Che Bellisima-The Food of Rome

Rome isn't all just churches and the remnants of ancient worlds. Like many cities with seeming impossibly long histories (like Istanbul, Cairo, Amman, etc.) the old stands flush alongside the new. So much of what has allowed these places to survive in Rome is the long history of repurposing.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Bridge over the Tiber Castel Sant'Angelo (behind), St. Peter's (R)

Altare della Patria

The Castel Sant'Angelo, completed in 139 AD, was originally a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian and his family and later emperors. In the 5th century it was converted to a military fortress and sadly much of the original treasures and the ashes were lost to Visigoths (there's something so satisfying abut the 'Visigoth') in the 400s. It wasn't until the 14th century that it because a Papal refuge, residence, and even prison. Now it's a museum.

Not quite so respectful to the city's history is the 1925 AD Altare della Patria, also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, and less respectfully, the Wedding Cake. Built to commemorate the unification of Italy but it's first king (Victor Emmanuel) the base houses the Museum of Italian Unification and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame. As the construction of this rather ostentatious thing destroyed a large part of the Capitoline Hill and leveled a medieval neighborhood it's not the most beloved site by Romans.

One way to explore a city is to just wander and get lost and I have always been a proponent of that method. Another favorite method: food tours. L and I discovered Trastevere that way with Eating Italy. I would be happy to go back to Rome and do nothing but Eating Italy's tours.

Da Enzo

We met our guide on the Isola Tiberina and crossed into Trastevere to the first of our seven stops. At Da Enzo we were greeted by the owners and a glass of prosecco. Here we had burrata, a fresh (and not easy to find) cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella but the inside is a mix of cream and mozzarella. For my DC peeps-sometimes Dino in Cleveland Park has this. We also the most amazing artichoke I've ever eaten. I can't remember the type of artichoke but basically all the do to it is pop it in peanut oil for a couple seconds then sprinkle it with salt.

Spirito di Vino

Spirito di Vino

Spirito di Vino

While I would happily have just stayed at Da Enzo for the entire evening I'm glad I resisted the temptation because the next stop was not to be missed. Spirito di Vino not only serves up amazing wine and food made from traditional, Roman recipes that date back to the emperors, the building itself is older, OLDER than the Colosseum. Here we ate pork cooked in red wine, apples, onion, honey, vinegar, and spices from a recipe created by Julius Caesar's chef. Whaat?! Yes.

Innocenti

From there we wandered Trastevere's charming and picturesque streets to Innocenti where this family has been baking its cookies since 1920. We were offered a section of biscotti but I believe the resounding favorite was the brutti ma buoni (middle above). These cookies, translated as 'ugly but good' are a meringue hazelnut cookie that are stupid good. Since we lack not at all for hazelnuts in Turkey I may try my hand at making these.

Antica Norcineria

After leaving Innocenti we had a longish walk of about 10 minutes for which I think we were all pretty grateful. We were feeling a bit on the rolly polly side and we weren't even halfway through the tour! Eventually we came to Antica Norcineria, a delicatessen offering amazing cheeses including Parmesan and Peccorino Romano and the city's best porchetta. I deeply love the description of porchetta: a savory, fatty, moist, boneless pork roast. the body of the pig is deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin then rolled, spitted, and roasted for hours over wood. Every evening the family who owns Antica Norcineria prepares its porchetta which is then sent out for the roasting so its ready to be sold the next morning.

I asked if I could marry into the family but was told there were no sons of any age. Maybe they'll adopt me.

I Suppli

When it looked like things couldn't get any better we arrived at our next stop, I Suppli for Italian street food favorites suppli and pizza. Suppli are a balls of rice that's been mixed with tomato sauce, stuff with cheese, and deep fried. What can go wrong there?! We also had squares of Pizza Marinara which was just pizza with sauce, no toppings. I say 'just' but as soon as I tasted the marinara sauce with its perfect balance of biting garlic and sweet oregano all I wanted to do was dive into a vat of it and eat my way out.

Enoteca Ferrara

At this point, even I was getting pretty full but we still had actual dinner to go!At Enoteca Ferrara we were treated to a dinner or hand-made gnocchi, spinach and ricotta ravioli, and tonarelli cacio e pepe which is the fist pasta dish ever made. It was also my favorite of three.

