Shawna was turning 55 this summer and we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary so we decided to spend the summer in Europe, visiting Italy, France, Switzerland and England. During the summer, we also went to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) for a two week safari.
The first stop on the trip was two weeks in Italy with the NC Gang - John/JoAnna, Phil/Joyce and Kim/Jonathan. Shawna's friend Chris also joined us for the second week in Tuscany.
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| The crew in Tuscany at the Villa |
Rome
We stayed in Rome for four nights, arriving one night before the rest of the gang.
Accommodations:
Rubens Collection - The place has six rooms that are small but very nice and comfortable. In particular, the shower was amazing. It's also in a great location, easily walkable to most sights. It's on a quiet street but at times, you can hear people in other rooms.
Activities:
While in Rome, we did the following activities:
Walk around Rome - Joyce and Phil arrived early on Saturday morning while the rest of the crew arrived early evening. So we walked around Rome with the two of them, stopping by the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We also walked up the steps that overlook the Popolo Plaza so we can see views of the city.
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| Trevi Fountain |
Roman Forum and Colosseum - The first Sunday of the month is free museum day so we got up early and stood in line to get tickets to these two attractions. Thankfully, the line was not too bad. We first walked around the Forum and then went inside the Colosseum. Unfortunately, Phil's wallet was stollen from his waist belt while we were walking around - thankfully, we noticed it quickly so he could cancel his credit cards.
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| Roman Forum |
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| Colosseum |
San Clemente Church - Kate had recommended that we go to this church so we did. It's famous by having multiple underground levels so that you can see how Rome was built on top of multiple layers.
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| San Clemente |
Golf Cart Tour of Rome - We did this tour in the evening stopping by: Gianicolo Hill to see the city, Fontana dell'Acqua Paola, Forum, Colosseum, a few churches, Trevi Fountain where we saw a laser light show advertising a tennis tournament, Spanish Steps and Navona Plaza. It was cool to see these sights at night.
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| View of the city from Gianicolo Hill |
St Peter's Church - We went in the morning and thankfully the line moved quickly. We spent about an hour walking around inside, including going down to the catacombs.
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| St Peter's Cathedral |
Church of St Louis of the French - Another place recommended by Kate so we popped in for a few minutes on our way to the Pantheon.
Pantheon - We got tickets in advance and went inside to see the very cool dome which is the largest un-reinforced concrete dome in the world which is also almost 2K years old.
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| Pantheon |
Vatican Tour - We got the evening tour and our guide was fantastic - very knowledgeable and funny. He pointed out all of the must see art and of course we ended the tour in the Sistine Chapel admiring the famous paintings of Michelangelo.
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| Vatican |
Restaurants:
Hosteria Grappolo D'Oro - We found out that Dawn and Stuart were going to be in Rome at the same time as us so we met up with them for dinner our first night. The place was great - we shared a few appetizers for the table and then we split a pasta and lamb dish for our entree.
Mr Brown Pub - Located in Trastevere, we stopped here for a few drinks before dinner. Good selection of beer and cocktails.
Come 'na Vorta Pasta e Vino - There are a few locations of this restaurant - we had dinner at the one in Trastevere. Great pasta.
Rimessa - There are two locations of this place next to the hotel - one right next door and another around the corner. JoAnna and Shawna had drinks here one night and most of us had a late dinner here another night. The manager is super nice and the food was great.
Grand Cafe Rione VIII - We stopped here for pasties and coffee on our way to the Forum. Great selection of pastries.
Bottega67 - Located near the Coliseum, we had pizza here for lunch - lots of options for slices where you can choose how much of a slice you want.
Prosciutteria Cantina dei Papi - Located in Trastevere, we had dinner here - small place with great sandwich options.
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| Dinner at Prosciutteria Cantina dei Papi |
Gelatteria SM Maggiore - We stopped here on our golf car tour. The gelato is very creamy.
Pancia Felice Trattoria Romana - Located near the Vatican, we had lunch here sharing two pastas - both very good.
Magus Bistro and Winery - Located in Campo di Fiori square, we stopped here for a beer.
Osteria Nuvolari - Located near the Vatican, we had dinner here, sharing a pasta and the meatballs. Also very tasty.
Amalfi Coast
We stayed in Sorrento for four nights - Sorrento is the cheaper place to stay on the Amalfi Coast and is convenient to both the coast and Pompeii. We picked up our rental cars at the Rome airport and then drove to Sorrento, stopping in Cassino on the way to see the Montecassino Abbey and grabbing a quick pizza lunch in town at Mamma Mia. The abbey has been destroyed/bombed several times over the years, the most recent of which was during WWII - it was this bombing that allowed the US to advance further into Italy. We also stopped at the Commonwealth Cemetery which is where the soldiers from the Commonwealth countries were buried.
