Cat sanctuaries, street art, €10 feasts: the hidden treasures of Rome
One of the joys of reading travel blogs is that you find little word of mouth discoveries about well-known places that can lift your visit from a generic tourist trail to a unique and individual experience.
STA Explorers Meg and Mojo have given just such an insight into Rome, the fifth destination on their European interrailing romp. Having wandered around the Pantheon, the girls spot a precipice in a piazza, which on further inspection reveals
a bunch of crazy bright pop art works and wooden structures mingling with the ancient ruins.
They then follow a strange trail of cats to an out-of-the way cat sanctuary, where they befriend the American volunteer who runs the place and get a behind-the-scenes tour of the kittens and injured strays. The discoveries continue as they root out a ‘nice looking, traditional Italian restaurant’ with a charming waiter, who brings them an old-school Roman 3-course feast for €10, with free sweet watermelon thrown in.
But the girls haven’t only been having quirky adventures in Rome. In Madrid they found a gay circus and drag queens galore and in Milan they stumbled into a photoshoot for Italia’s Next Top Model, as well as making friends with a young artist painting in the Prado.
Visit their blog to ask questions for your own trip or give recommendations for the perfect off-the-beaten-track European experiences.
