Rome, again (With food!)

[Maryanne]In a bid to get more experience with Italian cooking, I have joined a local cooking group and found myself invited to a Sushi night.. Not quite mama’s pasta sauce, but hey, when in Rome!

Since I was going into the capital for the evening of Sushi delights, and even had a couch to crash on (thanks Danny), I decided to make full use of my bus ticket and planned some sightseeing. I started with a tour of Rome's Trastevery area (the other side of the Tiber river) and it was a real pleasure of winding alleyways and small squares. I also found one of THE top requested churches for Roman weddings and when I entered to view the famous ‘St Ceclia’ sculpture, found the church in full preparation for the next wedding. It made me chuckle that the audio guide said this church is chosen so often since it is considered ‘less gaudy’ than most Roman churches.. Hmmm.. Hard to really understand as this is still hardly a plain church.


St Ceclia's; obviously less gaudy!
Before leaving Trastevery, I wondered, without care got a little lost, and found a wonderful restaurant for a late lunch (large pizza, beer, and tip - €7). My next goal was the Catacombs of San Callisto that I was recommended to visit by some USA boating friends (Thanks Walt). By some strange chance they happened to be the original resting place of the same St Cecilia I’d found in the Trastervery church, so I accidentally had a very coordinated day. Here is an underground, 4 level, 12 mile, labyrinth of passageways with tombs carved out of the walls either side, stacked up to 8 deep (possibly more as we only toured a few of the passages). The early popes were originally buried here (although have long since been moved), it’s quite impressive.


Sights around Rome
With all my buzzing around town, getting used to the public transport now, I also stumbled across an pre-Christ Roman pyramid, the Mouth of Truth, and the Sacred Steps church (where worshippers climb a flight of steps on their knees for some benefit unknown). I also discovered the 4 basilicas that have a spare entrance door (a holy door), only opened for one year in every 25 (every pope jubilee year: next one 2025) and plastered/bricked up the rest of the time. The pope arrives on the appropriate day to break down the old plaster and open the door (I think someone else breaks the plaster, he just knocks) – and anyone who walks through the door that year is supposedly cleansed of all his or her sins to date. To save the Pope from rushing around like Santa on the said night, each of these special churches has a different start date for their ‘year’ (Christmas eve, new year’s day, etc).


Sushi Night with the Couchsurfing cooks!
So – on to Sushi. I had a fantastic evening and met some new Roman friends; I felt really lucky to be a part of the group for the night. (Maybe more on that later).

My plan for the following day was to visit the Vatican’s St Peter’s Cathedral. It was a public holiday in Rome for its saints day (St Peter) and so I was advised the cathedral was to be fully lit to display the artwork at its best. I didn’t want to miss it. My plan was to arrive by 8:30 and see it before the celebratory services started. My plan didn’t work as I was invited to a real stand-up, on the go, Italian breakfast by my host, and how could I resist?

When I eventually turned up at St Peters around 10:30 the Pope’s service was well under-way, the church closed to new visitors, and the square crammed with tourists and faithful watching on one of the many big screen live. The line to enter once the Cathedral opened again was wrapped most of the way around the square, and it seemed a bit crazy to wait – so I headed off for a tour of the Jewish Quarter of Rome. (There has been a established Jewish community in Rome since pre-Christ). There are a handful of Jewish restaurants here and I hope to come back with Kyle and sample some of the dishes.

You have to sample the Italian refreshments right? Pizza & beer one day, Grattachecca the next
But it was SO HOT – so before my tour I stopped off at a little, but famous, wooden, green kiosk by the river for a Grattachecca (a very up-market slurpee with the ice shaved in front of you, syrup of choice and real fruit in it!). After my tour it was still SO HOT, and I had to partake in a delicious gelato. This heat is really making me suffer. AND I'm told there are some even better ice drinks to sample!

I returned to St Peters to find the line open, but even longer. There was no way I was going to bake in the sun for what looked like at least 2 hours, so I took a side tour to another church that had caught my attention earlier: San Giovanni Laterano (St John’s Basilica). This was the home of the Pope long before St Peters and the Vatican and is the Cathedral of Rome (of which the pope is bishop). And WOW is it beautiful inside. There is even a free (donations welcome) video guide tour of the cathedral that you can take and refer to as you wonder (in exchange for your passport as deposit). For a small fee you can also visit the ancient cloister, and



St John's - Cathedral of Rome
I spent lots of time in this beautiful (and cool) cathedral before deciding to call it a day… But wait! What time is it? And when does St Peter’s close? Just maybe I should make the most of my public transport day ticket and see if the line had gone down. It had, and I walked right on in there – not even a queue for security! The main pulpit and beyond were open only to worshippers receiving communion given the special day, but there was still plenty to see. I couldn’t be sure that there was that much extra lighting, so maybe my push to see it on that particular day was unwarranted, but hey, it’s still pretty cool.



