(Edit: Some pictures appear hazy. Click on any picture to see it at full resolution)
Italy is magnificent, and it is no secret to tourists as they flock to it. To avoid crowds, we took the kids off school for a week in October. The teachers were not happy. If they resisted an iota, I would have complained tit-for-tat about wasting three schools days on a trip to Salisbury Beach.
Out first stop was Rome via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.
The trip started rather scary. My dad got ill, and we were just about to cancel when some timely family help gave us the confidence to move on with the plan.
Rome
The flight arrived in Rome at 11 PM, and then Turkish Airlines lost our bag. We had no clothes for our first day in Rome other than what we wore on our flight.
We took the taxi to Airbnb condo in Rome, slept for a few hours, then off to exploration.
Day - 1
Rome has excellent public transportation. We got to Piazza Venezia on a tram, then walked all day to everywhere we wanted to go. We walked 14 miles on the first day, then took the tram back from Piazza Venezia to the condo.
The White Marble Memorial is at Piazza Venezia. You can climb its stairs up to get views of the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum from high up.
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| White Marble Memorial |
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| Clever lighting in the Sopra Church |
Right next to St. Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica lies Pantheon. This is a must see building made by Romans two thousand years ago. You Marvel at the grand scale of its dome. It has been converted to a church.
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| Pantheon Dome |
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| Church in Pantheon |
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| People looking up at the Pantheon Dome |
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| Momina at Piazza Novona |
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| Church of St. Louis of the French |
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| Church of St. Louis of the French (family on the right) |
You can walk to Spanish Steps from Piazza Novona. Spanish Steps is a shopping area with abundant brand name clothing. Keep the wife distracted, otherwise be ready to waste time on shopping. When you climb up on the steps, you have good city views.
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| Top of Spanish Steps |
There is a church on top of the Spanish Steps area that is worth visiting.
From Spanish Steps, we walked to Trevi Fountain. Since we were ahead of schedule, we visited it during the day, and found no real attraction. The fountains were closed for repairs and the place was full of tourists. You throw coins in the fountain so your wishes come true. We wished for timely delivery of our clothes by Turkish Airlines.
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| Trevi Fountain |
From Trevi Fountain, we walked back to Piazza Venezia. Since we had plenty of time, and had seen everything we wanted to see on the day 1 list, we relaxed at Piazza Venezia, then walked to the river.
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| Piazza Venezia |
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| Ruins near Piazza Venezia |
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| View from the Marble Monument |
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| Another view from the Marble Monument |
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| Marble Monument |
From Piazza Venezia, we walked across Tiber River to Trastevere area.
Trastevere is less touristy, and offers good food. The narrow, winding streets of Trastevere lead you to Basilica de Santa Maria. This is a magnificent church. We got to it when it was in session. Since I had a camera, I got some stares in the church, and hence I decided to leave. I visited it again on day 2 when it was not in session.
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| River Tiber (Family in the middle-left) | | | | | |
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A church (Too many churches to remember by name)
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We were told that Trastevere is not a good place for kids at night so we ate our dinner and took the tram back.
Day-2
Thanks to the God at Trevi Fountain, Turkish Airlines delivered our clothes and perfumes.
We took the tram to Piazza Venezia, then walked to the Roman Forum. The Forum, the Colosseum, and the Palatine Hill are co-located, and are paid sites. One ticket per person covers the entire area, and kids are free. We took the audio guide, and explored the Forum. The Forum and the Palatine Hill is a large area, and requires a lot of patience to cover. After all, its ruins, and if you are not interested in history, it will turn out to be very boring. So read something about Roman history before going there. I enjoyed it because I have some knowledge of the Roman history.
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| Roman Forum |
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| Forum from Palatine Hill |
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| Chariots raced here - killing the damned |
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| Walking to Colosseum |
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| Half of it fell due to an earthquake |
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| Long lines at Colosseum |
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| Sun shining on the Colosseum ruins |
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| Well here we are! at the Colosseum |
Exploring the Forum area took about three quarters of the day, then we walked to Trastevere to eat, and to photograph Basilica de Santa Maria.
