KarenWoo

Thank you so much for continuing with your trip report. I really enjoy other people's trip reports, and we need a break from only reading about the coronavirus. We visited Rome in the 1970's! So it's been a long time since we were there. I hope to include Rome in a trip to either northern Italy and/or southern Italy when we can resume traveling again.

progol

Hi, KarenWoo,
I'm so glad you are enjoying this! I do hope you get to see your family soon - I think of you and the disappointments of not being able to travel this Spring. After canceling 2 trips this season, I'm assuming I'll have to cancel my fall trip to France & Greece! So trip reports may very well be as close to travel as I get for a while, too.

I hope you get to Rome someday! It is a fantastic city and having been there now multiple times, I feel like we've been able to enjoy it without the need to see everything.

More Rome to come!

KarenWoo

Hi Progol,
Thank you for your kind words and compassion. We Facetime with our grandchildren in France, but it's not the same as being there. We were hoping to possibly visit them in October, but now I'm not sure that will even be possible. I read on another post that Maitaitom's flights for September and October to London have been cancelled. So that doesn't give me much hope. And I am so sorry to hear that you may not be able to go to France and Greece, either, this fall. What a disappointment, especially after cancelling 2 trips already. We are supposed to go to a family wedding in Montana in September, but that might not happen either. The bride and groom are considering rescheduling for next September. We were going to spend 2 weeks in Montana, so it will mean a lot of cancelling, again.

progol

KarenWoo, we're getting too much practice canceling trips, I'm afraid! I'm sorry to hear about the family wedding, too - just so many moments in folks' lives are changed. I try to focus on recognizing my own general health and that my husband and I are, as retirees, relatively unaffected, but those moments of gratitude and serenity do fluctuate! Sometimes I just have a good "Waaaaa" as well!!

progol

And now, to Rome again....

We had 6 nights in the city to end our 5-week trip. As we had been to Rome before, we were less wanting to see the "main" sights and we focused on exploring some of the other sights or neighborhoods that we hadn't seen before. I remember someone else on Fodor's referred to a trip as "Fill in the blanks" and this is how we viewed our visit to Rome. And after a long trip, we had less energy for intense sightseeing, so we balanced out museums and churches with lots of wandering around. Our exploration is very eclectic over the next few days..

First up: a trip to one of the grand churches of Rome with its stunning mosaics - Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the great Roman basilicas, located on the Esquiline Hill in Monti. Although a blend of historical styles - Romanesque, Baroque - the mosaics are what has made it so popular. We also were thrilled to discover Bernini's tomb slab, not nearly as dramatic as we would've expected for him!



The exterior doesn't give away the secrets of what's find inside!


The coffered ceiling




The mosaic, the Coronation of the Virgin










Bernini's tomb slab

progol

But a short walk away from Santa Maria Maggiore was the smaller, older yet more intimate church, Santa Prassede, with its 9th century Byzantine mosaics, that really stole our hearts.

Adelaidean

Happy to be following along again, progol. Have never been to Rome and I’m loving your photos.

progol

Adelaidean, I’m so glad you’re following along! I think you would absolutely love Rome. It’s a fantastic city and, after 3 visits, there is so much more I want so see and do.

More to come!

annhig

progol - your photos have brought back more good memories, again of our first trip to Rome when one day we followed the walking tour of Mosaic churches in Rick Steves' Rome guide which takes you to these two plus San Clemente and one more. I think that it was at San Prassede where there was a choir having a rehearsal which was lovely to listen to. The mosaics are so beautiful.

progol

Oh, annhig, hearing a choir rehearsing must’ve been wonderful! I’m thrilled that this is bringing back good memories for you.

We saw several of the churches on our last trip (my TR from then is on this thread, too, but alas, pre-photography Fodors! But we have one more visit to a “mosaic” church before we are done for the day!

I will try to get them up soon.

Rasputin1

Hi Progol
Lovely to read your trip report and see your photographs, especially the Amalfi Coast and Paestum. It was 40+ years when were there. Amalfi was not overrun by tourists and we drove along the coast to Paestum which was merely the temple standinng in the field full of rubble. There was no museum and no hotels to stay. It now looks like some money and effort has been put into making it a tourist destination.
I will be eagerly awaiting your Balkan trip report as we will be doing that, but first to Portugal and then to the Balkans a year later (if restrictions are lifted and we feel it is safe to travel). We have total lock down here in Victoria (Australia) for which we are thankful for and the numbers of new cases decreasing daily as well as the death numbers.

progol

Hi, Rasputin,
I’m so glad you’re enjoying this! Interestingly, while Paestum is on the tourist path, it was definitely off-season when we were there last fall. The hotel we stayed in had few occupants other than us and there really aren’t the crowds there that we saw in other places. It was quite the treat to be there.

