wanderlust

[IntrepidFromDC]

Either you know it and feel it, or you don't.

 

Last September I shared my trip report that was a mix of cruising and training around Italy.

 

In 12 days I will be embarking on a similar, but longer mixed journey.

 

September, 2022 was a 12-day magical mystery tour via train through some of Italy's lesser known gems (plus Venice and Rome), after an amazing 10-day cruise out of Rome on Carnival Pride that visited Mykonos, Santorini, Turkey, Athens, Olympia, Sicily and Pompeii.  That Carnival itinerary is repeated this year and next, and I can't recommend it highly enough - my favorite cruise for ports ever.

 

May, 2023 will be my first ever Trans-Atlantic cruise on Carnival Venezia's 15-day maiden voyage from Barcelona to Manhattan, after 19 days training around lesser known gems of France (plus Paris).

 

The France itinerary includes a Roman Colosseum that is still used today in similar fashion to the way the Romans used it - man vs. beast battle, usually to the death.

 

Like with the September cruise, I'll be posting live daily with a heavy dose of food porn and other pics, ridiculousness, history and new learnings.

 

Just want to put this out there ahead of time, I hope you'll join me on the interactive trip!

Edited April 29, 2023 by IntrepidFromDC

[luc122]

We’re doing a b2b on the pride this sept-oct that goes to Italy, Greece, turkey and Croatia so I’m off to read your trip report. 

then we’ll spend a few days in rome and make our way to Barcelona to take the freedom trans to Fla. So it looks like I’ll have to follow your trans trip also!  
 

Do you plan out your train trips ahead of time or do you just wing it? That sounds like fun. 

happy travels to you!

[IntrepidFromDC]

1 hour ago, luc122 said:

We’re doing a b2b on the pride this sept-oct that goes to Italy, Greece, turkey and Croatia so I’m off to read your trip report. 

then we’ll spend a few days in rome and make our way to Barcelona to take the freedom trans to Fla. So it looks like I’ll have to follow your trans trip also!  
 

Do you plan out your train trips ahead of time or do you just wing it? That sounds like fun. 

happy travels to you!

Luc,

thanks for your very nice reply and questions.

 

I have been to Italy about twenty times and usually it's training around, so I have a lot of confidence using Italian rail.  I can only suggest that it gets easier each time you do it, and be sure to arrive early the first couple times. 

 

I use multiple resources to find a combination of the most efficient trip visiting the places I want to see most.  The more I travel, the more I want to see "hidden gems".  

 

Here is a link to my Italy train trip/Pride Cruise from last September: 

 

[kelkel2]

Oh I’d love to follow along! I can’t wait. Will you be starting a new thread for it?

[ninjacat123]

DH and I will be on Pride this October so I will reread your Pride review and am looking forward to your TA plus more review!!  Will it be posted on this thread?  If not, I'd love a link please😎  Ready to wander!

[IntrepidFromDC]

24 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

DH and I will be on Pride this October so I will reread your Pride review and am looking forward to your TA plus more review!!  Will it be posted on this thread?  If not, I'd love a link please😎  Ready to wander!

This one can fizzle out, lol, just wanted to get it out there because I know I get excited when others mention an upcoming cruise they'll be doing a live on.  I'll start a new thread the day before my flight to Paris with a few pics of places I'm visiting - similar to the September 2022 cruise (link above).  Always happy to read your comments so I'm glad you'll be available, and I look forward to hearing all about your October Pride cruise!

Edited April 29, 2023 by IntrepidFromDC

[pcvtmom]

I'm very much looking forward to your travel report! I'll be living vicariously through your experiences (especially the food porn 🤤).

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

This one can fizzle out, lol, just wanted to get it out there because I know I get excited when others mention an upcoming cruise they'll be doing a live on.  I'll start a new thread the day before my flight to Paris with a few pics of places I'm visiting - similar to the September 2022 cruise (link above).  Always happy to read your comments so I'm glad you'll be available, and I look forward to hearing all about your October Pride cruise!

If I do a review on my Oct Pride cruise (haven't done one in eons) it won't be a LIVE, that's for sure!😅 I'm not that coordinated!  I'll be taking my mom and two DDs on a cruise out of Charleston for mom's bday about the same time you'll be taking off for Paris. Bon voyage!!

[TxTeach79]

Fantastic! Can’t wait…. I almost booked that wonderful Venezia sailing myself, but my transatlantic debut will have to wait! I’m on the Pride 12 day post-drydock leaving Barcelona right around the same time instead!

