Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè, One of The Best Coffee Shop in Rome

Do you know that Rome known for the good taste of their coffee?? Honestly, i didn’t know about that and i’m also not a coffee addict. But since everyone always told me to try the coffee in Rome, my curiousity about it led me to one of the best coffee shop in Rome, Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè. Being located at Piazza di San Eustachio, not far from the famous Rome’s landmark, Pantheon, you won’t missed it when you walk at this area. This coffee shop always full of poeple from early morning until at night.

Actually we’ve passed this coffee shop while had a walking tour from Piazza Navona to Piazza di Spagna. However the weather was too hot so we didn’t stopped by at that time. But at that night, we returned again to that place to try the tastiness of the coffee from this popular coffee shop.

Like other coffee shop, they also sell some bread and cake to be consumed together with coffee. If you’re in hurry, you also can just take away the coffee, which will costs cheaper than “dine-in”.

Beside a ready to drink coffee, they also sell the coffee powder. So if you’ve tried the coffee and you like it, you can buy the coffee powder to enjoy it more at home.. For me, the coffee was really delicious, and i wanted it more and more..

Anyway,  before we wen’t back to hotel. We’re going to Pantheon (again) to see this iconic building at night. Like i was predicting before, this place looks more beautiful at night. But 1 thing i never thought before, this place still crowded at night. It was 11pm but people still “playing” here. Even there’s a street artist still painting a wonderful picture on the street. Should i say that “Rome is a city of art??”

Pantheon at night

Art on the street

Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè
Address : Piazza di San Eustachio, 82, 00186 Roma RM, Italy
Phone : +39 06 6880 2048
Opening hours : Mon - Sun 07.30AM - 1AM
Website : https://www.santeustachioilcaffe.com/it/

[Europe] Walking Tour in Rome, From Piazza Navona to Spanish Steps

Rome, not always about a historical building, which always need an extra fee to entry. There are another places that also great to be visited, such as Piazza. In Italy, Piazza means a square. Since it’s an open  air place, you can visit it for free, and join with the crowd here. At the Piazza, you’ll see the landmark (which also popular among tourist), watch the street performance, or maybe you can just sitting down at the cafe, and enjoy the ambience. In Rome, there are several Piazza that are very famous, and you can’t missed it such as Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo and Piazza di Spagna. Well, at this post, i’ll write about my experience while had a walking tour from Vatican to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps).

Piazza del Popolo. Source : www.rollingrome.com

It was the second day for us in Rome. We started our day by visiting Vatican in morning. From Vatican, we walked out through Via della Conciliazione and accross the iconic bridge in Rome, Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II. Like Pont Alexander III in Paris and other European bridge, there are always a beautiful statue as a decoration on it. Beside that, this bridge become popular because you can see the majestic Castel Sant’Angelo from here. This bridge is a good spot for take pictures.

Castel Sant'Angelo seen from Ponte Vittorio Emanuele

After crossing this bridge, we turned to the small alley, Via dei Coronari. At this street we stopped for a lunch at the famous restaurant for pasta, Il Pastaio di Roma. We just had a quick lunch here because we only had a little bit time left, and we needed to move fast so we could visit every destination that we want. It’s only about 10 minutes walking through Via dei Coronari, finally we arrived at our first destination, Piazza Navona.

Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona is very popular in Rome. I recognized this place from the pictures on Google that always shown up everytime i searched about Rome. The thing that makes this place become special is the fountain. Yeah, Rome has many fountains and they are very interesting to be visited by tourists. Beside the fountain, there are also many street artist in this piazza, and they sell a beautiful painting of Rome. Actually, if you visit this place at the good weather, sitting at the cafe or bar along this piazza is a great things to do. However i visited this place in summer, and the heat reached 40 degrees Celcius. We couldn't "stand" at this place for a long time, so we kept walking and continue our tour.

Fiumi Fountain

The next place that we're going to see is Pantheon. Pantheon is also a famous landmark in Rome. People will recognize this iconic temple by looking at the dome on the top of the building. It’s located not far from Piazza Navona, only about 500m. Actually Pantheon is a nice place to be visited. But (again), because of the crazy weather, we couldn't enjoy it too much. Although there are many great coffee shops around this area such as Sant'Eustachio Il Caffe. FYI, Rome also known for their coffee. It was so tasty and you should try it when in Rome.

