All Roads Lead to Rome

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Thursday 16th September 2010
City Rome, Italy
Currency $NZ 0.55 = 1EUR
Climate low 15c - high 28c - fine and sunny

Up early and on the road to Rome. We took a gorgeous scenic route and took some great photos. They say “all roads lead to Rome” - and this was lucky as when we approached the enormous city we were met with many options for ways in. Not having a detailed map (yes, stupid we know) - we had to rely on gut instinct. Shaun was amazing at driving through the streets, making snappy decisions at a great pace and looking good at the same time - especially as his hair is growing long like an italian model! Justine and Jennie wondered how there aren’t more accidents. We had a drop off time for the rental car of 2.18pm and we started to panic a little around 2pm when we had no real idea of how to find the depot. We stopped and got a map from a hotel whose wonderful concierge marked the spot on a map for us. This was great - although the map was only of a small area and we didn’t realise when we drove off the map and couldn’t find the street names or our way back. In the end we drove around the park knowing this was in the general area - just hoping that the Hertz sign would reveal itself. Luckily for us it did and we followed the signs into an underground car park - almost impossible to find. Relieved at only just missing the deadline - we were fortunate not to be charged any extra time -which would be a full day! A taxi took us to our respective lodgings and we agreed to all meet up later at the Trevi fountain. Shaun was particularly pleased to be in the apartment (Green Tea, 6 Via Serpenti) after the stress of driving through Rome, which fortunately only gave him one more tiny grey hair. We were met by Paola who owns the apartment and she showed us around and gave us the keys. It is a great apartment with everything we need. It is very close to the Colosseum - we can see it at the end of our street and it is just a short walk to all the other fantastic sites in the Historic District. After a quick spruce up we ventured off to find the others. The Trevi was fantastic and as expected very crowded. We threw in the mandatory coin so that we are assured of returning to Rome."the eternal city" - and went to find dinner. We ate at a great outdoor restaurant with very animated waiters. To finish they brought us a bottle of lemoncello to sip on as we let the food digest . Obviously they didn't realise that we were Kiwis, and it would have been rude not to finish the whole bottle off! When Justine left us to get ready for her flight tomorrow we decided to explore this little town. Around the area where we are staying there are some great little restaurants, gelaterias and bars. We thought it would only be right to try out a local bar - so we did this before bed - served by a guy from Ireland. It was fun but we were a little surprised that we were told to be quiet - as the people upstairs would complain! The four of us called it a night about 1.30am.

Date Friday 17th September 2010
Climate low 16c - high 28c - fine and sunny

Our last full day in Rome - so thought we should see a few sights that we hadn’t done previously. But first we wanted to sort out a rental car for tomorrow. As we knew the rental car collection points (not drop offs)were at the train station we wandered down there to check it out. Alas - no cars!! We tried everyone but to no avail! Therefore we decided on a train to Naples and that collecting a car there would be the answer. So we bought a train ticket for 1pm tomorrow - the fast train non-stop to Naples. 47EUR each.
Once that was sorted we walked around the city, sightseeing - stopping for some food and for Jennie to purchase a couple of cheap sundresses. The sights we made it to were the Pantheon, the Trevi for the second time and stopped to take a photo of the National Monument. We would go back tomorrow before the train trip to walk up the amazing Monument and see the museum inside. We also came across a lovely wooden toymakers shop - Pinnochio was very evident - so gorgeous! Returning to the apartment about 5pm we did some internet research on accommodation and rental cars. Before leaving for dinner we had booked our accommodation in Sorrento and arranged for a car pick-up in Naples tomorrow. Dinner tonight was Indian - yum!

Date Saturday 18th September 2010
City Rome - Naples - Sorrento, Italy
Climate low 16c - high 28c - fine - slightly overcast

We were heading South on the fast train to Naples today at 1.00pm so we had the morning to finish off our sightseeing. We enjoyed a leisurely walk to the Spanish steps, with very few people out and about at 9.30am. After this it was time to partake in a coffee and a Marmalat croissant at a cafe called AutoGrill. We were very Mediterranean and had our breakfast standing up. Refreshed, refuelled and recaffeinated we made our way to the National Monument, at the intersection of Via Nazionale and Via Del Corso. This is an amazing monument with a couple of museums hidden within its immense base. We scaled the polished external marble steps, past the ever watchful whistle police, ready to blow their piercing weapon at the first sign of a tourist sitting on the steps or eating. They carried their whistle with menace and weren’t afraid to blow it until they were blue in the face! A nice surprise was to find a cafe hidden away at the rear of the monument near the top, providing a shady retreat to soak up the expansive sights spreading out in all directions. We enjoyed spending some time up there before exploring the labyrinth inside the monuments base. Aware of our time constraints, we strolled along Via Dei Fore Imperiali and viewed Caesar's forum before heading back to our apartment on Via Serpenti. We met with the owner of the apartment to say goodbye and as we stepped out onto the street a taxi was going by - so perfect timing! We had a quick trip to the train station and had an hour to relax before our departure. The fast train was fabulous, with comfy seats and the hour and 10 minutes to Naples passed very quickly. Once at Naples we jumped in a cab and had to negotiate the fee to the ferry terminal where we were to pick up our Hertz rental car. For whatever reason they weren’t using their meters and would just give you a price. We negotiated down from 20 Euro to 10 Euro plus luggage fee. Should’ve held back for more discount - as due to the language barrier we ended up walking for about 500 metres back to the Hertz depot from where he dropped us off!
The timing actually worked out OK as the office didn’t open until 3.00pm, so we were on the road with our feisty little 3 door Lancia by 3.30pm, Jennie the chief navigator leading us onto the autostrada with no problems at all. The roads would make you think you were on a rollercoaster! Once we arrived at the Sorrento peninsular we turned off the autostrada and slowed to a fast crawl as we made our way along the coast to find our accommodation for the night. We were booked at ‘The Secret Garden’ Relais in Piano di Sorrento from tomorrow night, but as we'd made such great time, we thought that hopefully there may be a vacancy there for tonight as well. We didn’t have a map of the Sorrento peninsular either so tried in vain to find a tourist office that could supply one. It wasn’t until we got into the town of Sorrento itself and found a small bookstore that we were sufficiently armed with said map to seek out our accommodation. First realisation - we had overshot ‘The Secret Garden’ by a few kms. Second realisation - there are a lot of very narrow and unmarked one-way streets throughout the whole area! After a frustrating half an hour of going around in circles and reversing out of narrow one way streets we eventually found the front door after abandoning the car and walking.
Third realisation - you really should book ahead at popular destinations! Unfortunately the owner said that they were fully booked, and after phoning around other accommodation to no avail, took pity on us and offered us her daughter’s bedroom, who was currently away at university. We gratefully accepted her offer and lugged all our bags the three floors to the room - complete with bed plus rollaway and plenty of teenager material (study books and photos on the walls). We felt immediately part of the family, also sharing a bathroom with other family members! After a quick change we headed out to explore the local piazza to find some dinner. We discovered a very popular eatery called ‘Le Tre Arcate’ Il ristorante (the 3 arches) in the piazza and settled in for a well deserved break.

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Comments

[Annmaree]

Travel writer
Hi guys Amazing blog, feel as though I am there with you. This is your new career ... travel writers !!