Vatican's St Peter's - compete with flower petal pope art!
Is it blasphemy to say I like St John’s better than St Peter’s? I do, I really do.



Doors of backstreet Rome
Travelling around Rome on the bus, and on foot, just made me want to cry – there is SO MUCH to see, and EVERY church seems well worth a peak inside. It’s clear I’ll never see it all, and there will always be some corner I’ll regret missing. Yes, I just wanted to cry I was so overwhelmed. I guess there is a reason they call it the eternal city.

But the sightseeing I enjoyed most, were the back street wanderings and discoveries, and it will seem so much better when I can explore it all with Kyle over the winter (less than 2 weeks and he's home again!)

[Note I had downloaded Rick Steve’s audio guides for most of these areas; free walking tours and well worth it!]

EUR Solo, with aperitivo

[Maryanne]By the time you’ve reached the end of this the title WILL make sense, I promise!

While Kyle spends the rest of the month in the USA, I’ve been pottering about the boat and small town of Fiumicino and not really achieving much in the way of anything to show for it. Housework is such a short term high, and no matter how wonderful a job you do of it, it always seems to need doing again so soon.. Yuk!

Having realized I hadn’t done anything adventurous for a while, and yet I’m practically IN ROME I looked again as to ‘what can I do’; I’m still trying to avoid the top Rome sites so I can share them with Kyle – EUR seemed a sensible choice not least because it is where the bus goes!

A suburb of Rome, purpose built for a 1940’s exhibition that never was (a war kind of interrupted things), EUR actually stands for Roman Universal Exhibition (or it does when you say it in Italian – Esposizione Universale di Roma).

The district is described as "Mussolini’s Orwellian quarter" in my guidebook, it’s been built with travertine facades (looks like marble form a distance) that give you a feel for the whiteness of Rome in it’s day.



Every building has a story that I'll leave you to discover on your own one day - but you can probably spot the Palace of the Workers - affectionately know as the 'square colosseum'
There are lots of museums, that I didn’t make the time to explore, I just wandered up and down the streets with no particular goals.

The pictures make EUR look a lot more perfect that it is. In reality ever other block seems to have MAJOR building works. Pavements, pedestrian underpasses, etc. are blocked off, and every gap between buildings if filled with roaring traffic of too many lanes to dare cross. Where there are open piazza(s), these have been turned into parking areas and really make the place look generally ugly, with the occasional oasis.

One of the more famous building sites (well, the thing they are building and the designer are famous) is to be the new Nuvola (Cloud) Conference center (a steel/Teflon ‘cloud’ suspended in a glass box, and the big meeting hall is one of the floors in the cloud!)… Doesn’t look too impressive yet, and I can’t quite say I ‘get it’, but I’m all for variety! I wonder if I’ll be equally inspired by the skies of Greece as the architect Massimiliano Fuksas was?


The 'Cloud', now, and later. Obviously I borrowed the 'done' picture, but my source did not indicate the owner - so thanks owner of image - you deserve all the credit!
On my way back to the bus station I was determined to stop at a recommended café, housed in the Exhibition Ticket office and with original 1930s/40s fittings for ‘aperitivo’. The Caffé Palombini. Technically aperitivo is a drink used to stimulate the appetite, a pre-dinner drink, but bars that offer it generally also provide snacks to nibble on (hence saving the need to dine at all if you are on a budget, and not too hungry). As I sat at an outside table in the sun, I looked around to see what people were drinking. There were a few cokes, coffees, and beers, but most people had tall glasses of very interesting colours (Orange, green, etc)… I really wanted to know more, but chickened out and ordered a white wine (sorry, maybe next time). It was a great place to people watch and was a really mixed bunch: businessmen, lovers, small groups of young lads, and of elderly women, oh and the classic aloof waiters also (but so well dressed).



I enjoy my aperitivo, while nearby locals bring their own table and chairs to enjoy a game of cards in the shaded park!
{Caffé sign from their own website}
My drink came with my snacks (in portions clearly meant for at least two people; I guess they don’t expect many customers to be doing such a social thing on their own), and I nibbled, sipped, and soaked it all up. Wishing Kyle was there to share with me; maybe next time.

Since my visit I’ve found a couple of great links on the internet that help me understand things a little better, so I’m hoping to be braver next time! (Kyle, that’s homework for you!): The Aperitivo Tradition and Guide to Italian aperitivo

Roman Ruins - Ostia Antica

[Maryanne]Given the high likelihood that Kyle would be absent for up to a month, I decided to venture out as a tourist alone. I have been lucky enough to already spend time in Rome in the past, and I’m secretly holding out that Kyle will be able to join me on any future sightseeing trips to the 'top sites', so I wanted to start with something a little more off the beaten track, and ideally something local.

