Hattie and Jess Go Walking

Thank you to everyone for checking the blog each day for the past 101 days as we travelled through 16 countries and 4 time zones. We’ve spent 15 nights in dorms, 17 in hostels, 12 camping, 4 in the van, 18 with friends and family, 11 with WWOOF hosts, 1 night on a train, 8 in hotels, 9 in apartments and 4 nights in Agriturismos. And throughout it all, 12 of you have been reading every day without fail. Thank you for keeping me accountable: I know we’ll be grateful in years to come for all the little details that we’d have otherwise forgotten along the way.

From Rome to Dubai to Southern Cross to home, we’ve had a bit of time to reflect on the journey that was. Jess and I have each answered the same questions, without looking at the other’s answers.

Which country was friendliest?
H: Austria. It felt like everyone was in a great mood and living their best lives, which was lovely to witness.
J: Scotland, and always good for a bit of a laugh, especially at you.

Which country was the most unfamiliar?
H: White, ex-communist countries are always particularly perplexing because the people look like us but their minds couldn’t be more different. So, Albania. It felt a generation behind culturally, with that occasional eeriness that comes with the poverty and trauma of the downfall of an entire political and cultural paradigm
J: Albania, I had no idea what to expect.

Which country had the best food?
H: Spain’s food is vibrant, clean and beautifully balanced. It’s hard to go wrong there. But Greece is a close second.
J: Tie between Spain and Greece. Don’t tell Italy. Or France. I don’t think Germany would mind.

Best meal:
H: I would have to say Cafe Frieda in Berlin. The flavour profiles of every dish were executed to perfection.
J: Tie between Sabine’s Berlin restaurant, fancy Mexican in Madrid, and the agrotourism restaurant in Italy.

Which country had the worst food?
H: Albania, partly because no one knew what gluten was, but also because it was quite a cured-meat-and-dry-biscuits sort of place.
J: Albania probably takes the cake, certainly for worst meal (Berat).

Worst meal:
H: The mystery meat in mystery batter in Berat.
J: Ditto. I also didn’t really need to eat Sweetbreads in Spain. I thought they meant corn bread…

Favourite individual leg of the trip?
H: day 9 of the horse trek: my horse boy had sorted himself out and we did lots of long canters through beautiful mountainside forests.
J: Our week WWOOFing in Germany. It was my first time, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into, but our hosts were awesome, we learnt a HEAP and it was admittedly a nice break from bouncing between cities every few days.

Worst individual leg of the trip?
H: Probably Kotor to Beograd: passive smoking for 16 hours, getting bus sick and stopping at every alpine village in Serbia was a pretty rough trot.
J: Getting from Kotor to Budapest was comical.

Funniest moment of the trip?
H: Andrea explaining to Simone in Italian that, if attacked by predators, quokkas will throw their young at the predator to save themselves: all we heard was ‘predatore… gettare… bambini’
J: The Italian security guard at the Pantheon in Rome asking Hils if she was young enough (<25) for a free ticket, and not asking me. He asked me if she was young enough, whilst pointing to her. Not entirely sure what that says about me.

Least fun moment of the trip?
H: getting kicked by a horse twice, with no warning whatsoever, and many many many kilometres of walking and riding to go.
J: Very rude behaviour from the main guide of our horse trek at the conclusion of the trek.

Favourite quote from the trip:
H: Andrea: ‘Aperol Spritz tastes like they took the concept of an orange, ruined it and then put it in a bottle’
J: ‘Slay La Vie’, Emily Jean Rutherford.

Is there anything you regret doing on this trip?
H: No.
J: Buying the cheapest gin at Carrefour in Madrid.

What do you most regret not doing?
H: Just having another month or two to spend in each country.
J: WWOOFing more and for longer! But I wouldn’t have traded anything out, so it’s a pickle.

Hottest moment of the trip:
H: well, the hottest and driest was the first day of the horse trek because we didn’t realise how infrequent water refill stops would be. I was so thirsty by the end of the day that I would have tried to pour buckets of water into my face if I had them
J: Not the Isle of Skye.

Coldest moment of the trip:
H: the first night in the van in Scotland: I didn’t have my bedding arrangement figured out yet and felt like my legs were going to freeze off.
J: Not Cordoba or the first few days of the horse trek.

Grossest moment of the trip:
H: The Manchester Incident.
J: Hils waving down a hopeful hitchhiker in Manchester with the projectile emptying of her stomach.

Nicest moment of the trip:
H: befriending the Danes and co - there were some very funny delirious dinners in the middle of those Catalonian hills
J: Running late to dinner on the last day with our German WWOOFing hosts and being told that their 2 year old daughter had asked, in Greek, where I was because I should have been sitting next to her. I had not managed to elicit a single word or smile from her for the 6 preceding days.

Worst accomodation of the trip:
H: the Beograd hostel room. It was just a bit grimy.
J: Beograd was definitely the worse bang for buck. Didn’t love the shower-directly-over-toilet concept.

Best accomodation of the trip:
H: Malcolm’s house. The gardens, forests, accent and complimentary dogs didn’t hurt at all.
J: Best accomodation = Malcom + Marco + Torsonce Gardens. Stand out overnight experience = camping by a mountain lake in Andorra at about 2000m with a herd of Moos.

Standout memory:
H: riding to the highest point of the horse trek on the last day, and looking out over whole stretches of landscape that we had traversed.
J: How am I supposed to pick one, Hilary Harrington?

What was/were your key takeaway(s) from this trip?
H: First: European history is so much more complex and spectral than I appreciated. The major historical waves like Romans, Crusades, Celts or Visigoths are just the tip of the iceberg, and the story never finished. Country boundary lines are all so recently drawn, in the scheme of things, so what we see as a country, is generally infinitely more contentious and complex (both linguistically and culturally as a whole) than the unified front of international sport, politics or even film would suggest.

Second: there are a lot of brilliant, passionate, kind and funny people in this world. I think sometimes it’s easy to default to perceiving masses of people as just numbers, but almost everyone that we crossed paths with on this trip was absolutely golden. We’ll really miss many of them, and if even a fraction of the people I pass on the road are like them, then we’re in good hands.

J: It’s all about the people, shared experiences with people. That’s what makes strong, impactful memories, the stuff that really sticks with you. It’s where the stories come from, the nostalgia. Regardless of where you go and what you do, it’ll always be a fuller experience if shared with others, whether they’re a main character (enter Hattie) or a chorus member.

After being rudely woken up by the cleaner (who opened the curtains and turned the lights on - so sad), we commenced our final day with a shared tub of yoghurt and a walk to Villa Borghese, an 80-hectare park to the north of Rome’s centre. As always, we accidentally passed the Spanish Steps for a third time on the way up. We liked these pony tie-up points on the front of Villa Medici.

Villa Borghese was reminiscent of the enormous Parque de El Retiro in Madrid: vast and crispily dry, but full of mature chestnut avenues, fountains, and clearly very much beloved by locals. The whole park was covered: groups of teenagers messing about on go-karts, families riding self-powered tuk-tuks, couples going for bike rides and everything in between.

Jess wanted to go for a paddle on the lake, which turned out to be a great idea. In addition to seeing Aesculapius in his temple, we also got to say hello to geese, sunbaking turtles, and at least 5 people who were rowing their boats backwards with full conviction.

One of the perks of having millennial WWOOF hosts is that they know where the Fitzroy of Rome is. So, thanks to Andrea and Simone, we headed to Trastevere for a lovely last supper. Crossing our tracks several more times, we rolled right through the middle of Rione IV Campo Marzio and Colonna, Rione IX Pigna and over Tiber River.

Trastevere looks like it’s rewinding, in the best possible way. Every second building has become a vertical jungle, and every other wall seems to have some sort of guerrilla art on it. Vases of dried roses, paintings and words were dotted all over this thriving corner of the city, which also seemed to have endless cosy cafes and shops to explore.

We tried to eat as many vegetables as possible, knowing that this would be our last real meal until Saturday. We did pretty well, but this saffron-infused citrus drink was too intriguing not to try.

Walking across Isola Tiberna, we said hello to yet another gorgeous little piazza,

marvelled at some ancient ruins near Teatro di Marcello,

smiled at the chunky Roman horse statue in Piazza del Campidoglio that looked just like the ponies at our agriturismo,

accidentally passed the Forum once more,

and finished with a second visit to our favourite gelateria. Jess got the lemon and basil flavour again. I got cioccolato, nocciola and fragola. The best way to end the best honeymoon ever.

Thanks to Jess’ ability to forward-plan enough to actually book things, we had 8am tickets to visit the Vatican. Rome is still asleep at 7:30 on a Wednesday morning, which meant that we could still arrive on time, despite running late and having a little wild goose chase to find a second e-bike.

The line to get into the Vatican was enormous. 20,000 people visit each day, which really is quite the crowd. The stairs to enter the museum were decorated with indigenous articles from around the world. Let’s just hope that they were willingly donated.

The next section was Egyptian, morphing into Middle Eastern and then Ancient Greek works. We both felt pretty uneasy about the way that mummified bodies were on display, with no way of affirming their consent to eternal exposure to hoards of people. I really feel like the dozens of layers around mummies are a fairly explicit request for them to be left alone. A nearby tour guide argued that ‘we are keeping [the artefacts] safe’ which sounds innocent enough, except that if it weren’t for centuries of Western pillaging and oppression, most of the homelands of these pieces would be more intact to this day.

On the other hand, it was incredible to see Syrian and Palestinian pottery from up to 10,000 years ago - that is, since the dawn of agriculture. Examples of early texts (plus a Crusades cross?!) carved into stone demonstrate how clearly structured the written word was, even in those comparatively early days.

As always, the art involving animals was excellent (there were “stacks” of it) (sorry)

Jess was a fan of the giant baths, this early globe and the spiral staircase

We had thought about trying to enter the biggest cathedral in the world, but because the Pope addresses the crowd on Wednesdays, the queue to get in was wrapping around the whole of Piazza San Pietro. We decided to just exclaim ‘wow big church’ from the outside, and be done with it.

Across the river, we intentionally walked to the Pantheon, this time. We’ve accidentally walked past the Pantheon, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountaun twice each - when in Rome?

Jess has a running joke that I (33) look younger than her (26) because people always check my ID when I buy alcohol, but she is never carded. To confirm this, the Pantheon ticket vendor asked us if either of us were under 25, and stared at me whilst he said it. Maybe he thought she was my mother.

The Pantheon is as wonderful as I remember. The current temple was built in the second century AD to worship Roman deities, although it was been affiliated to Catholicism since the 7th century. As such, it has been in continuous use for nearly 2,000 years - making it the oldest functioning building in the world. Notably, it has never required reinforcement. So when the Colosseum fell into disrepair, its iron reinforcement was looted, making it vulnerable to collapse, when the next earthquake inevitably occurs (thus why it collapsed). The Pantheon’s sound design is therefore integral to its longevity, in multiple senses.

The dome is built such that a perfect sphere 44.4x44.4m (makes more sense in Roman feet) can fit inside it. The base levels of the building are incredibly thick and dense, whilst the highest point is relatively thin, and made of pumice. I think it’s incredible that they could build a dome without a keystone, two thousand years ago - or even today.

Exhausted from the crowds and heat, we shared a burrata on lettuce and tomatoes and hid away at the hostel for an afternoon siesta.

Thanks to Meg Glass’ recommendations and Rob and Ana’s honeymoon gift of a nice dinner, our final night in Rome was date night, at CiPASSO. We went all out and got a beautiful bottle of natural sparkling wine from Lazio, followed by chef-made burrata and scallops for entrees, fig pasta and fish for mains, and a chocolate situation and panna cotta for dessert (but you need to know - the tiny meringue on top of the stewed apricot, pistachios and panna cotta was thyme flavoured. Phenomenal.)

