Sep 2 SUN – Last day in Rome [… in progress …]

[…in progress…]

Today, Sunday September 2, I woke up at 7:30 and immediately drove 600 meters to a nearest gas station and put 35 liters of benzene for €70.  Around 9:00 we had a good breakfast.  I even ate a boiled egg and some bacon.

Hotel staff recommended taking a car to a free parking lot at Acilia station.  It is one train stop closer to Rome, and parking lot is bigger. In about 4 km we easily found the large parking lot, and the station.

We bought 4 rides for €6. Around 09:54 we just missed the Metro train, and next one arrived around 10:12.  Each ride is €1.50 and one doesn’t need a schedule – trains are running regularly even on Sundays. However, if you want a complete schedule of trains, here it is: http://www.ostiaonline.it/trasporti/orario_romalido.pdf

In about 17 minutes we were on Pyramid square, where we arrived in Rome from Fiumicino exactly 3 weeks ago on Sunday, August 12.

The same ticket is valid for 100 minutes for trains, and for the metro, and for the busses (despite what it says on the back).  So we continued our trip to Trastevere.  But we didn’t find anything interesting in there. So we crossed the short bridge (Ponte Garibaldi) to the main-land Rome and almost immediately found our way to Campo dei Fiori.

Exactly as 3 weeks ago, we bought a large chunk of watermelon for €1.77 and this time asked to cut it into several pieces. We ate it on the bench in front of cafe. We washed up in a fountain, and begun our investigation on the location of Teatro di Pompeo, and possible place of Cesar assassination.

Our initial target – restaurant Hostaria Costanza  – was closed for the holidays.  However, we found the walls of Roman Teatro di Pompeo in basements of two other nearby establishments.  Lira was allowed a one-on-one tour down the basement of a hotel Teatro di Pompeo (12:03).  And I discovered a large extensive visit-able basement (12:18) in nearby Ristorante Da Pancrazio (since 1922). Pictures are allowed in both basements (several stories bellow the surface), and we got acquainted with and saw ancient walls that are missed by most tourist.

Next we had lunch with a view to the back side of the Pantheon. And when rain started, all outside customers briskly moved inside.  For €17 we had water and pasta and potatoes.

September brought rains.  We say how hot Summer day Friday, August 31, turned into a welcome rainy evening, and continued into a rainy Saturday, September 1 in Sorrento.  Then, rain was following us all the way to Vesuvius and Rome.  Then some more rain on Sunday September 2.  We had one umbrella with us, but it was for Sun, not for rain.  Now we listened to some Russian guides to learned where Galileo rejected his theory (a square behind Pantheon).

We headed towards the oldest bridge in Rome, but on the way there we discovered Teatro di Marcello and Portico di Ottavia.  This is all free.  This up close and personal.  This is really old and barely holding the ground.  This is right next to Jewish quarter.

The amazing thing about these “ruins” is that they are well integrated into current life of Rome.  There are actual apartments and actual people are living on top of Teatro di Marcello, and ruins of Portico di Ottavia are a front entrance for the operating church.

It was a coincidence, but it was a celebration of diversity of some other holiday on that day, and lots of activity was on the street.  That the only block in Italy were free Wi-Fi for all were not only advertized, but actually worked.  Security was super visible and super present.

We crossed the Tiber using ancient bridges: Ponte Fabricio and Ponte Cestio.  This tiny island – Isola Tiberina  – is the place, where Rome was founded based on the legend.  In the middle of Ponte Cestio there is an original Roman stone with carving telling the story of all the conquests.  This is a rare case, when the very old stone is not in the museum under the thick glass, but right here on the streets, and you can actually touch it.

Now we were marching back to the metro train – back to the Piramide Cestia.  We crossed the Tiber one more time (Ponte Palatino) to see one remaining arc of another Roman bridge (Ponte Rotto), to register the tourist line to visit a truth telling manhole (sever, drain) cover (Bocca della Verita – “Mouth of Truth”) and unexpectedly discovered US embassy to Vatican – American Embassy to the Holy See on Via delle Terme Deciane, 26.  If you notice presences of green military vehicles and people in green military suits somewhere in Italy – it means there is something of Governmental importance in the area.

We reached the station – Porta San Paolo and took the 17:00 train back to Acilia.  On the car ride back to hotel we took the wrong turn and drove on a highway MARE instead of local Viale dei Romagnoli.  Even with this mistake we were in our room and started packing at around 17:43.

In two hours we were completely ready for dinner in a nearby and amazingly good Al Bajniero (Via Felice Caronni, 79).  This time I ordered Nona pizza and Lira got 2 contorni – salad and grilled vegetables. This time I really enjoyed the pizza.  It was perfect from taste to size, and Lira instead of rejecting the crust was busily consuming it with the vegetarian dishes.

For the first time I did not want my tea and my cornetto (Italian word for Croissant).  I just set wrist watch and iPhone alarms for 6:45 am and we both went to sleep.  Al the thing we needed to we’ve done on this vacation.

Navigate through the List

1. Italy 2012 August - Roma, Firenze, Napoli and between (2023/11/24)
2. Aug 10-11 FRI-SAT - A two-day flight to Rome (2023/11/28)
3. Aug 12 SUN - First steps in Rome - Pantheon (2023/12/04)
4. Aug 13 MON - Vatican (2023/12/08)
5. Aug 14 TUE - Colosseum (2023/12/12)
6. Aug 15 WED - Getting the car - Starting North - Viterbo (2023/12/16)
7. Aug 16 THU - Bagnoregio in Lazio, Orvieto in Umbria (2023/12/20)
8. Aug 17 FRI - Orvieto - Montepulciano - Siena (2023/12/24)
9. Aug 18 SAT - Siena - Villa Galileo - Firenze - Day 1 (2023/12/28)
10. Aug 19 SUN - Firenze - Day 2 - Uffizi Gallery (2024/01/04)
11. Aug 20 MON - Firenze (Day 3) - Collodi (2024/01/08)
12. Aug 21 TUE - From Pescia to Lucca (2024/01/12)
13. Aug 22 WED - Lucca (Toscana) - La Spezia (Liguria) (2024/01/16)
14. Aug 23 THU - Cinque Terra [... in progress ...] (2024/01/20)
15. Aug 24 FRI - Torre del Lago Puccini - Pisa and Agriturismo (2024/01/24)
16. Aug 25 SAT - Agriturismo in Pitigliano [... in progress ...] (2024/01/28)
17. Aug 26 SUN - Road to Napoli [... in progress ...] (2024/02/04)
18. Aug 27 MON - Napoli - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/08)
19. Aug 28 TUE - From focused Napoli to heavenly Sorrento (2024/02/12)
20. Aug 29 WED - Capri - Day 1 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/16)
21. Aug 30 THU - Capri - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/20)
22. Aug 31 FRI - La Dolce Far Niente [... in progress ...] (2024/02/24)
23. Sep 1 SAT - Mount Vesuvius [... in progress ...] (2024/02/28)
24. Sep 2 SUN - Last day in Rome [... in progress ...] (2024/03/04)
25. Sep 3 MON - From Rome back to Boston (2024/03/08)
26. Italy 2012 - Final Summary - Rules to Adopt and Follow <br> (2024/03/12)