Sunday Nov 26
Went to breakfast in Anguillara around 9:30a, then Lucia dropped us off at the train station and we went back to the city center and dropped our stuff off at the hotel. We took a bus down to our lunch spot, Felice a Testaccio. Testaccio is a neighborhood a bit to the south of the city center.

Then we walked to the Baths of Caracalla.

These were public baths built in 212-217 by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. By 530, they had fallen into disuse. The scale of this is truly monumental.

The masonry walls are several meters thick, and probably 10 stories tall. The grounds are absolutely massive, and even the interior bathing areas are enormous.

This was, surprisingly to me, an impressive site. I had wondered if it would be worth it, but it was.

From there we walked a touch north to the Circus Maximus. This is an ancient site, dating to the time of the Roman republic, which started in 509 BC. There’s not any architectural remains there because the stands at that time were built of wood and no longer remain. But you can imagine what it must have been like to have the place lined with people.

Just north of that is a round stone with a face carved into it called the mouth of truth. The legend is that if you put your hand into the opening, and you were untruthful, it would bite your hand off.

Then we walked across the street to see the temple of the conquering Hercules (143-132 BC)

and another small temple of Portunus, originally built in the 3rd or 4th century BC, but rebuilt around 120-80 BC.

A short walk away is the oldest remaining bridge across the Tiber river, the Ponte Fabricio, built in 62 BC.

We then went for dinner. On the way over passed some ancient ruins… ya know… everyday stuff.

Tonnarello, our dinner spot, was highly recommended, and there was a huge line outside, usually a good sign.

It was probably the worst place we ate the entire trip. There was a confusing waiting line system that had us line up according to group size: 2 person groups in one line, and a second line with 3, 4, and 5, and third post with larger groups. 50 minutes later, we got in where the food just didn’t happen to be all that great. I got a sliced steak that was 30% inedible. Shell’s chicken was largely inedible, and whatever my son got wasn’t that great either. Service was slow, which is kind of to be expected, but yeah… not a great experience.