Thank you for bringing this back up! It reminds me that I still have several days of our trip to Rome that I’d love to complete. It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed since we were there.

Sigh...it was a great trip and we hope we are able to travel again next fall. We, too, plan to go to Portugal, though have no immediate plans to go to the Balkans (but it’s on the list for someday!).

tomarkot

Progol, we have so enjoyed following along with your Italy experiences. As we mentioned up-thread, we love not only your interesting text, but your gorgeous photos. It is especially enjoyable during this anxious time dealing with COVID and this upcoming election!!!

progol

Thanks so much, tomarkot! I will finish this after we get back from our first trip AWAY (local, of course) since this all began.

But a year ago, we were beginning this amazing trip in Vicenza. What a fantastic start to this 5-week trip!

The first half:
Nearly 5 weeks in Italy – Fantastico!

Candace

Progol, your trip report has been a joy to follow. Now that the only way we can travel is vicariously, it is so special to see your beautiful pictures and read about your experiences in various locations. Many of those locations are the same ones we enjoyed during our 2018 trip to Italy. We traveled in the opposite direction, starting in Sicily before working our way up to the Amalfi Coast and ending in Rome. Like you, we stayed in Atrani, and loved it, took the chairlift up Mt. Salaro in Capri, bussed to Ravello, stayed at the Palazzo Bellini in Naples, ate pizza at the "lesser Sorbillo's", traveled to Pompeii, and rented an Airbnb in Rome not far from the Campo de Fiori. It's been so interesting to get your perspective on all these places. Like you, we are also retired and like to travel at a slower pace now, not worrying too much if we don't see everything there is to see everywhere we go. And also like you, I think, we love to book accommodations with good views, so when we are relaxing in our down time we can enjoy our surroundings from our window, or better yet, from our terrace or balcony. You seem to have come up with some wonderful choices on your travels.

Thanks for sharing!
Candace

progol

Candace,
I'm so glad you're enjoying this! And how funny that our trips parallel the other's trip! While we didn't visit Sicily on last year's trip, we did go a few years earlier, so we are definitely going over the same paths! And some of the same places, too!

I'm so glad we got there last year, since international travel is now on hold, and the memories from last year's trip lingers.

Paule

annhig

Not sure how I did this Progol, but I either missed or had entirely forgotten that you started your trip last year in Vicenza and reading your TR [again?] just now I realised that we were there within days of each other, as I went as one of my day trips from Venice when i had my extended stay there last year. Though i enjoyed my own perorations around Vicenza, I did rather wish that I'd had the advantage of your TR on visit, and another time I will definitely try to get to the villas outside the town instead of just the ones in the centre, though I enjoyed those too, especially the theatre and the nearby Chiesa di Santa Corona and the Basilica which had some wonderful views of the snow topped Dolomites from the roof terraces.

A definite "must see again".

progol

annhig,
It would've been a lark to meet up with you last year in Vicenza, too! It was such a wonderful surprise - we so enjoyed it, and having the guide, Roberta Parlato, made it truly special. I had read many mixed reviews of Vicenza so was especially pleased to discover it was such a charming town. I'm sure you would love a stay there.

I so wish I could be there right now!

annhig

oh me too, progol. This time last year I was just recovering from getting back from my wonderful trip to the US and preparing to go to Italy a couple of weeks later. Probably just as well that we don't know what fate has in store for us, all things considered.

Rasputin1

We were in Vicenza over 10 years ago and we had taken the "cruise" down the Brenta Canal from Padua to Venice stopping at three of Palladio's villas. La Rotonda was a disappointment in comparison to the others. The grounds were lackluster and there were millions of mosquitos which we could not get away from because the gates were locked! We had to wait for the caretaker to let us out. Inside there were only modern day awful sculptures to view. In Vicenza we stayed near the local Police station outside the walls and in a residential area. Many of the apartments were empty but it was interesting to watch life continuing around us in the other apartments. The walls of the city outside the apartment were lit up at night.