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| Basilica de Santa Maria ceiling |
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| Basilica de Santa Maria |
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| Basilica de Santa Maria |
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| Basilica de Santa Maria, one of several ceilings |
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| Basilica de Santa Maria |
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| Tiber at night |
Then we took the tram back to our condo.
These last two pictures are view of the Colosseum area at night after we visited Vatican on Day 3.
Vatican
Day - 3
Vatican Museums. Magnificento! This was the highlight of our days in Rome.
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| The line to St. Peter Basilica starts under the lion on the left, curves behind me, then to the right into the dome behind Momina |
We reached the Vatican from Saint Peter's Basilica side. This is a large courtyard. The line to St. Peter Basilica starts under the lion on the left, curves
behind me, then to the right, then into the dome behind Momina. The line was a quarter mile long, and this too in off season. The museums are on the other side of the Vatican.
Hint: Purchase Vatican Museum tickets online several weeks before arrival, then visit the museums to avoid long lines, and a possibility of denied entry.
The Vatican Museums are a must see, although the Egyptian Museums in it are a waste of time.
The grandest of all is the Sistine Chapel.
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| Raphael! This place has so much art. |
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| Art everywhere |
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| Pantheon like dome in Vatican. Statue of Hercules on the right. |
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| More art. More gold. |
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| Quarter mile long ceiling, full of art. |
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| Largest canvas that is not a wall. 30 square meters? |
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| More work by Raphael. This is a ceiling! |
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| Another ceiling. |
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| Another ceiling. These paintings tell stories. |
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Sistine Chapel is the highlight of the museum. Expect half of Rome present there, looking up.
Taking pictures are not allowed in Sistine Chapel. However, I placed my camera on timer, and left it in a corner, then acted like I was just relaxing. The aperture was open for thirty seconds because flash was off, and ISO was low. The Chapel is so grand, that a multi story ladder fails to reach the roof in the picture below.
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| Grandest canvas of all. Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo. |
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| Sistine Chapel. Bible in Paintings. |
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| After Sistine Chapel, all art looks ordinary in comparison, and you quickly walk through the remaining hallways. |
Either the blue cheese pizza in the Vatican Museum Cafe was excellent, or we were too starved from a long walk in a crowded museum, or both. We came out, then headed back to St. Peter Basilica.
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| No Pope, no audience? |
After sitting, standing, and lying in the line for several hours, we entered St. Peter Basilica.
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| Grandest church of all: St Peter Basilica (ceiling) |
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| This is much bigger than it looks in the photo |
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| St. Peter Basilica |
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| The dome of St. Peter Basilica rises 180 feet as seen here |
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We took the bus back to our condo. Packed up, then on Day 4, took a train to Venice.
Murano and Venice
Day - 4. Travel and stroll around Murano.
I like to stay away from tourist hustle-bustle. I chose to stay away from touristy Venice and got an Airbnb condo in the Island of Murano. This was the best decision of the trip. Murano is mini Venice, about ten minute boat ride from Venice. Yet Murano offers what Venice does not... World class glass factories.
Our Airbnb host was Marco. Marco's condo is right on the water where the water bus stops.
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| Kids in Murano, in front of the condo we stayed in |
Day - 5.
Our host, Marco took us to his uncle's factory where kids learned how to make glass figures.
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| Inside of a one man glass factory |
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| A glass elephant under the flame |
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| Salt water corrodes everything. In the streets of Murano. |
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| Time for coffee. Wonder what is being explained. |
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| In front of Marco's glass shop. |
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| At a bigger glass factory, a ceiling fixture under work. |
We got to blow the glass.
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| An interesting glass/gold chandelier under work |
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| Glass kiln |
By the time we were done with Marco's glass factory tour, the water had risen several feet, and was covering the side walks. What fun for kids, and nightmare for parents!
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| Maheen looking for ways to cross the street |
We took the water bus from Murano to Venice, then through the narrow Venice streets to Realto Bridge.
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| Narrow alleys of Venice |
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| Streets near Realto Bridge are flooded, and people are walking on tables. |
Realto Bridge was not very impressive. Its under construction and there was a large photo of a model on it. Probably the construction was sponsored by that advertiser. There were too many people on it.
