Today we were off to Rome! As we were flying out from Bristol, again, we took the train. Getting off at Bristol we discovered that Matt's bag had been stolen!! Some tit stole it between Cardiff and Newport, which we know because the girl who was pushing the snack trolley had been sitting near the bags from just before the Severn Tunnel Junction, so we knew it had been stolen at Newport. Luckily we had plenty of time up our sleeves, as it took ages to complete the Police at Bristol Temple Meads station. What a great start to our holiday. All our toiletries, Matt's clothes, and brand new aftershave and his electric razor. Gone. Once we were finally through check-in and security we had time to buy toiletries, which was good.
The plane was late getting away (that's easyJet for you), but was a little early to land. We were picked up by a pre-arranged shuttle and dropped off at our hotel. It's right across from the Pantheon, and our room looks right out on to it!
Fantastic – that helps us to get over the theft. After checking in, we go shopping for replacement clothes for Matt. Kathy spied a great deal for his shirts and so he got 5 for €110. Just after we finished shopping (and while Kathy was indulging in a gelato – one scoop of lemon, one of blueberry)
Matt got a call from the Newport Police to tell him they'd recovered his bag!! Hooray!!!! All that was missing, apparently, was his wet bag. They didn't have the chap, but did see the bag being dumped on CCTV. Newport Police are looking for a well groomed, good smelling man. They have no suspects, because such a bloke apparently does not exist. No, seriously, they do have a suspect. The police told Matt that usually they wouldn't have rung him so soon, but as he had his Civil Service business card in his luggage tag they have to close it off within 3 days. Handy to know...
After dropping off Matt's shopping,
Street near the hotel
Just something we saw on our walk
One of the bridges across the Tiber
What's that up there....
Street near the restaurant
we found the restaurant Kathy had booked for dinner - Taverna della Scala, in the Piazza della Scala, which had been recommended by the father of one of Matt's workmates). It was a bit early, so we stopped at a place called In Vino Veritas for a soothing drink (good name for a wine bar). Spumante for Kathy, and a glass of each of Montepulciano and Menabrea e Figli for Matt. Plus free nibbles. Fantastic. We headed off to the Taverna for our dinner booking. If all our meals in Rome are this good, we're going to have a great time! We sat at a table outside in the Piazza, and shared two antipasto platters, one of meats with the prosciutto redeeming itself – this lot was soft and sweet, and a platter of other yummy nibbles. Matt then had tripa alla Romana (savoury tomato and some herb we couldn't quite identify) and Kathy had veal saltimbocca, with the veal so pale and soft that it looked like turkey. We finished with biscotti and vin santo, and espresso. The wine was red, but I didn't write down what it was – it was good, and Italian, though. It was a great meal – and it was so nice eating alfresco too. In fact, we had so many biscotti that we gave them to the 2 British girls who were sitting at the table next to us, and who were worrying about how much things cost – they got a free dessert, and we did a good deed.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, stopping to take photos as we crossed the river.
We finished the evening having a lovely bottle of wine
at a bar near the hotel,
sitting looking up at the Pantheon.
What a fantastic end to what started off as a pretty crappy day.
Thursday 29th July
Up
Early morning, and the first monk of the day
and off to breakfast, which was at one of the nearby cafes. We were able to sit outside and look at the morning light on the Pantheon.
This is actually the view from our hotel room, but you get the idea
Brilliant. Because we were so close we first went to the Pantheon – early so as to miss the worst of the crowds. Now, Kathy had been before and so said to Matt “set your face to stun” - and he was still gobsmacked.
Matt in the Pantheon
Kathy had forgotten how beautiful the interior of the building is. Such beautiful marble. We saw Raphael's tomb,
and the tomb of an Italian King. Matt was amazed that the hole in the roof was open
– and didn't realise that it's open all year around, and in all weather. There are drainage holes in the floor for the rain and snow.
After the first lot of awe, we walked
Something we saw on the way to the Forum
up to the Forum.
Matt, at the Forum
Wow, wow. We stood for a bit and looked out over the area,
and we had a view of this
and watched some archaeologists at work.
OK, so they were female archaeologists
It's a massive series of the most amazing ruins.
not just ruins, but great statues too
We wandered around inside for a while.
Matt, next to a tablet with some writing on it
Ah, so that's where we were!
There was a Basilica with an exhibit of sculptures from around the Forum,
and on the wall were Christian frescoes
from when the Basilica had been used as a Christian church.
The floor of the basilica
We walked up the Palatine Hill, and had fantastic views out over Rome
and the Colosseum. We found one little spot which had the most amazing view of the Colosseum – and we were the only ones there!
