Bolger Family Travels: A Few Highlights On Our Way To The Food Tour

Maria and Van chose to arrive in Rome on Sunday, so they would have two days to acclimate and beat jet lag. They were staying in a hotel in the hip Trastevere neighborhood. They had joined a food tour of that neighborhood organized Viatour.

Since our plans changed and we were arriving 18 hours earlier than planned, they were able to add us to the tour. We figured it was a two-hour tour with several stops.

You could say it was bold to do when we'd be crushed by jet lag, but you'd be wrong. Not because we're expert travelers, but because the (actually) four hour tour with seven (!!!) stops gave Carol and I a shot of unexpected adrenaline.

First, walking over to the meeting point on Tiber Island was special. First we found small church that we popped into. I don't even remember the name of the church. There was only the caretaker, and I asked him if it was okay to take pictures as long as I didn't use the flash. Most of the chapels were too dark to photograph. But we wandered around enjoying having the mostly darkened church to ourselves.

From there, we came upon the Pantheon. One of the most famous buildings in the world, it was built during the time of Hadrian's reign as Emperor. (More like Hadrian's Dome than Hadrian's Wall, amirite?) It's believed to have been dedicated in the year 126 AD, making it approximately 1,898 years old, or approximately 1400 years older than the oldest surviving building in the United States.

The Pantheon is famous for its perfect dome and for the eight Corinthian columns holding up the front portico. The capper is that it remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. We have tickets to visit it in a few days.

Prior to its dedication as a Catholic church, it was a Roman temple built on the grounds of another temple that burned down during the time of Jesus.

The moon's rise over the Pantheon made for a dramatic viewing, but I couldn't get a good picture of the corner of the Pantheon with the moon.

The Pantheon.

Some of the columns, along with the

original inscription on the front.

I see a good moon rising.

On the next block we stopped into the Basilica Santa Maria Sobre Minerva, famous for the elephant and obelisk in the front piazza. There are more than 930 churches in Rome, and it seems about half are named after Santa Maria.

It's one of the few examples of Gothic architecture in Rome, and is famous as the burial site of Catherine of Siena. Started in the 12th century, it took nearly 700 years to finish, or about the same length of time as it now takes to build a new house in America. Five popes are buried there.

The facade is Romanesque. The ceiling of the nave is probably the highlight of the church, a deep blue with various scenes at certain points (see photos below).

The side chapels were roped off, keeping visitors at a distance. For what point, I don't know, but, given how close it is to the Pantheon, there were a lot of visitors wandering around.

Elephant & Obelisk, which

is different that London's

Elephant & Castle.

The impressive ceiling.

Close-up of part of the ceiling.

Not sure who he is, but he

looks a bit like Genghis Khan?

A close-up of the elephant. Remember,

everything not about an elephant is

irrelephant.

After crossing over the pedestrian bridge to Tiber Island, we met up with Maria, Van, Roberta (our food tour guide), and six others -- four Americans from Texas, and a couple from Scotland (near Edinburgh). Everyone turned out to be great, and Roberta proved to be a fantastic guide.

She talked with pride about Italian food and culture, making the tour fun.

Our first stop was at Enzo's, which is considered the top restaurant in trendy Trastevere (easier to spell than to pronounce). The people lined up for a table shot us dirty looks as we skipped the line and were seated prior to opening.

We had the best Jerusalem artichokes I've ever had and burrata/cherry tomatoes. The bread was fantastic.

(Editor: Um, would that be the first Jerusalem artichoke you've ever had? Writer: Perhaps.)

A quick note on burrata -- we've liked it for a long time, but our spring trip to Northern Italy has cemented it as our go-to cheese. Sorry to offend anyone (Editor: No, no you are not sorry.) but Burrata is far superior to Mozzarella.

Sorry, Mozzarella, I still like you as a friend, but I am in love with Burrata.

(Editor: Um, that's very odd of you. Writer: Sometimes I have write with emotion about how I feel. I'm in love with Burrata and I don't care who knows!)

Jerusalem Artichoke Hearts.

Jealous diners waiting in line at Enzo's.

From there we went to Restaurante Spirit Di Vino, which was built on the site of a synagogue. This wine bar/restaurant in the basement has Roman arches from 80 B.C. The dish of beef shoulder that we ate was Julius Caesar's favorite meal (his chef wrote a recipe book that still exists.