Although I am not an agent of Avanti travel, I was asked to write about my adventures in Rome over a four day experience. My husband and I, along with One of my best friends from childhood and her husband all had a four day weekend, so we decided to do something other than stay home and be bored. So, we went to Rome, Italy! We flew from San Francisco to Philidelphia, then on to Rome, Italy. The flight was not terrible as we enjoyed envoy class on board U.S. Airways. Once we arrived in Rome, we were escorted by shuttle to our hotel, the Anglo Americano. This was one of the budget friendly hotels in the area, but still walking distance from everything worth seeing. The four of us shared a room, but when we walked inside the room we were quite surprised to see not two beds, but four single beds! Quite entertaining! So we put down our luggage and decided to start our exploring.
We found ourselves at the Collesseum almost every day, along with the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We had seen the Pantheon and many piazza's along the way. The scenary was incredible everywhere we walked. The buildings carry so much history and beauty, that we could not stop looking for new and exciting roads to travel every day.
We did decide to take the tour of the inside of the Colleseum, which is very worth the money. The building on it's own carries so much information and history! It truly is a remarkable structure. We ventured through the Roman Forum, where the ruins of the "beating heart of Rome" remain. In the very heart of the forum we discovered a heap of dirt with flowers covering it, come to find out, it is the grave of Julius Caesar. The Pantheon was another adventure as it is still a living and Holy Basilica...if you do not know what that means, it is still an active church with full services.
The Vatican was a whole day adventure. We did pay for a tour here, which I highly recommend! The tour allowed us to not only bypass the 5 hour line to get into the Vatican City, but also offered full commentary about what we had seen. We saw the tapestries that were designed by Davinci, and sculptures in the courtyard designed by Michaelangelo, but the most impressive of all would definately be the Sistine Chapel! My husband was not as impressed as I, and I do agree that it is not everyone's cup of tea, but the intricate designs and gold leaf work that had gone into creating such a masterpiece is quite stunning. Be careful when you go in here though as it is the only place that absolutely NO photography is allowed! Yes, it is still under copywright laws and owned by those that clean the ceiling every 25 years. Don't worry though, there are many opportunities in town to purchase post cards which capture the true essence of the chapel much better than any photographer could do with the many people inside.
Overall, Rome was an adventure! A four day whirlwind adventure that was very cold and wet in November, but still so much fun! The food and coffee were wonderful! The locals were very nice! And the sights just speak for themselves! If you are looking for a fun four day adventure, I highly recommend Rome, just don't go for only four days if you are not planning on walking a lot and pushing through the jet lag!!! **Jenae**
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
CRUISING EUROPE
We set sail from beautiful Barcelona Spain, on a very fast 7 day cruise through Italy,France and Spain. The Norwegian Gem was our luxurious home away from home, this is a new ship in the Norwegian Cruise line fleet and it has many great features, one being the dinning anytime anywhere. The choice of restaurants was amazing from Chinese to Italian to a Steak House to rival any Ruth Chris, however be aware that some of these restaurants have a cover charge from $15 to $25 a person,but well worth it. Traditional dinning is still available in two dinning rooms and of course the deckside barbecue and buffet, and if that is not enough how about room service.
The itinerey was one day at sea and then a port every day.First stop Malta,this beautiful island is just full of history and we had a lovely day wandering through side streets,stopping at street cafes for expresso and just taking in the unbelieveable architecture.
Day three found us docked in Civitecchia Italy, the port for Rome which actually was about one and a half hours away. We headed to Rome on a motor caoch and was dropped in the center of Rome by the colosseum, from here we went alone. First we took a tour into the colosseum which again was such a terrific experience. When we came out we found a hop on hop off bus tour, perfect to see everything in a day, this was reasonable and we were supplied with plug in headsets so we could listen to the narration in english. We saw everything, the vatican the spanish steps, the Trevi fountain and so much more, another full exhausting day.It is really hard to put Rome into just a few sentences, but this was a very wonderful experience
Day four found us docked in Naples, we chose to do a full day and I mean full day tour here, although we are very experienced travellers we felt a tour would best utilize our time,so her we were at the dock at 7am taking a jet foil to to Capri, a beautiful port with colorful buildings. From here we went on a funiculor railway, where the views were unbelieveable. We walked through the narrow streets and gazed in the fabulous shops. Then came another boat ride and a bus ride to the hills above Sorrento a quick lunch stop for what else pasta and wine! and time to explore the small stoned streets of Sorrento . They say the best is always last, and in this case it is very true, we went by motorcoach to Pompeii. this was without a doubt a memorable experience, Pompeii is so well preserved you can see many fine details that reveal the lifestyles of the residents all those years ago. After many hours of walking we headed back to the motorcoach and the ship, where room service now sounded very very good!
