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11th May 2000 Rome: Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Vill
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Thursday 11th May 2000
A little late starting Thursday morning on a hot and sunny day. We caught the Metro to the end of the line, Rebibbia. From there, a bus to Tivoli. The guidebooks all say, stay on the bus, for the run out to Hadrian's Villa. For a start, Villa Adriana is pretty well at the bottom of the hill, off to the right as you head up to Tivoli, and the bus that takes you to Tivoli, doesn't service Villa Adriana. We are finding enough errors and inconsistencies in the guidebooks for it to be both time consuming and annoying. Had we known, we would have hopped off at the bottom of the hill and walked out to the villa. What happened was that we arrived in Tivoli, where the bus driver said, we would have to buy tickets for another bus to take us to the villa, but that when we required a buss to return to Rome, his line provided the bus that picked up from the villa. Clear? We bought tickets, killed time, and then missed a bus that was either 10 min late or 5 min early. We waited some more. A yellow bus arrived (right colour), so we hopped on. Half way down, I became suspicious. Didn't look like too many tourists on board. Turned to a local and said" Villa Adriana?". He said, "yes". Five minutes later he advised that we should hop off and walk up "that street", pointing. After walking half a kilometre, we checked the map given by the bus company when we bought the tickets. Only a kilometre left to go. Along came a yellow bus, so we hopped on. Discussion in no particular language lasted five hundred meters, at which point he stopped and said we had to walk up that street".
Five hundred meters later, Villa Adriana. Worth all the hassles. Despite being overrun by school children, we patiently outwaited them at most of the major sights, and had a very leisurely three hours. We had taken bread rolls, and some custard filled doughnuts, which we ate for lunch sitting beside the Stoa Poikile (large rectangular pool with statues down both sides) and the Canopus at one end. Amazing in its size, and the vastness of the buildings. We returned to the bus stop allowing plenty of time, we didn't want to court another disaster. Eventually there were ten or so of us, lined up sitting on the curb, watching the dodgem cars and bikes at the intersection. Bus time came and went. Waited another three quarters of an hour. Bus came. Bus set off on a cross country run, including a dead end village in the middle of nowhere, and all around the world before heading back to Rome. Must have been an hour instead of the 30 min run out.
Arrived home with barely enough time to change for dinner and get over to Sant' Agostino. Sant' Agostino is just north of Piazza Navona, and is where we missed seeing the Caravaggio "Madonna dei Pellegrini" last Sunday. Finally made it just after 7.00pm, and it closes at 7.30. Late in the day, and there was a church service. Didn't want to be intrusive, and eventually found it, only to discover it required a 500 lira coin to switch on the light. Didn't have any change, and two little old ladies who were leaving insisted they would pay; after all, it's a Caravaggio! Wonderful.
Walked back down past Piazza Navona to Trattoria de Pallaro. Christina, the owner of our pensione, had recommended this restaurant. She assured us that the tourists didn't know about it, that the served food like her mother cooked, and that it was a fixed price and they just served whatever they chose to cook on any given day. Again, being 7.45 pm, we were only the third to arrive and were offered a table outside under the awnings/umbrellas. That was fine, trouble was that numerous groups and couples of tourists began arriving. At least half a dozen departed when they couldn't get the table they wanted. Eventually the locals began to arrive and overwhelmed the tourists. We started with a bottle of mineral water and a jug of red wine. Antipasto: Seafood Frittata, olives, white beans, fennel drizzled with olive oil, deep fried potato balls and vegetable patties. Pasta: large tubes in a rich tomato sauce (mine served in the huge mixing bowl). Main: Roast pork shoulder with oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, flowered and fried eggplant, baby mozzarella and potato crisps. Desert: custard tart-cake like pastry served with a lemon digestif in a shot glass. No coffee served. This brilliant meal was 65,000 lira, the same we had paid for the "crap" meal early in the week. The setting is a small piazza "Lago del Pallaro, basically the junction of three small narrow back streets. The centre is packed with parked cars, at any angle they can fit in. Very quiet. On a return visit, we would probably eat here every night. When we went in to pay, I thanked him for allowing us to dine at his restaurant and shook his hand. He ignored me, took Cheryl's hand and kissed it.
We walked from here through to Il Emmanuel or as it is listed in the guides, The Victor Emmanuel Monument. Hugh white marble building fronting on to Piazza Venezia-and backing into Caesars Forum and the Roman Forum. It was built to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first King of Italy, and hence the unification of Italy (1885). Also houses the tomb of the unknown soldier, with flames in braziers on the staircase. We walked up to film the Forum at night, before catching the bus up Via Cavour and home.
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| 15. | 11th May 2000 Rome: Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Vill - Rome, Italy Feb 26, 2003 |
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