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| Montecassino Abbey |
Accommodations:
Syrrenton Home - We stayed at this cute, small hotel where there are only four rooms so we took up the whole place. Each room was a nice size and are modern with great showers. What really made this place stand out was the owner, Giacomo, who was so incredibly nice and welcoming. It was Joyce's birthday while we were there so Shawna had arranged with him to put flowers in her room. His wife also baked her a lemon cake for her actual birthday and he came by one day to give us a taste of his homemade limoncello. Breakfast was included which was a hot beverage, juice and pastry of choice at the bistro next door.
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| Lemoncello with Giacomo |
Activities:
Pompeii and Vesuvius Tour - We got picked up from our hotel and we drove to Pompeii where we had a three hour tour. We learned quite a bit about the innovations of ancient Romans, many of which we still use today - including how the roads, sidewalks and drainage were built. While it was our third time visiting Pompeii, it is still such a cool place to see and we learned a few new things (some of which could have been forgotten from the prior visits!). We then drove to Mt Vesuvius where we hiked 1 mile and almost 1K feet in elevation to get to the crater which was also very cool to see.
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| Pompeii |
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| Mt Vesuvius |
Amalfi Coast Boat Tour - We walked to the marina in Sorrento where we boarded our private boat that took us along the Amalfi Coast. We rode through the Li Galli islands and then stopped in Amalfi to walk around for 90 minutes. Our next stop was Positano where we walked around for 45 minutes. We wish we had more time there as it is very cute with lots of little alley ways to get lost in. Our final stop was the restaurant in Nerano where we had lunch. We celebrated Joyce's birthday on the boat with prosecco and lemon spritz's.
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| Amalfi Coast |
Capri - All but Phil and Joyce took the ferry over to Capri where we took the funicular up to the top, walked around, came back down and had lunch. Beautiful island with lots of narrow lanes and expensive hotels and shops.
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| Capri |
Cooking Class - For our final dinner on the coast, we did this cooking class - they picked us up from the bus terminal and took us via golf carts to a hotel up on the hillside with beautiful views. We were joined by 7 other guests. We made pizza, ravioli, a beef dish and limoncello tiramisu. The chef was quite funny with her direct style.
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| Cooking Class |
Restaurants:
Nalu Trattoria - Located in Sorrento, we had dinner here our first night. Both the restaurant and the food were great. We had some really good wine here and they gave us some free limoncello tastes.
Le Ptit Bistr96 - Located next to our hotel in Sorrento, this is where the group had breakfast and we had drinks here one night after dinner.
Ristorante Kona - Located near Vesuvius, we had lunch here while on our tour of Pompeii and Vesuvius. We had a pizza which was pretty good. The best part was the panzanella salad which we got to start - very tasty! Nice views.
O'Parrucchiano La Favorita - Located in Sorrento, we had dinner here, known to be the oldest in town and the creator of cannelloni. The place is very large and cute with lemon trees and flowers all around. We had a yummy salad and fish dish.
Ristorate il Cantuccio Nerano - Located in Nerano, we stopped here for a late lunch on our boat tour of the coast. They are famous for their zucchini pasta which we had with a fish and a few appetizers shared at the table. The food was great but it was expensive!
Ibis Garden Restaurant - Located in Sorrento, we had dinner here sitting in a garden. We were all quite full from our late lunch so we shared a bruschetta and a veggie pasta - both tasty.
Limo - Located on Capri, we had lunch here sharing a salad and poke bowl - both great.
Tuscany
Accommodations:
Casa Felicita Villa - We rented this villa for a week which is a five bedroom house, each with king beds and their own bathrooms. It is located about 20 minutes NE of Siena. It has a swimming pool with a wonderful outside deck where we could enjoy our meals. The decor is very modern, light and airy and there are amazing views of the valley. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cool and rainy so we were not able to take advantage of the pool and were only able to have dinner on the deck one evening. We would definitely stay here again.
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| Our villa |
Activities:
Private Chef Dinner at the Villa - For our first evening, we arranged for a chef (Claudio) to cook us dinner. We started with various charcuterie dishes, then had a panzanella salad, two pastas (wild boar ragu and cacio e pepe), grilled meats and veggies and then sautéed pears with ice cream for dessert. We sat outside enjoying the views with wine and the amazing food.
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| Claudio, our private chef |
Wine Tour - We arranged for this tour through the villa booking agency. Two vans picked us up and took us to three wineries, all located NE of Florence so it took us about 1.5 hours each way to drive. If we were to do it again, we would choose wineries closer to where we were staying. The first winery (Tenuta Bossi) was great with lots of history and good wines. The next two (Fattoria Lavacchio and Castello di Trebbio) were OK - we had a light lunch at the second winery with large charcuterie platters.
