The Norwegian travel magazine Reiser & Ferie (Travel & Vacation) has posted an article about the best coffee shops in Rome and that brought back memories to my trips to Rome (see my Rome trip report from 2005 on gardkarlsen.com). It seems like Italians like their coffee strong and sweet – each morning we would see people come into coffee shops to buy their “breakfast”: a cup of espresso with lots of sugar in it. Anyway, we got to try out some of the coffee shops in Rome and they do make a very good espresso. And on Tazza d’Oro we got a great combination of espresso, crushed ice and whipped cream (granita di caffé con panna). Anyway, here is the list of the best coffee shops according to Reiser & Ferie:

1. Sant ‘Eustachio
2. Museo Atelier Canova Tadolini
3. Caffe Greco
4. Caffé-Bar di Marzio
5. Canova Restaurant
6. Ciampini
7. Ciuri Ciuri
8. La Caffetteria
9. Universale Caffé
10. Tazza d’Oro

Which coffee shops have you visited in Rome and which is your favourite?

A few years back we visited Rome (see the trip report with photos) and as many others we went for a tour at the Vatican museum and at the end we got to visit the Sistine Chapel. It was a bit of a surreal experience as it was so crowded and the guards were busy chasing people that were talking or taking photos. But now it seems like it is possible to go for tours after regular opening hours. Companies like Italy with us, Context , Rome in limo and Viator can all offer tours according to the Norwegian paper VG. But seeing Michelangelo’s masterpiece after hours does not come for free of course – you have to be prepared to pay about 300€ per person for the touring service. So if you have the money you can now enjoy the view of this beautiful chapel more or less in peace.

As some of you have noticed, I’m a bit of a fan of Google…and one of the greatest tools is Google maps which I have used to map out cities that I have been to (see an example in my Rome Google map). In connection with the Google maps there is also another great tool called Google Street View. Some cities around the world have been photographed on street level and this allows the user to walk virtually through the cities – this means that you can e.g. check out the area around the hotel that you are about to book, or “walk” to the restaurant that you are thinking about visiting etc.  If you are wondering which cities that have been mapped please check out this Wikipedia page. So how about walking past Collosseum in Rome to get an idea of how it looks Just zoom in on the city and drag the little orange map into the street that you want to take a closer look at and then start by moving around by clicking on the arrows that run along the street. Here is my Rome trip report in case you need some more background information: http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm