Rome Bargains

Had to tell you about a new deal from Gate1 Travel--four nights in Rome plus return air fare from New York or Boston from just $499 per person on some dates between November 2017 and February 2018. The price includes room with breakfast, based on double occupancy, but you must book it by April 9. I have no connection to Gate 1, but this is an extraordinary price since usually air fare alone is close to $1,000 per person, and Rome hotels are not cheap.

Our Gate1 hotel in Rome was the Villafranca, a small but pleasant four-star place within walking distance of the train station but closer to Castro Pretorio Metro station. Our room overlooked an air shaft and was cozy and well-furnished. The breakfast buffet was sumptuous, including several kinds of cheese and meat, cereal, breads, juices and a selection of yummy Italian coffees--I chose cappuccino most mornings.

We had an unfortunate incident where my friend lost her credit cards and some money to a pickpocket at the railway station. That evening we repaired to the hotel bar to commiserate, ordering glasses of wine for 4 euros each (about $4.20.) The manager arranged for us to have some chips and nuts gratis, as well as some wonderful (and expensive) fresh Parmesan cheese. Petty theft is an unfortunate fact of life in big cities, but it helped to be staying at a hotel with understanding staff. (My friend was able to cancel her credit cards, but had to get along for the last couple days of the trip with limited cash.)

We ate twice at outlets of Express Chef in the station, mainly because they were open when we were hungry. The food was good and reasonably priced--for example, a large sandwich of buffalo mozzarella, tomato and greens with a quarter litre of decent wine for 8 euros, about $9. I was amazed by the relatively low prices at restaurants in Italy, at least compared to those in Montreal or New York. The difficulty was coordinating restaurant opening times to our schedules--we went hungry quite a lot. In fact, over the ten day trip I lost about five pounds. Who would think? A trip to Italy as a diet plan. Just another reason to visit this amazing country.

I'll be posting more on this trip soon.