When in Roma

Ciao! Il primero post.

We flew to Roma with a short stop over at an in airport hotel Seoul to avoid the various conflicts around the world. It was uneventful besides briefly misplacing a passport which sparked some mild panic for our weary travelers. What is a holiday without a misplaced passport anyway? In unrelated news Ebony is now in charge of the passports.

After landing at Fiumicino aeroporto it was around 8pm so we got a taxi to the hotel to try to sleep off the jetlag and be rested for the next day. In the morning we found a cafe with great coffee and our long anticipated pistachio cornetti(A cornetto is not the same as a croissant). We have tried making these at home a couple of times so it is nice to have the real deal in Roma.

 

 

Cornetti al Pistacchio

 

 We headed to the Trevelli fountain while the temperature was a relatively cool 30 degrees in the morning. Willow threw 50 euro cents over her shoulder so should make it back here one day. She also got to have her first canolli near the fountain as I needed to get change for the coin toss.

We went back to the safety of the A/C apartment and rehydrated until lunch time when we went back out to the next cultural experience of the Pantheon. After locating a spot for lunch along the walk to the Pantheon we went for a drink nearby until our time to go in.

We recovered with some cold showers and A/C back at the ranch until it was time for dinner. I had my first carbonara of the trip at a nearby restaurant and then we went to a hotel rooftop bar for some apertivi to get a view of Roma and watch the sunset which is at about 8.30pm here.

 

Breakfast the next day was more cornetti al pistacchio. This was apparently one of the best ones in Roma according to internet research. Luckily we're doing about 20k steps a day in 37 degree weather or we'd be wide as houses by the end of this trip.

I talked everyone into going to Via Appia after breakfast, it is a road which has existed literally before Jesus was a boy. We took a metro and had a long walk in the belting sun. After failing to rent bicycles because they were all reserved we were told to try the next rental place 2kms down the Via Appia. We took a bus which we got off one stop too early at some catacombs so we had some caffe and more rehydration. We briefly spoke to a priest from Australia who overheard our accents. He was in full robes yet not sweating, obviously a very pious man.

Eventually we got the bus to the next bike rental stop, Willow and I went for a ride down the Via Appia and stopped off, we had to turn back after a bit and after dropping Willow back with Ebony I went for a bit of a further ride down away from Rome. There's so many ruins and it is cool to see the wheel marks in the basoli from the carts made in antiquity.

We caught a cab back to the Vatican city and after the cabbie dropped us off somewhere unhelpful, we decided that the lining up under the sun to see the pope house was not ideal for what was supposed to be a holiday. Besides after talking to the priest god will surely forgive us? We walked around to get a pic in the Vatican city and so Willow can say she's been to another country.

Dinner was at another hotel rooftop, Willow had a ragu alla bolognese, Ebony had a zucchini risotto and I had a much better carbonara.

Abandon all hope ye who enter here. Roma is turning into Dante's inferno for our final full day. Although it's not humid, the 38 degree heat urban heat island effect is a thing. The farmacia signs have the temperature on them and one which was in full sunlight said 64C...madness.

We pressed on after changing up the breakfast, I had a sfogliatella, Ebony had an omelette and Willow had a canolli and cornetto as a reward for eating something other than pizza.

 

Willow and I did a tour of the coliseum and with some encouragement the Roman Forum as well. It was pretty brutal in the heat. 

 

We later met Ebony for lunch in the Jewish ghetto as I wanted to get some carciofi alla giudia, which is a deep fried artichoke, tipici della regione. The pasta at this place was great too, but the heat was oppressive so we cabbed it back home.

 

Later we went and watched the Brazil vs Japan at a local restaurant and I had 1L of beer for hydration purposes.

Quick fire question round with Willow and Ebony:

 

Willow

 - Favourite breakfast meal/cafe?

I can't choose! It was all so delicious

- Favourite lunch/dinner/dish/restaurant?

Probably the spaghetti "ragu ala Bolognese" it was the best spaghetti I could dream of! Whoever made it, I want the recipe.

 

- Best cultural experience, building, performance, site?

Well the Colosseum is just amazing but in second place I got to go to the trevi fountain!

 

- Something funny/ Honourable mentions

I navigated us all home/airbnb by myself! 

Ebony

- Favourite breakfast meal/cafe

Ryan says cornetti (Italian pastry similar to croissant) is ’typical’ for Rome, so of course we had cornetti and coffee every breakfast - a pretty good way to live! One morning we did get a ‘breakfast deal’ which had an omelette, coffee, and OJ, and my body was thankful for more nutrients to help with the oppressive heat. (We still got cornetti too lol) 

- Favourite lunch/dinner/dish/restaurant/bar

Lots of delicious food in Rome. The stand out was Trattoria da Enzo and the fried artichoke! Ryan put a pic of it in the blog so check that out. It tasted amazing. Ryan tells me he can make it back home - let’s hold him to that! Also their cherry tomatoes, basil and burrata was so good - really simple but I dunno it just seems to taste better here 

- Best cultural experience, building, performance, site

Lots of cool Roman stuff so it’s hard to pick a winner. Maybe the Trevi Fountain… I am amazed by Roman engineering and how the Romans got water running throughout the city and into all the fountains. There are drinking fountains all over the city, and the water is drinkable, and amazingly on a 36-degree day, the water comes out really cold! Willow and I sat at the Trevi Fountain while Ryan went searching for a coin to toss into the fountain, and because it was so hot, we used the public drinking water fountain to cool off. Such a relief from the heat 

- Something funny/ Honourable mentions

Honourable mention definitely needs to go to Willow for directing us home one night after a delicious rooftop dinner! We let her lead us through the streets and didn't assist her at all. And she took us directly home without any mistakes! We were so impressed - I definitely wouldn't have been able to find my way home without a map. She told us she remembered the way because she was taking note of gelato shops and other important places on route