Day fuve found us docked in Livorno Italy, the gateway for Tuscany,Florence and Pisa. Here we decide to take the motorcoach into Florence again about one hour from the port. Florence is a fascinating city full of museums, architecture and beautiful gothic churches. we wandered the streets taking all the surroundings in , the famous Ponte Vecchio,Piazza Del Duomoo and the Plazza del Campo. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant again pasta and wine! This day was about 9 1/2 hours, another exhausting but fabulous day.
Day six found is Villefranche France, the port for Nice, from here you can take tours to Monaco, Monte Carlo and Nice. We had been here before so decided to take the local train to Nice, and do this port on our own , we walked through the town and down onto the world famous Promenade de Anglais. stopping at side walk cafes and enjoying the french riviera, we took the train back and headed for the last nights festivities abord the ship.
Arriving back in Barcelona we had booked an extra night, hearing that this was such a fascinating city we decided to check it out. we stayed downtown in the heart of the city, and again decided on the hop on hop off sight seeing bus, we travelled all day this way enjoying everything Barcelona had to offer from the castilian architechture to the sight of the Barcelona Olympic Games. a great way to end this whirl wind european vacation.
Prior to the cruise we did spend 9 days in England and Wales my home. I recommend taking some extra days and visiting England either prior or after the cruise, if you spend so much on air fare a few days more are well worth it. we can customise any itinerery to suit all tastes and budgets.
The itinerey was one day at sea and then a port every day.First stop Malta,this beautiful island is just full of history and we had a lovely day wandering through side streets,stopping at street cafes for expresso and just taking in the unbelieveable architecture.
Day three found us docked in Civitecchia Italy, the port for Rome which actually was about one and a half hours away. We headed to Rome on a motor caoch and was dropped in the center of Rome by the colosseum, from here we went alone. First we took a tour into the colosseum which again was such a terrific experience. When we came out we found a hop on hop off bus tour, perfect to see everything in a day, this was reasonable and we were supplied with plug in headsets so we could listen to the narration in english. We saw everything, the vatican the spanish steps, the Trevi fountain and so much more, another full exhausting day.It is really hard to put Rome into just a few sentences, but this was a very wonderful experience
Day four found us docked in Naples, we chose to do a full day and I mean full day tour here, although we are very experienced travellers we felt a tour would best utilize our time,so her we were at the dock at 7am taking a jet foil to to Capri, a beautiful port with colorful buildings. From here we went on a funiculor railway, where the views were unbelieveable. We walked through the narrow streets and gazed in the fabulous shops. Then came another boat ride and a bus ride to the hills above Sorrento a quick lunch stop for what else pasta and wine! and time to explore the small stoned streets of Sorrento . They say the best is always last, and in this case it is very true, we went by motorcoach to Pompeii. this was without a doubt a memorable experience, Pompeii is so well preserved you can see many fine details that reveal the lifestyles of the residents all those years ago. After many hours of walking we headed back to the motorcoach and the ship, where room service now sounded very very good!
Day fuve found us docked in Livorno Italy, the gateway for Tuscany,Florence and Pisa. Here we decide to take the motorcoach into Florence again about one hour from the port. Florence is a fascinating city full of museums, architecture and beautiful gothic churches. we wandered the streets taking all the surroundings in , the famous Ponte Vecchio,Piazza Del Duomoo and the Plazza del Campo. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant again pasta and wine! This day was about 9 1/2 hours, another exhausting but fabulous day.
Day six found is Villefranche France, the port for Nice, from here you can take tours to Monaco, Monte Carlo and Nice. We had been here before so decided to take the local train to Nice, and do this port on our own , we walked through the town and down onto the world famous Promenade de Anglais. stopping at side walk cafes and enjoying the french riviera, we took the train back and headed for the last nights festivities abord the ship.
Arriving back in Barcelona we had booked an extra night, hearing that this was such a fascinating city we decided to check it out. we stayed downtown in the heart of the city, and again decided on the hop on hop off sight seeing bus, we travelled all day this way enjoying everything Barcelona had to offer from the castilian architechture to the sight of the Barcelona Olympic Games. a great way to end this whirl wind european vacation.
Prior to the cruise we did spend 9 days in England and Wales my home. I recommend taking some extra days and visiting England either prior or after the cruise, if you spend so much on air fare a few days more are well worth it. we can customise any itinerery to suit all tastes and budgets.
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