Magnificent Monuments - Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy
It's Friday morning and we only have two full days before we pack our bags and head back to the land of Oz. Sadness was starting to kick in, we have had such a wonderful time and as much as we missed our home and family and friends we felt we still had so much more to see and do.Oh well no point moping about we needed to make the most of our last two days.
I forgot to mention that yesterday, under the influence of two cocktails I randomly made a hair appointment at little stylist in the street we are staying in. My hair had been annoying me for the last part of the trip and I was thinking that as it was so hot back home it would be nice to go a bit shorter for summer. Mmmm well let me tell you, short is what I got. Although I did take a picture of what I wanted and my stylist could speak a little English, she decided that it would look better shorter. Mmmm not exactly my thoughts, but oh well ..... it will grow back.
Okay so after I got over the shock of my short hair, I told Waz I needed to do a little bit of retail therapy to feel better, so we hit the shops. Walking around Rome really is quite amazing, it almost seems that at every corner you turn you stumble across some ancient ruin or the most fabulous church, or even a 2000 year old building. It really was very exciting to see what was around the next bend in the road.
After spending the morning shopping and a eating we made our way towards the Colosseum. We had been told that if you got to the Colosseum after 2pm the crowds weren't as big and you could usually tag onto a tour pretty easily. So we arrived there at about 3pm and can I just say OMG. Now I know you are all sick of hearing me say OMG and WOW but this time both Waz and I were really blown away. I mean this was the colossal Colosseum and it was freaking huge. We took our time to walk around the perimeter for a while, getting stiff necks as we marvelled at the mighty monument. I mean, even as a ruin this monster was magnificent.
Like we were told, the tourist numbers weren't so bad at this time, so we found an English speaking tour and jumped on. Our guide was this big blonde, tanned Italian, with guns the size of bazookas and an American / Italian accent. It was possible that he may have had gladiator ancestors. He gave us a really good run down of the bloody history of the Coliseum, and not only was it informative but he was funny which helped it all to sink in.
The construction of the Colosseum began in 72 AD and it was completed in just 8 years – an astonishing achievement for the builders at the time. It is a towering structure measuring some 500 feet across, and it is capable of seating up to 50,000 spectators around the central arena. To mark the inauguration Titus held 100 days and nights of games, during which 5000 animals were slaughtered. During Roman times, crowds packed into the Colosseum to see gladiatorial battles and shows, as well as a variety of other events. The shows were put on by powerful families to showcase the skill and strength of their gladiators. Animal hunts were also held in the Colosseum. Ferocious animals such as lions, leopards, and bears were shipped in from as far away as Africa and the Middle East. Battles between gladiators and animals were staged regularly, which often ended in a bloody death for the terrified beast. The gladiatorial shows continued until the 6th century, when the use of the Colosseum changed drastically. A church was constructed in the amphitheatre, and the arena was converted into a cemetery. People were able to rent out parts of the Colosseum as houses and workshops. During this time, the Colosseum buzzed with life as people went about their daily lives. The Colosseum was altered by the Frangipani family during the 12th century, who added fortifications and used the structure as a castle. It was further altered by the great earthquake that shook Rome in 1349, which led to the Colosseum's partial collapse.
Romans start taking the iron clamps that held blocks together and looting stone from the Colosseum. Pope Alexander VI even leased it out as a quarry, collecting one-third of the profits. It was not until 1749 that Pope Benedict XIV forbade the removal of stone from the structure, consecrating the arena to the Christian martyrs who died there and erecting a cross in the centre. Later popes initiated various restoration projects, reinforcing the façade and removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further. Today the Colosseum expresses both the majesty and might of the Roman Empire. It dominates the space it occupies, towering above the surrounding Roman streets and buildings. It is a symbol of the imperial might and architectural ingenuity of the Roman Empire that dominated the ancient Mediterranean world for centuries.
So I hope you didn't mind the little history lesson but I thought it needed to be included to fully comprehend how we felt walking around and through this historic icon. I mean the ghosts of 700 000 men lurked around us as we took photos and gasped at the gruesome stories of days gone.
Although the Colosseum has such a horrific bloody history, it was really interesting to learn more about it and to stand inside those mighty walls and feel the power of the past.
At the end of the Colosseum tour we were told that there was a complementary addition to the tour if we wanted to take it. We were now going to be taken over to the Palatine Hill and then the Roman Forum. This was so exciting, a little more history to finish of the day.
