Monthly Archives: November 2012

Day 18 – Last Day

16th June 2012

They say all good things must come to an end, well today’s the day to say goodbye to everyone on the tour. A few of us had a little sniffle with promises to stay in touch so I hope we do. There aren’t many of us staying on in Rome, some had spent time here before the tour started and others are going elsewhere and then coming back later.

If you’re interested I travelled with Albatross Tours on their Italian Grande tour. They are an Australian company and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough. Everything about the tour was fantastic and exceeded all my expectations and to clarify, this is just my travel diary, Albatross have certainly not paid or sponsored me to write any of this.

Now I’m really on my own – don’t know which emotion is winning at the moment – excitement or anxiety, so I guess the only way to find out is to get out there and start exploring.

Thanks to those of you reading and following my blog, it feels like you’re keeping me company on my new adventures both travel-wise and blogging. Next up will be my week in Rome on my own and then I’ll be joining one of my daughters in Athens for 10 days in the Greek Isles – I think excitement is going to win!!

5 Comments

Filed under Italy, Mid-life travel, Travel

Day 17 – Roma!

15th June 2012

Fishing Maiori style

Fishing Maiori style

I had a wander around the town and down to the water for a last few photos this morning before we left. There weren’t many fishermen around but the one I did see was eye-catching, I don’t think he could get any closer to the edge if he tried!

We’ll be in Rome tonight, yay! Our driver and guide look very suave in their suits this morning. Maybe you don’t notice or appreciate little things after a while but it made the day seem special to me. Also the fact that they’ve genuinely been so nice and helpful to everyone gives you a good feeling. Anyhow, enough of the warm fuzzies for now..

For some reason lots of people seemed on edge this morning while we were on the coast road, even the tour guide seemed quite watchful. Me, I was still craning my neck to see everything and hopefully get some photos without reflections from the windows, and I thought Andrea did a wonderful job again. It took longer than I expected to reach Rome but when we arrived on the outskirts we picked up another guide, had a driving tour around and saw heaps of the famous sights. It was a pretty surreal way to first see places like the Colosseum, the Forum and Vatican but was a great introduction and orientation.

First glimpse ever of the Colosseum

First glimpse ever of the Colosseum

I can’t wait to start exploring on my own tomorrow although I’m not sure where to start first there’s so much I want to see. One of the couples in the group have lent me a great little book called Walking Tours of Rome so I’ve been studying that the last few days and my list grows longer all the time.

We had our farewell dinner tonight at a restaurant just across the road from the  Teatro dell’Opera, only a short walk from our hotel. We had a very authentic menu with about 6 courses I think, I keep losing count. Every dish and the wines were delicious, the waiters were lovely and the company was unbeatable, we had an absolute ball.

Leave a comment

Filed under Italy, Mid-life travel, Travel

Day 16 – Amalfi Coast

14th June 2012

Maiori port, Italy

Maiori port, Italy

I love walking to the little port  in Maiori from our hotel. We pass some charming cafe’s on the way and once we arrive there’s all the pretty boats and old men sitting repairing fishing nets. Today  we’re off to Amalfi first and then Positano. We were early to Amalfi so it wasn’t crowded and didn’t feel terribly touristy.

Paper Museum, Amalfi Italy

Paper Museum, Amalfi Italy

I was keen to have a look around the paper museum so headed off in the general direction and ended up there with Rita, Tony, Jenny and Dorian. The young man who took us around was a real treat. He had some curious twists to his English that took a little understanding but was an absolute treasure trove of information. We made a piece of paper in the mill using the same setup that’s been there for hundreds of years. It was wonderful to see the original hammers, vats and water wheel still in place and working.

Positano Italy

Positano Italy

Another short ferry ride and we were at Positano which was far busier but just as gorgeous I think. There seemed to be good shopping but I only bought a couple of postcards, I figure there’s too much to see to spend all my time inside shops. A few of us had lunch and a couple of wines together up in the back streets before heading down to the port for our journey home to Maiori.

Good old Jenny  helped relieve the boredom on the ferry ride back. I have photos of her trying to pole dance and do the Titanic pose at the same time – Gilberto is in the background looking at the pair of us as if we’re idiots. He could be right, but it kept us awake and laughing and that’s got to be a good thing I say.

Limoncello tasting this afternoon in Maiori – all I have to say is YUM!! I bought a couple of little bottles to take home for the kids to try – or maybe for me to enjoy between now and when I go home, whichever!!

It’s almost the end of our tour, tomorrow will be our last day on the bus. If I think about it I start to feel sad so I’ll just not think about it yet. Off to dinner now and then the dreaded packing again, thank goodness we’ve had stays of more than one night everywhere.

4 Comments

Filed under Italy, Mid-life travel, Travel

Day 15 – Isle of Capri

13th June 2012

On the way up to Anacapri

On the way up to Anacapri

We were entertained last night at the hotel while we had welcome drinks by our tour guide and the maitre’de singing up a storm. They had good voices but the maitre’de looked like someone out of a mafia movie with his white suit coat and bow tie and our tour guide was hamming it up big time so it really was quite comical. Some of us then adjourned to the rooftop terrace after dinner  where we demolished quite a few bottles of wine and talked and laughed until the wee hours. It was a terrific end to a truly great day – another one!!

The boat trip to the Isle of Capri  was  a bit of an adventure at times. Jan & I were sitting out the front of the boat having a good old chat to another small group of people and we almost all got blown away when we got up to speed. Everyone was hanging to to hats, bags, sunnies and each other for dear life and then the water started spraying in as well – we were absolutely soaked but laughing fit to split. We got some lovely pics of the two of us, all windswept and gorgeous – not really, we looked like a pair of drowned rats – but it was great fun and we dried quickly once the spray stopped.

View from Mt Solaro

View from Mt Solaro

The views on the road up to Anacapri, at the top of the island, were simply breathtaking and the village itself was lovely but so crowded it was uncomfortable at times just walking along the streets because of the crush of people. I didn’t have a lot of time in the town as I took the chairlift up Mount Solaro with some of the others. I thought the views earlier were amazing but it just got better and they kept coming. I only walked a short way from the chairlift station and I was at the edge of the lookout, speechless again – it’s all so beautiful. There were also intriguing sights beneath us on the chairlift, I saw some of the wackiest garden ornaments ever, obviously a few people with a quirky sense of humour around.

Back down the hairpin bendy road to Capri where I had a quick window shop at a few boutiques but I’m a bit over shopping at the moment. Jenny, Dorian and I had lunch together at a lovely restaurant overlooking the sea and we then sat with Margaret and Ron people watching until it was time to leave. We must be showing our age I think, being happy to sit and talk instead of running around like mad things shopping and sightseeing. I’ve had so much fun with everyone on the tour it’s going to be hard leaving the group when we get to Rome. Best not to think about that though, we’ve got a few more days yet.

Gardens beneath the chairlift

Gardens beneath the chairlift

It was a much more sedate ride back this afternoon, I had my first nanna nap of the trip – all that fresh sea air must have tuckered me out. I could get used to the siesta thing though, I was full of beans again when we got back to Maiori and had a nice wander around this evening. It seems a less touristy place than most others we’ve stayed at, with more Italian families holidaying here than foreigners. All the oldies were out for their afternoon session sitting around together chatting and laughing – I’d love to know what theytalk about every day – but they sure do make great photos.

2 Comments

Filed under Italy, Mid-life travel, Travel