| Family Travels Italy |
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| We had such a great time during our brief 2004 visit that we made Italy the focus of our 2007 trip. Italy was just one of those countries we had not spent alot of time exploring. In 1990, during Mom and Dad's backpacking tour of Europe...it was raining in Switzerland....so we went to Rome for a day! Ok...we were young, a little crazy but we had a Eurarail Pass...so we discovered it was cheaper than a hotel, if we slept on the train overnight. In 2004, we day-tripped from Nice....and drove down the Italian Riviera to the Cinque Terre. We don't recommend that you try this....the roads are long and twisty...The scenery is beautiful as the road twists and turns around cliffs and through mountains along the coast. "As the bird flies" it doesn't look that long....driving takes FOREVER. At the end of our trip in 2004, we took the train from Nice, France to Venice. Venice is perfect. It was so much more that we expected. You should plan at least three nights here....get a museum pass, a water bus pass....and explore |
| Mt. Etna from Sea |
| Venice |
| We began our Italy 2007 Adventure by flying into Nice, France. (using frequent flyer miles) We traveled mostly by train and only used a rental car for Tuscany. So we took the train to the Cinque Terre and spend three amazing nights there. From Cinque Terre, we day tripped to Pisa to see the sights and took the train on to Florence. We LOVED Florence. Florence was amazing, exciting and a wonderful joy. We rented a car to explore Tuscany....really the only way to explore the whole region. We home-based in Montepulciano and stayed with Gio and Ivana at the Mueble il Riccio...which we highly recommend. We spent three days hitting...Montalcino, Pienza, Volterra, San Gimignano, Cortona, Siena, Assisi We turned the car into Orvieto and took the train into Rome (to avoid driving the crazy roads of a big city) We spent two really nice days in Rome. After our last experience in 1990 (without children) we were leery about traveling there. With some planning and safety precautions, we really enjoyed Rome the second time around. From Rome, we took a Train to Naples...transferred to a local train to Sorrento and stayed at the amazing Hotel Settimo Cielo. We spent a day exploring the Almafi coastal towns with our private driver, Tony, from the Monetti family. On our way back to Naples, (to catch a flight to Venice) Carmine Monetti included a quick stop at Pompeii During our second stay in Venice...we really enjoyed ourselves. No museums, churches or palaces...we strolled along, shopping, relaxing at local bars for Cicchetti, or sipping wine on public piazzas. Now that is a vacation. |
| Rome's Colosseum |
| Dates Visited -- 1990, 2004, 2007, 2008 |
| Our third trip to Italy was in combination with a Mediterranean cruise. We arrived in Rome so we have a day or so for revisiting some important sights and favorite places. (Campo dei Fiori for Forno's Pizza, Piazza Navonne, the Parthenon, and Giolottis for gelato. We left for our cruise out of Citavecchia (Rome's port) and our stops included Sicily, where we visited Taormina) and a day in Naples. Sicily is a place we have always wanted to go...and we were very excited about the cruise...until we found out that we were not in port (Messina) long enough to take the shore excursions to the top of Mt. Etna to see the lava flows. So we visited Taormina instead. In Naples we had a chance to visit the National Archaeological Museum, which gave us an opportunity to see items and mosaics removed from Pompeii (which we had visited during our last trip in 2007) Unfortunately, Naples pretty much closes down on Sundays. Don't bother going on a Sunday...outside of the museum nothing was open...no shops, cafes, or even street vendors...it was like a ghost town. I guess we will just have to go back. |
| This visit we got to visit the inside of the Parthenon |