When we were in Rome, we rented an apartment through VRBO. Our apartment was located on Via Pierluigi da Palestrina in Rome. Since we were traveling as a family, we rented a four bedroom apartment. The apartment could have been fantastic as it was close to the Castel Sant’Angelo and the Vatican as well as plenty of shops and restaurants but there were far too many issues with the apartment.

The Good

The apartment was very large and had plenty of room and beds to sleep up to 6 people. It had a kitchen, dining area, family room, and 3 bedrooms with the family room having a sofa bed (4th bedroom). It was located near the Italian Supreme Court, Castel Sant Angelo and the Vatican. Below are some views of the courtyard from the apartment.

The Bad

Despite the great location and size of the apartment, that’s about where the good ended. Here is a list of issues with the apartment. First, there was barely any hot water. This apartment uses a tank-less water heater system and it rarely worked. There was a weird combination of having to open the sink faucet to drip then you might get hot water out of the shower. If that were the only problem it wouldn’t have been that bad but it wasn’t. The second problem with the shower was the water pressure which provided but a trickle of water from the apartment. The third problem with the shower room was mold in the corner of the bathroom. The fourth problem with the shower was how tiny it was and there was no shelves for soap or shampoo or much of anything else, fairly primitive even for European standards.

Secondly, one of the AC units (pictured below) was not working. It was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit while we were in Rome the last week of July and not having AC was brutal. We managed by cranking up the other AC units and strategically placing fans to circulate as much cool air as possible.

The furniture in the apartment was the cheapest creakiest stuff possible. The beds all creaked at the smallest movement and the mattresses were fairly thin and offered very little padding.

The Ugly

We were charged a 170 euro cleaning fee upon arrival which needed to be paid in cash. We’re not sure what the cleaning fee was for because the floors in the apartment were dirty. Clearly it wasn’t mopped prior to our arrival as there was dirt everywhere. The picture below is of the outside shutters, does this look clean to you?

It was great to have a full kitchen with gas stove, fridge and small dining table however the pots and pans provided did not have any lids so we had splatter everywhere anytime we cooked something. When I say pots and pans I really mean a small pot and a wok that was provided to cook.

Epilogue

With all the issues many people are having with VRBO and AirBnB and the ones we’ve experienced, it’s unlikely we will use those services again. I won’t say NEVER because the reality is that some cities simply don’t have enough hotel rooms or offer rooms large enough for more than 2 or 3 people much less kitchens but we will definitely use hotels more frequently over VRBO & AirBnB.

The cost of this ‘fabulous’ apartment was about €400 ($438)/night which was still cheaper than getting two hotel rooms during the prime summer vacation month in Rome.

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We’re going to tell you a story. It’s a story about a creature, some believed to be named “Dutch” because the first story of this creature started in The Netherlands at a place called Sumo. The story of the creature in Holland starts here. This is where “Dutch” showed up one day to the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and began devouring all the salmon nigiri in the restaurant. After a few visits by this creature, the restaurant chain decided to change their business model and limit their nigiri for the all-you-can-eat buffet. There are rumors that this creature had been spotted in Austin, Texas at a place called Barchi Suchi where the creature is legendary for ordering 50 pieces of nigiri at a time.

We thought the story of “Dutch” was but a myth passed on from year to year until we visited a place in Rome, Italy named Boa Sorte. Boa Sorte is an all-you-can-eat sushi place and when we got there and sat down, we spotted the legendary “Dutch” creature. We captured the creature devouring all the nigiri in the restaurant. I know you doubt this but let me tell you we captured it on timelapse on our cell phone. Sadly, we ran out of battery as the creature feasted for hours on nigiri but here is what we captured.

Click link for video.

The restaurant was good value for the money. We ate very well and the best item some of us had was the Carbonara Roll (picture below). The item has unique flavor and taste, almost like beef Wellington in a sushi roll.

Another favorite was the tempura dish.

Our journey this morning started to a walk to the Vatican. We had already visited the Vatican in a prior visit so that wasn’t our primary goal. Our primary goal was to visit the Hard Rock Shop to buy a family member back home a souvenir magnet. Unfortunately our the Hard Rock near the Vatican did NOT have the item so we were forced to travel across the city to an alternate Hard Rock that didn’t open until 11:30 so we stopped at a nearby cafe and had some snacks.

I had a salmon on avocado toast (€14) and “Dutch” tried a truffle toast that didn’t taste as good as it sounded.

We visited the second Hard Rock store and they did not have the item in stock either so we bought some other items and left for the Trevi Fountain. We dropped the customary 10 gold coins into the well.

After the Trevi Fountain we headed our way to the Pantheon and took a walk around.

Since we had visited this place in a prior visit, we did not go in but headed to our next stop the Piazza Navona where we went to a nearby shop and loaded up on some more water. We’d burned through at least two liters of water already.

Upon completion of our site visits we decided to head back to our apartment and take some much needed showers. Our clothes were drenched in sweat, we were tired and thirsty.

