Our Italy Trip

Our Italy Trip

We are back from Italy after a wonderful time! We took a guided tour of the Northern and Middle sections of Italy, traveling by coach, with our guide, Chris Beck and driver, Umberto. There were 33 of us in our group, 8 from the US and the others from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It was a compatible and interesting group.

The tour arranged all hotel accommodations, all transportation within Italy, activities and tours each day, some meals and took care of the baggage, etc. including wake up calls! This made it very easy – no worries about any of the logistics. What a luxury! The coach was new, very comfortable with huge windows so we could see the scenery between stops.

We were off early – breakfast by 7 AM and in the coach at 8 – to try to avoid too many crowds at each stop. The number of tours and people visiting the major sights was amazing! We were sometimes just crowded into rooms like sardines and this was the off season in a slow year! We had no idea.

At some sights, we had a local tour guide. They were all very knowledgeable on their subjects and because we used audio receivers, we were always able to hear even if we were a few feet away.

Besides the tour’s basic agenda, there were a number of optional (at additional cost) excursions and we took many of them. They were all interesting.

Italy is known for its cuisine and we had several very good meals, but the downside of a tour is that we ate in restaurants that could handle parties of 30+ people. It was a set menu that featured tastes of the regional specialties. In general, the pastas and bread were excellent! When we were traveling for several hours we usually stopped for lunch at an Auto Grill – it looked like a truck stop but inside there was a wonderful deli with a buffet of warm and cold food, salad bar, fabulous breads, freshly made sandwiches which they would heat if you chose, and, of course, an espresso bar. In addition, there was a shop where you could purchase gourmet foods. We became true fans of the Auto Grills!

We saw so much in the 12 days we were on the tour that it would take pages and pages to relate it all, but below we have outlined the highlights in three sections with a slide show of photos that we hope give you a sense of the experience.

Enjoy…we sure did!

Italy - Rome to the Lakes

Rome: We toured the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Grottoes, St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s square. Our local guide was not only helpful in describing what we were seeing (amazing) but also in helping us navigate the sea of tourists that jammed the area. 25,000 people a day go through the Vatican or some part of it. The Sistine Chapel, built as the Pope’s private chapel, is only 6,000 sq. feet in size which surprised us and we were jammed in like sardines. St. Peter’s, on the other hand, is enormous, although full of tourists as well.

Next we toured the Coliseum. It is huge, holding up to 70,000 spectators in its day. Originally it had marble facing and a retractable roof – sheets of linen strung from one side to the other to protect the spectators from the sun. Below the floor were the cages or cells where the gladiators, prisoners or animals used for performances were kept. As with most ancient monuments, much of the original material has been recycled for use in other buildings or roads over the centuries. From the Coliseum we could see the ruins and gardens of the Palatine Hill, home to as many as 12 Caesars.

We enjoyed dinner at Tre Scalini, seated outdoors on a Piazza where artists and musicians were entertaining. It is a small world – in Panama our friend Giselle owns a restaurant with the same name. Her uncle was the Ambassador to Italy from Panama and lived in an apartment above the Roman “Tre Scalini,” so he suggested the name to her when she opened her restaurant.

Siena: Our first day on the coach took us out of Rome to the hillside town of Siena. It is famous for its annual horse race in the Campo, or central plaza. There are 12 communes, or political departments, in the town and they all vie for the Palio – a banner which can then be displayed by the winners for a year. It was fun to walk the winding streets and look at the shops and sit in a café to people watch.

Florence: In late afternoon we arrived in Florence – stopping first at an outlook where we could see the city and its famous buildings. It was a fantastic view. Our hotel was as close to the center of town as we could reach on the coach, and this involved backing up along one-way streets and some very tight turns! Umberto’s skill amazed us.

In the evening we went outside of Florence to Montebueno – a hillside restaurant and hotel where Emilio, the chef, prepared a special meal for us. He gave us a demonstration of how to make risotto and a typical grape cake, and we had a delicious dinner…probably the best of the trip!

The next day we walked to the center of town to meet our guide who took us to see the statues of David and the Prisoners by Michelangelo. What a treat to see them in person! We went on to the Cathedral of Santa Croce and to see the Ghilberti doors on the baptistery of the Duomo…and of course the dome itself. Florence is famous for its gold and leather work and we saw demonstrations of both. We walked back to the hotel along the Arno river past the Ponte Veccio and had dinner in a local restaurant.

Pisa: The only rain we encountered was at Pisa – where we saw the leaning tower (it really does look precarious) and the adjacent Cathedral.

Milan: We arrived in Milan on a Sunday to avoid traffic and exited the coach at La Scala Opera House, which was closed due to rehearsal for a performance. We walked to the main Piazza and toured the Duomo of Milan – one of the largest churches in Europe. From the façade to the columns to the stained glass windows it was spectacular. We did some window shopping – Milan is the fashion capital of Italy – and even saw a designer toaster for 700 euros – about $1,100 dollars!

Lake Maggiore and Lake Como: We drove to Lake Maggiore arriving in the late afternoon to our hotel which was right on the lake with beautiful views. Their beauty is breathtaking surrounded by the Pre-Alps and with the shorelines and hills dotted with villages and villas. The next day we took a boat to the town of Bellagio on Lake Como and a tour of the villas along the water. So many picturesque buildings perched on the steep hillsides along the lake with the mountains forming a sheer backdrop.

Switzerland to Assisi

Lugano: We wound our way along the shoreline of Lake Maggiore to the Swiss town of Lucerne (Lugano in Italian). A beautiful town with lake front walkways and wonderful shops selling Swiss watches and Chocolate!! While Switzerland is neutral, they have an army and have the ability to seal their borders by closing off the highway tunnels leading into the country. With all the mountains, many of the roads have long tunnels to avoid steep and winding roads (although there are still plenty of those!).

