Reset search
Italian Adventure Sep 2023Italian Adventure Sep 2023
SatelliteEdit route

Italian Adventure Sep 2023

September - October 2023
Travelling to Italy with a group of friends for 3 weeks, then five days in England to visit Joanna & Asher in Surrey. Read more
  • 34footprints
  • 4countries
  • 29days
  • 565photos
  • 0videos
  • 19.5kkilometers
  • 17.6kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 1

    First Flight

    September 16, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    About to take off. Vietnam Airlines 2.15 pm flight to Hanoi. Should take about 10 hours. Arrive close to midnight. Then on to Paris. Steve and Sandy are also on the flight.

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 2

    Paris

    September 17, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Our stopover in Hanoi was smooth. It was about 3 hours and I managed to find myself in a business lounge for about an hour of that time, which was pleasant, although Asian spicy food at 2am is never fantastic.
    The second flight on Vietnam Air was 12 hours long and I slept spasmodically.
    On arriving in Paris it was efficient through immigration and customs and then onto the RER train to Gare de Nord. From there we changed to the metro to catch a train to Richard Lenoir station, near where we
    had booked an Airbnb.
    Steve, Sandy and I dropped our bags at a Nannybag where we could leave them till we could get into our accommodation.
    Then we walked through the neighbourhood to the Bastille markets, which are a magic outdoor markets full of quality French food and other things. We bought some pastries, baguettes and dips and enjoyed a little picnic in the market.
    We then walked past the Bastille monument and towards the Marais district.
    We explored a 400 year old church within throwing distance of the Bastille, admired some patisseries, and then walked through the picturesque Place de Vosges, with its art galleries, restaurants, historic buildings and beautiful garden. Victor Hugo’s house is also a museum in the unique aristocratic neighbourhood.
    We then walked through the Jewish neighbourhood and visited some Jewish shops, and bought some Yiddish traditional food, including a vegetable borek.
    We visited the Museum Carnevalet which is a museum about the history of Paris which has only been recently opened after a renovation lasting at least five years. It is located in a beautiful building built be Louise IV and a real feature of Paris. The museum was free entry and well worth visiting.
    Afterwords we went just across the road into an exhibit of design in an old library which was worth visiting just for its historical maps and books.
    It was great just wandering through the neighbourhoods of Paris on a quiet Sunday morning.    Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 2

    Paris afternoon

    September 17, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We visited Notre Dame to view the progress of the reconstruction project that is underway after the destructive fire of 15 April 2019. The project is huge and will take years. The displays all around the site provide information about the fire and the work done since. The is also an amazing display in the square in front of the cathedral that exhibits the various kind of work involved in building a cathedral. There a builders working with massive oak logs with authentic medieval tools. There are stone masons carving stone details designers working on the gargoyle designs and arch features for the stone masons to work on. There were stained glass masons putting together stained glass for the project. All of these are on display in a village which has been erected for the purpose in the Notre Dame forecourt. An amazing place to visit.
    We then found our way to a French creperie to enjoy a crepe for lunch.
    Then we caught a train to the Eiffel Tower and then to buy tickets for a Seine cruise.
    Sandy nearly crushed a small Chinese lady who broke her fall when she tripped over a speed hump on the way to the ticket booth.
    The cruise on the Seine was a very pleasant way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon and a great way to get a sense of some of the city’s landmarks.
    After the cruise, we caught the train back to our Airbnb and checked in. After going out to buy some food for dinner, we got a relatively early night to try to make up for the 48 hours of travelling and the jet lag we were all feeling.
    A memorable day in Paris.    Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 3

    Paris to Rome

    September 18, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    This morning we found a Boulanger that had fresh baguettes and pastries for breakfast. A delicious selection of French delights. We had a relaxing morning before checking out at 11.00 and commencing our journey to Rome.
    We caught two trains and a bus to Orly airport, south of Paris. Then a Vueling plane to Rome airport, taking off at 3pm and landing at 5pm.
    We caught the Leonardo express from Fuicimi Airport to Rome Termini Station and then walked the 10 minutes to our hotel, Antico Palazzo Rospigliosi. It is right across the road from an grand old church Basilica Papale de Santa Maria Maggiore, which dates from the 5th century.
    We checked in at about 7.00pm and then went out for dinner to a local restaurant where we sat outside al fresco in the warm balmy Roman autumn weather and enjoyed our first taste of Italian food for our trip. It included pizza, carbonara pasta, bruschetta and arancini. Delicious.
    After dinner we went for a walk to see the Colosseum by night, with all the arches and antique carvings lit up against the night sky. We walked past two red Ferraris double parked in front of a restaurant where the owners were casually having dinner while everyone gawked at their cars out the front.
    On our way back to the hotel we enjoyed our first gelato. We walked to the square in front of the old basilica near our hotel, finished our gelato and marveled at the magnificent aroma architecture all around us in the piazza.
    It was a day waking up in Paris and going to sleep in Rome.    Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 4

