"Tour around Italy" a Italy Travel Page by cas_twemlow

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Bridge of Sighs

Italy

In the last two weeks of July we went on a 10 day tour around Italy and then took a break and crashed-and-burned on the beaches of the Amalfi Coast for four days. The tour was FANTASTIC and the people and our guide were awesome. We had never been on an organised tour before so didn't know what to expect. When the brochure said 'extra leisurely' all it meant was that in some towns we would spend more that one night - aside from that, it was all go, go, GO!

We started in Rome and met up with couples, families and groups of friends of all ages from all over the world. In Rome we went to the obvious places being the Coliseum and the Roman Forums, the 'Wedding Cake', the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and onto the Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica.

The Coliseum and St. Peters were amazing and probably my favourite. After watching Gladiator (I know what you're thinking!) it was great to see and stand in the Coliseum for real myself. St. Peters was just beautiful and the pictures all over the world don't do the Sistene Chapel any justice. I could have spent days in there finding something new on the ceiling! As a tip, definitely get a tour guide to point out specific, special and meaningful parts of the Chapel's ceiling. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and was able to tell us stories about the individual paintings on the ceiling, what they meant, who they were and a brief history. Brilliant!

After Rome, we skipped up to Assissi and spent a night just below St. Francis' Basillica. The town was very pretty as it is perched up on a hill and has lots of little nooks and crannys to get lost in. It was also very quiet and we saw religious worshipers everywhere we went! One night spent here and the next morning we continued on to Venice.

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Us by the Rialto

Venice was truly amazing! They say it can sometimes smell in summer, but we smelt nothing foul and were just relived to be close to some water so it meant we were cooler! We wandered past St. Mark's Cathedral taking in the glorious weather, beautiful buildings, great company and many glass and art stalls. By night wee head off on a canal cruise on which the tour guide pointed out all the famous structures along the Grand Canal. Under the Rialto and the Bridge of Sighs, and past open cafes we finally settled back at St. Marks Square for late night entertainment in front of a live quartet.

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Leaning Tower of Pisa

The next morning it was off to Pisa, where we saw the Leaning Tower, and then to Florence and Montecatini Termi. Florence, like Rome, was so fully of history and art and churches! Here we went and saw David and went shoe shopping! After two nights here though, we had a long bus journey ahead of us as the next day we drove along the coast down to Naples. It was soooooooo much cooler down by the seaside and it was then even better to jump on a ferry across to Capri and Ana Capri. The people seemed more relaxed south of Rome and their diet wasn't as rich. Along the coast closer to Sorrento and out at Capri there were heaps of painted tiles for sales wall tiles that had very colourful paintings of the places you were along the coast. These were beautiful but often expensive.

Two nights in Naples and the tour ended. From here my boyfriend and I stayed on and went further south along the Amalfi Coast to Positano where we put our feet up for four days! Unlike beaches at home where the sun, surf and sand is on your door step, Positano offered only the sun and for four days we trekked up and down the five hundred steep steps to get to the small pebble-y beach with no sand or waves! It was also a case of 'spot the Italian' half the time as so many people that visit Positano are holiday makers. It wasn't disappointing, it just wasn't what we were expecting. We did however, spot Juliette Lewis at the same restaurant as us one night and the all the other places we ate were fantastic, often with amazing views out to the blue ocean.