Roman Roamings: 2 Weeks of Wanderings

Old Apr 14th, 2017, 10:42 PM
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Roman Roamings: 2 Weeks of Wanderings

‘When are you leaving for your trip?’ Tomorrow. This evening. In a couple of hours. The answer does not matter once we are less than 72 hours from departure, the next comment is the same: ‘And why are you so calm?’ Usually uttered in a high pitched, half panicked voice and horrified face.

But I have learned over the years that the only things you really need to travel successfully are: a passport, a credit card, and a change of underwear. Everything else can be procured. I can remain calm.

And then they ask: ‘how long are you going for?’ This is a tricky one. ‘7 weeks’ was the answer for this trip. Reactions vary and they but tend to veer in the ‘are you out of your mind, how can you walk away from your life for that long?!?!?’ direction.

Well… this is the third time we leave on an extended trip. The first two were 3-months long, so 7 weeks does not seem daunting at all. Perspective is everything.

I had already spent a couple of months looking at maps, reading trip reports, and obsessing over travel guidebooks until I was happy with an itinerary: 2 weeks in Rome, train to Naples, ferry to Capri, a few days in Amalfi and then a long road trip starting in Puglia and progressing into the Marche and Umbria. But since trip planning is my guilty pleasure, no problem here.

Apartment and hotel reservations were made, cancelled, rebooked. Same with car rental; started with a pickup in Sorrento with drop off in Rome and finished with a pick up in Sorrento and drop off in Perugia. Oh well. The customer service people in AutoEurope are nice.

The emptying-of-the-fridge was accomplished without problems, though dinners for the last 2 days looked as if they had come out of one of those cooking shows where you get a basket full of weird and incompatible ingredients.

In the past, the hardest and most stressful part of extended travel was procuring a cat sitter for our babies. This time I was incredibly relieved when one of our previous sitters (a college kid in our neighborhood) said she would do it again. Score!!!!

Oh… and I closed on the sale of what used to be my ‘burden’ house two weeks before leaving. Stress level went down to negligible.

The packing part was not supposed to be bad… until I realized that (a) some of my clothes were looking a bit over used and (b) remembered that my trusty and faithful travel shoes were so worn that they had become slippery.

Should not be hard, just go on a shopping spree, right? Well…. First, I am NOT a shopper and to make matters even more complicated, in January I had committed to a 1-Year No Purchase challenge. But then, I could not really go to Italy of all places looking frumpy. Well, I could, but I did not want to. So at the end I struck a bargain with myself: I would only replace items, not add. Yeah, the mind games we play with ourselves…

Easier said than done. The clothes part was sort of OK. Replaced the black slacks, black short sleeve, white short sleeve, and the black long sleeve; all with minimal effort. The shoe part though….ugh! That took at least 7 trips to various malls over several weeks.

For at least 4 years I had traveled with the same two pairs of Sketchers: black slide in closed flats with memory foam insoles, and beige sneaker-like/but not quite shoes from their Go Walk design (I do not like wearing tennis shoes when I’m not exercising). They were both the most comfortable ugly, unsexy as h@ll, pairs of shoes I have ever owned. I could not find anything similar.

At the end, I gave up on ‘fake’ sneakers and bought a pair of ‘real’ sneakers from Nike in a nice and rather elegant nude color. The cherry on top was that I had actually wanted to buy something from Nike for a while for two reasons: their support of Chris Mosier (transgender triathlete) and of Mo Farah (a 4-time gold medalist, Somali marathon runner, living in Oregon) during the infamous ‘Travel Ban’. So, one point for the Nike advertising team.

The other pair of shoes came from a ‘comfortable shoe’ specialty store (Oy!), and they are black Mary Janes which are so ugly that they come out at the other end of the spectrum into having ‘distinct personality’.

We do a LOT of walking during our trips so you will read more about this purchases over the following weeks.

Then everything was settled and done, and it was time to leave. BFF gave us ride to airport and 15 minutes later we were sitting at the gate. Ridiculously early, as I had made allowances for the Easter Weekend crowds that turned out to be nonexistent.

Our flight from San Juan to Madrid on Air Europa was ok. Food was edible, USB outlets were provided and I watched the final 3 episodes of ’13 Reasons Why’. BTW, wow, what a powerful series! Should be watched by teens and anyone that has teens in their lives.

