Food Tour Part II

The food tour on Monday was more than just the eating, although that was the main thing! Below I've put some more photos that I took while we were walking around. We did have a couple of "digestive" stops so we'd be ready for the next food.

Pizza can be had by the slice, as in this bakery.

Some pastas on display.

Various tortes in the window -- would have loved to try these.

We stopped at this cemetery for a break. It was quite fascinating and a number of famous people are buried here.

This is the Pyramid of Cestius, a small-scale Egyptian-style pyramid built in 30 BC as a tomb and later incorporated into the section of the Aurelian Walls that borders the cemetery. Unfortunately Cestius died poor without finishing his tomb and was dumped into the Tiber.

The grave of John Keats on the left. He didn't want his name on his tombstone, as he didn't think he had accomplished anything. It says "Here lies one whose name is writ in water."

A view of the cemetery, a lovely quiet place

In the large market, we stopped at this meat stall. On the left is tripe (stomach) and next to it are oxtails. Since this area was near the slaughterhouse, the workers were allowed to take home the less-desirable parts and much Italian cuisine developed from the wives cooking them. (Or so she said.)

Many varieties of tomatoes

The slaughterhouse buildings. It covered an enormous area; much of it is now an arts area, with a music school, art galleries, etc.

At the port where all the food was unloaded there is a giant hill. It was the first dump. The pots that the olive oil was shipped in could not be reused, so they were broken into shards and stacked higher and higher. You can see them here through the fence. There are many restaurants surrounding the hill. They use the cool interior of the hill as a wine cellar.

The restaurant we had lunch at was Flavio al Velavevodetto. The story is that the man who started it told his family from a very young age that he wanted to have a restaurant. They laughed at him, as he had no money and didn't know how to cook. But he was determined, and eventually hired a cook (Flavio) and named his restaurant Velavevodetto (I told you so!).