Settled into our hotel just off St. Charles Ave. The streetcar worked great getting into the centre. Ate at a couple of recommended restaurants and wandered about - food is worth seeking out in this town. Much busier than last time which was just before Christmas. Lots of music in the pubs, lots of color in the streets and entertainment about. Even managed a late night burlesque type show at a upscale hotel. Walked tons. Rode the streetcar a long way. Saw a wonderful wedding in the square with angel wings on the bride and lots of what I think of as mardi gras colors. Enjoyed this city a lot...food and music.
After 3 days jumped on the Navigator of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise line. With 3000+ passengars we found lots of entertainment....always 3 venues to casually listen to music. Our favorite was the pub with the great folk singer...what a repertoire to go on for so many nights. Also enjoyed several other groups. The food was very very good...desserts not as good as last time but enjoyed. Could only manage 2 dining rooms meals a day! As usual yoga and sauna every day and I loved the climbing wall ...inline skating and did try the ice rink. Our table mates had pretty racist opinions and were life time cruisers out of New Orleans. A couple and father that felt rather entitled to A+ individual service however for the most part we enjoyed them and they enjoyed their free booze. We enjoyed the next table over and joined them for a couple of nights... a retiring very successful pastor, a business woman former home ec. teacher (their friends), an Aussie couple with a place in rural France. Interesting...would have loved more time with them. Definitely want to repeat this experience. Nine days without a port - I love it.
Pisa (Livorno) was a great day out - though lots of rain, the Azores walked and walked and ok.
Pisa (Livorno) was a great day out - though lots of rain, the Azores walked and walked and ok.
From Citavecchia to Rome for 2 nights. One day of brilliant sunshine and one day of rain. Rome is always exciting.
One day enjoying the celebration and parade to the Circus Maximus for the birth of Rome and then the Capitol Museum (excellent) and one day for the tunnels of the coliseum and then around and then St. Peter's just before closing.Then the train to Naples and all of its true color. A fabulous restaurant at noon Trattoria Mangia e Bevi with no English menu....so authentic, so yummy, so cheap! An interesting old quarter to wander in.
Then on to Sorrento, a great place to holiday in and a good place for day trips. Lucked out with agricultural food festival in the evening (not so good) but the entertainment was great.
Loved the bus rides down the Amalfi coast (would never drive) looking over the edge. The train to Sicily was also very comfortable.
Amalfi is a beautiful coastal area with lots of tourism.
Sicily had every day with sunshine. I would not rent a car here either - too difficult and expensive to park and they are all dinged up. If it doesn't have a ding, then it is out of place. Taormina was a lovely and small tourist town. Mt. Etna was a good walk - we used public transport but really it did not require all day and there is only one bus each day. I enjoyed my walk on the volcano and Clive was recovering from a cold. Syracuse has had lots of money spent there and we found an excellent Michelin restaurant (too bad Clive couldn't eat). A nice wander. Catania was kind of ugly and we walked quite a bit here. Agrigento is place way up on a hill and we walked up and up nearly to the town of the town on various streets. Saw the ruins and had a good time here.
Palermo is a place to visit many sites but by now we were kind of site-tired so we enjoyed the architecture and wandering about. So glad to have the opportunity to see Rigoletto from the top layer of the big old mangnificent opera house.
(English subtitles would have helped)...but what an experience...and staying just down the road. Then a bus to the beach the next day and pizza and beer in the sunshine before our flight to England the next day.
Well, we are now on the Amalfi Coast and also have a computer connection! Everything has worked out so well. Today we took the bus to
The cruise was awesome... we enjoyed every
minute of our time there....will definitely do that again.
We
are glad that
Another day of rain ... The third since leaving home. Good that I have
clothes for all weathers. Long underwear helps and so does a hood and
rain jacket
Yesterday we travelled 15 miles in 90 minutes on the Amalfi coast and my pizza had 19 olives of which Clive managed 2!
Yesterday we travelled 15 miles in 90 minutes on the Amalfi coast and my pizza had 19 olives of which Clive managed 2!
Rome
was even better than
We enjoyed Sicily but found it quite poor.
Summing up, we enjoyed the cappucinos, gelatos, pizzas, croissants, wine and so on in Italy. We found that the ingredients in most places were the same so the menus seemed to resemble one another quite a bit. I was expecting a little more variety. We did not find the Italians to be as friendly as we had expected - unless they were in the tourist industry. In fact, a few of the bus drivers were most unhelpful...and that made Catania quite difficult to navigate (as the buses were hard to figure out with no Italian and difficulty sorting it out - harder than China even!)..so we walked further than we wished. However, at a small train station, we loved it because it was so important that we enjoy our coffee (and water and candy) and get on the next right train. So we found ups and downs but I think that we came home thinking this was good but not as good as most other places that we have been. We had some wonderful experiences and some ok ones....a few days of rain really is not welcome when on holiday...you make the best of it but really it is better in the sunshine. My planning was superb and it made everything roll smootly - ideas for activities every day and hotels all prebooked saved heaps of time daily. An extra day in Taormina would have been nice but otherwise perfect. Too bad we were not interested in all the sights of Palermo but we enjoyed our choices immensely (the beach and the opera).
Sorrento was a
tourists dream and
An interesting day and an interesting dinner!
