9-night DCL Mediterranean with Greek Isles cruise - Days 1 and 2: Travel and Rome

Travel and Rome

This summer’s adventure brings us back to the Mediterranean with a visits to Italy and Greece. We actually had this trip booked for summer 2020 (we all know how that turned out). Then we booked it again 2021 (nope) and then again in 2022 (could have happened, but we opted to stay on this side of the pond for a Southern Caribbean cruise). In 2023 we went to Iceland/Norway/France instead and in 2024 we went to California and Hawaii (which is what we had originally planned on for 2021, actually). So when it came time to plan summer 2025 travel, we decided to give it another go. And this time we made it! 

Our flights were completely uneventful (other than the fact that none of us slept particularly well, but that’s not super unusual). We left our house at 10:15 AM on Tuesday, arrived at the Austin airport at 10:45 AM, departed on time for Dallas at 12:30 PM and successfully made our connection from Dallas at 2:40  PM to Rome. Our flight arrived in Rome at around 8 AM on Wednesday. Passport control was super easy and our luggage was already on the carousel when we exited. We grabbed our bags, had no wait at customs and made our way to the train platform for the express train to Termini. A train was just leaving when we arrived so we took the next one, arriving at Termini around 9:45 AM. We decided to walk (about 15 minute walk from Termini) to a little cafe I had found nearby that was around the corner from our AirBnB. 

We had coffee and snacks at the cafe to fortify us for the days’ adventures. I tried to order a mocha, which doesn’t seem to exist in Italy so I had the first of several marocchinos (a shot of espresso with a tiny dollop of milk and cocoa powder) instead, which was very good. At 11AM, we were able to gain access to our AirBnB. It wasn’t completely ready, but she said we could drop our bags off, which was nice. From there we hopped across the street (literally like frogger in Rome, even when there is a crosswalk) to a little park with some points of interest. In the park we discussed our options for the afternoon. This was Roger’s fourth time in Rome, my third, and Emmaline’s second so we had already hit many of the big touristy things. With this in mind, all our activity options for Rome were mostly off the beaten path, hidden gems and unique experiences. We didn’t come in with a solid plan for that afternoon, but instead had a list of possible options depending on how we were feeling. We decided that the National Museum of Musical Instruments sounded cool so we hopped on a tram. (Side note: I love living in the time of tap to pay. No longer do we have to try to figure out ticket machines in another language or buy transit cards that we will never use up. We each tapped our phone on the way onboard and paid the fare.)

We were, quite literally, the only people visiting the museum and it’s a shame because it is a hidden gem and we all loved it. Nobody spoke English, but they were clearly extremely excited to have us. Probably all they ever get are school group tours during the school year. One of the docents half led/half followed us around showing us interesting things here and there. He was adorable and so kind and we had a lovely visit. I highly recommend this museum if you’re looking for something totally unique in Rome.

When we were done, we were hungry but all the lunch places I had researched weren’t in the neighborhood we were currently in and we didn’t want to wait until we traveled back to our neighborhood. We started walking back in the general direction of our AirBnB and found a panini shop on the way back. The very enthusiastic Italian man behind the counter sold us some delicious panini and we were all very happy. I’m pretty sure we were also the only tourists in there, which was so great. I love finding those little authentic local gems. 

During our afternoon, we were receiving updates from Dru as to the status of her flight. (Dru is my music sister living her best life in Geneva, Switzerland. Each time we come to Europe we make a plan to be tourists together.) During lunch she said that she was getting on the train at the airport. We walked back to our neighborhood and found Emmaline a SIM card (hers was the only one that we couldn’t make work from our previous trip) and went to a local market for some fresh fruit for a later snack. The timing was perfect and we all ended up at the AirBnB at exactly 3 PM. The cleaning lady was just leaving and so we went in and unpacked a bit and settled in. Our AirBnB was great: perfect size, most everything we needed (a few minor things, but easily one of the better AirBnBs we’ve stayed in) and a great location. We were close to Termini and another metro line, right across from a nice park and it didn’t ever feel like a super touristy and congested area. 

We left the AirBnB around 4:30 and took the metro to Piazza Barberini where our evening tour would be starting. We booked an after hours catacombs tour with Capuchin crypts. We arrived early so we found a lemon shop (literally everything in the shop had lemons) and had some lemon treats before we met our tour.

We began in the Capuchin Crypts. Upstairs there is a little museum and then after that you go down into the crypts. I had no idea what to expect, but it was really cool. After the crypts we got on a bus and went to one of the many catacombs underneath Rome. The catacombs of Rome were underground burial grounds that date from the second to fifth century. There are over 40 different ones (some think there may be as many as 50-60) but only a few are open to the public. The catacomb we visited was the Priscilla Catacomb. No photography was allowed down there so I have no pictures, but it was a really amazing experience. 

When we were in the bus on the way back to the original meeting point, we got stopped in some traffic to allow a parade of historic cars to go by. Occurring once a year, the “1000 Miglia” is a gathering of vintage cars and they drive around Italy. It was fun to see all the old cars! 

We were back to Piazza Barberini around 8 PM and when we got off the tour bus, here come the vintage cars again! We stopped and watched them all go by. Then we went down a cute little back alley to a little restaurant I had made note of called Taverna Boccaccio and had dinner. The food was amazing, but the service was perhaps slower than we wanted. I don’t think they were falling down on the job but I think it was more of a cultural thing and the fact that we were all exhausted and jet lagged. We had a lot of leftovers which we decided to take back with us and possibly make a dinner of on another night. We weren’t too tired for gelato, however, so we stopped for some on the way back to our place. It was very late when we returned and we were all exhausted and went to bed right away. Thankfully we had two bathrooms for the four of us (two bedroom apartment - Emmaline and Dru shared a room) so we could get ready for bed pretty quickly.