Month: August 2016

They say you need a whole lifetime to see everything in Rome. That may be true, but we stayed for a whole week and managed to see enough to satisfy us… At least for now.

For Italy we had loose schedules created. For Rome in particular we used the website Visit A City to help create a 7 day schedule. The website creates daily schedules based on distances and opening/closing times. Instead of consulting 394 different websites, we were able to just use this one to create an appropriate schedule for us.

Our adventure started mid day when we met our AirBnB host in Trastevere. Normally we do not have anything of note to say about our hosts, but this guy went above and beyond. As you may remember, our first stop once we get settled is to go buy groceries. At our new home in Trastevere, our host had already purchased groceries for us. It was amazing how thoughtful he was to stock the cupboard for the week. We still went to the store, but fresh pasta demands that kind of trip.

Once settled, we raced on to complete our to-do list of the day (as determined by our Visit A City schedule). Our first steps in Rome were to a church naturally. We made a visit to Santa Sabine. This church is extremely old and also provides an amazing view of Rome.

The next stop on the list was a walk to the Baths of Caracalla. These Roman baths are some of the largest in Rome. The baths gave us beautiful views of mosaic floors. Most of the designs I would want in my own home. Clay was beside himself. It never gets old looking at Roman mosaics and Clay sought them out in most all the countries we visited. You may remember that we had a look at Morocco mosaics. (We also made a trip in Montenegro to see them. Whenever we get the blog caught up, you will get to see those.)

Besides the mosaics, the sheer size of the bath house structure was amazing. It still baffles me how structures of this size were created and how long they have stood.

After our visit to the baths we took a walk to visit a pyramid from year 12 BC. So there is that, just hanging out at an intersection. It was a little bizarre to see in the city.

We then headed on to a better view of the city in time for sunset. While on our walk we noticed a line of people at the front door of a building. People were queuing up to the door and taking a peek through the door’s keyhole. After taking a look, most giggled to their comrades or took pictures through the hole and then went on their way. I (Elizabeth), ever afraid of missing out, had to know what everyone was getting a gander of. Clay, ever the one with little patience, decided to keep walking to the sunset viewpoint. It took me about 30 mins or so to get to the keyhole. I had no idea what to expect when I took a peek. As I approached I had only a few thoughts of what it could be:

1. Something that was going to scare me. No one had peeked and jumped, but I was still slightly afraid.
2. A beautiful statue. Italy is covered in beautiful works of art. I thought it may be just a marble statue in a garden and people are only allowed to view it through the keyhole. Clay  joked that it was an enlarged version of The David’s most prized area.
3. At this point I should say that I was convinced there was a garden inside. The question for me was what was in the garden. I finally settled on a quite group of animals hanging out in a garden behind the door.

As you might have guessed, all my hypothesis were wrong. Instead behind the keyhole was… Well I guess you are just going to have to see for yourself. It would be a pity to spoil such a surprise.

I did share with Clay what I saw behind the keyhole. He will probably tell you if you buy him a good beer or BBQ dinner.

We ended our day at Eatly to buy some fresh pasta. Since we had been in Italy a while and had devoured several meals for “inspiration”, we were ready to try our hand at cooking fresh pasta on our own. Clay successfully made a few pasta dishes for us to enjoy as we booked tours for our stay in Rome. Word to the wise: It may not always be better to plan ahead, but it definitely would be less stressful.

The next morning we started with a free walking tour around the city. As usual the tour was a great introduction to Rome. We got to see our first Vatican building (one of the few outside Vatican City), Trajan’s Column, the Spanish Steps (closed for renovations), the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. It was a lot to see before lunch, but I think that can sum up Rome.

In the afternoon we went to the Borghese Gallery. We booked a tour of the gallery the night before so we weren’t exactly sure what we were getting into. The gallery is a smallish collection of impressive art. There were mosaics, marble statues, and traditional paintings. Two of the more memorable pieces we saw were Bernini statues. One statue titled Apollo and Daphne, although only one piece, told the whole myth of Apollo and Daphne. Our guide did an excellent job telling us the story while also walking us around the statue as it played out. The second statue by Bernini is The Rape of Proserpina. This is so detailed that you have to stare at it for several minutes before you accept that it is only marble.

We ended our stay at the gallery by strolling through the gardens. We only saw a small part of the gardens. It is worth sticking around the gardens for a bit. We didn’t get to see near enough of it.

