Rome: highlights and lowlights

Irish recently won a break to Rome, so at the weekend we jetted off for two nights in the Eternal City. We had a fantastic time and these are my highlights:

The history - it's free
Ruins, statues and churches are on every corner and on the grandest scale imaginable. While you could pay to get up-close-and-personal with the major landmarks, you don't need to. We saw some amazing iconic sites for free by just walking around the city and travelling on a hop-on-hop-off tour bus.

The Art Deco hotel
Although we were based away from the nicer parts of the city and there wasn't much going on in the area, our hotel itself was beautiful. Named the 'Art Deco', it very much lived up to its title, with period-style decor throughout. The staircase was grand, the lamps intricate and we had a lovely silk print, 1940's-style telephone and old radio in our room. The small details made our stay special.

The food
Who doesn't like pizza, pasta and ice cream? Fantastic for the taste buds, not so good for the figure, but hell, we were only there for two days so we pigged out. The quality cheese made the pizza melt in the mouth, the olive oil added delicate depth to bread and salads and just look at all that ice cream - yum. If you're going to indulge, try one of the many Blue Ice gelatos dotted around the city. Oh, and potato on pizza - a big yes.

The style
The stereotypes are true - men in sharp suits, half the city nipping around on chic scooters - "ciao" - and teeny classic-auto gems.

The lowlights

Like all big cities, Rome also has its bad points, which for me included:

The underworld - There were some very dodgy characters around the Termini and this put us on edge. Make sure to keep your bags close and closed and only take out with you what you need.

Tourist prices - 10 Euros for a watered-down cocktail in a plastic glass?! They saw us coming.

Extreme road rage - Road signs are treated as a rough guide in Rome - nothing to pay too much attention to - which leads to near-crashes as a matter of course, some very angry horn-happy motorists and nerve-wracking games of chicken each time you need to cross a road.