So our new guide was a young American girl, she was excellent throughout the tour showing us some amazing ruins and telling us about them. We started at the birthplace of Rome, The Palatine Hill. According to legend this is where Romulus killed his twin and founded Rome in 753BC. There's obviously no proof of this but archaeological evidence has dated human habitation on the Palatino to the 8th century.
The Palatine Hill is the richest hill of Rome in terms of history. The Palatine stands on one side of the Roman forum and looks upon the Circus Maximus on the other side. On top of it, recent excavations have discovered remainings of huts of XII century BC which witness the very old origins of Rome (but traditionally Rome is born "just" in 753 BC!). After the I century AD the Palatine became the residence of many Roman emperors who started to build a huge complex of buildings to be used as their private residences. Many emperors contributed in enriching this complex so that the Palatine became an enormous building and for ancient Romans the name of the hill was synonymous with "palace". In fact the word palace (in Italian palazzo), derives from the Palatine.
Next, we walked down the hill and then onto the first ever road in Rome to the Forum, the heart of ancient Rome! The scope of the ruins was overwhelming. Apparently, most of these had been buried and the excavation only began in the early 19th century. As the sun was slowly setting we spent about an hour wandering around the Forum, marvelling at the ruins that were just laying around, including massive pillars and, huge vases and bits and pieces of all types of statues . As we left the forum and started back towards the Trastevere we looked back over the Forum and captured the most beautiful sunset on our 2nd last night in the ancient city.
We ended the night in our typical fashion, a little aperitivo while we people watched and then a cocktail at our new favourite bar Pimms Good, before a traditional Roman meal at one of the local restaurants, Waz was even brave and tried the rabbit, and I have to say I am a little bit fond of Carciofi alla Romana, it is something of true beauty and tastes even better.
After dinner we decided that we needed to make the most of our last days in Rome so we found our way back to Pimms Good for a night cap. With only one day left of our fabulous holiday we really were starting to feel a little depressed about it all coming to an end. When we wake tomorrow it will be our last full day to discover Rome.
It was Saturday, and this meant our last day of discoveries. We had no real plans other than to get out there and see as much as we could before the sun set. I did really want to get back over to have a look inside the Keats Museum, but other than that we were just going to take the day as it comes.
As we started walking I remembered reading about Campo di Fiori, which was meant to be the location of a colourful little street market. So we typed it into Google maps and set off to check it out. Let me just say it was certainly colourful but it was not little. This market was absolutely amazing and full of the most vibrant and interesting fruit, vegetable, cheese, flowers, balsamic, oil, spices, juice, you name it stalls. We were in market heaven. We could not get over how perfect all of the fruit and veges looked, so we had to buy some just to see if they tasted as good. We started with a fresh fruit salad in a cup that was pretty amazing and included fruit from the local cactus, and other delicious fruits that we had never even seen before. We then tried a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which was so refreshing and tasty and for only 4 euros. The pomegranates were massive and they were so cheap, we were certainly going to miss this cheap, amazing fresh produce when we came home. We then saw some really odd shaped green grapes, they looked delicious so we bought a bunch of those also, and they were delicious, juicy and sweet. We took so many photos of the markets and the fresh fruit and veges, it was all just so wonderful. We then decided it was time for breakfast so we sat at one of the cafes overlooking the market and had a cappuccino and a scrumptious little piece of apple tart.
Breakfast over we hit the road for the Keats museum. Along the way Waz was determined to buy himself a pair of Italian leather shoes, so we stopped at numerous shoe shops until he found the perfect pair, and when he eventually did, not only did he find one perfect pair but he found two. So shoes in hand we continued shopping and meandering around the streets of Rome, snapping pics at every given moment of all sorts of interesting things, including shop windows, beautiful building facades, old doors, cats, dogs, and the odd selfie.
By 12.45pm we had found our way back to the Keats museum, but unfortunately when we went to buy our tickets we were told they were closing in 15 minutes for lunch, so we had to do a whirlwind visit through. Situated at the right foot of the Spanish Steps, the Keats-Shelley House is a museum dedicated to the English Romantic poets, who were spellbound by the Eternal City. 26 Piazza di Spagna is most famous for being the final dwelling place of John Keats, who died here in 1821, aged just 25. We did have time to quickly visit Keats’s bedroom which is preserved as a shrine to his tragic story and extraordinary talent. Displayed through a chain of beautiful rooms, the collection contains a great many treasures and curiosities associated with the lives and works of the Romantic poets, as well as one of the finest libraries of Romantic literature in the world.
