March 23-24, 2024
Our return flights to the US went through Rome, where the shortest layover was something like ten hours, so we decided just to take a full day and enjoy some of the Eternal City.
Feker picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off at the front entrance to the airport, then parked the car and joined us.
We had an interesting experience at the Tunisia International Airport. Bob checked a bag because he had liquids he had purchased in Sicily that he didn't want to forfeit, but checking the back was almost (or over) $100 USD. Stan's bag was too heavy and they were going to make him check it as well, but Feker opened Stan's suitcase and started taking things out to go into his backpack and Chris's suitcase, which had already been weighed and tagged and so weight wasn't an issue. Feker got Stan's suitcase down to the given maximum, or close enough. It's a dumb system and easy to get around.
We finally got through, boarded, and had a flight to Rome that lasted an hour and about 20 minutes.
Bob collected his checked bag and we went outside to grab a taxi. Because we were going to our hotel, which was not in the city center of Rome (which has a standard €50 taxi fee, we had to find another taxi. One driver was watching for those like us who were going to the airport area, which was obviously much closer than the downtown area. We ended up paying €50, the same amount as a ride four times as long to the city center. It was such a rip off.
We dropped our bags in our room and went outside to call a ride to take us to the Rome LDS Temple Visitor Center. We waited and waited, and it appeared the taxi may have gone to the temple rather than to where we were. I tried calling but got a lengthy voice message in Italian. We finally cancelled for a €3 charge and tried again. This one took longer than expected but did actually show up. Our ride to the temple, which is pretty far away from the tourist part of Rome, took about 45 minutes and cost over $100 US.
This 41,010-square-foot temple was announced in 2008 and dedicated in 2019 by LDS Church President Russell Nelson. The dedication event was the first time ever that the entire First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gathered in one location outside the United States, so it was a big deal.
There was also a scale model of the interior of the temple so that visitors who can't enter can still get an idea of what the temple looks like inside.
is used throughout the exterior and interior. The LDS Church tries to match temple architecture to local architecture and/or history. The Rome Temple focuses on olives, both for their prominence in Italian farming and cuisine and for their scriptural relevance. The temple has rounded exterior and interior walls, giving it the oval shape of an olive.
I love Fontana del Moro, or Fountain of the Moor, sculpted by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and others in the 17th century. It shows a Moor (or maybe an African, or maybe Neptune, there is not agreement) standing in a conch shell (reminiscent of Titian's 16th century painting of Venus Rising from the Sea) and wrestling with a dolphin.
Surrounding the central figure are four Tritons and four heads spitting water from their mouths.
Surrounding the obelisk base is a sculpture of four river gods representing the four major rivers of the four continents where papal authority had spread: the Nile (Africa), the Danube (Europe), the Ganges (Asia), and the Rio de la Plata (the Americas).
Chris and Stan were more moderate with spaghetti and meatballs and shrimp risotto, but Bob had no regrets, proclaiming it the Best Meal of the Trip.
The baptistry and a staircase inside have the same oval shape, and stained glass windows throughout use an olive tree motif.
Thirty-two of the original trees on the property, thought to be about 150 years old were preserved during the construction of the temple. Four additional olive trees ranging from 400 to 500 years old were moved to the site from northern Italy.
When we were done walking around the grounds, we called another Uber and had the driver take us to the Piazza Navona. This time it was about $60 US.
I remember our awe the first time we walked into this vast plaza in December 2002, and it was still awe-inspiring on this, our second visit, almost 22 years later.
Just beyond that fountain is the Fontana dei Quaattro Fiumi, or Fountain of the Four Rivers, designed in 1651 by Bernini for Pope Innocent X. The Pope's family palace faced this piazza, as did the Church of St. Agnes of Agony, a 17th-century church that can be partially seen on the left of the photo below. Bernini's design was chosen in a competition
A copy of an Egyptian obelisk rises in the center.
We were hungry and amazingly, we were able to find a restaurant with outdoor seating that looked out over the Piazza Navona, Ristorante Tucci.
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| Photo from Ristorante Tucci's Facebook page |
Between the two of us, Bob and I ordered a Greek salad, roast lamb, four cheese gnocchi, linquine with shellfish, and two drinks. Yeah, we were hungry, but that was a little overboard.
But wait--we followed up our massive dinner with visits to TWO different gelato places. ("When in Rome, eat gelato" was our motto.) At the first (the better one), we had small servings of three different flavors for €4.
Not quite ready to return to our hotel, we walked a little further to the Pantheon. Originally built as a Roman temple in the early 2nd century AD, it became a Caholic church in 609 AD. Unfortunately (and not surprisingly, given the time), it was closed, but that was okay.
Hmmm, I wonder what "waiter" tastes like?
Late afternoon had turned into evening, and Rome at night is magical. The crowded Piazza has the vibe of New York City's Times Square, only filled with spectacular art and architecture rather than neon lights.
We enjoyed gawking at the architecture
. . . and at the crowd of happy young people milling about and sitting on the steps of the Pantheon Obelisk. It looks like some of them are eating gelato. Gelato? Did someone say gelato?
At the second gelato stop we got large scoops of two flavors topped with whipped cream, sauce, and two waffle cookies for €15. It was too much, both in cost and food. We were S-T-U-F-F-E-D.
We called a cob from the Pantheon and got a pretty young driver who drove like a maniac and spent most of his time on the phone. Another $60 USD. Getting around is expensive in Rome.
I tried to absorb as much as I could through the car window, wishing we had more time. I don't know if I'll ever get Bob back to Rome.
Chris and Stan, however, had problems. Their flight on Lufthansa did not show up on the flight board. They checked online, and the site said Lufthansa was in Terminal 3, which is where we were. Lufthansa had been on strike and had canceled our flights from the US to Naples at the beginning of the trip. Bob looked online and saw that many Lufthansa flights were still being cancelled. Different online sites were saying different things about the flight. By now it was 5:00 AM, but there was absolutely no one in Terminal 3 who could answer any questions. We all assumed the flight had been cancelled. They bought a horribly expensive and inconvenient (10-hour layover at JFK, another stop in Lisbon) replacement flight that showed only three available seats, hoping to get reimbursed by Lufthansa later. They couldn't wait for another flight as they were trying to get to a family reunion on the East Coast.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we headed to bed, preparing for a very early wake up (3:15 AM) and transport to the airport (4:15 AM).
At that early morning time, it took us just 10 minutes to get to the airport. There were no lines, and we checked our bags in with no issues.
That's all we knew when Bob and I boarded our flight and said good-bye to Chris and Stan. When we landed in Istanbul for a layover, we learned from their texts that their Lufthansa flight left from terminal 1, not Terminal 3. It had flown as scheduled. By the time they figured that out, it was too late. The fact that there was no one there to tell them Lufthansa was in another terminal was very frustrating, and no one from any other airline seemed interested in helping. Very bad customer service, Lufthansa!
Meanwhile, we (rather guiltily) enjoyed an empty seat on our row on our transatlantic flight, allowing us to spread out and be much more comfortable.
As always, we had a blast on this trip, but it was also good to be home!
The gelotto in Piazza Navona is divine. Our food at the Tucci restaurant was very good. An extra seat on the airplane is good. Rome again, don't know - maybe. Gelotto, gelotto.
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