How to do Rome on a budget | Sights | Food | Getting around | Italy

It's John and Becky from Park's Travel Guide. Welcome to Rome. So we've arrived at the hotel, it's called the Merulana Star. It's a bed and breakfast basis that we've booked on and it looks rather nice actually. We're from the outside anyway because we haven't been able to check into our room yet because we got here about quarter past 11 and it said to come back after one o'clock which is no problem. Which is fine, I mean luckily for us just next door to the hotel is a little cafe. It's also the cafe that serves breakfast for the hotel and so we just got a coffee and a beer. We're not in Kansas anymore because a cappuccino now costs €3.50 and a peroni costs €6. You kind of expect it when you come to a capital city don't you? It's just like London. So we got the train here from Napoli this morning and then we've purchased a 48-hour pass for public transport here in Rome which we are definitely going to get our money's worth from. Each pass was €12.50 and it means that we can use the buses, trams and the metro for 48 hours which is fabulous and like I said we're definitely going to get our money's worth with that. We've also been given this very useful map so hopefully that will help us navigate around the city of Rome to all the main attractions that we want to show you guys and obviously we will be filming some great places to eat along the way. We're going to try and do this on a budget. We think this is probably going to be the hardest budget vlog we have ever tried to film. We're going to try and do it on a budget if not we're going to try and do it within a reasonable price as well. So you'll have to stay tuned and see what we managed to find along the way. Hopefully we can do it. Okay so I know some people will frown upon this greatly however for those of you that have seen our Sri Lanka series will know how much we enjoyed the food in Sri Lanka and just a few doors down when we've just been having a walk from the hotel what have we found John? A Sri Lankan fast food restaurant. We absolutely loved the eggs and Moses so we're going to have to stop and get one. Just a little snack to put us on. I haven't had these since Sri Lanka and these were our favourite go-to road snack. Happy egg. That takes me back. So these are two euros each. So as you can see we've checked into the room. It's small but it's modern and it's clean and that is the main thing. It's in a great location we're just a four minute walk away from the Coliseum as well. So now that we've dropped our bags let's go and explore. So we're just using the underground for the first time now. We're going to a stop called Barberini. So that was good. We were the fourth stop. Five minutes didn't even take that really. That's why we love the metro. So quick so easy. So when you see Pepe's Bar there go down that street. At the crossroads straight on. So when you see this you need to go down there. Peke's leading the way. I can hear it. So this is the real side to the Trevi Fountain. So so touristy. Everybody wants to see it when you come to Rome. It's one of the things you must do and it's nice to see it not up in scaffolding as it was the last time I was actually here quite a number of years ago. But as you can tell it's pretty hard to move. Everyone is desperate for the best picture for Instagram. Speaking of Instagram if you haven't already got us on Instagram and Facebook check out Park's Travel Guide on there. So another thing to be careful of is that there's a few guys that are coming round and they're offering to take your picture. Now they're charging about four euros. If you want one get one but otherwise they keep asking and asking and asking and it wears you down a little bit. It does. I mean someone's just been nice enough to take our picture and we took theirs back but look we actually got right to the train. So if you two are watching from Canada hello again and thank you very much. So this is for you guys to bring us luck, to keep us traveling and making cool videos forever. We're going to the Spanish Steps now. So if you look where we showed you where we turned left to go to the Trevi Fountain, that shop, you need to go down the side of that shop inside of McDonald's. So at the carry four go down. Follow tour guide Becky. Straight on. So we're at the Spanish Steps. Now this is the second attraction that we've come to visit and there's just people everywhere. I mean not that I didn't expect there to be people everywhere however if you want great photographs get here at three four o'clock in the morning and then maybe you might get them. Shoot done. Make sure you check that one out on Instagram because John is getting a very good photographer. I think we're going to get some pasta so let's go hunt for that. Right so this place is one that we are truly excited about. The guy has two types of pasta fresh every day. It is a dried pasta shop and you just stand inside at a counter and just eat. There are no tables no chairs. Nice and simple unpretentious just how we like it. Four euros fifty. So let's see what pasta they've got on offer today. As mentioned each portion of pasta is four euros fifty and the pasta changes daily. Today we got lucky and we had a spicy tomato pasta and a zucchini and bacon. Right so zucchini and bacon. Oh wow the size portion size you get. This is enough