Rome Travel 08: Rome Again, Everything I Ate in Italy, and Home via Taipei

After the hard blue skies of Sharm El Sheikh, Rome was still grey. Raindrops beaded on the window.

In part 7 I escaped Rome's rain to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. This is the last part.

This last part holds three things: my final night in Rome, a round-up of everything I ate in Italy, and the trip home via Taipei. At the very end, a few moments from the 19 days that stayed with me.

The route in this post

Date	Where	In a line
Apr 18, evening	Egypt → Roma Termini → near the Spanish Steps	Rain on the window, the Column of the Immaculate Conception, LE RÊVE DE NAIM
Apr 19, morning	Termini → past the Colosseum → Rome airport	T.A.M. bus, burrata pizza, China Airlines CI 76
Apr 20	Taipei → Taoyuan Airport → Incheon	Wonton noodles at 三味香, a sea of scooters, home
(Round-up)	Milan · Venice · Florence · the south · Rome	Everything I ate in Italy

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Back in Rome, starting with raindrops

On the afternoon of April 18, back from Egypt, I was heading into Rome again. Raindrops beaded on the window and the overhead wires rolled past. The day before, I'd been under the Red Sea's blue sky.

I reached the platform at Termini at 6:04 p.m. I'd been staying in Rome before the Egypt detour, so this was my second time arriving. The station name was a welcome sight.

By dusk the rain near Termini had stopped and only the sky was still blue. As the street lamps came on, the wet stone floor under a long run of arches caught the yellow light. Rome after rain was even prettier.

Near the Spanish Steps, a last Roman night

My last Roman night of the trip was spent near the Spanish Steps. Under its floodlights, the Column of the Immaculate Conception glowed white right down to the statues at its base, every detail clear.

I ended the day nearby at LE RÊVE DE NAIM, a bar with bare wooden beams overhead and two long rows of bottles.

A stone board came out with breads in three alternating spreads: white, black and purple. I have no record of what was on them.

At 7:21 the next morning, near Termini, I took a photo of a T.A.M. bus. It was the day I left Rome.

Then the Colosseum went past the window of the car. The rain had stopped, and the morning sky was blue.

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Everything I ate in Italy

Before leaving Rome, I wanted to gather everything I ate in Italy in one place. Here is everything from April 9 to 19, in city order. Milan was beer snacks by the canal, Venice was squid ink and seafood, Florence was café desserts and meat, the south was lemons. Each city had its own colour on the plate.

Milan: a first evening by the canal

The first city, Milan, starts with an evening table on the Naviglio canal: six wedges of grilled flatbread arranged in a circle in front of a bottle of Amarcord beer, charred in spots and topped with shellfish, mayonnaise and a dusting of red powder.

Venice: pizza by the slice, squid ink, cannoli

Venice begins on the afternoon of April 10 with paper printed with the FARINI logo: a crust charred black at the edges, cheese browned on top, dark leafy greens and cherry tomatoes. A slice made for eating as you walk.

The blackest thing in my Venice food photos is squid ink pasta: thick noodles speckled with ink, pieces of squid stained by the sauce underneath. Served on a wide white plate, the black stands out even more. On top, parsley and a few pink sprouts.

Back in Venice that evening, I stopped in front of a handwritten CANNOLI sign. As promised by FRAGOLA and CIOCCOLATO, the cannoli were bursting with pink and chocolate cream and studded with chocolate chips, with cream-filled pastry tubes stacked beside them.

On the morning I left Venice, Rosticceria GISLON served a scallop in its shell: golden seared meat sitting in a green sauce still pocked with bubbles, the orange part left intact. Beside it, a glass of an orange drink.

The leaving-day seafood pasta is the most loaded plate of my two Venice days: a big prawn perched on top of the spaghetti, squid rings and mussels poking out from the noodles, and a single dark green leaf to finish.

Milan again: the asterisk on the menu

Back in Milan, I ordered the GRIGLIATA DI PESCE from a menu near the Duomo: €48.00 for two (on that menu at the time), listing swordfish, salmon, scampi and squid. The thing to notice is the asterisk next to the name. The edge of the menu also carried a "frozen product" note, so I read it as meaning frozen ingredients. If you're eating at a restaurant right on a main square, that asterisk is worth looking for.

Florence, the south, and Rome the night before Egypt

In Florence there was Caffè Gilli's yellow drink and cocoa cream dessert, and DALL'OSTE's steak, dark outside and pink inside. In Pompeii, tomato spaghetti and fried squid and prawns outside the ruins. In Positano, a dessert served in a real lemon. Those plates, with photos, are all in part 6.

Dinner in Rome before flying to Egypt: thick pasta served in the pan, a steak with rocket, and a basket of fried bites. Night flight or not, I had a proper dinner.

The last slice: burrata at the airport

On April 19, at Rome's airport on my way out of Italy, my last pick was pizza topped with two pieces of burrata, with halved cherry tomatoes crowded over the sauce. Cheese to the very end.

I travelled through several countries, but for food, and above all cheese, nowhere came close to Italy.

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Going home: Rome to Taipei

The gate screen read China Airlines CI 76 to Taipei, departing 11:30. The way home went through Taiwan.

Right after take-off, the coastline off Rome stretched out under the wing. It was my last look at the Mediterranean I had first seen in Nice.