Wow - check that out!
Matt, though, was a little more chilled
We were surrounded by big pots with orange and lemon trees in them, and just the sounds of the birds. At the top of the hill was a museum which was full of busts and sculptures,
Now, did someone lose a foot?
This was actually outside the museum, but it was pretty cool
No, they weren't all like this.
and there were some pretty awesome frescoes as well
which was a nice break from the heat, dust and glare. We walked there to the tune of the midday church bells.
We next walked down the hill and in to the Colosseum
– and we avoided the massive, 2-hour queues because our tickets to the Forum included entry to the Colosseum. It felt so good walking past all those people....
We found that the Colosseum had changed a lot since we were each there. For a start, there was no smell of cat pee, and no cats.
And you could no longer get down in to the lower level – but you could get to an upper level (and oh, what agonisingly steep steps!).
On the upper level was a really good exhibit on the gladiators, which was really good to see. They'd done a lot of work replicating the various weapons, armour and costumes used by the various classes of gladiator.
By now we were pretty tired (it was, after all nearly 2pm) and our brains were full, so we headed off to lunch. We decided to try a place called Luzzi on via San Giovanni, which had been highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. It was just what the doctor ordered – cheap red wine, pizza and pasta. When we got there it was packed, and we found out later that it was full of a tour group, mostly Americans, and their Italian tour guide. One family caused some trouble when it came time to pay up – they wanted to pay using a traveller's cheque in US dollars. They claimed they'd travelled 'all around the world' and had never had any problems before. Who uses traveller's cheques any more?!? It's much cheaper, and easier, to use an ATM these days. The poor waitress got right chewed out by her boss when he found out what happened.
After lunch we walked over
Something we saw on the way from the Forum
to the Trevi Fountain
and braved the crowds to recreate a photo from when Matt was visiting with his family. We stood and watched the crowds trying to get closer to the fountain
Yes, the crowds were that big
– we had much better views from further back.
Matt at the Trevi Fountain
Kathy at the Trevi Fountain
Water flowing over part of the Trevi Fountain
Because of the crowds we couldn't get up and throw our coins in to the fountain. More wandering, and eventually back to near the hotel, where we sat in the shade and had a bottle of prosecco. Mmmmm.
After a rest in our room, we changed and went out to dinner. The restaurant we were booked in to tonight was not a 'walk past' restaurant – you have to know it's there, as it's off a side road and up a winding little road in a little piazza.
Matt at dinner
It was another recommended restaurant (sharing the secret, it's the il Piperno Restaurante on Monte dé Cenci), and we again ate al fresco. Kathy had artichokes alla Romana and a grilled veal T-bone. Matt had an antipasto platter and a beautiful oxtail stew. We had an aperitif each, and our mains were accompanied by a beautiful bottle of Camp Gros Martinenga Barbaresco 2000. For dessert Kathy had the most amazing small wild strawberries with lemon and Matt had a incredible cheese platter. Coffees and digestives finished another amazing meal. By the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly midnight, so to avoid turning into a pumpkin we turned in.
Friday 30th July
Today we woke up to rain, but it soon disappeared. After breakfast we headed off to the Vatican,
stopping along the way for photos from one of the bridges over the river,
and avoiding the scam artists near the Castel San Angelo as we walked along the river towards the Vatican. After standing and looking up at St. Paul's for a while,
and watching a multinational 'flock' of priests
on a class outing from the seminary we joined the queue to go in. We got through security, and enjoyed standing watching women and girls being refused entry by security because they were not appropriately dressed (did they not see the signs at the start of the queue??) and in. Oh. My. Goodness. What an incredible building! First stop was Leonardo's Pieta,
then wandering around looking at the paintings, and the other artwork in the Basilica.
We got some lovely shots of shafts of sunlight breaking through the incense-laden air.
We spent about an hour there, wandering around looking at the statues,
Erm, OK - don't quite understand this one
altars
and roof inlays.
This is actually the inside of the top of the main cupola
We also spent time avoiding the tour groups, and trying not to bump in to the flocks of monks and nuns. Once outside we saw some of the Swiss guards,
before we headed up the hill (a long way up the hill!) to the Vatican Museum. We had thought it was closer?? Perhaps they've changed the entry over the years. As we stood in the queue (picking up a theme here?) for tickets we were near an African priest with the most beautifully embroidered shirt.
Once we were in, there were so many paintings.