After some research I decided a trip to Ostia Antica was in order; an ancient Roman harbor town (and Port of Rome), now several miles in land and long ago silted over to 2nd floor level. Various excavations have uncovered plenty to see of a fully functioning Roman town of say 400 BC – 400 AD. To me this is just as impressive as any of the more famous sites of Rome itself, but much less populated with tourists so it’s easy to sit and ponder how life must have been all those years ago.

But before I could get there, I first had a long walk to collect my bicycle I'd deposited for repair the previous day. For just €10 I had a replaced gear cable, and a little TLC from a fantastic Italian 'Mario Brothers' type character; I engaged in some mime of extreme appreciation, and set off on my way.

From my map it seemed Ostia Antica wasn't too far to go. It isn't, but unfortunately the compound is really big (think major Airport size plot of land) and fenced in - and the entrance was on the opposite side. I had to try and skirt the edge but have suspicions I was on a motorway, and going the wrong way in order to do that... A few police passed and nobody honked, but I was very scared. There were lots of nasty bends and recent evidence of plenty of cars leaving the road - right where I was walking (since it was way to frighting to cycle in the road).


15th century Castle and town of Ostia Antica
EVENTUALLY I peddled into the current town of Ostia Antica. Just across the road from the entrance to the ruins is a small but impressive castle, but first I was exhausted and went looking for food. I walked/cycled a little further into the town to avoid the tourist traps and found a little shop that sold pizza by weight - I ordered myself a slice and a couple of biscotti type biscuits (they had a name beginning with T) and waited for the total - €1 - brilliant! At the next shop I brought some fruit and was set for the day with my water I was already carrying (plenty of water taps are also provided in the towns and even the Ruins for tourists, so it's easy to top up your bottle).



Closer up and the movie set 'Alimentari' or Grocery store!
Around the 15th century castle is a town that grew (presumably in it's protection) that was very picturesque and seemed to have a film crew breaking down the set of a fake shop. The castle seemed private, but I ventured towards it and noted on the door that it opened at set hours for a guided tour.. The next tour was in just 15 minutes time, so I waited while enjoying the activity of the square.

The tour itself was one of the strangest I've ever undertaken. It was a guided/supervised walk through the castle, but in silence (at least the guide didn't speak, even to the Italians in the small group). We were not allowed to take pictures (even of the views from the castle ramparts). The castle is triangular in shape with a central courtyard and 3 circular towers. Inside there was an active team working to clean up some of the many frescoes on the remaining plasterwork; but the most impressive thing to me, was in one of the basement rooms, we were shown a bathroom with sunken marble bath-tub/jacuzzi. I've never seen that in any castle I've ever been to. The Italians were just a cleaner kind of people that my own forefathers I guess.

So by 1pm I was at the Roman ruins and not quite sure what to expect. Audio tours advertised don't seem to exist any more (??) but you can buy a book or a map (both very overpriced) – so with an expensive and flimsy map off I went wandering.


Grand public buildings - The Capitolium and Theatre
You first enter the oldest area - an avenue of a cemetery - with cremation earns all long evacuated, and pretty soon come across the 'new town' which you can still see was impressively grand. Almost every 3rd building appears to be some kind of baths, and I was feeling particularly jealous, as I'd love a bit of pampering right now.


A 'normal' ancient street in the commercial area of town
I can't quite understand why the town was abandoned and the inhabitants are all believed to have simple moved out; maybe the changes in the river course, who knows? (some reports suggest malaria and other outbreaks of sickness).


Fishmongers and bar/restaurant
It's quite difficult to navigate your way around (even with the map), and much of the area has no information boards, or is still (or has become) overgrown and inaccessible. The site seems so much bigger than the caretakers can manage to keep; they are clearly losing the battle with nature, it's (recently) overgrown and crumbling in places, and not supervised to prevent tourists climbing on things they probably should know better than climb on, etc.

There is only one toilet block in the whole place (remember I said how big it was), but it was baking hot and with little shade, so I was trying to use my water carefully. There were a few people, but mostly I could get photos of great avenues or theatres without anyone to interfere with the view. Amazing!


Natty 'machines' for grinding grain into flour
Naturally there are mosaics aplenty, along with amphitheatres, guild schools, temples, and shops. I especially loved the fishmonger shop which had appropriate mosaics and it’s original sink and cutting table still in place. There was also a giant building set aside for the town bread making industry, complete with original contraptions for grinding the grain. I spent about 5 hours at the site left through exhaustion (and an approaching closing time) rather than boredom or any sense of having fully understood the town.

On the way back to the boat I got lost (trying to leave the “motorway”, I managed to take a wrong turn and double back on myself practically!) - so it took about 1.5 hours of cycling... I really was exhausted by the time I got home.

It amazes me how well built a structure can be from 2000 years ago! It also makes me realize how fragile our current ‘’civilization’ might be when I ponder the fall of the Roman Empire – which for the UK plunged us backwards again for many centuries. I found so many emotions and questions evoked from a simple visit. Wow is the best word, just wow.



Some of the many views of Ostia Antica