Rome Day 6

18th Dec 2009

The day that I dreaded yet am looking forward to has finally arrives. We have booked a car from Europcar for the promotion that it offered to easyjet's passengers. I have pre-booked a Peugeot 308 SW and has already started to imagine how it would felt to operate one especially on a left driver seated car. One thing left me perplexed is that IF I were to rent the car for a day, it will costs me more compared to renting it for 3 days... unbelievable? Believe it! IT only costs me €75.43 plus administration cost of €3.

The view of Villa Borghese in the morn reminded me
how blessed I am to be able to behold such beauty

The car rental office that we chose is right on top of the Cinecitta Metro on the via Tuscolana but take note that the car is NOT located in the rental office but at another location which I have no idea where it is. Thank God that instead of a Peugeuot 308, they gave me a hatchback BMW E81 instead and boy, it was great to drive that car! To make it more adventurous, we didn't even rented a GPS! So its pretty much up to our sense of direction. God knows where we'll end up in but that doesn't really made us scrape the plan... we just go along... and along... and along... After what seemed to me like thousands of signing and chicken-and-duck talk with the local people found on the gas stations, groceries and what-not to point us to the right direction, we finally made it to our first stop, Castel Gandolfo!

The steering wheel of the hatchback BMW E81

My beautiful wife beside our rented BMW E81

Castel Gandolfo is situated on the southern part of Rome and where the Pope himself having his summer vacation here in his summer villa beside the lake Albano. The place is truly a beauty to behold and no wonder the Pope likes it here... and we managed to stumble upon a gem of a hotel and have a meal there although I have already pre-packed two sandwiches and a big flask of hot chocolate. The name of the hotel is Antico Hotel Lucia Pagnanelli and the restaurant of Ristorante as they would say in Italian is called Ristorante Pagnanelli.

The view of the entrance of the Villa Pontifica di Castel Gandolfo

The view along via Palazzo Pontificio

Initially we only intended to order a cup of espresso so that we could use their rest room but upon entering the restaurant and having a first hand experience of the terrific view over-looking the lake Albano from the balcony, we decided to order a plate of gnocchi in white truffle oil and enjoy the setting instead. There are service charges for having your meal in the restaurant itself (As do other restaurants/cafes) and they serve us some of the best bread we had in our lives! Freshly baked with great golden crust and generous filling of olives and walnuts... it makes the bread too good to be the appetizers! On request with no additional charges, we got a big serving of some local butter and it was oh-so-heavenly. I think we spent around 1+ hour just enjoying ourselves there... MUST TRY! The location? Its at Via Gramsci 4 or you can just click here to get more detail.

Lake Albano view from the balcony of Ristorante Pagnanelli

The cozy setting of Ristorante Pagnanelli

Menu on the table

Freshly baked Olive+walnut bread. Awesome stuff!

Gnocchi with white truffle oil

All the butter that you can eat... FOC!

Our next location is Arricia, a small town 10 minutes away from Castel Gandolfo (If you get your direction correct...we did, yay!). The reason that made me keen on visiting this town is the church of Assunta and the beautiful bridge, Ponte di Arricia that you will chance upon prior to entering the town. We hang around this area by walking around the small town until dusk and quickly make our way to our next destination, which is another 15 minutes away, Nemi.

The abundance of road signs can either help you find your way
or walk against you by confusing you and keeping your eyes
away from the traffic... yaiks!

Ponte di Arricia. You can see the dome of the church of Assunta
on the right-hand side of the photo.

The gate to Arricia via Ponte di Arricia

The church of Assunta by Bernini

Some of the beautiful common house
that you will find all around Arricia

The view of Arricia from the Ponte di Arricia during sunset

My beautiful wife and the beautiful Arricia sunset.

This little town is situated along a cliff over looking lake Nemi. I wonder how magnificent it will be during day time? Nemi is famous for its wild strawberries, which are smaller and sweeter than commercially grown varieties. Nemi's strawberries are grown on the sides of the volcanic crater, which creates a microclimate that retains the warmth of the sun and provides a wind shield. Nemi conducts an annual festival of strawberries (Source: Wikipedia).

The breath-taking view of Nemi

The local products. Nemi strawberries are popular throughout Italy

What better way to get to know a place
then to stroll around and taking in the sights
each step you take

My wife and I strolled along this serene village and enjoying the peaceful environment. There is one hotel here that I would like to stay on my next trip (I have no idea when, but I would like to do it still) back here. The name of the hotel is Piccolo Hotel and the price per room is pretty affordable (€50-80 per night incl. breakfast) and it looked way better than decent.

The dining area of Piccolo Hotel

Bar counter of Piccolo Hotel

Dining al fresco here must be a real treat!
This place is usually beaming with tourist.
It is winter when I visited, so no tourist
but it also meant no al fresco either. :(

I mentioned that I booked the car for three days right? There is one problem, no free parking!!! OK OK, there are parking near my hotel but it will costs me €25-30 per night! So 2 nights = €50-60!! I decided that it is too expensive to park the car so instead, return the car that day itself. But overall, €75 for a day of fun and adventure, it is truly worth it! Do consider doing this as you will see more on the true charm of Italy.

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