We had a 4 hour layover in Madrid and a 1 hour delay before we could board our connecting flight to Rome. Everything seemed to be Ok until we realized that we had gone out to wrong baggage claim area (another flight from Madrid had arrived minutes before ours and that was the one we –and most of the people in our plane- saw). We go out and find our driver (pre booked by the apartment rental person) and tell him he needs to wait another ‘cinque minuti’ for us while we sorted out the luggage situation. He looked exasperated but there was nothing we could do.

The next step was to ask the nice information lady how to get from T3 to T1 baggage claim. Yeahhh…. Go out, walk until you see the T1 signs, go up to departures, find the staff only entrance, plead your case to the security officer, go through the security check, go down to baggage claim and get your luggage. A bit overwhelming for jet lagged brains. But we managed.

Our driver zigzagged at high speed while he texted as he navigated the maze like streets of the Trastevere, the area of Rome where we will be staying. At the end he gave up on finding our tiny street and parked the car. ‘Now we walk to find it’. Ooooookayyyy. Fast paced walking with luggage in tow followed, but he did take us to the right door.

The apartment was ready, and closely matches the pictures posted on AirBnB. Got a quick intro from the guy that received us, we dropped everything and went out to find something to feed our starving selves.

I had no dinner plan as it is hard to know beforehand what jetlagged bellies will want upon arrival, and the area is known to be full of tourist trap restaurants but we were hungry and ready to drop. So I left it up to C to pick a random place (he is the Restaurant Whisperer): Ristorante da Cencia was his choice.

If I had read the TA reviews beforehand, I would not have gone in, BUT it turned out to be not bad at all. Of course, two bottles (yes, we drink a lot and if you are going to read along, you need to get over it) of rosso della casa will make a long way to make things seem better. We had Cacio e Pepe (loved it) to share as primi, and as secondi I had a Saltimbocca a la Romana (very good), and C had Trippa a la Romana (really good!). Complimentary shots of limoncello were served at the end.

Half drunk, super full and extra tired, we went for a little stroll around and made our way into the Piazza di Santa Maria del Trastevere. Being Good Friday, the church was open for the candlelight vigil. Impressive! The most auspicious beginning for this adventure.

It would have been a great night to venture out further but we were wiped. We went back to the apartment and crashed. I opened my eyes wide awake at 4:45am local time and started writing this. C is snoring away.

I might need to wake him up soon. I’m starving and there is Good Food to be had!
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 01:16 AM
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Loved the first day, loved the 2 bottles of wine at the first dinner!!! feels like Italy already, looking forward to the rest of the trip
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 04:47 AM
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Yay for the wine!
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 05:31 AM
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Rome is my favorite.

Was the guy guarding the church rude to you? In the fall, I took a picture (I liked their outfits) and he came over to me and told me to delete it.

What street is your apartment on?
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 06:20 AM
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Lovely! I want to go back! A great start to what sounds like a fabulous trip.
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 10:31 AM
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Trastevere is my favorite area to stay in when in Roma. So many good restaurants. My travel friend fell in love with aperol spritzers in the cafes. Wishing you a great adventure.
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 10:43 AM
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Wow, fabulous start. Looking forward to more. Wine lovers - fantastic!
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 12:07 PM
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ONLY two bottles, marigross? no need to apologise [if you were] for liking the wine, we do too. Ditto cacio e peppe and saltimbocca but trippa alla romana not quite so much.

looking forward very much to joining in your trip, albeit virtually. Must be the next best thing to being there!
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 12:22 PM
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Following along with interest.
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 03:16 PM
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Looking forward to more!

Lee Ann
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 08:25 PM
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Sounds like a great start to your trip. ��
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Old Apr 15th, 2017, 10:35 PM
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Hi all! Thanks for the replies!!!

kybourbon, the street is Vicolo de Santa Margharita. The guy was not rude at all. But he did shush DH and me when I started to explain some of the church things.


If anyone is interested I also posted on my blog, Stella's Spoon with a few pictures:

http://wp.me/p7rOvK-dv

(I'm also posting pics on the Stella's Spoon Facebook page.
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 09:33 AM
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Saturday, April 15th


I finally got sleepy around 7:00am and it was time to make one of those day-defining decisions: to sleep or not to sleep. I decided to woman-up and stay awake, otherwise I would sleep until noon and further delay the jetlag recovery process.

I showered; I could hear C snoring. I unpacked my clothes in the bedroom; C was still snoring. I tinkered around with jewelry and make up; C turned around in bed was kept on sleeping. So I kept on writing yesterday’s blog and waited it out.

Because that is what good wives do.

