The Tiber River runs west to east through central Rome.  I love walking along the river and watching the water.  The river also offers a respite from the streets where you are surrounded by tall buildings, because the river offers a wide-open expanse and view.

rapids on the river

rapids on the river

in the middle of the photo, you can see the remains of the ancient Roman bridge with the modern bridge behind it

a view of the river from the lower level

this section of the wall next to one of the bridges has plants and flowers growing out of it

You can either walk along at street level or you can go down to the boardwalk at the river level.  On one of our previous visits, there was a festival down on the boardwalk, and Chad and I spent an evening down there walking around, looking at things for sale amid the temporary tents with food and bars.

2018 riverside festival – food and crafts tents

2018 riverside festival – checking out the activities

2018 riverside festival – checking out the activities

There is an island in the middle of the river called La Tiberina.  On the island there is a hospital run by the Catholic Church, a hotel, a large church, a couple of restaurants, and a gelato shop.  We stopped at the gelateria and I got two flavors – lemon-basil and fresh pear.  Yum!  During a previous visit, we had lunch at one of the restaurants and enjoyed a wonderful tasting menu.

the west end of the Tiberina island

the island’s church

the island’s hospital

The river draws people at all hours of the day and night, and we walked along it or across it several times a day.  The river is particularly beautiful at night.

And finally, a video shot one night while we were crossing a bridge from Trastevere into central Rome.

On this trip, we stayed in the Trastevere neighborhood just as we have done on past trips.  Trastevere is just across the Tiber River from the Jewish Ghetto and the famous monuments just beyond.  Our street food tour guide told us that “tras” means “across” and “tevere” means “Tiber.”  However, I had previously learned that the neighborhood got its name from “tra” which means “between” and “stevere” which was an ancient spelling of “Tiber.”  If you look at the neighborhood on a map, you can see that it is nestled in a bend in the Tiber and that it is surrounded on three sides by the river.  It’s between the river.

In any case, I love this neighborhood.  It is a lively area with lots of restaurants and bars, good food and wine shops, pretty churches, cute streets. 

entrance to a small plaza

our go-to wine bar in the neighborhood

a typical street

another typical street

a little courtyard at the end of a street

the facade of this restaurant was covered in lights

outdoor dining

we found a cool little shop with lots of interesting foodstuffs

Of course, along with all of this great stuff comes throngs of tourists.  It wasn’t too bad now in May, but Chad said last August it was unbearable with shoulder-to-shoulder people in the streets.

Trastevere makes a convenient home base for seeing the sites of Rome.  You cross a bridge over the river and you’re in the Jewish Ghetto.  You walk a few minutes more and you’re at Trevi Fountain or the Pantheon.  Walk a little more and you can see the coliseum and the forum.  You can even walk to St. Peter’s and the Vatican from Trastevere, but it’s more of a hike.

Much like Molise in the springtime, flowers were in bloom in Trastevere.  Everywhere you look, you can see buildings draped in ivy, jasmine, and bougainvillea, so this creates walls of color in the spring.

There is also a lot of graffiti in the neighborhood.  Some of it is just straight-up spray paint tagging, but a lot of it is nice street art.

We had a couple of memorable meals in the neighborhood.  One evening, we walked up to the top of a hill to Ristorante Umbre Rosse (Red Clouds) which had a wonderful, two-level outdoor dining area.

steps up the hill to the restaurant

you can see the upper level of seating behind Chad

I was so happy to have a giant salad

Chad had a giant plate of meat and cheese (I helped with some of it)

notice the variations on the Caipirinha on the drinks menu

Another evening, we ate at Ristorante Moridionale.  we had wanted to dine here before but couldn’t get reservations.  We were happy to have the opportunity this time around, and we sat at a table on the cobblestones across the street from the restaurant.

restaurant entrance

seared tuna with sesame seeds

chicory pallotte (kind of like a meatball but made with bread and cheese instead of meat)

dessert – semi-freddo gelato with chocolate sauce and pistachios

And one final photo from the Trastevere neighborhood.

a mosaic mural of a swimmer

This was our fourth time in Rome together.  During previous visits, we made a point of seeing the monuments, going to other tourist sites, and exploring the city by walking all over the place.  On this trip, we did have an agenda, but it was not tourist-related.  Agenda items included figuring out how to get 24 liters of olive oil home, going to Ristorante Giulia, going to a restaurant specializing in Abruzzese food, and generally just wandering around.