to easily fill you up for lunch. That was a very very filling meal. Four euros fifty as well. You definitely have to check that out when you come to Rome. So we're just going to have a walk now to the Pantheon from where we are the Spanish Steps area. I'll take you about 15 minutes on foot apparently. So the thing is with Rome it's really strange because there's loads of high street shops around but yet you're surrounded by all this architecture and ruins and really interesting things to see. So we have actually sorry so we have actually detoured from the direction of the Pantheon at the moment because I actually saw something that looked pretty interesting at the end of the street and I can't really figure it out on Google Maps what it is. So we're just going to go have a look anyway and maybe it might be interesting maybe it might not. So that's it then yeah. This is what I've got blisters on my feet for walking half a mile in the wrong direction. Just bit to see the Trevi Fountain the Spanish Steps they were beautiful and then I've come to see that. Oh it'll be great when we get there it'll look honestly it'll look fantastic. For your present. Oh thank you. I give present for you. No thank you. I give you present good luck for you. You want to make a picture video. I'm just filming at the minute. Oh yeah I know you get that it's very beautiful. No thank you I've got it. Oh my god he's selfish. Well that was interesting. Not only have you had a detour it's also try and made you part with money. That's two things I don't want to do walk and part with money and this lad's just made me do that. I'm not impressed if I'm honest with you. Where are we John? What is this called? Something like the Pampalo isn't it? So just so you know it's called Piazza del Pampalo is what John's trying to say. And actually you know it's still pretty interesting it's at the end of this really busy high street and like I said you know you've got all these shops and then you've just got things like that it's cool. So I genuinely can't make my mind up about what I mean like I'm looking at this now and I can literally see the Romans walking around like I was so interested in learning about them at school and this kind of just puts it into perspective. I'm so excited to be here right now. So this is another place where the queue has formed we didn't realise we were stood in it we're not going in but yeah let's have a look at the queue and you'll see exactly why you know you've got to expect to wait here. So we were just walking back to the hotel after getting off the bus after a day of sightseeing and we were thirsty so we've stopped at a local bar I'm not actually sure what the name is but I'll put it down in the comments below and I've got a glass of red wine John obviously has gone for a bigger and the total bill has come Well it's a new day today as you can probably tell by the outfit changes that we're currently in it was a bit of an exhausting day yesterday with travelling from Naples to Rome and then trying to get as much done that you'll see on camera we just pretty much crashed. Yeah well we just are really really burnt out yesterday. So this morning we took the underground to Lepanto which is the closest stop for the castle so we're going to go check that out this morning but first we've just stopped at this pretty impressive building when we've just googled it it's actually the palace of justice I don't actually think this is the best side of it I think the riverside view is the best side of it so we'll probably check that out while we're here as well. Before we continue with this vlog any further if you are really enjoying our content today make sure to smash that like button and subscribe for future content. So we just threw the gates into St Paul's Square now and there's tour guides that are basically hounding you as soon as you get in so don't know how much they are just kept saying no but they're waiting for you they're like one in a line it were like gladiators and to beat one and then get to the other. So the Vatican City the smallest country in the world. We are just here and we've just been given some information about the tours so to go to the museum and the Sistine Chapel with fast track entry it's £35 per person to buy your ticket here just over at the ticket office now it's quarter past 10 and the queue is already an hour long so that fast track would probably be well worth it. Now as you know we've only got very limited time here so we're not interested in going inside any of the attractions today we're just happy to see them from the outside we don't have the time unfortunately to spare to actually queue for them so maybe next time. I think if you're short of time then one of these sightseeing buses would be probably the best option you've got three different companies from what we can gather here you've got your your typical red hop-on hop-off you've got Big Bus Rome and then you've got I Love Rome City Tour as well so yeah I mean I'm not sure how much how much they are we'll try and find out for you but otherwise if you're short of time probably the best option yeah you can book them on get your guide but there's loads of people selling them loads of kiosks that sell the tickets so you can get them anywhere yeah um but yeah a lot of the attractions are really far apart so a hop-on hop-off bus would have probably