Susanne After a day and half in Rome I felt like escaping the frenzy and the noise of the Eternal City and I was pondering a little excursion into the country. I had a look at my guidebook to see what nearby towns might have a ring to them, and my eyes started to rest on one town: Frascati. I simply liked the sound of this place and since I was just minutes away from the Roma Termini train station, I went there around 9 am to see how I would be able to get to Frascati.
When I got into the Termini train station, I was quite quickly able to find the area where the train tickets were sold. There were five wickets, but guess what, only one was actually staffed, and by quite a surly employee at that. I lined up behind what seemed like ten people, and a stylish man in his 30s in a fashionable suit and dark glasses looked like he was constantly trying to cut into the line in front of me.
A glimpse at the Roma Termini railway station
A few people ahead of me was an African couple with two children who were trying to book some ferry passes from Rome to Barcelona. It took the customer service representative about 10 minutes to deal with that couple while the stylish guy behind me was muttering, quite audibly, various expletives and derogatory remarks about the couple. I have had plenty of pleasant encounters in Rome, but this wasn’t one of them.
Interior of an Italian commuter train
Finally, about 10 minutes prior to the train’s departure, I got my ticket which was only a couple of Euros either way. Among the myriad of platforms I found mine for the departure to Frascati and off I went on my short excursion to Frascati, a town that is famous for its white wine. 30 minutes later I arrived at the train station in the lower part of town and walked up the hill to get into the center of Frascati.
The train arrives in Frascati