We saw some maps painted on to walls, some beautiful tapestries,
and Raphael's School of Athens frescoes
– all just beautiful stuff. There were even old frescoes on the walls,
and fabulous marble stucco floors. We seemed to have missed, though, the vases and some of the old books and bibles that we know the Museum has – perhaps it was on a route we avoided because of a huge tour group? After about an hour we walked through to the Sistine Chapel. Wow, wow, wow. It's a beautiful chapel, even more so now that it's restored. It was absolutely packed – and people just didn't listen or read the signs asking them to be silent, as it's still a working chapel. The poor staff were so busy shushing people that they couldn't stop people taking photos – which you're not allowed to do.
Exhausted, hungry and overwhelmed we headed back across the river to find somewhere for lunch. We stumbled across a place called Da Mario, on the Via della Chiesa Nuova, which looked good, not too touristy, and had seats in the shade outside. After having his bluff called with a 'big' beer (it was huge!!)
Matt had veal carparccio (a bit chewy) and a lovely mixed grilled fish dish. Kathy had prosciutto & melon then spaghetti alla vongole. We shared a bottle of house white (which was lovely), then had espresso. Complementary lemon sorbet finished yet another amazing meal.
Replete and recharged we wandered back towards the hotel, just meandering through squares and along streets. We ended up in the Piazza Navona, where Matt bought a couple of cigars. More meandering and we ended up in a wine bar near the hotel where we sat outside and just watched the people going past, while Matt had a cigar. Back to the hotel, refresh, change, and back out. We walked along to the Spanish Steps (so many people),
then found the taverna we had had recommended to us for dinner by some of the guys at the pub (and booked). We then walked along to the Pizzza del Popolo, and stopped in to a cocktail bar for a quick drink. We then found a lovely wine bar, as the storm we'd seen coming over broke and the heavens opened . It was a proper storm – thunder, lightening and heavy rain.
Dinner was AMAZING. The guys who ran the taverna were slightly mad, but it was so much fun. We shared our starters of caprese salad and stuffed zucchini flowers. Matt had saltimbocca (mmmm) and Kathy had risotto with black truffles (mmmmm). We had a lovely bottle of chanti reserva with that lot. Dessert for Matt was a chunk (yes, chunk) of peccorino
while Kathy had beautiful cherries, which came out in a dish on ice. We were then given a portion of the most fantastic tiramisu to share. Finished with grappa and limoncello – with the bottles on the table (no, you must have another glass sir – no, fill it up!) and espresso. Fantastic!
On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the Spanish Steps for more photos,
then things went a bit pear-shaped when Matt 'lost' the map and then said 'no, the Pantheon isn't down there (where the the sign was pointing) it's this way. Crankiness ensued, and an umbrella ended up being thrown on to the ground. We finally made it back to the hotel and all the bars were closed because of the rain (everyone had disappeared, so things closed down). Kathy went to bed, while Matt went and had a cigar before bed.
Saturday 31st July
Today we had a slower start to the day, because we were in no rush to get anywhere. We wandered to the Campo de Fiori and ogled the fresh fruit and vegetables.
Then we wandered along to the ruins at the Foro di Augusto. There we saw the cats – because there's a cat sanctuary. Meandering back to the Pantheon, we got to it by a way we hadn't gone before, so could see some of the remains on the marble façade on the rear of the building. As we'd seen everything on our 'must do' lists we sat in the Piazza and had a coffee and people watched for a bit. We did some shopping next – more shirts and some ties for Matt (after having a 'duh' moment a couple of days before by saying “look at all those men wearing Italian suits”) and a lovely leather handbag for Kathy.
We checked out, then popped out for an early lunch in the Piazza. Matt had sea bass and potatoes, Kathy had risotto and zucchini flowers. We shared an undressed green salad and a bottle of crisp white wine. Back to the hotel and off to the airport. Some of the route to the airport is along the Appian Way, so there's another bit of history we've seen.
It's a good thing we'd had wine with lunch, because what we experienced at Ciampino airport was pretty hellish. Check-in opened 20 minutes late, then only 1 desk was accepting passengers. Everyone was getting stressed, and people were trying to jump the queue. Then the plane took off 1 hour late. As a result we missed 1 train back to Cardiff, and had to wait half an hour for another. Fortunately we made it back in to Cardiff in time to get to our dinner reservation at the Conway at 9pm, but it was a bit rushed. It was hot in the pub, but the food was of its usual standard. We were pretty tired, to had 1 course then back home to crash.
While the holiday had an unfortunate beginning and ending, the time in Rome was fantastic – it was a brilliant Adventure Romanus. Would we go back to Rome? You bet – in a heartbeat.
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