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| Wine Tour |
Day at the Villa - We picked one day to just relax at the villa. Unfortunately, the weather was too cool to enjoy the pool but we all really enjoyed having a break. We got a masseuse to come to the villa and six of us each got one hour massages which was much needed! We had lunch at the villa - salad with leftover meats and then Joyce and Shawna made dinner - caprese salad, cacio e pepe pasta, eggplant parmesan and gelato. Chris had brought ingredients to make key lime martinis so we had that along with wine.
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| Day at the villa - key lime martinis |
Day in Florence - We drove to Florence and Chris had arranged a three hour walking tour that took us to the Academia Museum to see the statue of David. We then walked around to see various churches, squares, old palaces and government buildings and ended at the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral which has the third largest dome in the world. After the tour, everyone was on their own until we met up for dinner so Keith and Shawna walked around going inside the Santa Croce church where we saw the graves of Galileo and Michelangelo. We then met up with Jodi who was also in town for the evening and walked around the Boboli Gardens before meeting up with the rest of the gang for dinner.
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| Florence |
Day in Siena - We drove into Siena where John had arranged a three hour food tour which included five stops as well as seeing some of the signs in town, including the famous Siena Cathedral and the Piazza del Campo where they run the Palio horse races each year. After the tour, we walked around a bit before heading back to the villa. During the tour, we stopped at:
- Rombo e Vas where we had a tasting of cheeses and meats along with wine
- Osteria Cice where we could order one of several pasta or stew dishes - Shawna and Keith shared two different pastas
- La Vecchia Latteria where we had our choice of gelato - Shawna got pistachio and Keith got straciatella
- A shop on the plaza (did not record the name) where we sampled a few different cookies
- Nannini where we had our choice of coffee
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| Siena Cathedral |
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| Osteria Cice - one of the food tour stops |
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| San Gimignano |
Keith left early on the Friday morning to drive to Kandersteg as he was presenting at the Member's Meeting and was running for Committee - he got on the Committee! The rest of the crew stayed for another full day in Tuscany.
Day in Pienza - Pecorino cheese was first created in Pienza so we started our day with a 1.5 hour cheese making/tasting tour. We visited a farm where they make various types of pecorino for distribution in local markets and restaurants. We learned about the cheese making process and also learned that they use the leftover whey to make ricotta. We then tasted their cheese as well as their olive oil. The tour was awesome as was the tasting! We then drove into Pienza and walked around - the town is very cute. We had lunch and then visited the Vitaleta Chapel which is a tiny chapel with beautiful views of the countryside - the original plan was to hike along the hills from here into town but unfortunately it was too rainy so we just quickly visited the chapel which unfortunately was closed so we could not go inside.
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| Cheese tour |
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| Pienza |
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| Vitaleta Chapel |
Drive back to Rome - We checked out of the villa and drove back to Rome where we stayed one more night at the Hilton Rome Airport before we all flew out the next day. Chris shared a room with Shawna and they had a spa night with masks and wine while chatting. On our way to Rome, we stopped in Orvieto which is another cool hilltop town. We first walked down and up the almost 300 steps of St Patrick's Well which was used to bring water up to the town by horse. We tried to do the Underground tour but the timing did not work so instead we went inside the Orvieto Cathedral which is quite impressive. We walked around the town a bit more, had lunch and then drove back to Rome.
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| St Patrick's Well |
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| Orvieto Cathedral |
Restaurants:
In addition to getting the private chef (see above) the first night, we cooked at the villa a few other nights as well. One night Shawna and Joyce cooked (see above for Day at the Villa). Another night, the gang waited on Shawna and Keith 'hand and foot' where we were not allowed to lift a finger. They made hummus with veggies and pita for an appetizer, roasted chicken and orzo for our main and ice cream and cookies for dessert. And our last night, Chris made tomato soup and Shawna made a salad and grilled cheese sandwiches. Each of these nights involved lots of cocktails, wine and beer.
Pizza Pie - Located in Radda in Chianti, we got pizzas from here and brought them back to the villa. Very tasty.
Mercado Centrale - This is the central market in Florence where there is a large food court upstairs. We had lunch here, each getting our own food. We shared a couple of slices of pizza.
Casa de Vin Santo - Located in Florence, we had an early dinner here - sharing a large Florentine steak for an appetizer and then we each got our own entrees. Jodi joined us for dinner. Good food.
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| Dinner at Casa de Vin Santo |
Antica Macelleria - Located in San Gimignano, we had lunch here sharing a tasty salad and pasta.
Al Fierale - Located in Pienza, we had lunch here. Shawna got the lasagna which was very good.
Osteria da Mamma Angela - Located in Orvieto, we had lunch at this cute restaurant. Shawna got the sausage and potatoes which was tasty.
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| Lunch at Osteria da Mamma Angela |
Hilton Rome Airport - Our last night's meal was at the hotel and while not as quaint as the rest of our dining, the food was pretty good. We had a few drinks in the lobby while we waited for dinner and then Shawna shared a pizza, salad and caprese with JoAnna and Kim.