Too full for dessert, we’ve come back to the hostel for a final shower before the long trek home. (We’re coming, Rosie and Rory!)

We had our final all-Italian breakfast on the farm, kissed the nice grey stallion goodbye and got on the road to Rome. Today was further evidence that road rules are somewhat optional in Italy - cutting the corner so much that you’re driving on the wrong side of the road is commonplace, use of indicators is optional (or why not use the opposite indicator to spice things up?) and if the speed limit is 30, 90 is probably a good pace.

We grabbed a quick bite whilst waiting for our room to be ready: Jess got a vegetarian version of a carbonara, which looked pretty tasty. I got a baked cheese situation, because we aren’t getting enough dairy in the land of endless gelato. Our 6th dorm room of the trip revealed the pleasant surprise of having its own ensuite. This is incredibly thrilling. We are also sharing the room with two lovely French girls (travelling separately) so it’s a nice way to finish the trip.

We are staying quite close to Trevi, so our first port of call was to go and say hello to the fountain. I hadn’t remembered it being in as much of an amphitheatre as it is - nor did I recall the amount of detail put into making the fountain’s rocks look like they are merging into the building behind it.

We then headed to the Colosseum, where I learned that the viewing platform was unfamiliar to me because it was only built in the year 2000. I last came in 1999. Jess says this means I am older than part of the Colosseum. Should I just leave her here?

We did find the best gelateria in Rome on our first shot, though: Gelateria dell’Angeletto is a little tiny shop down a side street, that has completely natural, perfectly balanced flavours like basil and lemon, and the best frutti di bosco on earth. There was also free frizzante water on tap outside the Colosseum, so I forgot to be annoyed at Jess quite quickly.

Mum, Jess, Gramps and I spent several Monday nights last year doing a jigsaw puzzle of the Roman Forum. We were very keen to find the exact point from which the jigsaw photo was taken, so we headed in. The problem was that there are security checks for the Forum now (but not the Colosseum???) so I skulled 1.5L of frizzante very quickly. As a result, we spent an hour walking around the Forum hiccupping raucously and scaring all the other tourists. This gull didn’t mind.

Finding the spot (not bad, no?), I then had my first scooter experience, to get up to the Spanish Steps (which really have nothing to do with Spain). My newfound obsession in Rome is the little tiny smart cars. They are so small that they can fit sideways in a normal parking bay. They are as long as normal cars are wide. And there are even Police smart cars.

Enjoying the people-watching, we meandered through some residential areas, where my other new favourite thing revealed itself: super old front doors. Imagine these being your door. The Pantheon was also on our path, but we’ll return back to that on another day.

We had burrata, tomatoes and lettuce for dinner, which is a feast that we will be recreating for days and years to come. Tomorrow is our Vatican City day, so we’ll be saying hello to a certain chapel, and the biggest cathedral in the world. Buona notte!

We spent the morning of reading by the pool, talking to Mr Stallion and laughing at Mango the dog for her persistence in asking the kittens to come down from the hay stack.

We headed to Sapore di Mare near Massacci-Scalette-montecalvo di Sotto for lunch, which was a very local affair: the type of place where the waiter chops up the food for the elderly solo guests to make sure they’re safe. She had less English than we did Italian, but we got by just fine.

I got a radicchio and Gorgonzola risotto and it was superb. Our Catalonian cream (a softer version of a crème brûlée) was super fiery! The risottos were €9, the desserts €3.

Another storm rolled in in the afternoon, with a solid two hours of rain and continuous (truly) thunder rolling over us. All we could do was nap.

It’s a full moon tonight, but still overcast from the rain, so the whole sky is just glowing. We walked up the local road at dusk to stretch our legs, until there was a rustle in the forest and I started wondering what one DOES do when confronted by a wolf.

Tomorrow is our last stop: three days in Rome!