Day 19 - Isola Farnese to Rome (!)

Coffees: 2, Gelati: 2, Wine: 1 glass

Actual Distance Walked: 19km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 2m

Planned Distance: 19km, Planned Time: 4h 30m 

I'm done!  I walked all 200 miles (plus a bit for unplanned detours) to Rome.  I am feeling pleasantly smug. 

Today was easy.  Basically walk out of Isola Farnese to the main road - the via Cassia - and then tramp all the way down it to Rome.  It was rather like walking the length of Sydney Road from outside Fawkner into the CBD.  I wouldn't want to walk that sort of route again but it was interesting to do it the once.  The light industrial areas, suburbs and the city centre are all just as much a part of the Italian landscape as the beautiful rolling Tuscan hills.

Once I got to St Peter's (barging through all the tour groups) I turned off the GPS and took a couple of photos to prove that I made it and then got the hell out of there.  It was a madhouse.  I'd gotten there about 1pm and it was wall-to-wall tour groups and touts.  I headed across the Tiber into the historic centre as quickly as possible and bought a restorative gelati (cantaloupe and grapefruit).  After that I wandered about randomly until I found a pizzeria without someone trying to herd you in and without a tourist menu and with seats outside as I didn't think it was fair for others to have to sit in close proximity to me indoors before I'd showered.  One pizza (mushrooms with prosciutto) and one coffee later I felt much more human and sauntered on to my hotel.

I love Rome.  It is mad, crowded and dirty but there is just so much to see and do.  Also, just about everyone speaks tourist English so my poor brain can have a rest.  The hotel I'm in is fabulous.  For some reason I've been given a quad room (two single beds plus a double).  The bathroom alone (with a bath!) is bigger than some rooms I've had on this trip.  Also, it is all just that little bit more plush.

I spent the afternoon just wandering.  The city is crawling with tour groups led by mad umbrella wavers.  I don't remember it being this crowded when we were here in May but I guess it was.  I had another gelati at the place I remember being so good back in May.  Unfortunately, it was merely good this time.  Perhaps it is because the handsome, flirtatious young man who served us then wasn't there today.  I had passionfruit and cassata, which in hindsight wasn't a good mix of flavours.

After some wandering around I settled on having dinner at the Osteria Pizzeria di Agrippa because it was near the hotel and the actor who played Marcus Agrippa in the Rome series was very handsome.  It was also near the baths of Agrippa which is where Falco got chased by a leopardess.  For such a random choice it turned out OK.  Not excellent but quite edible.  I had strozzapreti with a zucchini, speck and pecorino sauce.  The menu said artichokes rather than zucchini but as it was explained to me artichokes are not in season right now, which was a good sign.  The speck was 50/50 meat and fat which made it very tasty but would give a heart surgeon heart palpitations.

I then just had a salad.  Each salad was named after someone from the family.  I was tempted by the Octavia (fennel, orange slices and olives) but just settled for the Tiberius (mozzarella, tomatoes and rocket).  The tomatoes were tasty but the mozzarella was almost, but not quite, rubbery.  Yesterday's rather than today's.  I didn't have anything else after that but just tottered back to the hotel for an early night.

When I got back I discovered ATG (who organised my hike) had sent up a bottle of champagne to my room to congratulate me.  One whole bottle just for me.  

Cheers!

Day 18 - Campagnano di Roma to Isola Farnese

Coffees: 2, Gelati: 1, Wine: 1/4 litre
Actual Distance Walked: 23km, Actual Time Taken: 6h 31m
Planned Distance: 21km, Planned Time: 6h 30m

Took things slowly today as tomorrow will all be tramping through suburbs so this is my last chance to admire the countryside.  I'm now only 20-odd kilometres from the centre of Rome and I'll still in farmlands.  In Melbourne, I'd be somewhere like Doncaster.

The extra distance is because I ended up walking through a village along the way twice.  I came into the village through the modern bit and ignored the bars and gelaterias there thinking it would be better to get something in the historic centre.  Unfortunately, I walked from one end of the historic centre to the other only to find it is all houses and had to tramp back to the start for my daily gelati.

Nothing to report about the route.  It was straightforward and blissfully absent of free range dogs.  Blissfully absent of grumpy farmers too, although this time I was purely on roads and not tramping through farmyards which is probably why.

My stopping place for tonight is so small it doesn't even classify as a village, it is just a hamlet.  When I got to the hotel the only people around where a pair of rather concerned American tourists.  They had a booking but there was no-one here (although the front door to the hotel was open).  Eventually the hotelier showed up.  He'd been giving other guests a lift to a nearby railway station.