Not that I had any other option besides physically hauling him off the bed. But since I did not really have a plan for the day, I had no plausible excuse. AND, he does let me sleep when I’m tired so I would be incurring in some serious bad karma it I woke him up. And there is the fact that I kind of like him. Most of time. Anywayyyyy… he slept until almost 11:00am. Uuuugh.

I should have joined him.

We eventually rolled out of the apartment and made a beeline for one of the restaurants close to the Piazza de Santa Maria al Trastevere for coffee. C had an Americano and I –the regularly black coffee/no sugar drinker (hey…every calorie counts!) had a heavenly cappuccino. We shared a rather tasty ham and cheese focaccia. At least the cheese was really flavorful, the cooked ham was almost tasteless.

Adequately fortified, though sleepy and still a bit cranky (me; he was annoyingly chirpy) we were ready to tackle the day (he; I was soldiering along).

The plan for the day was mercifully simple. Well…you eventually learn a thing or two with traveling experience. We were just scheduled for a stroll around the neighborhood, grocery shop for breakfasts and dinner, and followed by a visit to a church I had long wanted to see but never had had enough time in Rome to actually make it there.

I will just say it: I love the Trastevere. Yes, it is touristic and crowded with Holiday visitors, but it is still quirky and quaint; perfectly conductive for prime strolling. But in my dazed and sleep-deprived state, I did not think to look up in google maps for nearby grocery stores, so we had to ask around. And were met with a lot of blank stares. I assume that, same as in most big cities, the rents are too high to sustain grocery stores and the locals live in the outskirts anyway.

We walked into a hand-made pasta fattoria Sorelle Pirra and walked out with cannelloni stuffed with meat and pecorino, and a nut with mushroom concentrate. They were intended for last night’s dinner, but something interfered with that plan… They will be eaten tonight, so we’ll have to wait a bit to find out if they taste as good as they look. A quick run to drop them off in the apartment and we set out again.

Our random wanderings eventually took us to the Piazza di San Cosimato and its open air market. We had found the motherlode!!!! The smell of ripe strawberries and fragrant onions filled the air (which is full of tree pollen, remember to bring your allergy meds when you come in the spring!).

We were thirsty by that time so we opted to go for refreshment before making more purchases so we did not have to lug around stuff. We plopped down at Pizzeria Popi Popi and asked for drinks. When we said we did not want to eat, the waiter told us we could not stay without eating, as it is a ‘restaurant and not a bar’ but a kinder (and more senior?) attendant told him to let us stay. So we were able to have our first beer and Aperol spritz of the trip while occupying one of their prime outside tables under the perfect April sun.

Every single thing that came out of the kitchen, including their pizzas, looked absolutely delicious. We were not hungry yet, but if C had said the word I would have womaned-up and tackled one of those air-thin crispy pizzas. I mean, how many calories can they really have? But we were sensible and did not eat. We were also considerate and did not over linger and let other better-paying customers have the nice table.

As we walked back to the market we finally saw the sign we had been looking out for: Alimentari. A real supermarket! We were able to get coffee, cream, and a few other essentials required to survive over Easter Sunday and Monday closings. Next stop was back to San Cosimato for a few veggies and then on to a close by cheese and meat vendor. YUM. DROOL. WOW. Yes, please!

We made a big effort and only walked out with bresaola, prosciutto, hard gorgonzola, some kind of artisanal Fontina, and three bottles of wine. Thank God for weight lifting and the good plastic bags I had in my purse. Second dropoff run back to the apartment. I sat down for 30 seconds and immediately started dozing off. Time to go back out.

Now that our sustenance for the upcoming days was assured, we were free to go and do touristic things. My goal for the day was to visit the church of San Pietro in Montori, or more accurately, Bramante’s Tempietto at the monastery courtyard next it.

This church is located halfway up to Gianicolo hill, and reaching it had proved to be inconvenient during our previous visits. Up the hill and up the stairs, huffed and puffed. The way we went up we sort of overshot it and wound up by the big fountain up there (the Fonte Acqua Paula, if you aim for precision) so we had to walk back down a bit.

A bit of background: when I was in the 10th grade in High School, the school counselor handed out one of those ‘pick your profession’ books and everyone in the class had to come up with at least 3 things they would consider for themselves. I stopped after a few pages, I had found what I wanted: Architecture.

To make a long story short, I did go to college and got a BA in Design from the UPR School of Architecture but I publicly admit that I did not have outstanding talent for it and my true love was the art and architecture history part of it. Of course, the weird way life works, I turned around and became an engineer, but THAT is another story.

