On the track of the Romans!

(Am posting without pictures; will include them when we get back from dinner!)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Ciao!

Well, where did we leave off? Oh yes! Dinner, Friday night … hmmmm….Lovely dining room in the hotel, with a lovely view – problem was, a VERY blustery kind of night; more in keeping with “a dark and stormy night” than anything else. We were the only guests – and we both decided to have the full menu, for 35 Euros each. Starter was “seafood salad”, (no choice), followed by pasta with shrimp sauce for both of us. For main course, I chose the escallope of chicken, and R the Turbot (kind of fish). Got a bottle of lovely red wine of the region; excellent (although, you can’t really get wine in Italy that isn’t excellent!) Then came our seafood salad … well…there was one shrimp in each, and a HUGE bowl of calamari --- including suction cups!!! All covered in olive oil with a bit of carrot and onion added. There are certain things that I just can’t eat, and, while I did manage some of the calamari rings – NO WAY were those suction cups going down…Had to admit to the waitress that fish wasn’t really my “thing”…which is putting it mildly!

The pasta with shrimp sauce was much better – although there were only two shrimp, (more like langustino, really!) – it was the WHOLE thing, legs, claws, head – YEK! (If I’ve made you lose your appetite, I apologize – just think how I was feeling!!) All in a butter/tomato sauce, which was really good – as was the pasta. Then came the mains: Mine was a whole chicken breast pounded flat and sautéed in olive oil. R’s fish was cooked the same way, and both dishes came with servings of escarole; very good!

Desert for R was a plate of fruit – grapes (with seeds!) and tangerine. I had a wonderful cheese cake with a raspberry sauce and dusted all over with powered sugar. Yum! Much better ending than beginning, let me tell you!

From the dining room, we headed back to our room and retired for the night. Very tired, but still very blustery outside! Every so often our electricity would glitch, which made for some interesting moments!

This morning, we woke to a much nicer day – including some blue in the sky! Went down for breakfast around 8; very good, with plates of salami, ham and cheeses, as well the usual – cereals, juices, sweets – the Italians are the only folks I know who routinely serve dessert at breakfast time – No wonder I want to be Italian!!

We had quite a day planned, backtracking along the route we drove yesterday to find some of the surprises on and around the Via Appia Antica!

Our first stop was Terracina, the closest town to Sperlonga, about 16 km away. Drove into and through town, looking for the cathedral (which is built on Roman foundations). Couldn’t find it!! So, R bought a map of town for 5 Euros – thought it was quite a steep price, but realized later that we NEVER would have found it without the map! Had to drive outside of town, then circle around and head UP…Terracina is built, (surprise!) on a hill, and the old section of town is right at the top. Found a parking lot (after realizing that the signs indicating “area pedonale” really does mean, for pedestrians or residents ONLY. (Had I gone in, would have ended up at a HUGE bollard and chain across the rope – and I do NOT back up at all well!) Walked up the hill to find the preserved remains of a temple, more of the actual Appian Way road, and a wonderful cathedral which incorporated various bits of old Roman architecture into the cathedral, especially in the outdoor portico. And, had the place to OURSELVES, literally! Wow!

From there, we headed to the Abbey of Fossanova. Lovely building, cute little town, and again, we had it to ourselves! It was here that St. Thomas Aquinas died in the 1200’s. An absolutely stunning cloister, complete with roses and very interesting architecture, including an old Roman milestone, which had been incorporated into a fountain as the base! Now that’s inventive recycling!

Next stop were the Roman remains of Privernum; closed either for the day or the season, (hard to tell) but fortunately with lots of fences to walk along and look through; some beautiful mosaics.

We arrived at the Abbey of Valvisciolo after 12 noon, and they were closed. Lovely on the outside, though, with beautiful views over to Sermonetta. Decided we didn’t want to wait for several hours, so pushed on to Ninfa. Also closed! (We are finding that the wonderful part of traveling in November is that there are NO other people about! On the down side, there ARE no other people about, so some things close! Oh well!) Ninfa has been restored as a nature refuge, and is only open several days a month – and this didn’t happen to be one of them. Again, though, we were able to see lots from the roads and paths; would definitely want to come back here sometime – if/when they’re open!

Our last jaunt for the day was Norba, an ancient city near the present-day town of Norma. And Norma was UPPPPPPP at the TOPPPPP of a VERY high hill! Wound up and up – and of course managed to meet a huge Cotral bus right in a tight corner! – and voila, there was the town, way up in the clouds! Found Norba, and took a nice hike through the remains – temples, buildings and of course, the Roman bath. There was actually one family with three children there, so can’t say we had it to ourselves!

It was now after 2, and we hadn’t eaten, so we headed down, veering toward Terracina, looking for a place to stop. Found a cute restaurant – the Galleon (in Italian) in Latina Scalo; both had pasta. Mine was something long and thick (forget the name! It was buccatini. R) with a red/sausage sauce. R had spicy penne alla'arrabiata and a half-liter of red wine; I stuck with water (DD, you know…)

Wound about on the way back to the hotel, taking the coast road; lovely day (albeit cool!) for the beach! This is such an interesting area of Italy. Very flat at the coast; had been marshland for centuries, before being drained by the Romans. The land is cut by various canals, some of which are still in operation, some of which are overgrown. And then you hit the mountains, covered with hilltop towns!

Got back to the hotel around 5-ish. R worked for a bit and I napped, and now I’m blogging and he’s napping! We’ll both have to gather ourselves soon for dinner – hmmm….hoping that calamari doesn’t follow me tonight!!

Take care; more later!
Love,
m