The bowl that closed the trip: wonton noodles

On the morning of April 20 I stopped at 三味香, a small noodle shop in central Taipei. The walls were plastered with photos of customers, newspaper clippings and a poster for a new chilli-oil dan dan noodle. I had wonton noodles in clear broth with thin noodles, bok choy and spring onion, plus a dumpling on the side.

On the spoon, the wonton skins were so thin you could see the prawn inside. After more than two weeks of bread and pasta in Europe, the clear broth was welcome. The last bowl of the trip was neither Italian nor Egyptian, but wonton noodles.

Outside, dozens of scooters were waiting at a rain-slicked intersection. My photos put me back at Taoyuan Airport that afternoon and in Incheon by evening.

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Closing the 19 days

To end, here are the moments from the 19 days that stayed with me.

The first souvenir was a KitKat wrapper. The KitKat I got on the plane said "#mybreak". I got it on my way out, right after quitting my job.

The view just before landing in Dubai. Straight orange roads cutting through a black city: the first foreign lights I looked down on this trip. It was also my first time flying Emirates, and I liked it a lot.

Max in Bournemouth. I went back to the house where I'd done a homestay in 2019, four years later, and when I count the photos from that house, Max the dog wins by a mile. The English I use today started in that house, which is why Bournemouth is a second hometown for my heart, and I still keep in touch with my host family.

A huge grin in front of Big Ben, at 4:17 p.m. I love the UK, and in front of Big Ben I grinned like this.

Peixes in Nice, three times. All three evenings in Nice ended at the same restaurant. A plate scattered with pomegranate seeds and finely chopped vegetables on a fish-painted dish stands in for all three. On the first day I went back to the same pebble beach three times, and the Promenade du Paillon's mirror pool I passed in between reflected the sky. Nice had the best weather of the trip, and someday I want to go back just to swim in that sea.

Four people sitting on the water's edge in Venice. The first thing I photographed in Venice wasn't a gondola but four people sitting side by side by the water. Over the next two days I spent a lot of time sitting the same way, looking out at the Grand Canal.

A Guinness on Piazzale Michelangelo. A bottle of Irish beer, looking down on Florence after sunset.

The visa sign at Sharm El Sheikh airport. A sheet taped to a pillar listed the visa fee: 25 dollars. I'd flown there to escape the rain with zero preparation and didn't even know I'd have to pay a visa fee on arrival.

A yellow parachute over the Red Sea. The last one is parasailing. I don't have a single shot from the sky, only shots of the yellow canopy taken from the boat below.

So, which place was the best?

Italy. No contest.

The Milan canals, the Venetian waterside, Florence under four skies, rain-soaked Pompeii and Positano, and Rome, twice. Even with all that rain, it was wonderful. Above all, no other country came anywhere near it for food and cheese. I definitely want to go back to Italy.

Nineteen days, with a plane ticket bought on the day, right after quitting, now written up in eight parts. The "#mybreak" on that KitKat wrapper turned out to be exactly right.

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Visiting info

📍 Column of the Immaculate Conception · Piazza Mignanelli, Rome (by the Spanish Steps)

• 🌙 Best time: after the night lighting comes on, when even the statues at the base glow white.
• 🍸 LE RÊVE DE NAIM: a bar nearby. Google Maps
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Rome Fiumicino Airport, Terminal 1 → Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

• ✈️ My flight: China Airlines CI 76, departing 11:30 (as of April 2023)
• 🍕 Last meal at the airport: a slice of burrata pizza
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 三味香麵店 · central Taipei

• 🥟 What I had: wonton noodles and a dumpling
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

How to get lost a little less

• 🧳 If you do side trips or a neighbouring country from Rome, keep your last night in Rome. Even coming back from Egypt, I could head straight to the airport the next morning.
• ⭐ At restaurants on the main squares, look for asterisks on the menu. They can mean frozen ingredients.
• 🍕 In Venice, food you carry can be a whole meal. Pizza by the slice, cannoli.
• 🛂 If you leave the airport on a layover, check entry rules, luggage storage and the airport rail timetable before you fly.
• 🛵 Taipei's morning streets are full of scooters. Even after the light changes, look once more before you cross.

Jayden's verdict

I fled the rain, came back to a rainy Rome, and ended with wonton noodles. Still, the best country was Italy. I'd go back for the cheese alone.

• Highlight: the last night in Rome after the rain, and everything I ate in Italy from Milan to Rome's airport. Nothing comes close for food and cheese.
• Would I go back?: Yes. I'm definitely going back to Italy.
• Tip: if you're making a side trip from Rome, keep your last night in Rome. On a Taipei layover, a bowl of wonton noodles in clear broth is a good way to end a trip.

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19 Days After Quitting series

1. The UK, part 1: via Dubai, back to my Bournemouth homestay
2. The UK, part 2: a day in London, from Big Ben to a Soho pub
3. France: Nice and Saint-Paul-de-Vence
4. Italy, part 1: Milan's Duomo and San Siro
5. Italy, part 2: Venice, San Giorgio and Burano
6. Italy, part 3: Florence, Pompeii and Positano
7. Egypt: Escaping the rain to Sharm El Sheikh
8. Rome again: Italian food and the way home (you are here)