been ideal but instead I'm making John's feet hurt by walking. So we've just stumbled across what looks like another one of our little gems we'll put it down below anyway so you can get little street food snacks here like suplee arancini slices of pizza and it's all a budget price including the beer as well three euro sixty for a big bottle of Corona. So we've got a few little things to pick at typical sort of street food that you can get in Rome so we've got an arancini we've got a croquette and we have suplee as well which is definitely a favourite street food here so all of these were relatively cheap so it was a euro I think each for the croquette and the suplee and I think it was two euros for the arancini and then we've got a coke a water and a beer and it came to nine euros thirty not bad less than a tenner we've got drinks and a bit of a light street food so let's see what these are like I've never tried this before this is the suplee so if you break it apart it's basically like a deep fried rice ball with tomato sauce I think originally it used to come stuffed with chicken giblets if I remember rightly but yeah let's have a go when in Rome I've waited years to say that some mozzarella in there as well I'm gonna go for the arancini so it's basically like the size of a scotch egg for those of you that know what a scotch egg is basically this is also like a it's like a deep fried rice bowl so that's really good I don't know if there's some some vegetables in there maybe let's see what's like there's some sort of sauce in there but it's not like tomato it I can't quite pinpoint what it is it's good though really good right so last one is the potato croquette looks like a little bit of ham in there yeah it does taste like cheese some herbs yeah I'll go say it smells really herby oh wow it's the best croquette I've ever eaten in my life I think I'm gonna go get another one actually after this they're that good so if you get the option for the croquettes definitely go for it right so while we're here I've just noticed pardon the traffic there's a place next door that looks pretty reasonable as well if you want a panini on a budget so let's just have a look let's come here so that seems a pretty good deal really eight euros for a pizza in Rome is all right so that's right next door to where we are another money-saving tip is that the water here is absolutely fine to drink so bring a reusable bottle and get your fill all right so we're in the roman forum now the roman forum was like the center meeting point for the romans it's just so hard to imagine that we're literally treading the same ground as the romans did thousands of years ago and the ruins that surround us are the exact same ruins that were here so it really is good to be here and see the remains of a truly fantastic period in time I'm actually from a roman settlement town called Castleford which isn't too far away from Leeds in Yorkshire where we live now and we learned a lot about the romans in school and it's really really is good to actually be here and see the truly great and magnificent architecture of what they've actually managed to find and excavate over time looking around I'll tell you what amazes me most as we're walking around and looking at the old ruins and the forums that once were when you look at some of the columns and you just think back then how the hell were these constructed I mean me and john struggle two of us to move our washing machine never mind you know the people back then constructing these bizarre okay so we've just had our ticket checked and we are just entering the coliseum it's worth noting that they do turn you away if you don't turn up 15 minutes before if you couldn't try and come earlier like we did uh they turned us away so now you need to come out 15 minutes before yeah now it's our time to go in let's go for it are you not entertained so one final coliseum tip if you want to get amazing pictures like this then you need to head a street back from the coliseum to a street called via nicola salvi it boasts great views of the coliseum even if you don't intend to go inside you can still get some amazing pictures oh well what an exhausting but great day that was it's been fantastic today and i've got the sore feet to prove it oh the miles we've walked you need some really good shoes when you're out here it's miles and miles our feet ache like never before we've seen some amazing things today we really really have and if you do one excursion that you pay for then make sure it's the coliseum and the roman forum just while we're on the subject of the roman forum allow yourself two hours minimum to go around there because we were two hours and we kind of rushed it yeah we didn't see everything but there were some bits that we weren't bothered about seeing as well but we're covered a lot of it sadly that's all we have time for and rome has been an amazing city although make sure you bring some good walking shoes we had to get a taxi back to champino airports which cost around 35 euros and took about half an hour on that note we're gonna love you and leave you thank you very much for watching and we'll show you some of the best highlights of our italian adventure we'll see you somewhere in the world sometime soon hi it's john and becky from park travel guide we are back on the road again welcome to avellino benvenuti in italia