fully reserved for the day.

We were just walking away from the entrance, and deciding to look into booking reservations for tomorrow, when a tour guide approached us and offered us spots in her tour of the Pantheon—a fifteen euro tour she said would enter in just fifteen minutes. We happily took her up on the offer, and we ended up being very glad we did. The Pantheon was simply awe-inspiring in terms of grandeur, architectural innovation, and historical trajectory.

1:00PM–2:30PM: Lunch at Ginger

After the Pantheon, we craved a healthy lunch, which we ate at Ginger. The restaurant had lush, delicious salads, as well as smoothie bowls and other nutritious meals.

2:30PM–4:00PM: Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps

Once we finished lunch, we walked to two more sites we wanted to see before the day ended: the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Both were spectacular to see, but both were surrounded with massive crowds of tourists.

4:30PM–9:00PM: Travestere and Dinner at Tonnarello

In the evening, we explored the Trastevere neighborhood, a gorgeous, cozier area with smaller streets, cute shops, and nice restaurants.

We ate dinner at Tonnarello, and we loved the meal and the service. The restaurant actually has two locations in the Travestere neighborhood, and the one of these locations had a line all of the way around the block. So, we decided to eat at the less busy location here. (I have no clue if that location is always less busy, but it was significantly less busy when we were there. That said, we still had to wait about an hour to get a table!)

After dinner, we felt very tired. Having woken up so early that morning, we definitely needed to turn in early. Besides, we had already seen a lot that day!

Day 3: The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill

10:00AM–1:30PM: Tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill

After a quick breakfast at a cafe near our hotel, we took a taxi to the Colosseum to begin our walking tour. In addition to the Colosseum, the tour encompassed the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.

Taking a tour definitely seemed like the best way to visit these awe-inspiring archeological sites. For one, our tour guide provided a richness of information that would have been impossible to gather from the historical signs alone. And perhaps most importantly, taking a tour allowed us to skip the long lines of tourists waiting to enter the sites.

1:30PM–3:00PM: Lunch at Su Ghetto

For lunch, we went to Su Ghetto, a Kosher restaurant highly recommended by our tour guide earlier that day. Our meal was delicious, and we enjoyed getting to taste another cuisine traditional to Rome: Judeo-Roman cuisine.

3:00PM–9:00PM: Exploring Rome

We spent the rest of the day without much of a plan, just wandering around the streets of Rome popping in and out of boutiques and taking in the scenes around us. We ate a light dinner at a bar near our hotel, and we turned in early to get some rest before our early morning train to Florence the next day.