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Rome was a port of call on our 12-day Mediterranean Cruise. We spent a long, hot day in this fascinating city. We definitely could have spent more time there, but limited time in some cities is one of the only downfalls of cruising! If you only have one day in Rome, check out some of these great places to visit.
We again booked a tour with Rome in Limo and Salvatore was our driver for the day.
It was about an hour drive into Rome from the port of Chivitavecchia and we went straight to Vatican City.
Our first stop was the Vatican museums. It was packed!
We wandered throughout the museums (all connected) for about an hour and a half. There were statues, paintings, tapestries, etc. and of course the Sistine Chapel. No photography is allowed inside the chapel and you WILL get yelled at if the guards see you with a camera out.
Next it was off to St. Peter’s Square…
…followed by a quick stop in to St. Peter’s Basilica.
It was an honor to see Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’.
The chapel was absolutely incredible! I wish we could’ve stayed longer during our one day in Rome, but we still had so much to see!
We stopped for lunch at Dino and Tony’s. I was a little hesitant at first. The driver recommended it and said it would cost €20 a person, which is a little steep for lunch, but we sure did get our money’s worth! The food kept coming! We had wine to start, tons of appetizers, pizza, pasta, dessert and an after-dinner drink called zibibba. We left completely stuffed!
We got back into our van and drove through the streets of the Ancient City, as Salvatore cranked “That’s Amore!”…and we all sang along! We were all pretty happy from the food, the vino and just being in Rome!
He drove us through the busy city explaining some history and pointing out the (literally) hundreds of churches on our way to the Pantheon.
Not far from the Parthenon is the Trevi Fountain. We had no coins to toss in, so we just said ‘our love’ would grant our wishes!
We next made a quick stop at the Basilica di San Clemente, a church with magnificent frescoes and twelfth-century mosaics. Although a brief walk-through was all we really had time for, we found it interesting, because it is a tri-layered church representing different eras of time.
We then made our final stop of the day at the Coliseum.
It was neat to see underneath the former stage area where the gladiators and animals would enter the arena.
It was pretty crowded and it was blessed HOT! Our driver said it was 102° out and fortunately had cold bottles of water waiting for us when we were done exploring the ruins! We passed by the Roman Forum and rested on the hour long ride back to port!
Want to keep exploring?
You can check out the other Mediterranean cruise ports we visited on our 12 day adventure!