It's the second week of my spring break and I arrived in Roma, Italia very late on Friday, April 15th. I took a taxi straight from Fiumicino Airport to the luxurious Eurostars International Palace hotel. My mother and Rob had been anxiously awaiting my arrival (it had been over 3 months since they last saw me). Not only were they jet lagged, but they were also excited to get the vacation started!
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| Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II |
Recall, it was the week leading up to Easter (a widely celebrated holiday in Italy), and so the city was brimming with tourists. Luckily, Rob had purchased a pre-paid 2-day pass to the following three sites: the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. Thus, we did not have to wait on the extremely (or seemingly never-ending) long lines and were able to "legally" cut to the front. However, this DID NOT mean that we sped through all of the attractions. To the contrary, we took our time at each site and utilized the three days to their fullest.
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| Coliseum (inside) |
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| Spanish Steps |
After a 2-hour self-guided tour, I convinced my mother and Rob to take a chance and participate in a free walking tour, which was hosted by a native Italian woman. We rushed to the Spanish steps (where the tour was supposed to leave from) and made it in the nick of time! Funny enough, the tour was headed straight back to the Coliseum. It had taken us 30 minutes by foot to make it to the tour on time...and now we were on our way back to where we had started. Nonetheless, it was a fabulous introduction to the city and was from a native speaker's perspective.
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| The Roman Forum |
The tour dropped us off adjacent to the Roman Forum, so I decided to capture a few shots from our advantageous position. After the tour, I was starving. So, I took a little sidetrip to a street vendor who was selling fresh individual pizzas and paninis. I ordered a tuna panini, which was on the most delicious ciabatta bread that I have ever tasted. Light and fresh...I was refueled and ready, once again, to go, go, go!
From here, we didn't stop until we collapsed. We continued walking towards Palatine Hill, which was by far my favorite site in Rome. I fell in love with the history and landscape. We were able to visit the House of Augustus and take in additional views of the Roman Forum and Coliseum. The site had drinking fountains "au natural," which were about as pure (at least I hope) as you can get. The sun beamed on us the entire way through. We spent way more time here, than we had planned for and once Rob and I got yelled at for taking pictures while standing on parts of the remaining architecture (we really should have known better), we realized that it was time to move on.
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| Palatine Hill |
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| Palatine Hill |
After walking miles and miles, we really worked up an appetite. So, needless to say...we were really looking forward to dinner. My host mother, Inès, had repeatedly told me about her favorite area in Rome - Piazza Navona. It's a lively square with three fountains centered in between numerous cafés and restaurants. After roaming the square in search of the most appealing and best smelling restaurant, we settled on a quiet Italian restaurant situated at the corner of the square. I ordered a dish of fresh homemade linguine with eggplant (aubergine), a traditional tomato sauce, and basil. This was accompanied by a Sicilian glass of Corvo wine. The meal was delicioso! And we topped it all off with a taste of Italian cookies (biscotti) and gelato. What a dream come true.
Day #2: The first item on our list of things to do on day #2 was take a walk through the Roman Forum. It was once a central meeting point for Romans and consisted of mainly ancient governmental buildings. It was crowded, yet beautiful. Although much of the forum had been destroyed, the remaining pieces of from the arches and temples made for an exhilarating walk. I was especially impressed by the exquisite detail of the arches (e.g. the one pictured above).
As we left the forum, I remembered passing by a museum during the tour on day #1. We saw Roman statues galore. There was an indoor and outdoor component to one of the Capitoline Museums, which gave us a much needed break from the blistering sun.
As we made our way to the Jewish Ghetto, we passed by a parade of sorts with men and women dressed in traditional Roman clothing. The three of us got separated for a bit, since the parade became a big picture-worthy sensation in the streets.
Finally we caught up and crossed the bridge to the "Serraglio delli Ebrei" (enlcosure of the Jews). We were told that this area had been established by Pope Paul IV in 1555 to separate the Jews from the Christians.
We were told about the delicacies offered in the Jewish Ghetto (e.g. fried artichokes) and could not help but stop off for a quick bite. We were in a slight hurry, so we settled on a small place that served chicken shawarma. Although it was nowhere near as good as the shawarma that I tasted in Israel, we were satisfied...at least for now.
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| Great Synogogue |
On the way back from the Jewish quarter, we passed by a gelateria. There had to be something special about this place, for there was a line out the door in the late afternoon. It was nearly 4pm and I knew we would be sitting down for dinner again, in just a few short hours. But, Rob and I couldn't pass it up. Like I always say, 'you only live once'! So, we splurged. I ordered a hazelnut rimmed cone filled with half stracciatella and half of the finest chocolate gelato that I've ever tasted. Rob settled on a classic cone filled with mint chocolate chip gelato. If you ever find yourself in the area, the name of the place is Alla Scala Gelateria (address: Via della Scala 51, Trastevere). Trust me, it's worth the trip!
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| Trevi Fountain |
Individuals from all over the world visit the Trevi fountain and it is well-known for its tradition of coin throwing. As the legend goes, if a visitor throws a coin over their shoulders and into the fountain, they will be ensured a return visit to Rome. BBC estimates that a remarkable 3,000 euros are collected daily from the fountain due to coin tossers. Needless to say, it is a landmark.
Time flew by and before we knew it, it was late into the evening. My mother's feet were killing her at this point, since we walked miles and miles. However, I continued to urge her to walk a little longer and a little farther. But, by the time we stopped it had been an extra hour and a half and we wound up climbing atop the Spanish steps in hopes of finding a slew of appealing restaurants. There was only one, but it was perfect. There was music playing in the corridor and the restaurant had an elegant decor. The waiter and waitress assigned to our table were hilarious and the food was incomprehensibly delicious. It just kept getting better and better. We shared a bottle of my favorite Montepulciano D'Abruzzo wine and my mom and I both ordered the black (often code for squid ink infused) pasta with mint pesto and prawns. It was out of this world. Finally, we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for day #3.
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| Sistine Chapel |
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| St. Peter's Square |
That being said, St. Peter's Basilica was much more impressive. They were setting up for Easter and had chairs lined up all throughout the center of St. Peter's Square (pictured right). My mother's favorite part of the Renaissance-style church was the marble cherub sculptures.
This was an exhausting day so far, and it wasn't even close to being over. I was starved, but my mother and Rob wanted to finish our visit in Vatican City before stopping to get some lunch. So, I had to wait, wait...and wait. Finally, we found a nice little place with outdoor seating right by the subway. We all ordered paninis of different sorts, relaxed, and baked in the sun.
Next stop was the Piazza del Popolo. There is a central fountain with four Egyptian lion statues. I climbed onto one of them and had a picture taken. At the far end of the square sits two symmetrical churches known as Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto. They were built under the order of Pope Alexander VII in 1658.
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| Egyptian Lion Statue |
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| Symmetrical Churches |
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| Inside the Pantheon |
We had one last supper in Rome, before embarking on the next part of our Italian getaway...Naples and the Amalfi Coast!