Whirlwind tour done and we were back onto the streets for a little more meandering. As we meandered we found a very beautiful cobbled street that seemed very high end, in this street we found this fabulous little gift store and café called Tartufi and Friends and it was solely dedicated to truffles. The smell wafting from its doors was incredible and the décor inside was luxurious. I turned to Waz and said, "We should have lunch here", he agreed so we went in to get a table. Unfortunately it was completely booked out so we had to find a backup plan. It was probably a good thing really and you will understand later in this blog what I mean by that. We ended up back at Campo di Fiori for lunch and choose a little restaurant called Mercato Hostaria. Waz had a risotto and I had a delicious grilled octopus. We had a long lunch and a few glasses of wine while we watched the market store holders pack up for the day. It's hard to believe they do this every day of the week accept Sunday. If only we had markets like this in Pomona, I would be in 7th heaven.
We spent the afternoon browsing around some more shops before heading back to our side of town to spend the last evening sipping vino and people watching for the last time on our holidays. It was really very sad to think that this time tomorrow we would be getting ready to board a plane for the long (22 hour flight) back to Australia. As we sat chatting about our past 5 1/2 weeks and reminiscing about all of the fabulous things we have done and the incredible things we have seen, we contemplated how different our lives would be in a week. Back to work and definitely back to saving our pennies for our next adventure.
Although we were not really that hungry, we couldn't bear the thought of not having one last Italian dinner, so we decided to try the little Restaurant at the bottom of our street, Ristorante La Scala. Although we were unable to get a seat outside as it was so busy, knowing this was a good sign so we were happy to take a table inside. We choose to share an entree and then have a dessert. Looking through the menu we found a delicious sounding entree that was a Crostini di patate con zucchine, provola affumicata e tartufo nero (potato bake with smoked cheese,zucchinii and black truffles) We couldn't resist not trying a truffle dish so we choose that, and it was absolutely fabulous. It was so rich and velvety and the combination of smoked cheese and black truffles went down a treat. I would definitely be trying to recreate that dish when I got home, provided my black truffles didn't get confiscated by customs. After dessert we were extremely full so we sadly headed back to apartment for our last sleep in Italy. :(
Unfortunately our last night was not to be incident free, as at about 1am in the morning Waz woke up having some kind of reaction. He was itchy all over and didn't feel well. It was the same symptoms as he had about three months ago after eating a wild mushroom dish that I had made. Luckily I was organised and had a packet of antihistamine with us so he took a couple of those and after a about an hour or so he was able to go back to bed. No more Truffles for Waz.:(
The next morning we woke late and slowly started to pack our bags, it was a big job as we had purchased a lot of products in jars so not only did we have to write everything down but we had to wrap everything really well so nothing broke in flight. We did have to buy an extra suitcase so we were not going to get out of the extra baggage fee at the airport, but we did have some delicious goodies and some wonderful souvenirs to take home. Some of our items included black truffles, truffle honey, truffle salt, white truffle oil, truffle pecorino (all of which Waz will be having none), pesto, olive oil, lemoncello, balsamico, pasta, rum baba, chocolate, Chianti Classico, Aperol, Venetian masks, leather products from Florence, Tuscan soap, and heaps of little bits and pieces from each place we stayed.
So bags packed we checked out of our room, and grabbed a taxi for the Hilton Airport hotel. We had booked a room for the day as our flight wasn't until 10.20pm and we wanted to be able to have a rest and freshen up before we had to endure that ridiculous flight home.
Although at first I was worried that I wasn't going to love Rome as much as everywhere else in Italy we had been, it did grow on me. Over the past 5 days we have covered two thousand years of history, ticked off dozens of bucket lists items, drunk ridiculous amounts of Aperol spritz, birra and vino, devoured the most amazing Roman specialties, marvelled over monuments, shopped till we dropped, ate and drank some more, people watched, dodged vespas, laughed, cried, gasped, and threw our coin in the Trevi so we will definitely return to Rome some day.
I can't believe it is over, 14 months of planning, saving and counting down the days, and now after 5 1/2 weeks it's all over, bar the memories. We have had the most fabulous time and we can honestly say we were not disappointed with any aspect of our adventure. One thing is for sure though, we have the bug. So to ease the pain of getting back to reality, we will go back to work knowing that the saving and planning can start all over again as we decide on a new destination for our next adventure.
We would like to thank everyone who has followed us as we have eaten our way around Italy, we hope you have enjoyed our adventure as much as we have.
So until we next leave the country,
it's ciao from us.
XXX