Wednesday July 25
We woke up rested and refreshed, ready for next day of
exploration. Breakfast was at a little restaurant connected to the hotel.
We set off on the day’s adventure, walking to Via Nazionale,
past the Quiranale, Exhibition, towards the Forum,. We stopped off at a couple
of churches, -you just never know what may be inside – a Caravaggio or
Michelangelo. There were none, but you
never know!
After the Forum we headed back towards the Baths off Diocletian,
which is now a church – Santa Maria degli Angeli, designed on the Baths site,
by Michelangelo. Very beautiful and a welcome relief to be able to sit in the
cool and calm. Rome is really hot. Temperatures in the high 30’s every day. We are
visiting lots of churches – you can sit, you can get relief from the heat and there
is usually something spectacular or ornate or interesting to see.
We found more Obelisks – at the Forum, in the Piazza di
Quiranale, and at Piazza Veneto. Some of the obelisks are actually columns, but
for our purposes we’ll group them as “tall, pointy things that are erected by
emperors, popes, other important Romans, to make a ‘big statement’ about their
power and importance”. Our quest is to locate the 13 which survive from the
original 40 recorded in antiquity.
We had booked a Food Tour in the Trastevere for Wednesday
evening. We were not sure how far to the Trastevere so we got on a bus which took
us for ride way out into the sticks: largo Somalia, largo Ethiopia. It was the
wrong direction. Lost again. We decided to get off and take a train back when a
young extremely perfect Italian gentleman advised us the trains had broken down
and he hailed us a cab. Another fast cab drive – 10kms in 10minutes through
Rome – playing chicken with other competitors for our space and line with
consummate skill.
The food tour was
brilliant with a good group of people of varied ages and a young American actress
as a guide. We were taken to ten different restaurants and bars, to sample
fabulous food and wine.
The highlight was sipping 100% Montepulciano grapes in a
2000 year old cellar which started its existence as a Jewish synagogue – the
oldest 4 walls/room still in service in Rome, storing wine for one of the
consistently top restaurants in Rome. It is so old and protected that the
owners cannot even dust the walls.
We walked back across the Tiber and caught a tram to Piazza
Veneto and then walked home, without getting lost!
No comments:
Post a Comment