There is a Gecko in my house.

Today we toured the Testaccio area of Rome and sampled many of the local delights with Eating Italy Food Tours

The menu consisted of -
Shop - Food item (english translation)
Barberini - Cornetti (crosant),  Tiramisu (coffee-flavoured Italian dessert)

Volpetti - prosciutto di San Daniel, salame al Barlo (two types of meats) pecorino al tartufo, parmigiano reggiano (two types of cheeses)

This shop has over 400 different cheeses.

Our guide, Tiana

Volpetti Piu - Pizza Margherita (best pizza i've had this trip)

Just a small sample

Testaccio Market - bruschetta al pomodoro (tomatoes on toasted bread) insalata caprese (mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, seasoned with salt, and olive oil), cannoli (pastry desserts)

Piping Cannoli

Flavio Al Velavevodetto - cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper pasta dish), amatriciana (traditional tomato and pasta), carbonara (traditional Italian style - no cream)

00100 Pizza - suppli alla genovese (street food similar to arancini balls)

Giolitti - gelato (two flavours from fourth generation business)

So as you can imagine after this tour we needed to do some walking, so it was off for a walk through the Roman Forum.

My new 7 Euro sunglasses

The afternoon was getting a little warm and there is nothing worse than being in the sun in Rome. We caught the bus back to our accommodation and rested for a couple of hours.

Around 6pm we felt ourselves being pulled from the room and out into the streets. This is a tradition in many Italian cities known as la passeggiata (the walk).  Between 5 and 8 pm the streets are filled with local couples, families and in fact everyone. It is an opportunity to see what people are wearing, but more importantly for Italians, it gives them the opportunity to be seen.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps, under those people.

One last item of note, we are actually sharing our fourth floor apartment with a local. It was unexpected but we are coming to terms with it. His name is Giuseppe, and he is a Moorish Gecko and is apparently quite common in this area.

Giuseppe, the Moorish Gecko

Tomorrow - The sun will rise, the sun will set

Jingle Jingle

We made it, we finally made it into the Colosseum. Checking the map it was going to be a 1.6km walk, so with the help of Google maps on the phone we were able to successfully and easily use the bus to get to the Colosseum.
But as promised...a few snaps below of our "quirky" accommodation:

View from our room

Our kitchen and living area

Demonstration of how close the ceiling is

To ensure we weren't going to miss our reserved tour, we arrived about an hour early, this gave us time to find the correct entry and meeting point of the tour.

The tour we chose was directly through the government agency that operates the building and with this tour we were given access to see under the arena and also up onto the third tier. Getting access to these areas was great and gave us a good understanding of the history, however the tour was a little long and the guide also covered may things that we believe most visitors should already know, so at some times it was a little boring.

The afternoon was spent having a "Grande Caffe" at Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè, basically a large espresso that is made in a secret way. This caffe was very busy and also very Italian, queue at the cashier, place order with the cashier, get a receipt, queue for the barrister, hand over receipt, wait for coffee. It was one of the best espressos we have had and there is a very good chance we may be back tomorrow!

Next was a little surprise for Katie the Elephant at Piazza della Minerva

Followed by a visit to the Pantheon.

The evening was spent at a very typical Roman restaurant Armando al Pantheon. A lovely place and once again very local. It is a family business, however was a little on the expensive side, but as they say, when in Rome.

Finally it was Jingle Jingle time.  On our first tour in 2010 we noticed many African men in Paris selling miniature Eiffel towers, Katie gave them the name Jingle Boys as this was the sound they made as they walked around carrying the souvineers. So now we are in Rome there are no Eiffel towers but there are the African men and this time they are selling handbags, watches, laser pens, all counterfeit along with poles to hold your phone to take selfie photos, ponchos, umberellas, sunglasses. These guys are always on the lookout for police as we understand they're not allowed to sell products in this way. However it does make some interesting people watching, with the tactics and also the methods the tourists use to get away.

Tomorrow - Please, Sir, I want some more.

Colosseum Closed

Yes that is correct, due to a government strike we were unable to tour the Colosseum. I can understand the need to strike and in this case it was for pay rises (government pay has been frozen in Italy for 2 years) and response to job cuts. 


But when the strike effects one of the most important landmarks to mankind then there should be alternate options. Striking has not really helped the cause in Italy, most of the impact has been for us tourists. Without flexible schedules there would be many people like us unable to see inside other than holding the camera through the bars.

It is also forbidden for tourists to enter on 28/09/2012

Looking inside to the inner circle at the Colosseum.

One of the souvenir vendors outside the Colosseum

The modern time Gladiators, no Russle Crow! 

We also spent a little time overlooking the ruins, these were also closed. Even not being able to enter the ruins or Colosseum we were both very excited to finally see them both with our own eyes.