Tomorrow, we head off to Greece via ship so there may not be a post until a day or two till we get to our first stop.

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With the scorching heat outside and with a family member (A) not feeling well, we decided to sleep in today and await the arrival of someone special, Big J and the doctor for A. While we awaited our special guest, we decided it would be a good time to review some prices of goods and services in Rome, Italy. So let’s take a look at some receipts for things we bought down at the grocery store, Crai, a few blocks from our apartment.

The most prominent item on both receipts here is Acqua Levissima Naturale (bottled water) and a liter of water will cost €0.65 ($0.72 USD). On the right, there is a micro-fiber towel (€1.49) I bought to scrub with in the shower because of the excessive sweat we’ve been enduring with the heat. On the same receipt is a charge of €1.25 for some honey. Overall, the costs of items isn’t high unless it is an imported item.

While the doctor came for a house visit to treat A, Big J arrived and we decided to head out to lunch. We initially wanted to try Japanese restaurant named Taki Giapponese Roma, we discovered the restaurant was closed on Sundays until August. We opted then to try a Chinese restaurant but it was full and had a 20+ minute wait so we finally decided to head to a pizza restaurant named Salvatore Di Matteo Le Gourmet. The restaurant features wood burning pizza ovens and the food that came out was spectacular!

Feeling hungry? Check out the menu.

After lunch we headed back to the apartment and the doctor had finished up with A and gave us a list of prescriptions to retrieve from the local pharmacy.

Most of the medications listed above are actually over-the-counter meds in the U.S. but here require a doctor’s prescription. Fortunately, A, had Italian health insurance so the doctor’s in-house visit was covered however the meds were out-of-pocket, about €60 ($67 USD).

After the walk back from the pharmacy, it was straight to the shower to wash off all the sweat. Did we tell you already that this will be our last summer holiday?

Right now, Big J and A are sleeping, one the jet lag the other the meds so we’ll gonna be chill tonight and maybe sneak out for dinner later.

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Today was a good day. We took a train out of Rome and out of the heat and headed to Frascati via Tor Vergata train stop to visit a winery named Antiche Terre Tuscolane. Our host gave us a grand tour of the vineyard, the winery has been in the family for 9 generations. The area is rich with volcanic rock from a nearby extinct volcano giving the soil an acidic tinge which makes amazing white wines. We walked through the vineyard and learned about the grapes and the delicate balance of humidity, sun, soil and temperature to produce the optimum grapes. This particular vineyard uses a canvas method to help balance the sun and rain for producing the best grapes.

We had the opportunity to visit the caves where the wine is produced and stored before it gets sent out. We sampled a wine in the cave and then sampled a few more outside.

We also sampled some cheese, biscuits (cookies) and pizza bread during our visit.

After our visit to the winery, we headed out to Frascali proper and took a walking tour with our host Daniella. She walked us through the city plaza and showed us the Italian prince’s home pictured below.

She then took us to this church and gave a bit of history. During World War II, the Nazi’s took over Frascali and used it as a base of operations. The United States bombarded the area with 2500 bombs destroying most of the city except for the church pictured below and the water fountain.

We continued our tour with a stop at a cookie shop where the cookies have tits. Not just two tits like a normal cookie but three tits and they represent the three good things in Pascali: wine, milk, honey.

We then made a pit stop at the bakery below, constructed in 1300’s and had a small pizza made from a shop across the street from the bakery. The place was called Ceralli (1920).

We ended up at Hostaria Santa Maria restaurant and sampled some bread and pasta. We had a great conversation with a couple from Ohio but stationed in Germany on the tour. We completed our visit and really liked Frascali. It is located on a high hill area and there was a cool Mediterranean breeze blowing through the city.

I asked our host how much a two bedroom apartment would rent for in the city and she said about 1000 euros per month. I took a photo of some real estate options as well.

Sadly, we had to head back to Rome and the infernal heat…

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We got to Rome yesterday and boy is it a scorcher! The sun, heat and humidity has made us realize that this may be our last summer vacation.

In the future, we will shift from summer vacations to spring or fall vacations. Summers are getting too hot and too many people all want to see the same venues. We read an article on CNN that reported Amsterdam is banning cruise ships in the city due to over tourism. We don’t think it will be long before other cities start limiting tourists in some way in the near future.

Our day today was supposed to start with a cooking class where we were going to make a pizza but the class got cancelled. We left disappointed but saw this church on the way so we went inside to rest. This is now known as the “Pizza Church”

After Pizza Church, we found another church nearby and went in to have a look. They have quite a few churches here by the way ;).

We finished the day with a river cruise down the Tiber River. We didn’t see anything amazing but the cool breeze on the open air vessel was very relaxing.

We did find a spot for EZ. Can picture the photo shoot already with beer in hand and a smile. This one for you EZ.

Tomorrow we are heading out to a small town via train, lets hope there isn’t a rail strike….

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