[ninjacat123]

@IntrepidFromDC

As you know, I am rereading your Pride review and I have a couple questions:

 

Did you eat at the cafes you photographed in Rome?  I know L'altra Guancia you had dinner.  Antico Caffe Greco? Riccola cuccagna? Trinita snack bar?

 

You loved the octopus in a Plaka restaurant.  Do you remember the name of the restaurant?

 

Regarding the trains in Italy.  Did you find them crowded?  Were you on a Regional or Frecce train?  I want to go High Speed Frecce if possible.

 

That's all for now.  I'm sure I'll have more. 😊TIA!

[IntrepidFromDC]

I may have eaten at a restaurant or two that I photographed, but not the three you mention - I recall I took pics of them because they seemed typical.  So many restaurants that look like that in Rome.  Challenge is to find the ones with the best food!  L'altra Guancia exceeded expectations, especially the fresh pasta dish with thick bacon (Ameritrana?) 😉

 

The Plaka restaurant with the delicious, fresh octopus salad was challenging to find.  I tried my credit card statements and that didn't work so I must have paid cash.  Actually now that I think of it, I remember paying cash.  So I went to Hadrian's Library on Google maps and retraced our steps from there.  Selected fish and seafood dishes by Giorgos Papaioannou - BARBOUNAKI BY PAPAIOANNOU

 

The trains in Italy - some were moderately crowded but everyone had seats and it was no-smoking, not loud or obnoxious like the Metro (subway) in DC.  I picked fast or slow train depending on my needs.  Either one will provide amazing views of the Italian countryside but the slower trains will feel more like you're immersing yourself with the Italians I think.  Fast trains will be Italian businessmen, tourists, etc.

 

 

[ninjacat123]

I am planning on flying into FCO at 7:15 am then departing on a train (hopefully a fast one) to Venice. I want spaghetti alla vongole for lunch! Spending the day and night there then train to Florence.  My question is: did you buy any of your train tickets ahead of your trip or buy them as you go?  I have heard of train strikes but that they usually announce them ahead of time.  How civilized 😉! I would appreciate your input on Italian trains.  

[IntrepidFromDC]

25 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I am planning on flying into FCO at 7:15 am then departing on a train (hopefully a fast one) to Venice. I want spaghetti alla vongole for lunch! Spending the day and night there then train to Florence.  My question is: did you buy any of your train tickets ahead of your trip or buy them as you go?  I have heard of train strikes but that they usually announce them ahead of time.  How civilized 😉! I would appreciate your input on Italian trains.  

I always buy ahead because I'm not familiar enough with the local markets to know which ones sell out (and they DO sell out).  I use raileurope.com because I like the user-friendly interface, but they do have a $8 charge per "order" so order all your tickets at one time.  I'm actually jealous because you're going to Venice and I'm not!  If you look at my pics from when I bought the train tickets from Rome to the cruise port, you can see that was an exception but I only "risked" it because I read multiple accounts saying that train never sells out and there was good frequency.  That said, I think there's good frequency from Rome to Venice too.  I wish you had two full days in Venice, one planned and one to just roam.  Magical Venice.

[IntrepidFromDC]

7 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I always buy ahead because I'm not familiar enough with the local markets to know which ones sell out (and they DO sell out).  I use raileurope.com because I like the user-friendly interface, but they do have a $8 charge per "order" so order all your tickets at one time.  I'm actually jealous because you're going to Venice and I'm not!  If you look at my pics from when I bought the train tickets from Rome to the cruise port, you can see that was an exception but I only "risked" it because I read multiple accounts saying that train never sells out and there was good frequency.  That said, I think there's good frequency from Rome to Venice too.  I wish you had two full days in Venice, one planned and one to just roam.  Magical Venice.

I just checked raileurope.com, it looks like trains leave Rome for Venice every 20 minutes or so and the fast trains take less than 4 hours for under $80.  These trains are comfortable, have wifi and most have usb ports, from my experience.

 

Since the trains run every 20 minutes you don't need to stress about missing a train.  Just make sure you pick the correct Venice station, there are two.  When you get off the train you can take a vaporetto down to Piazza San Marco (must see), be sure to visit it both at day and night, two different experiences.  Don't miss Bridge of Sighs and if you can, get inside Basilica San Marco.  These three are all located very close to each other, in fact the Basilica is in the Piazza.  Bridge of Sighs is just around the corner of the Palazzo Ducale and is both romantic and tragic, and if you had time you could tour Palazzo Ducale which includes the "last view of sunlight" freshly sentenced prisoners would see on their way from the courthouse to the dungeon/prison.  

