Greetings from beautiful Venice, where it has rained most of the evening but it is spectacular nevertheless. We are here for three nights, and look forward to a full day of exploring tomorrow. But first, there is more Rome to share.
Thursday morning our walking route took us past two nice surprises - a supermarket ("DESPAR"), which we'd been hunting for, and a Muji, the store I love so much (and mentioned in the London post). Both were fairly close to the hotel so that was a great discovery. A couple days later I bought a small rolling suitcase from Muji, and I'm so glad I did. The heavy backpack and camera bag were proving to be harder on my neck than I'd thought, so the suitcase has helped a lot.
First on our agenda for the day was Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), a very large and ancient basilica founded around 430 CE. Although it is now Baroque on the outside, there are wonderful medieval mosaics inside.
Then we had another fairly long walk down a major road to San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran), the official cathedral of the Pope. The popes used to live in the Lateran Palace next door, before they moved to the Vatican.
A few blocks further down the road, just inside the city walls, we visited the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem), known for its relics brought by Emperor Constantine's mother from the Holy Land.
When David and I visited this church in 2008 we were able to walk right up to the glass case containing the relics, but I was sad to find that they have now blocked off access and you can't get very close. I'm very glad I had my zoom lens, but the reflections off the glass were difficult.
Back by San Giovanni again, we started hunting for the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs). These are said to be the very steps up which Jesus climbed for his trial before Pilate, brought to Rome in the 300s CE. The marble stairs are covered with protective wood and pilgrims climb them on their knees. I knew the site was in the vicinity of San Giovanni, but not exactly where, and on previous trips I'd never come across it.
This time, though, Sarah spotted it - a nondescript building across the street with the Latin Scalam Sanctam in an inscription at the top.
Fortunately the Holy Stairs are flanked by two other stairways (the unholy stairs?), so we were able to walk up and see what was at the top. There was a center chapel enclosed by a fence, with an impressive icon, and another side chapel for prayer.
Then we began to make our way home, passing by the Colosseum on the way. It looked nice in the dusk and a moon was rising above it...
And then, our feet really dragging, we managed one final photo stop: San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains). It is not far from the Colosseum and claims to have the chains that bound Peter when he was in prison. The legend goes that someone had a few links from his chains in Jerusalem and a few links from his chains in Rome, and when they were placed near each other, they miraculously fused together. Also, the church has a wonderful Michelangelo sculpture.
And then, finally, we made our way home. On the way we sought out a restaurant I'd researched earlier and marked on my map: Ciuri Ciuri, a Sicilian restaurant that is mainly a bakery but also has some delicious warm savory food, and some casual tables. David and I discovered it on our last trip and it was incredibly delicious, so I wanted to go back! And it was just as good as I remembered, I'm happy to say.
We also tried a pasta dish that was new to me - long macaronis with dill and something else - but neither of us liked it much. We got some gelato on the way out, since it looked really special, too, and our dinner was light (we split the single plate of pasta and one ball). It was special, indeed. The pistachio was so natural and delicious, almost brown in color rather than the more common fake-green. DELISH. Also we got a couple small cannoli to go. "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."
We finally arrived home well after dark, totally exhausted and with hurting feet. Then the next day we did it all over again!