Scullysioux

Just returned a little over a week ago from a whirlwind tour of Italy. I was stationed in Italy in Naples back in 1997-1998 and have always wanted to go back. This time I took my parents and mother-in-law with me (my husband declined the trip). We went to Rome, Sorrento, Capri, Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Florence &amp; Venice. It was wonderful and very tiring, but we all had a great time.<BR><BR>We arrived in Rome via Swiss Airlines on Sunday March 16. We had LimoService Rome pick us up at the airport. They were right there outside of customs as they promised. We also had them pick us up on our return home at 4:30 AM. I highly recommend this service. They are reliable and very reasonably priced.

Scullysioux

In Rome we stayed at Hotel Navona which we liked but the daily trek up and down from the 3rd floor about killed my mother. No elevator, but the rooms were very nice and staff was helpful. <BR>Day 1 we just got settled in, walked around Piazza Navona and ate dinner.<BR><BR>Day 2 - After a lackluster breakfast at the hotel we started off walking to the Pantheon which was not far from the hotel. On the way we came across a fruit vendor in a little piazza and I bought some blood oranges which I love. My father saw an Italian woman lower a bucket from her apt. window to the vendor who put some fruit in it. The woman then raised it back up to the window. Very cool. We saw the Pantheon and made our way to the Trevi Fountain where we had throw our coins in to ensure our return to Rome. Then of to the Spanish Steps where we caught the metro for the Colosseum. <BR>Gotta get back to work...more later!

Scullysioux

Everyone was in awe of the Colosseum. The last time I was there you could not go down where the arena was, now you can so that was better being able to get a close up view of the maze of passageways underneath. Next off to the Roman Forum where we hooked up with one of the free tours which was very good and helped bring the tumble of ruins to life. We then got lunch off of one of those rip off food &amp; drink carts. It's edible and convenient but that's about it. A bit pricey for what it is. We then went back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. For dinner we went to one of the restaurants in Piazza Navona. I don't remember the name, but the food was good. You have to watch though, the menu was reasonably priced, but they get you on the extras. Gelato was 7 Euro! Yikes!<BR>Day 3 - St. Peter's Cathedral. We skipped the dismal breakfast at the hotel thinking we could get something tasty at a bar on the way to St. Peter's. Would you believe we passed nothing?! We ended up eating from the crummy food cart again near St. Peter's and vowed never again to do this. <BR>St. Peter's was wonderful. I had forgotten how beautiful the church is inside. The different colors of marble are just gorgeous. It is really quite overwhelming. We went downstairs to where the tombs of the popes are and then proceeded to the Vatican Museum to view the Sistene Chapel. The last time I was there it was undergoing restoration and it looks pretty good. From the Museum we went on a trek for lunch and once again could not find anything decent, only touristy restaurants nearby. We ended up picnicking in the park next to St. Angelo's castle on delicious prosciutto sandwiches from a local bar. Then we toured the castle and went back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

Scullysioux

That evening about 10PM, we heard a lot of commotion in the alley in front of our hotel. This was not uncommon really, but then my father alerted me to the fact that an American flag was being burned in the street directly in front of our hotel. I looked out the window &amp; sure enough a flag was on the ground on fire. No one was around and the next morning it was gone. This was the only incident of anti-Americanism we saw. Another incident, not anti-American, but anti-war was the next day my mother-in-law Elizabeth and I came across and Italian Communist group demonstrating for peace. We avoided it, but later on they appeared again this time parading down the street behind us towards Piazza Navona. The police had the streets all blocked off in front of the government buildings to prevent their access to the buildings. There must have been at least 50 police officers there. It was a peaceful demonstration though, they just walked and shouted carrying peace flags. It was a little unsettling though that they kept appearing when we were trying to avoid them.

ladybug

sounds like an incredible adventure so far!!!!cant wait to hear more!!!i wil be in rome/capri/florence/venice in june and you descriptions are starting to bring my trip to life!! ladybug

Scullysioux

Thanks Ladybug! If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.<BR><BR>Day#4 - We took the bus to San Sebastian Catecombs. Our tour group was small which was nice and the catecombs were very interesting. There were a lot of Italian school groups there are they were on their spring holidays. Then we took the bus back to the city and saw the Circus Maximus, Mouth of Truth and Capitoline Hill and later did some shopping. That evening we ate at a really good hole in the wall restaurant to the west of Piazza Navona run by an older lady. They have the best spaghetti pomodoro I have ever tasted. Gelato for dessert from one of the many gelato places nearby. My favorite was straciatella (chocolate chip). The Tiramisu was good too. I really liked the area we chose to stay in near Piazza Navona, lots of good restaurants reasonably priced and accessible to everything by foot or bus.

Scullysioux

Day#5 - Took an intercity train from Rome to Naples about 2 1/2 hours. At Naples we caught the Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento. In the Naples train station just before you go down to the tracks for the Circumvesuviana there is a tourist info office where they will give you a schedule of the train and the local ferries to Naples, Sorrento &amp; Capri which came in very handy. We stayed at the Il Nido hotel in Sorrento. It is high up on a cliff and the view is beautiful, directly across from Mt. Vesuvius. Our rooms had balconies which overlooked the bay of Naples. We loved this hotel. It is not within walking distance to town, but they operate a shuttle into Sorrento which was very convenient and the ride was quite the experience amid the lemon groves and around the curves and other traffic. I felt like I got off a roller coaster after every ride. The first day we ate dinner at a little place called O Sole Mio in Sorrento. It's a very casual place where the menu is on the wall and you eat at benches, but the food is very good. We all got pizza and tried limoncello. The woman who ran the place had us try some Vesuvius wine and rice balls also. She just kept bringing out new things for us to try. We thought the bill would be sky high after all the food she loaded us up on, but it was only about 30 Euro for 4 people. She was a hoot too, very warm and funny.

ira

Hi Scully..,<BR> Thanks for your report. I hope hubby realizes what he missed.

e_roz

My first trip ever to Italy in June includes Florence and Venice. Anticipating your info! Incl. restaurants and helpful tips if you can. Also did you buy your train tix along the way? This seems to be the general consensus&gt;?