Verona: At lunch time we arrived in Verona, home of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A small balcony, purported to be Juliet’s, was crushed with tourists, so we headed for the main piazza. There is a Roman coliseum still in use today for concerts and events and we could hear musicians rehearsing as we sat in a café and had a glass of wine and a bite to eat. It’s a University town and we saw lots and lots of students strolling about.

Venice: We arrived in Venice in the late afternoon and upon leaving the bus and watching our luggage being loaded onto a boat for delivery to our hotel, we took a gondola ride. There was a lot of boat traffic at the point where we boarded the gondolas seemed unstable, so we were glad when we turned off of the main thoroughfare into a smaller and more peaceful canal. It’s quite a way to see Venice! We had heard that Venice was dirty and smelly, but we did not find that at all. It is old, sinking and many of the buildings appear to need a great deal of reconstruction work yet it is still quite beautiful.

We walked to our hotel which was situated on the Grand Canal, and after dinner we took another boat to St. Mark’s square where we enjoyed some Italian Red at an outside café, listened to a live music presentation surrounded by the beautiful buildings all lighted up for evening!

The next day we toured St. Mark’s square by day, saw a demonstration of Murano glass blowing and strolled around looking at the shops. We had lunch at the oldest restaurant in Venice, Florian’s, served by waiters who look like they could have been there from the beginning! It was very elegant and priced accordingly!

In the early afternoon we took a larger boat for a tour of Venice Lagoon, dotted with so many islands it’s hard to count, to the Island of Bergamo – a fishing village and the home of handmade Venice lace. The genuine lace is so expensive it is impossible to buy– a handkerchief costs hundreds of dollars – so the shops were filled with imitations from China! We ate a late lunch of seafood in a fun restaurant before returning to our hotel by boat.

We didn’t have dinner that evening, but we had a bottle of wine sitting on the terrace of our hotel overlooking the Grand Canal and watching Venice change from day to night!

Classe: Leaving Venice we headed south to the town of Classe, outside Ravenna, to the Church of St. Apollinaris en Classe. While so many of the cathedrals were breathtaking with art and decoration, this church was simple, decorated with beautiful mosaics. It was very special, and probably our favorite for just that reason. Sometimes, even in Italy, less is more.

Assisi: We arrived in the hilltop town of Assisi in the late afternoon and carried our hand luggage up several Italian blocks to our hotel which was right adjacent to the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The Basilica itself has two levels - a Romanesque lower level with a Gothic upper level. St. Francis is buried there and through our guide we learned a great deal about his life and his tremendous impact on the Catholic Church. We watched a procession of monks and nuns gather in the piazza in the late afternoon and file into the church for a Mass.

Below us on the plain we could see the white tents of an Arab prince who had brought over his horses for an endurance race in the area. That evening we, and the surrounding area, were treated to a tremendous display of fireworks courtesy of the Prince.

Sorrento to Rome

Montecassino: On our way to Sorrento we stopped at the Commonwealth cemetery for soldiers who died in the four assaults on the German forces who had holed up in the hilltop monastery. It was moving to see the rows and rows of immaculately kept graves and look up and see what an imposing obstacle the Allied soldiers faced.

Sorrento: Our drive took us past Naples where we looked out on the Bay of Naples in one direction and up at Mt. Vesuvius in the other. Sorrento is on a peninsula on the South side of the Bay of Naples reached by a winding hillside road. Sitting on the window seat was a bit unnerving as we twisted and turned our way past hotels and villas perched on the edge of cliffs.

Our hotel was also on a cliff overlooking the sea and we had a great view from our room. There was a large terrace one level below and we watched a wedding – from appetizers to the groom cutting the cake with his military sword! It was a beautiful setting and an elegant affair.

We visited a factory that made beautiful inlaid wood work (from large furniture to small coasters) and then took a ferry to the fabled Isle of Capri. It is a very rocky island about 25 minutes from Sorrento by hydrofoil. It was packed…with locals and tourists. It is popular destination for weekenders from Italy as well as cruise ship passengers plus the tours. You take a funicular from the port to Capri town and the views are panoramic. Lots of mega yachts in the harbor along with colorful fishing boats. Shopping was mainly high end name brands or less expensive souvenirs. We again enjoyed people watching from a café plus a split of wonderful white wine. (We knew Italy had great red wines, but we found an equal number of very nice whites.)

We took the boat back to Sorrento and later went to dinner at a restaurant in the old port of Sorrento. The best part of the meal was the pizza – thin crispy crust! It was brought to the table on a three-foot long peel and presented with great enthusiasm. The emphasis was on seafood as this is a fishing port.

Pompeii: Not far from Sorrento we visited the ruined city of Pompeii. Vesuvius dominates the skyline over Naples and is still considered active, although heavily monitored. Pompeii was a seaport prior to the eruption which filled in the Bay of Naples for a mile. Again we had a great local guide who gave us a good overview of what life was like in the first century AD. We saw laundries, bakeries, shops, homes and streets with the first “speed bumps” causing chariots to slow. As a port city it was visited by sailors from all over the Mediterranean and the street stones even gave directions to the “Red Light” district. The site is very large and would take a full day to traverse, but we got an excellent introduction to the major features.

Rome again: All roads lead to Rome and so did our tour. Our last night in Rome featured a dinner at a restaurant with opera singers entertaining. It seemed appropriate. We exchanged email addresses with our new friends and have already been in touch with some.

The tour was an excellent introduction to a fascinating country…a very busy 12 days but we saw so much more than we had imagined or would have been able to do on our own. We hope you enjoy our memories and photos of this wonderful vacation.