After our walk through the gardens, Clay was determine to see the Colosseum. I wanted to see it too, so we made the  forty minute trek across town to get a good look at what we would be touring the following morning.

For our dinner we bucked tradition and made reservations at a more modern restaurant. We were treated to an array of wonderful dishes. Our prix fixe meal was for seven courses, but those seven multiplied to 12 and we left with our stomachs busting at the seams.

The next day we went back to the Colosseum for a proper tour of the place. This tour was with Context. We highly recommend this company. Although their tours are on the pricey side, it is basically private. Our tour group consisted of four people. The tour guide (an archaeologist who actually worked on site at the Roman Forum), us and one other tourist.

Our guide’s love for Roman history was contagious. He first took us to the Colosseum where we learned that it’s actually Flavian’s Amphitheater. There are a lot of Colosseums, but there is only one Flavian’s Amphitheater. In our small group of four, we (I mean Clay) had the opportunity to ask all the questions we wanted. Clay could not have been happier with this arrangement.

After all of Clay’s questions were answered and we got a good look around the amphitheater we headed out to the Roman Forum. This ancient plaza played host to many of the government buildings at the time. The large size of the plaza is difficult to take in. In some areas you have a full front of a building, in others you have just the rough blueprint from the foundation stones. There are rouge columns with ornate capitals here and there. It really is an impressive sight to explore.

After our usual tour ended, our guide walked us to the area we wanted to eat lunch in. He also stopped into a church that we thought might be interesting. Again the tour company and our guide were great and went above and beyond.

We later visited the Capitoline Museum. Although the museum was great, we mainly were there for another view of the Roman Forum.

After all the touring we headed back to Trastevere and stopped at a fresh pasta shop to buy provisions for dinner. This shop was owned by two sisters from Sardinia. We would learn on another tour that the brothers of the sisters own the restaurant across the street. Although our own Sardinian, Rachele, was back home we were always reminded of her.

Getting in and out of Cinque Terre was easy since it’s all done by train. But getting to somewhere can be quite time consuming. We arrived in Florence around midday. Rachele had been here before, at least once or twice, so we followed her around like lost puppies. Nowhere in particular, just getting a feel for the city and seeing where all the main attractions live.

Not really art.

Not the real David.

BFF

Uffizi from across the river.

Ponte Vecchio.

Duomo

Duomo bell tower.

I was exhausted from the train and from hauling a broken suitcase, with no handle, a little over a mile across cobblestone streets and sidewalks. I was in need of a decent beer.

All over Italy they have great wine. The best in the world. Second to none. But we are not much for wine. Sure we occasionally partake, but craft beer is light years better and more interesting. The craft beer scene in Europe leaves a bit to be desired, but a brewery in Florence was supposed to have decent brews.

We headed over to Archea Brewery in hopes of finding a place to hang our hats. We sampled the local wares, as well as some non-Archea beer. The non was better, particularly one of the sours. I let Rachele try the sour beer I was enjoying so much. She looked at me as if I had tried to poison her. I think she drank water the rest of the time.

The brewery was across the river from where we were staying and we hung around that part of the trying to find a pizza place. Rumor has it, in Italy you don’t want to eat any pizza north of Florence. Since we were in Florence, and with Rachele, we wanted to get some good pizza.

We can’t seen to remember the name of where we went. I know the general location on a map, but it’s almost impossible to figure out. Nevertheless, we enjoyed three of the best pizza’s ever eaten even though we were not in Naples. Our favorite pizza you could hardly call a pizza. It had double dough (or as Italians would say, double pasta). Imagine a full sized calzone. The pizza was normal and then they draped an entire crust on the top of the pizza. It’s not mushy because these things cook at around 900 degrees.

Yum!

Double pasta. Double deliciousness.

It was a great experience in a tiny little restaurant. Our Italian leader was pleased with the pizza especially upon hearing the head pizza maker talk, apparently, with a Napoli accent.

Since Rachele had already been to Florence, we felt the need to head out of town and experience nature. Best way to do this, Tuscany. The next morning we hoped in a van with two other women and our happy group of five (plus a “guide”) headed to wine country.

Our tour first took us to San Gimignano. A medieval town overlooking the Tuscan region of Italy. The rain rolled in on our way, but managed to clear up a bit by the time we were about to leave town.

Winning gelato

View from the bell tower

Town center

Views from the tower

City streets.