In a densely populated city such as Rome, it’s beneficial to have a small car.  You can see lots of Smart cars which zip around and are easier to park than larger cars.

One benefit of a Smart car is that it can park perpendicular in a parallel parking zone.

We also saw some newer models of cars that we hadn’t see in the past.

Here’s a little 2-person electric car at a charging station.

Here’s a one-person electric car by Renault

All-electric Yoyo model by XEV

Of course, motorcycles, Vespas, and other scooters are also great, because you can zip in and out of traffic, and free parking is easy.

A church plaza filled with motorcycles and scooters

Speaking of driving, we learned two new things while in Italy.  First, if you move to Italy, you can only drive with a foreign license for one year.  After that, you have to have an Italian driver license if you want to drive.  Second, the driver test is extremely hard.  We heard this both from our Canadian friends and from Chad’s Italian relatives.  So, in preparation for a potential move to Italy, we went to a bookstore in Rome and bought a two-volume driver license study guide.  Volume one is the textbook, and volume two contains thousands of example test questions.  Of course, the books are all in Italian and the language is very technical, so, in addition to learning the Italian rules of the road, these books will be an exercise in translation for us.

driver license study books

We did walk past some of the famous sites such as Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.  However, I didn’t take any photos there since I already have photos from previous trips.  Instead, I took notice of other interesting buildings and urban features.

I liked this stately building on the corner of a main avenue

This archway led into a grand courtyard

another view of the church that had all of the scooters parked in the plaza in front

a little alley in the Jewish ghetto

I liked the covered terrace at the top of this building – seems like a good place to hang out when it’s too hot in the sun or when it’s raining outside

this church was at the intersection of two narrow streets, so it was hard to get a good photo, but it had an interesting “coin offering” feature

this church had a slot on the front of the building where you can insert coins to support the poor who have died (and are perhaps in purgatory?)

I love this fountain with its turtles.

the fountain

close-up of the turtles

We also paused to notice the details that are typically overlooked by tourists who are on a schedule.

Parking on the main avenue along the river had notices indicating that parking would be prohibited that weekend due to the Giro d’Italia passing through Rome (the Giro is the Italian version of the Tour de France).

Many of the cobblestone streets are so narrow that there is no room for a sidewalk.  Instead, a pedestrian pathway is striped off and a symbol indicates which side to walk on.

Throughout our trip, we saw a lot of unique restrooms signs in restaurants indicating Men’s and Women’s.  Here’s one for the women’s room in Ristorante Giulia.

We saw some fun things in shop windows.

I liked this jewelry set inspired by leaves from the ginkgo tree

We saw this coffee service fashioned from chocolate in a confectioner’s shop

this is perhaps the world’s largest loaf of deli meat

And, finally, viewership of Stranger Things is not limited to the United States.

a cardboard cutout of Eddie Munson

at Easter time, giant chocolate eggs are given as gifts – here’s a Stranger Things chocolate egg that I saw at the beginning of our trip

Our return to the U.S. started out auspiciously.  Our flight landed 45 minutes early.  I know!  When does that ever happen?  We zipped through immigration, collected our checked luggage and went to Jim and Fran’s house to stay the night.  The plan was to relax, eat a light supper, and get a good night’s sleep and then pack up the kitties and go on to our house on Saturday morning.

Luna died in the middle of the night.  I found her the next morning curled up under a table.  She was only 10 years old, so it was quite a shock.  We’re just thankful that we got to spend her last day with her.  She was a sweet and curious girl.  Instead of getting settled back into our house and enjoying the holiday weekend, we went to the pet crematory and grieved.  Luna was always looking out the windows and trying to sneak out of the house, so we will sprinkle her ashes in our garden.

So that was Saturday.  Sunday morning, Chad and I both woke up sick with colds.  I haven’t been sick in years, and I forgot how much it sucks.  Then on Monday night, a mosquito got into the house and feasted on me while I was sleeping.  I’ve got over 60 mosquito bites.  So in addition to concluding our vacation and dealing with jet jag, our cat died, we’re both sick, and my entire body itches.

On the bright side, we still have our kitty Bokchoy who has been very snuggly since we got home.  The packages that we shipped from Rome made it to Georgia without any problems.  The head colds will go away, and the mosquito bites will heal.  We miss Luna immensely, but we have many years of wonderful memories with her.  She had a good life with us, filled with lots of love and lots of cat treats.  Ciao, Luna.

our sweet, curious, cuddly Luna