    The oldest church in Rome

    September 19, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We started the day with breakfast at the hotel, catching up with Peter and Grace, and Paul and Janine. Janine had nearly lost her phone to a beggar thief the night before but Paul had chased the beggar and recovered her phone, and tow additional phones of others at the restaurant. He was the hero of the hour.
    We then caught a bus to the Basilica of St John in Lateran, a church established first in 324ad just 12 years after Constantine had legalised Christianity in the Roman Empire. It is a huge church, alongside a palace occupied by the pope for hundreds of years until the Middle Ages. And outside the church is a huge obelisk taken from the temple of Karnak in Egypt where it had been placed in 1400BC. The first place it occupied in Rome was at the centre of the circus maximus, until it was relocated to this significant church.
    The twin obelisk from the Temple of Karnak was placed by Constantine in the hippodrome in Istanbul where it can still be seen today.
    The interior of the church was very impressive and it is one of the four major basilicas in Rome.
    We stopped for coffee and refreshments at a small cafe across the road from the church before catching a bus back to the hotel.
    We then explored the church across the road from our hotel which is also one of the four significant basilicas in Rome - the Basilica of Saint Mary Maggiore. This church was founded in about 450AD on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, not far from the Termini Railway station today, it is an impressive church and the hotel we are staying in was built 600 years ago as a palace to house the cardinals who were candidates in the election for Pope.
    Lots of amazing history. Then we went to the Mercato adjacent to the station for lunch. It is a high quality food market. The pizzas are some of the best in Rome.    Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 4

    Tour of ancient Rome

    September 19, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    At 2.30pm our Roman guide, a lovely lady named Verena, met us at our hotel and took us on a guided walking tour of some of the highlights of Ancient Rome. We went to the Mamertine Prison, where Peter and Paul were probably incarcerated prior to their executions, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palestine Hill. These were all enlightened by our guide’s relentless instruction and dry sense of humour. The tour went all afternoon, and I the evening we shared a dinner al fresco in the common Roman style in the balmy Autumn evening.Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 5

    Tour of the Vatican

    September 20, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We were up early this morning to embark on a tour of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Cathedral and square.
    Our guide did a great job getting us early access to the Vatican museum and taking us through its most important rooms and explaining the most significant exhibits. It is an extraordinary collection of exhibits and it would take a full month to view each item in each room. What a place and what an overview of history. The Sistine Chapel is an amazing experience, seeing the work of Michelangelo in several of his artistic periods. Raphael is also an artist whose work is well represented in the significant rooms that were once the papal apartments before the museum took them over in the 1700s.
    After the museum was explored, along with the other 30,000 people there, we went into the Cathedral to marvel at the size and scale of the largest church in the world by a significant margin. It is huge and opulent. And the sculptures and artworks by Michelangelo and Bernini were incredible. It is a humbling thing to see something so old and on such a grand scale.    Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    Day 5

    Walking tour through Rome

    September 20, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After the tour of the Vatican was complete and we had shared lunch, we embarked on a walking tour of Rome to visit some of its most beautiful sites. These included the Castel de Anglos, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. There were several stops at gelato shops and a specialty coffee outlet. And there was the shared experience of the group walking through one of the most amazing cities in the world.
    The layers of history make it a very special place.
    We had dinner on our last night in Rome in the Central Mercato near to the main Termini Station. The food is amazing.    Read more

  • TravelerItalian Adventure Sep 2023
    1
    Day 6

    Naples

    September 21, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We gathered at the Rome Termini Station at 9.30am in order to catch our morning train to Naples. We boarded at 10.15am and the train set off about ten minutes later. Every seat is ticketed like an airplane and you have to sit in the assigned seat. The train journey is smooth and comfortable. The train got up to speeds of 298km per hour. The screens in the carriage keep passengers updated with information about speed and weather.
    When we arrived at Naples Central Train Station, we met our guide for the rest of the trip, Danelle. She walked with us to our hotel where we dropped our bags and began a walking tour with our local guide, Licia.
    We explored the old city of Naples, visiting famous old churches, eating pizza, drinking coffee and gelato. We walked down to the city square near the modern palace and the coffee shop Gambrinus.
    We then left the guide and went for a walk along the Naples waterfront and then had dinner at Sorbillos on the waterfront. There was a blackout so we had to pay cash because no electrical appliances were working.
    After dinner, we caught the 8.30pm bus 151 from the waterfront back to our hotel for the night. An exciting afternoon in Naples.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English