This morning we went to the campo de fiori farmer's market. We stopped at a bakery we had seen on youtube and grabbed some pizza for lunch and then checked out the market stalls. It was different than the Swiss farmer's market. Each type of vegetable or fruit was less composed in its bin, but the stands tended to have seasonal arrangements decorating the entire stand. Also, there was a wider variety of stuff - oils, liquor, spices, clothes, etc. At one stand a very old man was demonstrating knives and peelers for cutting vegetables into novelty shapes like spirals and curls. Another stand had signs on everything in several languages saying "don't touch!" but as soon as you got close enough a woman who looked like a fairy tale witch would chuck plastic bags at you and motion that you'd better start filling them. One woman told her she was only looking and an argument ensued. The girls' favorite stand was a self serve dried fruit and nut stand with tons of interesting things: dried whole cherry tomatoes which almost tasted like dates, candied limes, dried guava, spiced fava beans, a whole candied citron, etc.
S saw this picture and said, "My friend the fruit guy!"
The guy running the stand really did seem to take a special liking to S.
After the farmer's market we continued through the neighborhood and stopped at another pizza place I had heard of and ate the best pizza any of us have ever had. I don't think we will ever have pizza that good again. It was perfect in every way. It was a tomato, basil, mozzarella pizza. The crust was thick and soft, full of holes, and the bottom of it was crisp and snapped when we bit through. The mozzarella was better than any I've ever had. The tomatoes were fresh and perfectly salted. It was perfect. I guess there isn't much more I can say.
Perfect pizza.
T wasn't as interested in the pizza, though, and was looking forward to a gelato. So we followed my map deeper into the neighborhood where I thought I had marked a good gelato stand. No, to T's disappointment the map said "ghetto" not "gelato" and we ended up in the Jewish ghetto where I had marked a bakery known for its specialties. We didn't get anything there because we were pretty full, but also because everything was burned. Scorched. I don't know why, but it was definitely deliberate.
R snuck this picture of the burned bakery buns.
At the end of the ghetto was a little archeological dig, so we looked at that and made our way to a park where we had a picnic lunch of the first bakery's pizza. Time had done it no favors, but I don't think we would have eaten it fresh, either. Those were not mushrooms with the squash blossoms. They were anchovies. I had never tried an anchovy - I always assumed they deserved their reputation. They do. We couldn't even pick them off - their flavor had permeated the entire pizza. E ate it; he likes anchovies.
From there we went to the Forum. If anyone reading this ever wants to go to the Forum and see the ruins, I highly recommend entering through the Via di San Gregorio gate. That way the ruins just get more and more impressive as you go on. When you think there's no more, there is, and it's even bigger or cooler or better preserved than whatever you just passed. Also, that way you end up near the Colloseum. Near the beginning of the walk there are several nice view spots. At one, T gasped in amazement and said, "I can see the whole city!"
Then the Colloseum. I asked the girls what they wanted me to write: "Awesome, cool, awesome, fun, relaxing, fun, pretty, go there!" It really was pretty. We got there not long before they stopped letting people in for the night. After the last admission it is still open for about an hour, so it just got less and less crowded. The sun was low in the sky and lit the Colloseum beautifully. At the very end we could look through the arches and see the sunset over the Forum ruins. We took so many pictures the camera battery went dead. We were one of the last ones out. The girls just wanted to sit and enjoy being there.
After the Colloseum we went back to the Pantheon neighborhood to try a different gelato place. San Crispino rounded out our top 3 spots. If you go, try the grapefruit or honey flavors!
Then it was bus 40 home again. The bus was almost as crowded as the night before, but there were no drunks and we were less crushed, possibly because we were partially blocked by a couple of nuns who went crazy admiring and praising T and L.
No comments:
Post a Comment