We landed in Rome around lunch time and I was beyond excited. Italy had been a dream destination for me.

We took a Taxi to our hotel – Le Meridian Visconti Rome . We were tired after a long flight from Toronto, however we decided to go have lunch .

Cacio E Pepe

I searched up Anthony Bourdain’s Recommendations on places to eat in Rome . We decided to walk to Cacio E Pepe in Della Vittoria neighbourhood. It was about a 1.8 km from our hotel , we were tired and jet lagged and it was hot outside but we decided to do the trek for some Cacio E Pepe !

Since I was excited everything we passed by on the walk looked charming ! I made a note of a Gelato shop on the way .

Once we reached the place the GPS took us to we had a hard time finding the restaurant. We finally asked this Italian man and he told us we were near but it might be closed . He walked us to the restaurant and it was closed !!! Italians tend to take their vacation in August! When they go on vacation they tend to close down their business. In this specific case this restaurant will be closed for our entire duration in Rome ! We would sadly find a theme on our trip .

We were pretty bummed and starving so we stopped by a local pizzeria right beside the restaurant and had some square pizza slices and coke . The pizza was delicious!

After being fed we walked backed to the hotel . We picked up Gelato at the store I had noted earlier. The Gelato was delicious. It turned out to be my favourite Gelato store in Rome ! I had actually dropped my first Gelato but my lovely husband bought me another one .

Hotel

We went back to the hotel and took a nap till evening. Much needed after the flight and heat in Rome !

The hotel had surprised us with champagne and fruits ( ambassador loyalty member) . We saved that for latter and got dressed up to go out for the evening.

Piazza Navona

We walked to Piazza Navona from our hotel enjoying the bridges and glimpse of the Vatican along the way .

Piazza Navona was beautiful at night . So full of people and surrounded by restaurants and souvenir shops . We walked around the Piazza and took photos with the fountains and just sat there taking it all in .

Pantheon

We walked to the Pantheon next . It was a breathtaking sight ! A architecture marvel . It is hard not to be in awe of this building. Almost 2000 years old . We sat there admiring the building till it was time to catch a taxi for our dinner reservation.

Taxis

We found a taxi stand near Piazza Navona and waited . Since it was around 9 PM not many taxis came our way. My smart half downloaded the local taxi app mytaxi and put in our location. We got a taxi in minutes! Used that to get to our dinner spot .

The drive through the city was incredible. A city where the ancient , old and new mingles together.

Osteria Dal 1931

Our dinner reservation was at Osteria Dal 1931 – a place recommended by Anthony Bourdain who I adored !

This was a bit far from the city Center so we used a taxi to get here .

We got a table outside and ordered Cacio E Pepe and Carbonara pasta ! Both dishes were phenomenal. We also tried fried artichoke and mozzarella balls with prosciutto. These two dishes were so incredible. Even thinking about it now makes my mouth water . I would fly back to Rome just to eat at this place .

For dessert we had their tiramisu. Which was also delicious. We paired everything with a litre of their house wine .

Our first dinner was an incredible experience! A place where we would visit again .

After paying for our meal we caught a taxi back to our hotel and ended our first night in Rome !