Rome - The Eternal City, The City of Fountains

 

Roma!  What can I say?  It is wonderful!  Rome is one and a half hours from the port of Civitavecchia.  You won’t have enough time to see everything, so try to get to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain (be sure to toss some coins to insure  your return to Rome), the Pantheon, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museum if you can. We took a ship sponsored tour on our first Mediterranean cruise and were not disappointed.  We saw all of the sites and had a traditional Italian lunch complete with wine!  I was so enchanted that I asked the maitre d’ for a souvenir book of matches and he gave me a bottle of Chianti, saying “For you… Come Back to Roma, Ciao” and then a big hug and kisses on both cheeks.  We enjoyed the Chianti on our balcony later that evening while listening to Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partiro! 

The next time we arrived by cruise ship, we took the ship’s tour “Rome on your Own”.   The tour bus takes you to Rome, drops you off in Vatican City, and brings you back to the ship later that day.  Rome is very walkable, but you will need a map, which you will get from your bus driver.  There are several hop-on hop-off buses that will give you a great overview.  If you do Rome on your own, be sure to have lunch in Piazza Navona.  It’s one of the fun piazzas in Rome with lots of musicians serenading you as you dine.  And most definitely be sure to have gelato!  It is “out of this world”! 

The third time we visited Rome, we spent several days before embarking our cruise so we got a true feel for Roma. Once again, we did the hop-on hop-off bus and visited all the great sites & had lunch in a most wonderful pizzeria, complete with the best salad I've had in my entire life and wonderful vino... Ken had the house red & I had the house white.  The house wines in Italy are to die for!  The pizzas aren't so great in Rome but the pasta is pretty good.  
This time we stayed at the MarcellaRoyal Rome & I highly recommend it, as well as Stefano of RomeCabs who provided our transfers.  Stefano also provides wonderful tours of Rome as well.  The Marcella Royal Hotel is a boutique hotel in a quieter neighborhood of Rome; but it’s only about a 15 to 20 minute walk from some of the major historical sites.