Edited April 30, 2023 by IntrepidFromDC

[ninjacat123]

40 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I just checked raileurope.com, it looks like trains leave Rome for Venice every 20 minutes or so and the fast trains take less than 4 hours for under $80.  These trains are comfortable, have wifi and most have usb ports, from my experience.

 

Since the trains run every 20 minutes you don't need to stress about missing a train.  Just make sure you pick the correct Venice station, there are two.  When you get off the train you can take a vaporetto down to Piazza San Marco (must see), be sure to visit it both at day and night, two different experiences.  Don't miss Bridge of Sighs and if you can, get inside Basilica San Marco.  These three are all located very close to each other, in fact the Basilica is in the Piazza.  Bridge of Sighs is just around the corner of the Palazzo Ducale and is both romantic and tragic, and if you had time you could tour Palazzo Ducale which includes the "last view of sunlight" freshly sentenced prisoners would see on their way from the courthouse to the dungeon/prison.  

Good to know!  Our trains from Amsterdam-Paris last summer were purchased ahead and I didn't want to misstep on this.  I have walked on the Bridge of Sighs a long time ago and thought it was about the "sigh" of romance.  The follies of youth🙃.   I have tickets scheduled for https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g187870-d11473466-I_Musici_Veneziani_Concert_in_Venice_Italy_Baroque_and_Opera-Venice_Veneto.html

at 8:30pm the one night we are in Venice.  Planning on lunch at Al Gazzettino, vaparetto ride on the Grand Canal to San Marco Plaza then dinner at Nono, then show. Sound good?  Thank you for your detailed insight in the previous post!

 

[IntrepidFromDC]

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

Good to know!  Our trains from Amsterdam-Paris last summer were purchased ahead and I didn't want to misstep on this.  I have walked on the Bridge of Sighs a long time ago and thought it was about the "sigh" of romance.  The follies of youth🙃.   I have tickets scheduled for https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g187870-d11473466-I_Musici_Veneziani_Concert_in_Venice_Italy_Baroque_and_Opera-Venice_Veneto.html

at 8:30pm the one night we are in Venice.  Planning on lunch at Al Gazzettino, vaparetto ride on the Grand Canal to San Marco Plaza then dinner at Nono, then show. Sound good?  Thank you for your detailed insight in the previous post!

 

Show looks like it will be amazing!  Baroque period interesting for both art and music to me.  I had great meals at both Al Gazzettino and NoNo.  NoNo is kind of hard to get to, even after you make your way across Rialto Bridge, just a bunch of chances to make wrong turns.  The dish I ordered there with the photos of the clams in broth is actually clams and mussels in broth, but I asked for only clams and they did it, no extra charge.  I like mussels but I love fresh clams still in the shell.  Gotta dig for that broth though, and dipping the Italian bread in the broth is wonderful.

[silverturtle]

On 4/28/2023 at 9:34 PM, IntrepidFromDC said:

Either you know it and feel it, or you don't.

 

Last September I shared my trip report that was a mix of cruising and training around Italy.

 

In 12 days I will be embarking on a similar, but longer mixed journey.

 

September, 2022 was a 12-day magical mystery tour via train through some of Italy's lesser known gems (plus Venice and Rome), after an amazing 10-day cruise out of Rome on Carnival Pride that visited Mykonos, Santorini, Turkey, Athens, Olympia, Sicily and Pompeii.  That Carnival itinerary is repeated this year and next, and I can't recommend it highly enough - my favorite cruise for ports ever.

 

May, 2023 will be my first ever Trans-Atlantic cruise on Carnival Venezia's 15-day maiden voyage from Barcelona to Manhattan, after 19 days training around lesser known gems of France (plus Paris).

 

The France itinerary includes a Roman Colosseum that is still used today in similar fashion to the way the Romans used it - man vs. beast battle, usually to the death.

 

Like with the September cruise, I'll be posting live daily with a heavy dose of food porn and other pics, ridiculousness, history and new learnings.

 

Just want to put this out there ahead of time, I hope you'll join me on the interactive trip!

I can't wait to read your reviews!! I'll be reading with envy b/c we can't do those long cruises yet.... but someday we'll retire and off we go!!!!