Drink: Day 20 of the 30 Days of Indie Travel Project
During this entire month of November Bootsnall is inviting bloggers from around the world to participate in 30 Days of Indie Travel : a daily blogging effort to look back on our past travel experiences. It appears I take time to think about a subject and so again I am behind. Bootsnall asked us to write about a signature drink or memorable beverage in our favorite place. For me Rome is not about the Martini or Campari….it’s all about the water!
Acqua Pura: Rome on Tap
La Barcaccia, Piazza di Spagna
Rome in late summer can have days so stiflingly and oppressively hot you can think of nothing else but the record-high air temperature closing in around you. Everywhere people are in a fever-induced trance, like melting zombies repeating the same phrases to whomever is within earshot: “Fa caldo!” “E’ caldo come un forno!” (It’s as hot as an oven!). With dead eyes we respond only with a weak, “Si, si”.
I find a small piece of shade near a piazza and sit down on the curb to rest for a minute. The undulating refraction of air rising from the burning pavement creates a mirage and when I stare at the spot long enough I think I see a figure of the devil forming above a manhole. Hallucination, I believe, is the first symptom of heat stroke. The soles of my shoes are melting, the mosquitoes that have been gnawing at my ankles have left large red welts on my skin and I’m so dehydrated that my mouth feels filled with cotton balls. Then, not too far in the distance I see it…a drinking fountain! If I weren’t so faint from the heat and humidity, I would run toward it like a nomad to an oasis in the Sahara.
Contrary to popular belief, archaeologists believe the technology for moving water into and round a city originally came from the east; however Romans are unquestionably credited with perfecting the process with the invention of the aqueduct. This brilliant engineering feat goes unmatched in the ancient world and earned Rome the distinction of having the most available, purest, best-tasting water on the planet. You’ll find Nasone (big nose) fountains scattered throughout the Eternal City (there are about 280 inside its walls alone). On a scorching-hot day like this one, all you need to do is simply bend over, stick out your tongue and take a long, cool drink from its glassy stream. L’Acqua di Roma: Liquid of the Gods!
[...] indie travelers enjoy sampling the local drinks – whether that means cooling down with Rome’s Liquid of the Gods, trying rice wine in Vietnam, of making friends with a Cava-toting stranger on a Spanish [...]