Photo

It was supposed to be a short six day break in my favourite city but turned into a twelve day holiday. You probably would have heard about Iceland’s temperamental Eyjafjallajokull volcano deciding to spew ash into the flight space above Europe from April onwards this year-ruining many a traveller’s holiday and leaving thousands of others stranded and at the mercy of their credit cards. Well it happened to me and my wife the day we tried to leave Rome and return home. Being stranded isn’t a pleasant experience -you feel a certain vulnerability when you realise you have no options. Although having said that I can think of much worse places to be stuck!

Photo

After we eventually got back home I caught one of the many ongoing Ash Cloud news reports and I realised we could have easily been camping out at the airport-we were definitely one of the lucky ones. Here’s how we coped and how we used the time uncovering some of Rome’s cultural hidden gems:

No room at the inn

Photo

At first we were pretty excited about having an extended stay in this beautiful city but then the excitement turned to slight panic about the extra money we would be having to spend and hadn’t budgeted for. We’d been staying with a friend but decided imposing on them for an extra six days could really test our friendship! Roma Rentals website turned out to be life saver and in not much time at all found a lovely apartment on the outskirts of Trastevere which was perfect for the two of us. Although by now we getting more than a bit worried about the cost of our beloved dogs residing in some expensive kennels and the airport car park charges were also racking up at €7.50 each day. I could have kicked myself for not taking out any travel insurance…

Food and drink

We also had to look at our limited budget and factor in the extra costs of eating and drinking. Some restaurants in Rome are reasonably priced so we knew if we were a bit savvy about this we could just about manage. We begrudgingly had to give up the 30 euros bottles of wine we had been previously enjoying in the touristy but classy Campo di Fiori and swap to a 2 euro version in La Cantina di Bracco in Trastevere.

Photo

This restaurant was a great place – here you can choose your wine and they put it into plastic bottles and charge you by the litre. We also made the most of the shops where they sell slices of fresh (and delicious) pizza and pasta by weight and a great cheap restaurant Antica Osteria da Giovanni (Via della Lungara, 41a) where they only charge 5 euros for a main course. Thankfully we didn’t have to starve…

Passing the time being culture vultures

Photo

We had plenty of time on our hands waiting for the ash to clear and decided it would be foolish not to use this time wisely in this culturally and historically rich city. Having previously lived in Rome for some time we had already seen all the main sites quite a few time over so we decided to visit a few places not on the major tourist trail. First stop was Villa Farnesina, an incredible renaissance building on Via della Lungara which was completed in 1510, the Villa has wonderful frescos on display by artists including Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo and Il Sodoma.

During the next few days we also managed to squeeze in visits to Galleria Corsini where there was a gallery with an impressive collection of 18th-century furniture, ancient and modern sculpture and art and the impressive and tranquil Botanical Gardens (Largo Cristina di Svezia, 24) which was a welcome relaxing escape from all the fumey mopeds flying around the city.

Photo

The overall cultural highlight was a visit to two different galleries; the first was the Caravaggio Exhibition which celebrated the 400th anniversary of the artist’s death. We got there early but still had to queue for about two hours but as you’ll probably agree from the photo it was definitely worth the effort. A couple of days later we then headed to Palazzo delle Esposizioni where we saw “Nature According to De Chirico”. This was another excellent exhibition; there were more than a hundred paintings from public and private collections.

Slowly running out of money

Photo

As funds grew low we were forced to find alternative ways to spend the extra days. This wasn’t difficult – Rome is the perfect city to sit outside in bars and cafes in Piazzas reading and watching the world go by. We found an excellent English bookshop that had a wide range of books in English and also friendly staff that were more than happy to provide recommendations of places to visit and what to do. Should you be in Rome and have a need for a book then visit Almost Corner Bookstore (Via del Moro 45, Trastevere).

Photo

Okay so we did spend a lot more money than we had planned but overall it was a pretty exciting and memorable experience and I got to see much more of Rome than I normally get to see. Maybe volcanic ash isn’t so bad after all…

Try Hotels in Park City if you ever get stuck in Utah.

You might also enjoy these...