Sorry for those who have had to wait so long for this itinerary, but here it is: our first dive into the north of Italy, the south of France, and a week long stay in the Marais in Paris.
My lovely Dave, who managed to look Italian in Italy, then French in France. I’m pretty sure he could easily do Spain and Mexico with a little bit more stubble π
Roman pizza and Campari
Our original plan to have a few days on an island a few hours from Bangkok was foiled by riots in the city centre, so instead we just broke our flight at the Novotel Bangkok, had a shower and a Thai massage and continued straight on to Rome. We stayed near the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish steps) at the Frattina Terrace, a little B&B which is only open during the month of May. We were five floors up, and as the lift was broken we worked off our pasta on the stairs.
It took us a few nights to find a decent place for dinner, as we were a bit jet-lagged and slept through most dinner times stumbling out at 9 or 10pm for a little bite, but on our fourth and final night we were determined to eat a proper dinner at a tucked away Italian eatery, so we stopped at the wine bar on via Frattina for olives and a glass of wine to fortify ourselves before we stumbled on a delicious and authentic restaurant called Settimio All’Arancio, on via dell’Arancio just a few blocks from our place on via Frattina. The dish above is baby octopus in a delicious sauce.
You can visit their website at settimioallarancio.com
After purchasing some leather gloves and hiring an Alfa Romeo, we were all set to tackle the Italian countryside, Italian roads however, another story. Dave, to his credit managed to steer us safely through, and though we did think Italian drivers slightly mad with the speed at which they took corners, they also had the skills to back it up.
On we went to Greve in Chianti where we stayed at an agriturismo, visited a wine museum, found the most delicious smelling shop for lovers of prosciutto and a sweet little restaurant we loved so much we ate there two nights in a row.
Terre di Baccio, an agriturismo with an outdoor courtyard, vineyards and just down the road from the wine museum.
The Museo del Vino at Greve in Chianti, you can visit the website at museovino.it
I never wanted to leave Antica Macelleria Falorni, the norcineria (butcher) in Greve in Chianti, the most wonderful house of prosciutto I have ever come across.
I have been transported back here by a piece of pungent pancetta that I recently cooked with, amazing how powerful and emotive smell is.
Nerbone is worth a visit, the regional dish of calves hoof was richly savoury, gelatinous and wonderfully rich, I’ve never had a dish quite like it.
Our favourite agriturismo called I due Ghiri (the 2 mice) was in La Spezia, about 40 minutes drive from the Cinque Terre, set in the mountains on a farm. Behind our room were some lovely sheep grazing on the side of the mountain and at the start of the driveway some well cared for chickens. We ate Gaia’s delicious regional cooking with Gaia and Stefano and a few other guests.
A day trip to the Cinque Terre. We parked in Monterosso and had lunch and then took the train down to Riomaggiore.
The local seafood was fresh and tasty
Our next destination was La Morra in the Piedmonte region in the north of Italy near Torino. We stayed at a small winery that made beautiful Barolo wine called Cascina Ballerin.
Per Bacco, a popular restaurant in La Morra with wonderful food, a great local wine list and exquisite service.
The seafood plate
After eating the rich carbonaras of Rome, we welcomed a lighter style of food in the north. The reputation is for rich food, but somehow we found a lightness and modern approach that was delicious and refreshing. I would head back to this area in a heartbeat. Every wine we tried was great, even the cheap wine on the menu was wonderful. A new white wine variety I tried was Favorita, a white wine vaguely similar to Sauvignon blanc.
The tomatoes were so flavoursome, little mini romas…
Home made grissini and soft and chewy fresh bread made with olive oil, delicious.
We ate here two nights in a row as well
The view of the French alps from La Morra
A fun night out with four Danish travellers who shared our love of Barolo
The print on this plate reminds me of something from my mother’s wardrobe. The steak tartare was delicious.
Egg linguine with a ragu sauce of three meats was a dish we ate at several restaurants, and we didn’t mind at all.
Here ends our Roman holiday, the next instalment will be from the South of France up to Paris.
17 thoughts on “Roman holiday”
Comments are closed.
I’m salivating and delighting in seeing all those beautiful photos and reading more about your European adventures – such an evocative post! What a great journey – thanks for sharing.x
ps – can’t wait for the next one!!!!! π
Beans! Thanks for sharing your beautiful pics, i really enjoyed reading this post. It is great to see one of the world’s favourite holiday destinations through your greedy little eyes ; ) As usual, I am entertained by your foody talk – especially the wonderfully gelatinous calf’s hoof. I am not sure I would have been game to try it, I’ve scrunched up my nose at horse meat in Italy before. Great and I mean GREAT that you guys hired a sexy car for your honeymoon, here I was picturing you guys in a sensible station wagon! We will be driving to Italy early September, to the Friuli region this time. I will let you know how it is. It will be Rafa’s first Italian adventure. Looking forward to the next instalment!
Unglaublich! Diese Story hatte ich absolut nicht geglaubt π
Great points altogether, you just gained a new reader. What could you suggest about your post that you simply made a few days in the past? Any positive?
Very good info. Lucky me I recently found your website by chance (stumbleupon). I have saved as a favorite for later!
Hi there, everything is going nicely here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s truly good,
keep up writing.
Great article and right to the point. I am not sure if this is really the best place to ask but do you people have any thoughts on where to hire some professional writers? Thanks in advance π
Enter Bitcoin mining company today. Browse through % POSTDOMAIN %.
Terrific paintings! That is the kind of info that are supposed to be shared across the internet. Shame on Google for no longer positioning this put up higher! Come on over and discuss with my site . Thanks =)
Simply want to say your article is as surprising. The clarity on your publish is just spectacular and i can suppose you’re a professional on this subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to stay updated with impending post. Thank you one million and please continue the gratifying work.|
I used to be very pleased to seek out this internet-site.I wished to thanks on your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying each little little bit of it and I’ve you bookmarked to take a look at new stuff you blog post.
Join bitcoin free forum . Learning bitcoin mining, Dedicated bitcoin market place . Bitcoin Buy Sell & exchange service
Really delicious. But i was looking for bitcoin free and this article shows up i dont really got it π For those who where like me keep going here: http://bit.czbitcoin.com/
And nice news here ! http://cryptbond.com/
Wow, marvelous weblog structure! How lengthy
have you ever been blogging for? you make running a blog look easy.
The overall glance of your site is fantastic, let
alone the content material!
Hi to all, Owen and Jen, from Topeka KS, stopping by, we’d like to invite you for just a few brief seconds, to consider the issue of attitude to household decor for your dwelling. It’s the likely critical aspect to your domestic dwelling life. In Oct 2015, together we came upon this piece and we’re OK to recommend it to you, for household decor ideas.