Pantheon

Anyway, while we're exploring this area, we found a toy store named Bartolucci. It's the first time for me to saw this kind of toy store. It was so unique. At this toy store, they are selling everything about Pinnochio. You must be know about Pinnochio, right? A wooden toy who can be alive, and when he's telling lies, his nose will get longer. It's one of my favorite character when i was a kid, and i'm so glad to found this store.

 It was 3pm and the temperature was getting higher. It was the hottest time of the day so we decided to looking for an indoor place. At the moment, we found Galleria Alberto Sordi, a shopping mall which located at Via del Corso, and decided to "hide" here from Mr. Sun for a while. Via del Corso is one of the best shopping street in Rome. This street located between 2 popular tourist spots, Piazza Venezia and Piazza del Popolo. Walking along this street you'll find many shopping stores from the high-end brand such as Pandora, Louis Vuitton, until the mid-range brand such as ZARA, Foot Locker, Disney Store, Kiko Milano, and many more. (Also read : Cheap Shopping Guide in Europe)

While we’re continuing our tour to the last destination, the Spanish Steps, we found a street which gonna change our walking tour into shopping tour. It’s Via dei Condotti. How could we not do it??? There are many luxurious shopping store along this street such as Fendi, Hermes, Salvatore Ferragamo, and other brand that i always adore. Even though we’ve shopping a lot in Paris and Milan, but still.. Everytime i saw these kind of stores, it almost impossible for me to just passed it.

Baymax doll from Disney Store in Rome

Finally, the sun was started to going down. The sky was still bright but the weather wasn’t as hot as before. After bought a little bit stuff, we’re going to our last destination which just located at the end of Via dei Condotti. It’s Piazza di Spagna. Piazza di Spagna is the most crowded piazza in Rome. This place always full of tourist, and many street artists and street performances. The thing that makes this Piazza popular is the Spanish Steps. This iconic stairways always be an interesting place for  a photostop in Rome.

The Spanish Steps

We didn’t enjoy this place for a long time. We’re so exhausted at that time after visiting Vatican in the morning, and do the walking tour at the hot and sunny day. Well, we’re just strolling around this area for a while, had a little bit window shopping (again!), and after that we went back to hotel for packing and take a rest earlier before we had another long flight back to Jakarta.

After all, i would say Rome is really fun, and it’s great to have a walking tour in Rome. Since most of tourist attractions in Rome are located close to each other, you can visit them only by walking. But just a little advice from me, i think it would be better to not visit Rome in summer. Because summer in Rome is extremely hot, and it won’t be comfortable to walk outdoor at this weather..

Il Pastaio di Roma, Via dei Coronari - Rome

“When in Italy, eat pasta as much as you can.”

Those are words that i talked to myself and Ivan before we go to Italy. I love pasta, and Aurelia too. We know that pasta was born in Italy. So we didn’t want to miss any day to not eating pasta when in Italy. It was the last day for us. At the next day we must go back to our country. Well, at this day, we must eat another delicious pasta, and we decided to have a lunch at Il Pastaio di Roma.

Il Pastaio is a small restaurant that serves a delicous, fresh pasta in Rome. Located in the middle between Vatican and Piazza Navona, this strategic location make them easy to be reached. Heard about their reputation as one of the best pasta in Rome, we decided to stop here for lunch after visiting Vatican.

They don't have many options for pasta. Instead, they have other food beside pasta such as salad, and rice too. We ordered some pasta with our favorite sauce, pesto (for Aurelia) and Amatriciana. It took for while for them to prepare the pasta. Meanwhile, we ordered other food which ready to eat.

Riso Pollo e Curry €5

Amatriciana €5

Aurelia's Favorite : Pesto €5

Well, how was it??? It was so tasty!!! They cooked this fresh pasta perfectly. The delicious sauce also make a plus point for it. Don’t worry about the price. Eat a delicious food in Europe not always be expensive. They are selling this yummy pasta only €5 for a big portion. Isn’t it a good deal????