After an hour or so milling about the town we headed out to begin the wine section of our tour. The first vineyard we visited went through a whole spiel on how to drink the wine, savor the wine, smell the wine. That’s one annoying thing about the whole wine tasting tour, they won’t let you just enjoy the wine and have an opinion. The amount of unnecessary fussiness is a huge detriment to the experience. Although the wine, with all the pretentiousness, was rather good, the lunch was the real star. Where else can you get homemade lasagna with a truffle oil sauce?

Our venue for lunch.

Discussing the oaky notes of the red wine.

Truffle oil lasagna.

Discussing the cherry fragrance of the wine.

Our second and final wine stop was much less stuffy. The wine wasn’t as good, but the views were better, and the person in change was more personable. The rain rolled in again, forcing us inside, but we managed to finish all our tastings. At the end of our tastings we were able to sneak down to the cellar to see where they keep the wine. We also learned about grape flour. Once the grapes are all used for wine, the remaining skin can be made into flour and used just like any other flour. This was definitely the fact of the day.

Vineyard views.

The cellar.

Grape flour.

After a day filled with wine and rain, we were all ready to head back to Florence and take a nap. This was Rachele’s last day with us. After a quick nap, she headed back home to Sardinia. It was sad to see her go, but were delighted we could spend a few days with her and look forward to our paths crossing again in the future.

We liked Tuscany so much we decided to head back the next day.  We had not been able to see Siena or Pisa the day before. Our time in Florence was on the short side so we thought it would be best to see Siena, more of Tuscany, and Pisa on a big bus tour. Although we did get to squeeze these spots in, we paid dearly with our sanity.

One thing I worked hard to do on our trip was to not get involved in large tours. We tried any tour that mentioned small groups. No more than 12 people or so. The internet is rife with complaints about large buses hauling lazy travelers all over a country, attempting to maximize the tourist ability to check something off a “list”. Sadly, we fell prey to this exact occurrence on this tour.

It was not an enjoyable day. 12 hours on a bus of 55 people visiting San Gimignano, Siena, and Pisa. (Pisa, I should add, is two hours away from all the rest of this stuff, making it a really stupid thing to try to add on to a day)

A few highlights:

San Gimignano (again)

On day two in San Gimignano we had clearer weather so I was able to take better pictures of the views. We also didn’t feel the pressure to see anything else in the town. We spent our time there meeting our gelato quota and sipping prosecco as we looked out over the vineyards. Time well spent.

Siena

This was our favorite part of the day. In hindsight we would spend a whole day in Siena. The tour provided a local guide for the city. We learned about the Palio di Siena which is a horse race that is held in the middle of the town. The horse race is between 10 of the 17 contradas. Each contrada represents a different city ward. They have their own mascot (varying from snail to wave to eagle), colors, and rivals. Of course there is much pageantry about it all, but at the core the race is three laps around the main plaza in the city. When one is declared the winner (the loser is the contrada that came in second not last) the members of the contrada celebrate at the cathedral.

The main bell tower in the plaza.

Contrada map.

Contrada sign. The city signs let you know when you are entering a new contrada.

The cathedral in town may be my favorite church. The moment you walked through the doors your jaw can’t help but drop. The structure is unique from the outside as it is made from local stone so it actually looks black and white (The cathedral in Florence looks more green and white). The black and white stone can also be found on the inside along with mosaic floors, works from Donatello and Michelangelo,  as well as a library filled with colorful frescoes. Everywhere you looked it was beautiful.

I wish we could all be as sassy as this angel.

Pisa

The leaning tower of Pisa is a sight to see, but it was a surprise to learn that it is tower within a complex of about 4 buildings. There is a church, a baptistry, a monumental cemetary… All of these buildings make up Pisa’s cathedral square. The leaning tower is only the bell tower. It was surreal to turn the corner in Pisa and see nothing but stark white buildings and luscious green grass. Only after the initial shock of colors do you notice that a bell tower is peeking around the cathedral corner.

The next 45 minutes were wasted trying to take funny pictures. We’ll let you decide which is best.

I went for the classic pushing it over.

Look its not leaning!

Elizabeth went for the ole its falling on me bit.

Pisa was the last stop on our very long and large tour. It was great to see it all but please don’t do large tours. Don’t let friends do large tours. Instead spend the day focusing on one thing you really want to do.