We
caught the bus up to Mt. Etna today and walked on the volcano. It even
spewed on the weekend! and lots of grit and volcanic rock still lying round in
the parking lot edges. It was probably about 20 cm deep but most of it
was cleaned up. All of the cars have a dust on them and the roofs of the
building have lava bits between all of the ceramic shingles. It was
interesting and comfortable though not as dramatic as other volcanoes that we
have seen...and Clive rested most of the day with a cold. This island
seems to have figures out how to get lots of tourists ...many from the ships
to the sights quickly and in short order. I saw at least 3 different
cruise ship groups. I wandered quite a way up the volcano - away from
the masses. In parts it was like walking up a hill of sand. Found
some snow underneath the volcanic debris. Pretty relaxing and a
bit of a workout.
Figuring
out the buses in Catania is a real challenge...and we have figured them out
all over the world. Not that far to go but the numbers and maps dont
jive very well and these Italians are for the most part quite surly...unless
they work in the tourist trade. Anyways we did make it to a restaurant
recommended in Lonely Planet. It did mention that you would have to be
patient for mamas cooking. We learned...sort of ...before we left.
We arrived about 7.20 pm and were the first customers as 7.30 appears to be
opening time. We finally got served about 8:30. Meantime the
restaurant had 12 other couples with wine, water, or beer and bread waiting
for food to arrive. The waiter arrived late for work so the jack of all
trades - taking orders, receiving groceries and probably cooking took our
order. Mama screamed in the kitchen a few times during our time
there. The waiter (that arrived late) was helping in the kitchen when I
tried to pay the bill then it took him a couple of minutes fumbling to find
our change. It would have made a good Faulty Towers episode. Oh,
to have stayed all evening and watched the people wait for their food.
Ours took an hour and we were there first!!! I think that they need to
hire some kitchen staff...or guests that may be happy with bread and
liquid.
How
was the food? Fine but not wonderful though the place was cute.
Vegetarian carbonara and sardines stuffed with pine nuts, raisins and cheese
and breadcrumbs and a tomato salad with a little basil.
We enjoyed Sicily but found it quite poor.
Summing up, we enjoyed the cappucinos, gelatos, pizzas, croissants, wine and so on in Italy. We found that the ingredients in most places were the same so the menus seemed to resemble one another quite a bit. I was expecting a little more variety. We did not find the Italians to be as friendly as we had expected - unless they were in the tourist industry. In fact, a few of the bus drivers were most unhelpful...and that made Catania quite difficult to navigate (as the buses were hard to figure out with no Italian and difficulty sorting it out - harder than China even!)..so we walked further than we wished. However, at a small train station, we loved it because it was so important that we enjoy our coffee (and water and candy) and get on the next right train. So we found ups and downs but I think that we came home thinking this was good but not as good as most other places that we have been. We had some wonderful experiences and some ok ones....a few days of rain really is not welcome when on holiday...you make the best of it but really it is better in the sunshine. My planning was superb and it made everything roll smootly - ideas for activities every day and hotels all prebooked saved heaps of time daily. An extra day in Taormina would have been nice but otherwise perfect. Too bad we were not interested in all the sights of Palermo but we enjoyed our choices immensely (the beach and the opera).
Sun, Apr 21, Rome Arrive Villa Rosa
Mon, Apr 22, Rome
Tue, Apr 23, Naples by Train
Wed, Apr 24 Sorrento Explore – Theatre Ulisse deluxe72 euros
Thu, Apr 25 Sorrento pompeii teatro
tasso folklore(missed but recommend), great for wandering and
shopping try the restaurant Inn Bufalito (our favorite)
shopping try the restaurant Inn Bufalito (our favorite)
Fri, Apr 26 Positano footpath of
the gods Poistano P.to Monte Pertuso & Nocele-Prairano pensione
marialuisa 70
marialuisa 70
Sat, Apr 27 Amalfi or other bus to
Revello down walk to minori daily opera may 11, 3,9 albergo
sant'andrea 75e but too rainy so enjoyed eating and a glass of wine. Great town square but
rained!
sant'andrea 75e but too rainy so enjoyed eating and a glass of wine. Great town square but
rained!
Sun, Apr 28 Taormina travel
day 1400train -1900? hotel condor 74 total eurow/o view bkfst
hotels.com. The most wonderful hotel and fabulous view. Definitely needed another night here.
Excellent restaurant Tiramasu - pizza and tiramasu and wished we could come back. A tourist
town
Mon, Apr 29 catania bandb catania city centre 42 hotels.com ok Not a very nice city.
hotels.com. The most wonderful hotel and fabulous view. Definitely needed another night here.
Excellent restaurant Tiramasu - pizza and tiramasu and wished we could come back. A tourist
town
Mon, Apr 29 catania bandb catania city centre 42 hotels.com ok Not a very nice city.
Tue, Apr 30 catania mt.
etna
Wed, May 1 Syracuse and amphitheatre piccolo hotel casa mia very good, good location
Thu, May 2 Agrigento travel
day Fiori di Girgent b&b 39direct vs. 45 hotels.com
Fri, May 3Agrigento Temple of the
Gods
Sat, May 4 Palermo travel and
theatre Ai vicere b&
Sun, May 5 Palermo explore
–theatre
Mon, May 6 Palermo Flight