(Also read : Quick Bites and Cheap Food Around Duomo di Milano and Budget Friendly Food in Venice)

Il Pastaio di Roma
Address : Via dei Coronari, 102/103, 00186, Roma RM, Italy
Phone : +39 06 6476 0618
Opening hours : Monday - Sunday 11AM - 9PM
Website : http://www.ilpastaiodiroma.it/indexnewengcart.html

[Europe] When in Rome, Visit Vatican

As a Catholic, i know a lot about Vatican. Vatican is the head of worldwide Catholic Church. Since i was a kid, every Christmas Day, i always watch Eucharistic celebration which led by the Pope, "live"  from Vatican. At that time i talked to myself, soon or later, i must go to Vatican. When i knew that i would go to (West) Europe for holiday, i put Rome in my itinerary so i could visit Vatican.

St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican (or you can call Vatican City), is the smallest country in the world, and it's located inside Rome. Vatican is a must place to go when you visit Rome. In Vatican, there are some popular places that you won't missed such as St. Peter Basilica, Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum), and Sistine Chapel which also located inside Vatican Museum.

It was the second day for us to explore Rome, and we started it by visiting Vatican Museums. Vatican Museums is very popular among tourists. To visit this museum, you need a ticket which costs €16 pp. This ticket also included for Sistine Chapel. Like any other popular places, Vatican Museums always have a long queue. So i would suggest you to buy the ticket in advance by online to avoid the queue. There's an online booking fee which is €4, but i prefer to pay for that fee than queueing for more than an hour only to buy the ticket.

Long queue to Vatican Museums

First time i walked inside, i saw many art and historical sculpture in it. You can choose when you buy the ticket whether you want a guided tour or not to explain about everything in this museum. But we didn't choose with a guide because we only had a limited time. So we just follow the path from one room to another, until we reached our destination, Sistine Chapel.

Sistine Chapel is a chapel located inside the Vatican Museums. This chapel very famous because of its beautiful painted ceiling and The Last Judgement by Michaelangelo. Many people recommend to visit this place because it's amazing and we should see with our own eyes. And i'm agree!! Since the first time i walked into this chapel, i couldn't stop say "WOW" and feel amazed with it. It's the most wonderful chapel i ever seen. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take photos. But i'm so glad to be here.

From Sistine Chapel, we followed the path again to the exit way. The exit way itself also has a painted ceiling which also looks amazing. Not just a paint, but there's also small sculpture between and it's so beautiful. Even if you see closer, every paint has a story in it. In this place, you'll find some people sell a souvenir about Vatican. As a people who always dream about Vatican, buy a souvenir about it is a mandatory for me.

It's been around 2 hours since we explored Vatican Museums. Now we'd go to the next place that located next to the museum, St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's Basilica is an Italian church located in Vatican. Actually, St. Peter's Basilica is connected with Vatican Museums. If you take a guided tour, you'll be led to the shortcut to reach St. Peter's Basilica from the museums. But, if you're not in tour, you need to exit first from the museum, and queuing again to go inside the church. You don't need to buy another ticket to go inside St. Peter's Basilica because it's free, even if you're not buy a ticket for Vatican Museums. But the line to the entrance is also extremely long, and it might be take around 1 hour.

Half of the long queue to St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. When i stepped into the church, i just realized that every building on Vatican has a painted ceiling and it's so marvelous! Not just the ceiling, but the wall also has a beautiful paint on it. No wonder people say St. Peter's Basilica is the most beautiful church. The interior was amazing. There are sculptures everywhere, even above the door.

Detail of the ceiling at St. Peter's Basilica

Room for pray inside the church

If you want to see further, you can give a visit to Tomb of Saint Peter under the Basilica. But you need to pay for another ticket which is cost €13 pp, and you must make a reservation for that. I didn't go to there because i was going with my 5 years old daughter and she's not allowed to go inside there.

In front of St. Peter's Basilica

Well, that's all my experience while visiting Vatican, my dreamed place since i was a kid. It was a wonderful day for us, except the hot weather there. However, my trip in Rome hasn't done yet. Stay tune on my blog to see my next adventure in Rome..