How we managed to put away more pasta and wine is a little beyond me stuffed as we all already were. However there was no question of not being able to indulge in some gelato at the evening's last stop: Fatamorgana. It was here that I had one of the most interesting gelatos ever which I will try to recreate as soon as I can find enough fresh basil. Yes...basil. Fatamorgana carries a lot of the classic flavors you find anywhere else but they have also their own creations like: black cherry and beer, chestnut and myrtle, banana and lime, chocolate wasabi, Gorgonzola, cream of lavender and chamomile...the list goes on. However my favorite was the basil honey walnut. It was a revelation. Unfortunately I have no picture because I gobbled it down too quickly.

So basically...take at least one Eating Italy tour!

The Ephesus Museum Is FINALLY Open for Business.

After three years in Turkey and seven trips to Ephesus I was thrilled when last month I saw that the Ephesus Museum was finally open!

My little brother visited me in October and one of our trips out of Istanbul was of course to Ephesus. This was my seventh, SEVENTH, trip (I am the queen of the one day Ephesus/Sirince tour). In the very nearly three years that I've been living in Turkey and coming to Ephesus, the museum, which houses most of the original statues in Ephesus-the ones there are reproductions, has been closed. With no word about when it would be open. However on this trip while taking a short cut from the "Temple" (single remaining, sad, crooked column) of Artemis and the Basilica of Saint John we passed the museum and there were people going in!! Whether he wanted to or not my brother was going to go to the museum with me.

We went to the Basilica first where we discovered that you can buy a combined ticket for things. Since we'd already gone to Ephesus we didn't need that but for 15TL instead of 20 (10 at each place) my brother could buy a combined ticket for the Basilica and museum. Muze Kart holders like myself have free entry to both places.

Almost all my pictures are black and white which I could pretend was on purpose for artistic, aesthetic something something but that would be a bald faced lie. Frankly I was too tired to drag out my big camera so I just used my little point and click on which I have no control over things such as white balance, f-stops, shutter speed, other fancy camera words. It's a miracle I ever manage to take a decent picture really. One of the many reasons I love hanging out with my brother; free camera lessons. He told me something earlier during his visit about shooting in low light and it was like a revelation. My life is never going to be the same.

Zeus. Of course.

A satyr. Dude's creepy, no?

Battle scene made out of mother of pearl

The museum even includes a statue of the god Priapus. A headless statue but I don't think his head is what people recognize when they look at/think about Priapus.

Hello Big Boy...

Priapus, son of Aphrodite and Dionysus, is a minor god in the Greek pantheon who, as a fertility god was the protector of farm animals and male genitalia. Apparently there's a pretty well intact fresco in Pompeii which I'm going to look for when I'm there later this month. Apparently, despite the giant and perpetual erection he was impotent and blamed donkeys for the loss of his honor. Although it seems that he hates donkeys because one thwarted his attempt to rape the goddess Hestia so...I think he didn't have much honor to begin with. You can read Priapus' full details here.

It's really a gorgeous museum. The set up and flow through the rooms is really nice and there's a semi-sheltered outdoor area to the museum as well. Naturally I played with the cat while my brother wandered around. I always joke that no trip is complete unless I have fallen down; well I didn't exactly fall but I'm counting it. As I was crouching down to pet the cat my backpack, laden with camera, extra lens, water bottle, etc., etc. pulled me over backwards. Luckily the result was simply me sitting down super clumsily instead of falling on my back to crush any of the equipment.

Worth a three year wait? Eh, maybe not. Worth taking an hour or so to visit while you're in Selcuk? Definitely. The statues they have in there are stunning and as I said the museum itself is rather lovely.

Mount Nemrut

Mount Nemrut has been on my Turkey travel wishlist for years now and I finally got to go!

While many people combine Nemrut with a trip to Malatya or even Mardin, we only had a couple days and Turkey is really rather large-so not enough time to drive around and do more. As such we flew into the nearest airport (Adiyman) and rather than figure out ground transportation when we got there I booked an airport transfer with our hotel. I was so glad I did. This place is so remote. So. Very. Remote. We stayed at the Keravansaray (more on the hotel later) hotel just 8 kilometers away from Nemrut National Park...and aside from our hotel and one or two others there just wasn't anything there. To top it all off, apparently summer is low season for tourists here. We thought we'd be battling crowds of people since it's summer but apparently high season at Nemrut is only the months of April and September.

A lion guardian moved to stand by the alter

In order to get to the peak of Mount Nemrut for sunrise we had to get up at 3 AM. That's so painful. However I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beautiful 3 AM. The combination of the hour and lack of civilization meant that the sky was full of stars. I could have stared at them for hours. I don't think even in Michigan have I seen stars like that. 3 AM is also a little chilly. This is June so it wasn't really cold, not even on the peak, but I was glad that I brought a light jacket.