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| Even the restaurants are flooded |
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| Grand Canal trip in the city bus/boat |
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| Water entering the buildings |
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| Gondola at Grand Canal |
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| San Marco Square, full of tourists |
Some info about the public transport in Venice / Murano: Water taxi is expensive. No matter if you get a pass, or go ride by ride, it will cost a lot. I bought the official water bus pass for 36 hours (kids are not free) so I do not have to think about going broke on every ride. Then I used/abused the pass to go back and forth on Grand Canal couple of times, and stop in many places. The pass is the way to go. The ride to the airport is not included in the pass, and on the Alilaguna bus, you pay a fortune to get to the airport. The only other option is swimming.
The following pictures are taken at or near Grand Canal.
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| Blessings of sea creatures! |
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| A church on the other side of the canal |
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| Grand Canal |
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| The church on grand canal is big but ordinary in decorations by Italian standards |
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| Other side of canal |
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| Sunset at the grand canal |
The next day, we took the water bus to the airport on our flight to Naples.
Pompei
Day-6. We rented a car from Naples airport and drove to nearby Pompei. This is the ruins of an ancient city buried in 79 AD by volcanic ashes of Mount Vesuvius. There is a Hollywood flick on it which I have not seen. I parked in the hotel we had just checked in, then walked to the ruins entry.
A human guided tour is a must. The site is big, and its all ruins. Without the guide I can imagine anyone getting lost and/or bored pretty quickly. The guides will show you places, then explain their significance in the ancient society.
This is a place kids were looking forward to throughout the trip. This was kids day. They learned a lot here through our guide.
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| Its all ruins. This is a theatre. |
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| All this was buried under seven feet of ashes. This is the only roof that did not buckle. |
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| A symbol near a brothel. |
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| Mount Vesuvius from Pompei ruins |
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| People of Pompei? |
There is no town in Italy without a church, and Pompei has an impressive one. Pompei is a small city so I was surprised to see this big a church there. Its a short walk from the ruins, in the city centre.
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| Church in Pompei |
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| Ceiling with art in Pompei |
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| Impressive but its not St Peter Basilica |
We spent one full day in Pompei, although the ruins require one half day to see.
Ravello and Positano
Day - 7.
We got up early to spend a day in Amalfi Coast which is half an hour drive from Pompei near Salerno.
We were warned about difficulties of driving the Amalfi Coast in rental car. I think it was no big deal. In fact I had fun driving the SS163 road that visits several small towns on Amalfi Coast.
I got an automatic car (quite unusual in Italy), and folded its side mirrors. The road is narrow and you do not want to lose a side mirror to a car from the opposite side, or to a speeding Vespa.
Just practice common sense driving rules and you will be fine. If you cannot drive fast enough, slow down or stop to let people pass from behind. There are plenty of places along the road where you can stop for views but while driving, concentrate on the road.
Parking is quite expensive, but pay up and do not waste time in finding free parking as there is none.
We decided to visit Ravello and Positano.
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| Start of serpentine road SS163 |
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| A beach on Amalfi Coast |
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| Gardens of Ravello. |
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The Gardens of Ravello is a must see. There is an entry fee to the gardens. The gardens have a spectacular unrestricted view of the coast from a high up vista point.
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| More views from the garden |
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| Now I know where Kiwi comes from |
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| More views. |
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| Stuck van! Now thank me and back up. |
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| Ah so clear |
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| More views |
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| Lucky people live here |
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| A church not visited |
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| View of Positano from SS163 |
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| Caves near Positano |
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| Nice pose. |
When we got to Positano, we parked on the road then descended to the beach through narrow alleys.
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| Descending to the beach in Positano |
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| Climb back up will be quite strenuous. It was not. |
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| Another church not visited. Positano. |
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| Kids having fun on the Positano beach |
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| Sorrento. End of our trip. |
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| SS163 at Sorrento. |
From Sorrento, we drove to Naples, then continued on to Rome. Driving a car in Italy was a good experience and it was not difficult at all.
Day - 8.
Flight back to Boston. We were dead tired, and I slept on the floor of the aircraft cabin, under my family's feet. Our next trip will have lot less travel.