Dinner tonight is included in the package but is not at the hotel restaurant.  They don't run it anymore (and the hotel itself is for sale).  My dinner is to be provided at a restaurant down the road.  Depending on who you talk to it is either 500m or 800m away.  I hope the road is reasonably well lit as I didn't bring a torch.  Perhaps I can convince the American couple they'd like to have dinner with me.  They have a car.

Dinner turned out to be more and less complicated than I first expected.  Instead of having to walk anywhere, a woman came for me in a car and took me to a restaurant.  I don't know why the one within an unspecified walking distance didn't feed me.  Perhaps it isn't open on a Monday as many aren't.  However, when we got to the one that did feed me (about 5 minutes of Italian driving later) the chef and the waiter seemed rather taken aback to see me.  Much discussion took place before they agreed.  When I asked about getting back to the hotel this caused even more consternation.  The woman muttered something about the bus.  When I suggested a taxi they all seemed to think this was a foolish idea for reasons my Italian wasn't up to determining.  Eventually the woman lapsed into English and told me she would talk to the people at the hotel and something would be arranged for me at 9pm.

Again I skipped the antipasto and went straight to the pasta, which was spaghetti carbonara as that is supposedly a Roman speciality.  It was very tasty, as anything is if you put enough cheese and salt in it. For main I had roast veal, at least that is the animal I was supposed to be eating.  I would have labelled it pork rather than veal if I hadn't been told otherwise but it is hard to tell from three slices covered in gravy.  The gravy was very tasty, probably all the MSG in the packet mix.  I know I'm being bitchy, and probably unfair, but I wasn't exactly made to feel welcome.  For a side dish I had asked for spinach but was told it was all gone, so I ordered broccolini instead.  I received a plate of spinach - with garlic, olive oil and lemon (yum).   Dessert was just a coffee.

The restaurant was an odd place.  Quite a few people wandered in to dine while I was there.  It ended up being about half full which is a crowd by what I've been used to lately.  However, the waiter's heart wasn't in his job and he kept disappearing into the bar next door.  The chef would ring his little bell when a dish was ready to no avail and would often have to deliver the meal himself.  Towards the end of the night he lost patience and went next door to the bar and had words with the waiter.  A floor show!

At 9pm my something turned up, which proved to be the woman from the hotel who had just abandoned the reception desk to come and get me.  This owners of this hotel don't seem keen on the hoteling life.

Day 17 - Sutri to Campagnano di Roma

Coffees: 2, Gelati: 1, Wine: 1/4 litre

Actual Distance Walked: 28km, Actual Time Taken: 7h

Planned Distance: 27km, Planned Time: 8h

Today was grumpy women day.  In theory, it is legal for hikers to walk anywhere, including through private farmland, provided they stick to the paths and don't damage anything or take anything.  Part of today's route was supposed to take me around some barns and through a field.  Two of the owners, a mother and daughter, took exception to me tramping through their farmyard (don't really blame them).  I'm not sure if they were trying to tell me the path wasn't there anymore or it was but they didn't want me walking on it but they were quite clear they wanted me to walk down their drive to the road.  After some mucking about, I found that it actually gave me a slightly more direct route to the next waypoint.

My second encounter with grumpy females was at bar/deli at the 1/3 point.  I'd gotten a drink for myself from the fridge and it seem to be a huge imposition for her to come out from behind the deli counter and open it for me and let me pay for it.  Still, it being a Sunday I encountered quite a few MAMILs who were all cheerful and friendly so that was a good antidote.

Yet another dog anecdote.  Sorry about this but they feature in a big way in my life these days.  As I was trekking through more fields I came across a small clump of sheep who'd got separated from the main flock.  I'd also accidentally put myself between this clump and the sheepdog that was trying to retrieve them.  I quickly, but calmly (never show fear) backed up and let him do his job and then he let me on my way.  Which was fortunate as there was no alternative route.

Towards the end of the route I came across a pair of carabinieri who had stopped a car with a pair of young men in it.  All four were standing around in the road, the carabinieri with their hands oh so casually on their guns.  The smart thing to do would be to have kept back until it (whatever it was) was all over but I was worried if I stopped I wouldn't restart.  Turned out they were just giving them a speeding fine.  There was a racetrack just over the ridge and that road on a weekend must be a favourite spot with the police when they're behind their quota on speeding fines.

Again, my hotel for tonight is really a restaurant with some rooms above.  Only 5 as far as I can tell (excluding the floor where the family lives).  I'm on the second floor and of course there is no lift.  Breakfast tomorrow will be at the bar across the street.

For dinner tonight I skipped antipasto and went straight to the primo.  I passed up the chance of pappardelle with wild boar sauce in favour of rigatoni with the house sauce.  There was a whole page in the menu telling the story of this sauce and why it was so wonderful (as far as I could translate since it was all in Italian).  Turns out the house sauce is cream and sausage meat (and cheese of course).  Perhaps in addition to not testing my cholesterol levels when I get home, I should give weighing myself a miss for a while.