Commagene, Zeus, Apollo

Apollo and Heracles with eagle & lion guardians

Considered one of many 8th wonders of the world...Mount Nemrut is a 1st Century BC burial site created by Antiochos of Commagene (which I cannot help but see and think Native American tribe Comanche). The grave, or tumulus, rests on the mountain at an elevation of a little more than 7,000 feet and was created by piling fist sized rocks (left over from the creation of the statues).

I did a lot of book and online research about getting here and around and you basically have three choices: rent a car and do it yourself, rely on the super limited local public transportation/hitch hiking/book tours through your hotel. While the last option is probably the most expensive, when it's left to me to do all the research and organizing for a trip I'm going to choose what is the easiest in the end. Book hotel tour (after of course bargaining them down a bit), get picked up at 3:30 AM, drive  through the park up the majority of the mountain, and hike the last bit. Obviously the high elevation and thin air were the cause of my slow pace and huffing and puffing and not any utter and complete out of shapeness on my part...

Heracles with eagle & lion guardians

Apollo and Heracles

Commagene

We headed first to the East Terrace where are not only the more impressive statues but where you can watch the sun rise. There's a large, raised platform that seems to have been made as a resting place for people who have managed to get to the summit (imagine doing it without get driven up most of the way!) but was, I think, actually an altar. Behind us are the statues of Antiochos I, Commagene, Zeus (Oromasdes), Apollo (Mithras), and Heracles (Artagnes/Ares) flanked on each side by a lion and an eagle.

Eagle, Antiochos I, Commagene, Zeus, Apollo, Heracles

From the east terrace we circle around to the west terrace of the tumulus where the statues (mirrors of the east side) are in slightly less good condition. Both terraces should also have a series of reliefs marching perpendicularly to the statues. While there are some on the west terrace, several of them (most notably the zodiac lion) seem to be missing. They are not in the Adiyaman museum-we checked.

By the time we made it back to our van it wasn't even 7AM and, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I felt like I'd lived a life in those few hours. Well maybe not a life but certainly more than four hours. I've read some reviews of Mount Nemrut in which people have said they felt underwhelmed...how?! Sure the statues aren't in the best condition and some of the magic is disturbed by the chains keeping tourists from crawling all over the statues and the cage enclosing Zeus's head on the east terrace...but you're still standing at the top of a mountain on which, over 2,000 years ago, people quarried rock to create a ceremonial burial ground dedicated to their gods. Without motor vehicles or power tools. How is that in any way underwhelming?

There's still magic here at the top of Mount Nemrut and if someone as cynical and generally jaded as I am can find it then so can you. And if you have one, bring a tripod. I don't have one but it would have been worth lugging it up there for less blurry pictures.

Edinburgh's Cemeteries

I love cemeteries, really I do. A lot of people find that strange but mostly my friends understand. Which is likely why they're my friends. So when I spotted several old cemeteries during our wandering I was quite happily that L enthusiastically followed me into them.

We found the Lincoln memorial quite interesting

I grew up not too far from a fairly old cemetery. There were a handful of burials from the mid-late 20th century but most of them were much older. My siblings and I would bike there during the summer and speculate over what killed everyone; especially the family plots that have five and more people all dying within a year of each other. Given that, it's probably not a huge surprise that I seek out cemeteries in new cities. The Jewish and Orthodox/mixed cemeteries in Belgrade have long been favorites. I have always believed that if you want to know the history of a city a cemetery is a good place to start; and so it is with Edinburgh's. The fallen tombs and lichen covered monuments only add to the beauty and ancientness of the city.

Calton Hill from the cemetery

Edinburgh Castle from a cemetery

Cemeteries are so peaceful; more so the older they are but even the new ones carry a sense of ease. I don't believe in vengeful ghosts and despite my great devotion to all things Joss Whedon, I'm also not terribly concerned that I'll be attacked by monsters in a cemetery (although thank you to Whedon in that, should that unlikely event occur, I believe I am well-schooled in knowing how to deal with the situation). I also don't think there's bad luck attached to cemeteries. Luckily neither do my parents who bought their plots during a buy one get one half off sale (seriously, this is true) when the Saint Michael's parish in my home town was first established; thereby leaving me with one less thing to worry about when they die. Fun fact: vaults are required in Michigan cemeteries so you can actually put anything in said vault. My brother and I have been after our dad for years to make old-timey coffins for him an my mom; something from which even my ever practical and happy to save money however he can dad seems to shy away.

Up next, churches! Specifically Saint Giles. The cemeteries seemed to be a nice segue.