Scullysioux

Ira, I think my husband wishes he had gone with us for the food &amp; wine, but he really is not a traveller. I would have liked him to have gone though. <BR><BR>E roz, we bought our train tickets along the way. We originally thought of buying an Italian railpass but then figured it really wouldn't save us much, if anything. What we did was when we arrived in a city, while we were at the train station we bought our tickets for the next trip. We wanted to make sure we had seat reservations so that's why we did it in advance. It worked out pretty well. In Naples we had a little adventure buying our tickets. This guy who said he worked for the city (and he looked official) asked us if we needed help. We didn't need help buying the tickets, but I asked him where the ticket windows were. He lead us there and proceeded to lead us to the head of the line and interpret for us what we needed. I speak survival Italian at best so I appreciated the help although we had no trouble getting our point across buying any other tickets. When our transaction was done he put out his hand and said &quot;5 Euro&quot;. We all just looked at each other amazed at this guy's gall. We coughed up 4 Euro and thanked him. When getting on the train there was another official looking guy who grabbed our luggage as we were boarding (we did not ask for this service) and put it up in the rack for us. Then he wanted a tip too! They are pretty slick. After that anytime someone wanted to help us in a train station no matter how official they looked we just said no grazie. We saw this mostly in Naples though. It made my father kind of irritated that they wanted tips, but I just chalked it up to another interesting story.

MichelleY

Fun report Scully!! I get to relive my trip. We stayed at Il Nido also. Loved it. We also had the &quot;official&quot; guys in Naples take advantage, but in the end they were helpful.

Natalia

Hi, I have had the guys interpret for me too, but I appreciated it and gladly paid them the euro. If a porter would have helped I would have tipped too, but there are none to be found.<BR>This is how some locals get extra money, I wouldnt take offense, none was intended I am sure.

mo_han1

Thanks for the great report. Looking forward to hearing about Florence and Venice. We are going there in June. Was just wondering, how would I get in touch with limo service? I have tried www.limoservicerome.com and is not available. Thanks!

mo_han1

Hi! Sorry, I found the website. Thanks.

guppy

Hello: I will be taking a tour with 14 women to Itlay on April 21st. We will travel by Brendan's Tours to Rome Sorrento Venice and others. Our places of staying overnight do list some Hotels but also in Sorrento a place called Villa Parco. My question is the electrical cureent. Pluging in things like hair dryers or hair curlers. Do they provide ways for us to use USA current? I bought an adapter with different plugs but my hubby says that it won't work because I also need a transformer. Does anyone have an answer? Thank You Guppy

guppy

Hello Again: I have one more question. My sister-in-law said we must wear long pants or a dress on this tour as there are a lot of places that do not allow you in unless you are dressed as stated above. My question--Can one where shorts? Is it true about what my sister-in-law told me? Thnka yoy Guppy

guppy

Hi: Just looked at my messages of questions!!!!!I need to learn to type better and save laughs on all my errors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh well such is life.

ellenem

To visit many churches you should not wear a sleeveless top or shorts. Hopefully your tour director will advise you accordingly. You can solve the sleeveless top issue by tossing on a sweater while in the church.

Scullysioux

Hi Guppy!<BR><BR>Yes, you do need a transformer for your electrical items along with the plug adapters. Some blow dryers have a switch that you can switch over to 220v so you don't need the transformer, just the adapter. The one I brought had this feature and it worked fine.<BR><BR>I wouldn't say you need a dress unless you want to bring one, but some churches won't allow anyone in if their arms and legs are bare. They have signs outside the doors letting you know this. Short sleeves are ok, but sleeveless shirts and shorts are not. Capri pants would be ok though I think. St. Peter's also did not allow bare midriffs.

Scullysioux

Day#6 - Took the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii. Every time we took this train there were boys who would get on the train playing the accordion and holding out a cup for tips and then they'd get off at the next stop. My father loved this and donated to them every time. I liked them too, it's certainly not something I see every day. We got to Pompeii early as we had plans to see Herculaneum too. Several people tried to get us to take tours with them, but we decided we'd rather explore on our own. Free guide books are available at the entrance, but unfortunately they had run out of the English ones so we got an Italian one and I muddled through it. Pompeii was fantastic though even if you don't know what you are looking at. We probably only saw 1/4 of it as the site is quite large. We really wanted to see Herculaneum too though so we left and got lunch. Caught the Circumvesuviana to Herculaneum and this time we rented an audioguide to help bring some of the ruins to life. Herculaneum doesn't seem to be as popular as Pompeii but I think it's just as worth seeing as the ruins are in better condition even though the site is smaller. If you don't want to do much walking this is a plus. We then went back to Sorrento and had dinner at the hotel which was delicious. Every night possible I had a Caprese salad with dinner. I just love it! You can't beat the mozzarella di bufala.