trip report

Old Oct 4th, 2002, 06:05 AM
  #1  
karen
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trip report

Just returned from Italy. We flew into Rome and used Limoservice Rome. A word of caution, the cost was supposed to be 39 euro but the atm only gave me 50 euro notes at the airport and the driver said he had no change so we were stuck paying 50. Should have found a place to break the 50 in the airport before leaving.

We stayed at the Cesari in Rome. The 4th floor is all nonsmoking and we had asked for a wuiet room so we had one facing the inside. It was very quiet. The location was good and the hotel room was basic -- we had everything we needed.

Because of jet lag, we thought going o Ontica Antica would be a good bet for the afternoon. We took the bus to toe metro stop but then couldn't figure out the train. So I tried Italian -- and got the proper answer. But the train was labeled San Paulo so we went inside to check the map to see if it was the last stop and it wasn't so we were confused until I realized that all the trains said San Paulo and that was the station we were at. Jet lag -- but we got there and enjoyed it. Definitely easier than trying to figure out Rome.

We spent 3 nights in Rome and the next two days went to the Forum, Colosseom -- bought an Italian umbrella because it poured -- Pantheon, St Pauls, Spanish steps etc. Our best meal was at Fiaschetteria Beltramme on Via dell Croce near the Spanish steps. It weas a small very Italian place with no English spoken. We had asked the hotel for recommenddations and found they didn't have any that we were interested in.
 
Old Oct 4th, 2002, 07:09 AM
  #2  
karen
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On Sunday there was a train strike. We were supposed to take the train to Orte in Umbria and start a hiking tour with a small company -- Girosole. We found them on the Web which started our plans to go to Italy and we can't say enough about them. This tour was a combination of two on their Web site that we had asked for. Another couple from California joined us so there were the 4 of us and two guides.

Anyway we received a call from them about the strike and that they would come to Rome to pick us up. Because we got a later start that day and because the weather didn't cooperate, we did not hike to the top of Mount Maggiore. Instead we drove up and got a break in the weather for just a few minutes. There was a very old church up there and a beautiful view of the valley. After lujnch, we went to Carsolae which is another ruin of a town. For this aday and the next, one of our guides was an archaelogist in Narni and he was great. Apart from Carsalae, we also went into the only remaining Roman underground acqueduct and hiked about 1/2 mile of it. We were 300 feet underground. Additionally, the archaeologist had discovered an underground church and prison 23 years before and we toured that.We also had lunch with an Italian family at their farm.

We stayed in Amelia at il piccolo hotel del carleni whic is in a building that dates to 1100. Really a neat hotel with charm.

The other places we stayed while with the tour was an old abbey that had been converted to a hotel -- the Abbazia San Pietro -- what a beautiful setting in a valley surrounded by mountains. Additionally we stayed in Montepulciano at L'Agnolo which is a small hotel on the main street of the town. It was noisy but we discovered the day we left that we had a window open behind the shutters so that probably contributed to it.

We would never have seen all we did without our guides and they were a wealth of information about all the towns we did visit as well as hiking in the countryside. Very steep uphills and downhills everywhere. Some of the other places we visited with them were the Cascades of Marmore, Spoletto, Orvietto, Labro, Pienza, Lago di Piediluco and everywhere in between. If we visited a town that was not on the official planned tour and there was something we wanted to do that had an entry fee, that was included as well. Our guides were concerned that we go to restaurants they knew were good and sometimes there wasn't a menu -- they just cooked what was fresh.



 
Old Oct 4th, 2002, 07:18 AM
  #3  
karen
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After Tuscany, we went to Venice and stayed at Locanda Barbarigo. What nice people and a lovely place. We went to restaurants recommended by Foddorites and thank y'all for that. We were however overwhelmed by all the people after the small towns -- culture shock. We probably didn't appreciate this town because we were churched out and ruined out by the time we got here. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the vaporetti system -- just riding around the Grand Canal was enjoyable. We went to the ghetto but I was disappointed that there wasn't a restored residence to view -- would have liked to see how they lived. Did enjoy the tour of the temples, however.

I was also disappointed in Murano -- I expected to see a lot of tourist items -- but I thought there would be some uniqu items and was looking for that. I expected it to be expensive and thought that what I would see that was unique would be $1,000 plus and I would eat my heart out over a piece that I wanted and couldn't afford. I did not see much that was unique. We did finally purchase a piece but I expected more -- I have seen more imaginative work in lots of shops here.
 
Old Oct 4th, 2002, 12:40 PM
  #4  
Antoinette
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Karen --- thanks for the report.
Could you tell me a little more about the restaurant near the Spanish steps?

What was the price range of the food and was it open for lunch? Thanks
 
Old Oct 4th, 2002, 01:18 PM
  #5  
karen
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The restaurant was listed in the AAA guide to Rome which we had with us. According to the book lunch is served from 12-3 Mon- Sat and dinner the same days from 7:30 - 10:30. It was very reasonable -- we had house wine, water, split a first course and had a second course each for about $40. They do not take credit cards and the book says they do not have a phone -- we just showed up and were lucky enough to get the last place. There were two places listed on that street and we thought we'd go to whichever we found first -- The other was Otello alla Concordia which was at number 81. This was at number 39.Via della Croce crosses Via del Corso.
 

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