Italy

And after the Forum?

/ Greg / 3 Comments

This must happen to everyone a couple of days into their first visit to Rome:  You’re having breakfast, turning your mind to the day ahead, when you think… “I’m going to see <insert famous historical site here> today” and you’re aware that it feels oddly normal yet still surreal to be heading out to visit another 2,000+ year old site of historical significance.   On our fourth day in Rome, I have a memory of asking my wife rather nonchalantly, “So, what do you want to do after we visit the Forum?”  That’s always been something special about traveling to me – the juxtaposition of rapidly becoming comfortable in a foreign place (was I really  asking about what to do after the Forum???) running up against the anticipation of experiencing something enormous for which you don’t have any adequate frame of reference.

On yet another perfect weather day, we made the short walk from our hotel to the Roman Forum.    I could have been perfectly happy to just stand at one end to look out over the site and imagine the scene more than 2,000 years ago:

Overlooking Roman Forum

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Pasta on my mind

/ Greg / 2 Comments

Without firm dinner plans on our third night in Rome, we looked at a list of interesting restaurants we had compiled that were nearby in the Monti neighbourhood, our home away from home for four nights.  With the help of our hotel staff, we booked 8:30pm reservations, unaware of the deliciousness that was ahead.  Who knew that the most delicious pasta in the world would be mere steps around the corner from our hotel in Rome?

La Carbonara was definitely a locals place.  A few visitors like us had found our way here, but there were a lot of regulars jammed in around us ordering without menus.  Everyone was ordering the pasta and as plate after plate went past to other tables there was no doubt I would be indulging in a pasta course on this night.  With a “when in Rome” mentality, we ordered a bottle of local Lazio wine (Santa Felicita, Cesanese del Piglio 2011).  It was a robust and rustic red… a little rough around the edges until it opened up a bit.  It ended up fitting perfectly with both the food and the ambiance of the restaurant.

Lazio wine

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A surreal visit to the Colosseum

/ Greg / 2 Comments

There were a lot of things I was excited to see in Rome, and right at the top of the list was the Colosseum.    We decided for a later afternoon visit and were rewarded with a far less crowded experience.   This site can be overrun with people, but holding off visiting until later in the day made for a very peaceful experience and plenty of room to move around.   Armed with a Rick Steves podcast for a self-guided tour, we made our way inside the amphitheater to the most prime seats reserved for royalty back in the day.  Walking into the seating section was definitely one of those “wow” life moments as the stadium opened up into full view:

Colosseum

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Catching a few Roman sights

/ Greg / 2 Comments

For our second full day in Rome, it was time for us to stretch out our legs a bit and explore some of the city’s main sights.   Another spectacular day (something that would be a constant through two weeks in Italy) gave us perfect wandering around weather for some exploration.   We were planning on starting with a visit to Piazza Navona but got off our bus a stop too early, made a wrong right turn somewhere and ended up on a bridge to this unexpected, stunning view of St. Peter’s Basilica.  Sometimes misreading a map is a good thing:

Tiber River, Rome

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Visiting the Vatican

/ Greg / 1 Comment

Our trip to Italy had started on some high notes – a Sunday soccer match and a great first meal.  After a deep, long, wonderful, jet lag induced sleep, our Monday in Rome got off to a planned later day start.  We had entrance tickets for 1pm at the Vatican Museums to give us plenty of time to sleep.  On that note, take it from me (and a host of other easily found information online) – buy your Vatican tickets in advance online.  There’s a surcharge, but it saved us from at least two hours standing in line waiting to get in.  We walked past an enormous line the likes of which I had never seen before, and right into the museum.

My art and painting interests lie more toward the modern end of the spectrum, so the trip through the Vatican Museums was more about seeing a few of the high points and not getting too bogged down in the details (of some truly amazing art… just not my particular cup of tea).  One of the first stops was these three Raffaelo works, in particular, the middle one – “Transfiguration”:

Inside Vatican Museums

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Rome: Let the eating begin

/ Greg / 4 Comments

Our Italy trip was, of course, going to be about eating and drinking well for two weeks.   We got that kicked off right away on our first night in Rome.  Knowing we would be jet lagged and coming from a soccer match earlier that afternoon, we planned ahead and made reservations at a restaurant near St. Peter’s Basilica.   If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a decade of serious traveling, it’s that you should plan your first meal post-arrival.  There’s nothing more frustrating as being in a new place, tired and hungry.

Armed with great recommendations from some gluten-free bloggers (thanks!), we arrived at La Soffitta Renovatio about forty five minutes after leaving Stadio Olimpico.   Not personally in need of their gluten free menu, I opted for an Italian beer, a Peroni rossa, to quench my thirst from sitting in the sun all afternoon:

First beer in Rome

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Sunday in Rome means football

/ Greg / 7 Comments

After a long day traveling and an overnight flight from Montreal to Rome, my body’s natural inclination was to get to the hotel and lay down for a nap.  But on this trip to Italy, there was one and only one chance to participate in the most Italian of traditions.  A tradition bordering on religion to many Italians was to take place at 3pm on this Sunday afternoon.

Calcio.  Football.  Soccer.   It was something I wasn’t going to miss.   After a remarkable cultural experience watching my first European soccer match last year in Prague, weary body and mind wouldn’t keep me away from joining 30,000 others for the afternoon’s Lazio-Sassuolo match.  From touchdown of our plane through train and subway to our hotel, then subway and tram to Stadio Olimpico, we made it just minutes before the match was to start.   The Lazio supporters and ultras had already taken up their traditional place in the Curva Nord and were warming up their voices as the players were introduced:

Stadio Olimpico in Rome for a Lazio match

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When the moon hits your eye…

/ Greg / Leave a comment

Rome, then Naples, then onto Sorrento, and then back to Rome for the flight home.  For the better part of two weeks, this stretch of Italy dazzled me.  My wife and I saw so much on this trip that it will take a while to process it all.   The Roman Forum, Pompeii, St. Peter’s Basilica, the isle of Capri, the Colosseum, the Amalfi Coast… there was almost too much natural beauty and history to comprehend in two short weeks.

This trip had more than its share of pleasant surprises and great moments, and it didn’t hurt that not a drop of rain fell the entire time we were in Italy.  We enjoyed a Sunday afternoon at a Lazio soccer match with the home team emerging victorious.  We drank wine overlooking the Bay of Naples as the sun set.  We hiked up Mount Vesuvius to look in its crater and to soak in the views from its peak.  We sailed around Capri and along the Amalfi Coast.   This was a trip of postcard views everywhere we looked:

Capri

In addition to the natural beauty, the eating on this trip was outstanding.  A simple pasta dish in a small restaurant in the Monti neighbourhood of Rome was the best thing I’ve had on any trip this year.  Pizza in Naples has spoiled me for what we call by the same name in Canada.  I had the softest, most perfect gnocchi in Positano, spaghetti and clams in Sorrento, Trippa alla Romana in Rome, and the flaky, creamy concoction called sfogliatella in Naples which I will crave until my next visit.

More to come over the weeks and months ahead as I sort through thousands of photos and put words to what was a remarkable exploration of a beautiful slice of Italy.