Main was roast pork, rolled around a stuffing of rosemary and garlic.  The crackling wasn't as good as it was at the last place I had this but the stuffing was better - not as salty.  For a side I had gratineed vegetables - sliced, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and grilled.  The veg was eggplant, zucchini and fennel.  A pleasant change from insalata mista.  For dessert I just had a (very good) espresso.  

And so to bed.  Snore.

Day 16 - Lake Vico to Sutri

Coffees: 2, Gelati: 3, Wine: 1 glass

Actual Distance Walked: 16km, Actual Time Taken: 4h 19m

Planned Distance: 16km, Planned Time: 4h 30m

The route today was almost all on roads, about 50% of those tarmac roads so navigation was easy but it was a bit hard underfoot.  The first 3km was along the lake shore.  I encountered quite a few joggers out running along this stretch.  I encountered one jogger 3 times.  First coming towards me, then when he was coming back the other way and "lapped" me and then coming towards me again.  He was very grim and determined.  It didn't look like he was enjoying himself at all.

About 2 hours in I passed through the town of Ronciglione.  It was Maria and Giacomo's wedding day.  I know this because there were signs up everywhere.  As I was walking down the main street, the bridal party drove by with every single car tooting their horns nonstop.  Very sweet, but for the sake of everyone's hearing I hope the marriage rate in that town is low.

Sutri is yet another town perched on a rock spur.  Why do all my destinations have to be uphill?  Downhill, on the next spur over, is a Roman amphitheatre carved out of the rock and Etruscan necropolis - also carved out of the rock.  Some burial places had niches for bodies, some just shelves for urns but some had both.  It was all fascinating.  The amphitheatre looked like the one at Pompeii but smaller and as if it had melted a little as the rock has worn down. Unfortunately it was't open to the public that day, you could only peer through the gate.  And this muppet had left her camera in the hotel so she doesn't even have any pictures.  I expect Google has better ones anyway.

Dinner turned out to be excellent - among the top three I've had, even though the restaurant was my 4th choice.  I like to eat unfashionably early as I'm hungry early plus I want to get an early night as I'm generally tired at the end of the day.  By 7:30pm my first two choices didn't even have their lights on, my third choice was clearly open but said they didn't start serving until 8pm so I staggered into one that was open.  It was the Il d'Angeli restaurant and is run by the d'Angeli sisters.  One is the maitre d' while the other is the wine waiter.

I had the degustation menu and the wine sister recommended a glass of Sicilian red to me.  I was a bit dubious (isn't it too hot there for good wine?) but it turned out to be a delicious big, spicy red without any hint of tannins.  From what the wine sister said it is a small producer so I didn't bother trying to remember the winery.

For food, I was first given an amuse bouche which was a cube of some intensely capsicum flavoured flan thing with a spoonful of some moussey thing also made of capsicum.  The plate had been decorated with a pattern in balsamic vinegar.  All the plates turned out to be decorated this way (except for dessert) along with an individual garnish on each plate.  Shannon would approve.

My official starter was three eggplant rolls stuffed with pesto.  I forget the garnish on that one.  The primo was lasagna Tuscia-style which turned out to be without a tomato-based sauce but with béchamel, mince and mushrooms (and cheese of course).  The garnish on that one was a fan with two sage leaves at the base, then two thin slices of carrot and then a single petal from an orange coloured flower.  

My main was pork sausages with grapes with a side of shallots in an agrodolce sauce.  This was the first point where things were not perfect.  The sausages had some sort of sauce on them which was sweet to the taste, which is something I dislike in a savoury dish.  Fortunately the sauce on the shallots was more agro- than dolce so they were a pleasant contrast to the fatty richness of the sausages.  The grapes went well with them too, although I could have done with three times as many (in a pile) rather than just 6 elegantly sliced and arranged on the plate.  The garnish on that one was three perfect vine leaves perfectly arranged.

My dessert was a rum semifreddo (I count this as my third gelati) and was garnished with what at first I thought was a single blueberry on top and with chocolate sprinkles around it.  Instead, it turned out these were both chocolate coated coffee beans - one whole and one crushed.  I like these women.  They understand what is important in life - coffee and ice cream.

I finished with a coffee that was sadly ordinary but then it was the first their machine had made that day, so that's not unexpected.

My hotel here is tiny - only 6 rooms.  It is also the only place to stay in the town.  The owners live next door.  When I got to Sutri the place was closed as they were having their siesta and I had to knock on their own door to get them to open up the hotel for me.  I'm to take my breakfast in their own kitchen tomorrow as they don't normally offer that to their guests and don't have any space in the hotel to provide it.   That's going to be an experience.