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Italian Trip

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First of all I want to thank all the people on this forum for their valuable information. Made my planning so much easier. The trip was fabulous!!! Starting in Florence toured Tuscany,walked up the Bell Tower and the Duomo to the top,saw the Uffizzi and Academia museums, saw the Piti Palace, went to Cinque Terre for the day and much more. Never had a bad meal while there. Took a train to Rome. We had been to Rome before so we were only staying a few days. Saw the Coloseum from the lower level all the way to the top along with the forum and Palatine Hills,walked part of the Appian way and visited the catacombs. Got to see the Cistine Chapel one more time.. Never ceases to amaze me. Tried to get into St. Peters but the line was too long through security so we passed since we had been in there before. On to Naples/Sorrento by train. Took the Campania Express to Sorrento. Had some trouble with someone trying to get into my wifes' backpack but we caught him before he could get anything.. Sorrento was absolutely beautiful. Took day trip to the Amalfi Coast . The bus ride was awesome. We ended up taking the ferry back to Sorrento . Didn't feel like waiting in line for the bus back. Great view of the coastline. The market in Sorrento has everything you can imagine.

Now on to Siciliy. Rented a car at the airport. Driving in Italy was an experience. If you are uncomfortable with driving in extremely busy traffic and don't like narrow streets you are in trouble :-). We ended up doing a lot of driving in Sicily. If it wasn't for my smart phone and gps I could not have gotten around. We went to see Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples,Villa romana de sale and the amazing mosiacs,saw Segesta and more ruins,went to Cefalu and toured the city. Beautiful beaches.Went to Piazza Amerina. Hoping to get to see the church there but it was closed and we didn't want to wait around for it to reopen. So much to see not enough time.

Synopsis, the trip was more than I ever imagined. Doing my research paid off. We didn't get to do everything we had planned but that's ok. The people were wonderful. The country is spectacular. We stayed at Air B&Bs the whole trip and they were great. Some better than others . We mixed with the locals and enjoyed trying to use my limited Italian with some times their limited English. Never really had a problem. Would we do it again? In a heart beat.!!! Really wanted to thank you all helping us to avoid the pitfalls and to look for alternatives which allowed us to really feel Italy and appreciate everything. Yes, even the driving :-))

Posted by
11613 posts

Thanks for posting, Paul.

Where to next?

Posted by
2124 posts

Someone tried to get into your wife's backpack on the Campania Express?! Isn't that what the C.E. is for, keeping the riff-raff out, relegating them back to the Circumvesuviana? Hah, just seems kind of comical to me. I guess that's what the 'beware' videos say...'a pickpocket could be dressed like you & me...'

Great report, Paul. How good is your 'limited Italian'?

Posted by
76 posts

She was just getting on to the Campania Express when the guy came up behind her and reached for the top of the pack. The hostess on the train yelled at him and off he went. Empty handed. As far as my limited Italian,I just studied the Rick Steves book. It got me through. You would be surprised how much they(the Italians )appreciate you being able to converse some. One day a woman actually gave us directions in Florence to a shop we were looking for and because I knew enough Italian I was able to understand her and got to the place. Another time, I was "negotiating" with a shop keeper on price of an item and I asked him the price . He looked over at his wife and asked her the price. She replied one thing and he told me another. I just smiled and said goodbye.

Posted by
16751 posts

Paul, it sounds like you solved your problem of the Colosseum underground/third ring tours being booked up when you tried to reserve? It might be useful to others to explain how you got around that?

Delighted that you had marvelous time!!!! How was your walk on Appian (one of my favorites in Rome)?

Posted by
76 posts

Kathy, tried to make reservations for tickets but none were available. It would,have been a lot cheaper if I could . We finally got reservations with a tour service called The Roman Guy. It was supposed to be a 3 hour tour of the complete Colosseum,Forum and the Palatine hills. It ended up being over 4 hours. Thoroughly enjoyed the deep history the tour guide gave us of all the sites.
I have always wanted to walk the Appian Way so on a Sunday we decided to take the train to Circo Maximus and walk the rest of the way to the Roman Gate.. Just so happens they were have a bicycle rally the same weekend which finished coming down the Appian Way so I got to cheer them on to the finish line. Found out you don't want to cheer in French. They take a REAL exception to that.:-). We stopped at a small place on the Appian Way for lunch and walked up the road until we came to the first sign for catacombs. I can't remember the name of them at the moment but we walked up there and viewed them. Pretty impressive to think that at one time a half a million people were buried there. Anyway by the time we were done with that we took the 118 bus back to the station. It was thrilling to walk under the roman gate and walk along the same path that had been used to enter Rome 2000 years ago. Made my trip!!!

Posted by
16751 posts

Paul, our walk on the Appia Antica has been our #1 best day in Rome to date, which is why I was curious what you thought. We did it a little differently: took the FL7 train out to Torricola (last station on that line for a cheap BIT ticket) and walked some back roads to a jumping-on point at Casal Rotondo (mile 6). Walked all the way back into Rome, hitting Villa Capo di Bove, tomb of Cecilia Metella, Circus Maxentius, San Sebastiano catacombs and Church Domine Quo Vadis along the way. Finished up with a detour to Terme di Caracalla, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santo Stefano Rotondo and San Clemente before collapsing (!!) at a favorite outdoor bar in Parco del Colle Oppio.

Highly recommend...only next time I think we'll go out to Capannelle instead as it looks to be a little easier to access the road from there. Anyway, I'm delighted that you did some of it and enjoyed it as much as we did!

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