E-biking in Rome

I made coffee in one of those stovetop espresso makers (called a Moka pot) that I’ve seen used many times, but for whatever reason I never purchased one for myself. I’ll admit, since I had never used one, I watched a quick YouTube video. I used some of our coffee bought in Ireland. It’s actually very easy to use! I scrambled some eggs and made toast.

After two tours on Saturday, today was relatively light: an e-bike tour and then pack up to leave Rome in the morning. We bused to the bike shop (24-hour pass use #4!) and got fitted for our e-bikes. An e-bike has multilevel pedal assist, so that as you pedal, it gives you a little assistance. Makes going up hills a breeze. It only works when you’re pedaling. When you coast, it’s just like a normal bike. And you can adjust the level of assistance. It definitely inspired me to look into buying an e-bike to commute to GHS, now that I won't have a kid to take to school with me. I could totally bike every day with an e-bike. I know people who commute by normal bike every day, so I know I sound like a wuss, but I’m just being realistic. I commuted by bike when we were first married and we only had one car and a baby at home, but now with several cars in the household, I don’t bike but once in a blue moon. But I would like to save gas, for the planet and my wallet.

We set off with our South African tour guide, Glenn. He took us out the old gates of Rome and we rode the Appian Way, one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. The first part was constructed in 312 BC. It’s an old road.

Parts of the road are cobblestone, and other parts are larger stones that aren’t the smoothest bike ride. But there are little dirt trails on the sides when it gets too rough. Bella’s chain came off on a particularly bumpy part.

One of the highlights of the ride was stopping for a herd of goats and sheep. We had hoped to be stopped by a herd of sheep in Ireland but it never happened. So we finally got our sheep stoppage in Rome.

It’s cool that you can be in one of the biggest cities in the world and take a bike just a few kilometers and be out in the countryside with goats bleeting at you.

Unfortunately, Glenn took a tumble off his bike and scraped up his hands. He said he just held the handlebars too loosely, and when he hit a pothole, he lost control. It happened right in front of Bella and me. The rest of the ride, I made sure not to hold the handlebars loosely!

Another highlight was biking to the aqueduct, including part that runs through a park and can be climbed on. Glenn explained how the aqueduct, which enabled Rome to thrive and become the center of a worldwide empire, was also one of the reasons for its demise, when barbarians destroyed the aqueduct and cut off the water to Rome. I always knew the aqueduct was a big deal, but hearing it put that way gave it new gravitas.

The final stop on the bike tour was at a spring where locals bottle up the mineral water for health benefits. The water tasted a little salty, because it’s so chock full of minerals. Glenn described it as the original Gatorade, which we then educated him on how Gatorade was invented in our home town. He had no idea. At the spring were several vendors selling a variety of foods and drinks. One place sold bulk locally produced wine by the liter. You can either fill your own bottle, or buy a plastic 1.5 liter bottle. I got 1.5 liters of a secco rosso (dry red). I also bought a porchetta (pronounced por-ketta) which is a large, deboned piece of pork seasoned with salt and herbs before being slow-roasted to create a crispy skin exterior and moist, aromatic meat within, served on a roll. Porchetta is indeed a little piece of heaven for meat-lovers. I had read about them months ago while planning this trip but forgot about them until Glenn said you could get them at the spring booths. Munching porchetta with some red wine out of a big plastic bottle while biking through Rome. Good times.

We loaded up and biked back to the bike shop. Waited for the bus back to home. While waiting, I chugged some wine out of my plastic bottle and a group of Japanese people in traditional kimonos and make-up walked up and caught a bus. It was surreal.

By the way, we used our 24-hour passes a grand total of five times. Good deal!

We were super hot and dusty after our excursion, so it felt so good to get back and shower and put on fresh clothes. For our final night in Rome, we opted for a little restaurant in Zama Plaza that we had passed by many times. Like most restaurants in Italy, it didn’t open till 7 pm. Also, there’s a place called Pompi that is renowned for its tiramisu. Since they were open mid-day we decided to go have tiramisu, then a little nap, then dinner at La Madia.

We walked to Pompi. Or rather some of us walked and those under the age of 20 rented scooters. Bella had wanted to do scooters at some point and this seemed like the best time. So she and Jacoby got their scooter time on the way to tiramisu.

Pompi was great. We got four different kinds of tiramisu to share (but Bella got her own). Nancy and Jacoby also got gelato. I got a coffee, even though it was afternoon. When in Rome. I did forgo the cappuccino since we’ve heard that it’s bad form to drink dairy in your coffee after 10 am or so. The reason, as explained by Pete, was because at midday you drink wine and eat pasta, and putting dairy in your coffee causes indigestion. Sigh. Okay, Italy. I’ll play along. For now.

We walked back to the apartment and got our little pre-dinner nap.

We got a table at La Madia around 7:30 and realized for the first time that we’ve been kind of ordering wrong at restaurants. We’re used to looking at a menu and picking the meal you want, and it will come with sides. And maybe you get an appetizer, or maybe not. Instead of individual meals, many of the restaurant’s menus here have it broken down into courses: antipasti (appetizers), primi (first courses, usually pasta or risotto), secondi (second courses, usually the protein like fish or beef), contorni (side dishes, like salads or potatoes) and then you have dolci (desserts), and THEN you have coffee (not with the dessert.) We know all this because Nancy had googled it and then Cristina finally asked one of the waiters and he had enough English explain it further. So the food prices had seemed kind of good to us (each course was in the 8 to 15 euro range) but if everyone ordered an antipasto, primo, secondo, and dolce, most meals would be in the 35-50 euro range per person. That’s a bit too much for our budget, and likely way more food than we can eat. But Italian restaurants also expect you to stay for two hours, so you’re eating those courses over a good chunk of time. It’s an experience, not just sustenance. I like the idea, but I doubt we’ll follow that procedure in our time here. We might adapt and start getting one or two of each course to share, family style.

Back at home, we packed up. I had to get up early to take a train to Ciampino to pick up the rental car that would carry us throughout the rest of our time in Italy.