Anyway…. That is why I felt compelled to make this uphill and out-of-the-way pilgrimage. I wanted to see this Renaissance masterpiece. It did not disappoint! The church was OK, but the Tempietto was out of this world. One of those space that will never be accurately described by pictures but really needs to be experienced in a move-through-it way.

It was commissioned in the 1500’s by Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Kings of Spain to artist extraordinaire Donato Bramanate to mark the spot where the Apostle Saint Peter was killed in Rome. The site currently is the seat of the Spanish Embassy to Rome. It is really a jewel of the period. Wow. Worth going up the Gianicolo hill. (Free admission)

After the required Oooohs and Aaaahhhs were exclaimed (by me, C was still working on catching his breath from the climb), it was definitely wine-o’clock. We trekked back downhill and meandered into the Trastevere. It did not take much time to find a nice bar where we could plunk down while sipping and people watch, one of our favorite things in the world.

Except that we might have gotten a bit carried away with the imbibing part. Around the ½ liter of crisp, white Pecorino mark we decided that we were not cooking tonight and we would go back to Popi Popi for a pizza dinner. We then ordered a SECOND half a liter.

By the time we got back up, we were certainly not sober (jetlag/lack of sleep does not go well with 13% alcohol. And we still had to back to the apartment and get jackets before heading out for dinner. Though wobbling would have been the better fitting adjective.

The waiters immediately recognized us Popi Popi, I guess with our return we somehow validated their ‘investment’ on prime table space at lunchtime. We had a grilled calamari as a shared primi, frozen (identified as such in the menu) but well prepared and nicely cooked. As main dish, C had a prosciutto e funghi pizza rossa (really good) and I had a ‘fiore di zucca’ pizza bianca (zucchini flower, anchovies and mozzarella without tomato sauce; outstanding). The liter of red house wine that C ordered out of habit was not nearly as memorable as the pizzas and went mostly undrunk.

Mercifully, we were close to home and made it back safely albeit the Humpty-Dumpty-Level wobbling. Yeah, we are loving Rome.
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 10:53 AM
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That's what I love about TR on places like Rome - everyone's Rome is different. I had never heard of the church of San Pietro in Montori, or Bramante’s Tempietto but next time I'm in Rome, I'll be making a bee-line for it and ditto La Pizzeria Popi Popi. Grazie, Marigross.
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 11:16 AM
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Thanks, Mari, for sharing your treasures of Rome. Rome is a Pandora's box.
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 12:29 PM
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Link to the blog entry with a few pictures.

http://wp.me/p7rOvK-dX
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 01:25 PM
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Hi, marigross,
Glad you loved the Tempietto! It is such a perfect jewel -- and few tourists, making it feel like a very private experience.

Sounds,like an amazing time!
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 02:09 PM
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Hi, Another fan of the Tempietto. When we arrived in Rome in 2013 we caught the wrong metro, and ended up with no idea where we were. We grabbed the taxi as he was stopping to get some food. On the way to our Trastevere apartment he was telling us about the tempietto and asked us if we would like to take a detour to see it. We said yeas and before we knew it we were out of the taxi(luggage still in the taxi) and this lovely young man was explaining it all to us. Then it was back in the taxi to the apartment. Total cost of taxi fare was 10 euro and he would not take any more than that. It is a place we visit every trip. We also did all the things you shouldn't do ( grabbing a taxi of the street, leaving all of our luggage unattended,) yet it was such a highlight of the trip.

I'm not usually a big fan of trip reports but I am loving yours as you seem to travel like we do ( especially the wine part). It is 72 hours until we leave.

I will check in when I can and hope you have a great time.
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Old Apr 16th, 2017, 10:23 PM
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Strange that your question for alimentari were met with blank stares - we have so many here in trastevere (not the). And between the market at san cosimato and popi popi, there are three supermarkets - todi and panella on natale delle grande, and the biggest, coop, on san francesco ripa (in the cellar level of the ovs, open also on easter sunday and monday). Try also ivo's pizza on same street to compare with popi popi and antica caciara for salumi and cheeses. And the best bread, croissant and pastries are at le levain on the other side of san cosimato. Further bars for people watching: big star, baylon, tanto era tanto antico. Keep on having fun!
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Old Apr 17th, 2017, 12:53 AM
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Progol, yes it was!!!

Cheska, what a great story! Hope you have a great trip.

Vinoroma, I think we were targeting the wrong demographics for (waiters) for the grocery stores. Should have asked ashopkeepers. We found the ones in Natale, went into Todi. I'm very much looking forward to trying out all your suggestions!!!!
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