My Big Fat Italian and Mostly Greek Vacation
Aug 10th, 2006, 01:36 PM
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My Big Fat Italian and Mostly Greek Vacation
We just got back from a three-week vacation to both Italy and Greece. It was definitely one of our best vacations. Has Greece replaced Italy in my obsessed heart? Uh-oh! More on that later...
Anyway, we took off on July 9th to meet our 18-year-old daughter in Rome. She had gone on a post-high school graduation trip to Europe with 3 friends.
We knew we were in luck when our Alitalia flight was not on strike and actually left on time!
We met the girls at ALBERGO DEL SENATO, a very popular hotel that is just across a tiny street from the Pantheon. We'd been to Rome a few times before, but never stayed at this hotel. However, I felt as though I knew so much about it simply by reading about it all the time online.
The hotel was both wonderful and disappointing. We had reserved one of the 6th floor suites(#602) since our son was traveling with us ( two rooms- one with double bed, one with pullout couch), and as promised, it had a lovely balcony with a spectacular view of the Pantheon and the Piazza della Rotunda.
But the rooms themselves were tiny, even by European city standards. I honestly thought that there would not be enough space for us and our luggage.
Now you're probably thinking that we brought too much luggage, and guess what? You're right! I really shouldn't have packed six pairs of walking sandals for my horrible feet, and every guidebook written since the turn of the century. But even if I hadn't done that, the rooms would have felt small.
Still, the hotel had very good beds and excellent AC, which can be a rarity in Rome. So we piled up the luggage, and went out to lunch.
We decided to go to PIZZERIA BAFFETTO (Via del Governo Vecchio 114), which is one of the most famous pizzerias in Rome. It's located very close to both the Pantheon and Pizza Navona, but we had a lot of trouble finding it.
The pizzeria is on a very small cobblestone street, and although we probably passed it while looking for it, I had to ask several times for help. Finally, either in exasperation at my bad Italian or kindess or both, a young guy actually got off his bike, took my hand, and led us to the front door!
There was a huge lunchtime crowd which had spilled out to fill nearly every outside table. We were told to put our names on a waiting list at the front door, but when I did that, the owner waved us inside to a small paper-lined table by the pizza oven.
As you can imagine, it was boiling by the oven, but the smell of the pizza was absolutely intoxicating. It turned out you could order a "piccolo", "media" or "grande" pizza with nearly any topping you could think of, so since we were starving, we ordered one "media" pizza margherita and one "piccolo" pizza with artichokes and mushrooms.
The pizzas were delicious- thin crusted slices of heaven. AHHHHH. And I enjoyed watching the well-orchestrated machinations of the pizza chef, who was clearly getting a kick out of entertaining the enormous lunchtime crowd.
There were rows of celebrity photos just behind the pizza chef's station. I recognized one of Roberto Benignini. In the photo, he was kissing the chef. And believe me, after our lunch there, we felt like that doing, that too! It was truly delicious, but time for gelato...
More to come...
Anyway, we took off on July 9th to meet our 18-year-old daughter in Rome. She had gone on a post-high school graduation trip to Europe with 3 friends.
We knew we were in luck when our Alitalia flight was not on strike and actually left on time!
We met the girls at ALBERGO DEL SENATO, a very popular hotel that is just across a tiny street from the Pantheon. We'd been to Rome a few times before, but never stayed at this hotel. However, I felt as though I knew so much about it simply by reading about it all the time online.
The hotel was both wonderful and disappointing. We had reserved one of the 6th floor suites(#602) since our son was traveling with us ( two rooms- one with double bed, one with pullout couch), and as promised, it had a lovely balcony with a spectacular view of the Pantheon and the Piazza della Rotunda.
But the rooms themselves were tiny, even by European city standards. I honestly thought that there would not be enough space for us and our luggage.
Now you're probably thinking that we brought too much luggage, and guess what? You're right! I really shouldn't have packed six pairs of walking sandals for my horrible feet, and every guidebook written since the turn of the century. But even if I hadn't done that, the rooms would have felt small.
Still, the hotel had very good beds and excellent AC, which can be a rarity in Rome. So we piled up the luggage, and went out to lunch.
We decided to go to PIZZERIA BAFFETTO (Via del Governo Vecchio 114), which is one of the most famous pizzerias in Rome. It's located very close to both the Pantheon and Pizza Navona, but we had a lot of trouble finding it.
The pizzeria is on a very small cobblestone street, and although we probably passed it while looking for it, I had to ask several times for help. Finally, either in exasperation at my bad Italian or kindess or both, a young guy actually got off his bike, took my hand, and led us to the front door!
There was a huge lunchtime crowd which had spilled out to fill nearly every outside table. We were told to put our names on a waiting list at the front door, but when I did that, the owner waved us inside to a small paper-lined table by the pizza oven.
As you can imagine, it was boiling by the oven, but the smell of the pizza was absolutely intoxicating. It turned out you could order a "piccolo", "media" or "grande" pizza with nearly any topping you could think of, so since we were starving, we ordered one "media" pizza margherita and one "piccolo" pizza with artichokes and mushrooms.
The pizzas were delicious- thin crusted slices of heaven. AHHHHH. And I enjoyed watching the well-orchestrated machinations of the pizza chef, who was clearly getting a kick out of entertaining the enormous lunchtime crowd.
There were rows of celebrity photos just behind the pizza chef's station. I recognized one of Roberto Benignini. In the photo, he was kissing the chef. And believe me, after our lunch there, we felt like that doing, that too! It was truly delicious, but time for gelato...
More to come...
