Singinalot's 2023 Land Trip to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Rome, Amalfi Coast, & Florence

[Guest]

a little wine, olives, breeze, and people watching

 

[Bimmer09]

Crystal- I see you were down by the beach and I noticed a shot with the hotel/restaurant Covo di Saraceni. That's where Princess took us for lunch when we visited Positano on an excursion in 2014. Positano is one of the most memorable places we have been while cruising.

 

and the food! I love Italian food but it's best in Italy! 

 

A simple salad-but those tomatoes! (San Marzano flavor bombs) and that cheese (pecorino)

and what's a lunch without a crisp dry white?

 

 

Best fish dish- so simple, so fresh and light ( Branzino with sliced potatoes)

I'll take small portions of beautifully prepared fresh ingredients over a heaping plate of overcooked spaghetti smothered in a jar of  microwaved tomato sauce, any day. 

 

Norris, one year away from Rome

Edited September 11, 2023 by Bimmer09
spelling

[Bimmer09]

Um, that pic of Nate looks like he is in Covo di Saraceni....

Am I right?

 

Norris

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Um, that pic of Nate looks like he is in Covo di Saraceni....

Am I right?

 

Norris

 

you are correct! We picked Covo for the view and also because they did not require us to order food in order to sit there. We had tried another restaurant and they had told us we couldn’t just order drinks.

our view from the first restaurant:

 

 

Turns out Covo had the better view and service anyway!

[Guest]

After some successful shopping, we met Fabyana and Vincenzo back at the car and started for the Naples train station.

A pretty waterfall by the Positano parking lot

 

 

 

 

 

we had some time to kill, so I did some shopping in the Naples train station before we boarded our first class cabin to Roma Termini. I had also booked this ticket in advance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Time stamps on my photos indicate we made it back to Rome around 7:45pm and then had our 30-40 minute walk.

We walked through the streets of Rome at golden hour.

 

Everything was glowing

🥰

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

One of the shops we had stopped at in Positano, Idee d’Arte had all handmade jewelry, art, and sculptures. I wanted to take home the whole store, but alas, only picked up these beautiful Positano sea glass earrings.

[Guest]

 

Piazza de Ignacio holds Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

we stumbled into the restaurant near our hotel for dinner. 

 

 

 

I asked the waiter for his fav pizza…turns out it was not my fav, but when in Rome does it really even matter?!

 

 

 

Nate’s pasta was delish

 

 

[Guest]

Gelateria della Palma is our favorite gelato spot in Rome. Many favor the original gelateria, Giolitti, and it too is good, but we always visit della Palma. Also known as 150 flavors.

https://www.dellapalma.it/the-150-tastes/?lang=en

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Nearby is the Church of St Magdalene in the Piazza della Maddalena

 

[Guest]

After eating our gelato and strolling through the rotunda, we retired for the night. We have an early day and adventure again tomorrow!

 

 

[Ozark_Kid]

2 hours ago, singinalot said:

we stumbled into the restaurant near our hotel for dinner. 

 

I asked the waiter for his fav pizza…turns out it was not my fav, but when in Rome does it really even matter?!

 

It looks good to me.  So good I think I am going to go make some pizza dough so I can make some tomorrow!

 

Do you know what that is that is on top?

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

It looks good to me.  So good I think I am going to go make some pizza dough so I can make some tomorrow!

 

Do you know what that is that is on top?

 

it is the quattro formaggi pizza with marinara and then sun dried tomatoes on top 😍. he said he makes it for himself all the time. i think i would have liked it better as regular formaggi no marinara with the tomatoes on top

https://www.ilbarroccio.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/menu-il-barroccio-2022.pdf

[Ozark_Kid]

13 minutes ago, singinalot said:

 

it is the quattro formaggi pizza with marinara and then sun dried tomatoes on top 😍. he said he makes it for himself all the time. i think i would have liked it better as regular formaggi no marinara with the tomatoes on top

https://www.ilbarroccio.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/menu-il-barroccio-2022.pdf

I thought they were sun dried tomatoes! Love them.  I made a bunch last year.   Not much this year.  I think I am out of them.  I got my dough started!  Thanks for the inspiration!  I was about done for the day before seeing the pizza pic.

[Guest]

The morning of August 11 has dawned bright and early! We have an 8:10 train out of Roma Termini to Firenze.

Once again, I purchased the one way tickets in advance. 60euros total I believe.

We stopped for a quick arancini on the way to the train station…no I did not just drop Nate off.

 

 

 

 

[#55worktoplay]

23 hours ago, singinalot said:

a little wine, olives, breeze, and people watching

 

Wow!  Your pictures and videos are so beautiful.  Reading all about makes me not even want to consider the Caribbean, I think Europe has made the top of my list. I wish I had more vacation though. 
 

Really enjoying your review and so happy to hear your home, Nate and Sam weren’t affected by the nasty hurricane. 

[Guest]

By now, we are pros at the train system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, #55worktoplay said:

Wow!  Your pictures and videos are so beautiful.  Reading all about makes me not even want to consider the Caribbean, I think Europe has made the top of my list. I wish I had more vacation though. 
 

Really enjoying your review and so happy to hear your home, Nate and Sam weren’t affected by the nasty hurricane. 

 

 

thank you so much! yes, I have no desire to go back to the caribbean now, sadly. Europe is just such a different culture than our bubble. Take the vacation if and when you can! you won’t regret it. not even a little bit.

[#55worktoplay]

Just now, singinalot said:

 

 

thank you so much! yes, I have no desire to go back to the caribbean now, sadly. Europe is just such a different culture than our bubble. Take the vacation if and when you can! you won’t regret it. not even a little bit.

There are so many places I want to see I will need a long vacation 😀. You just added to the bucket list. 

[Guest]

The Firenze train station is maybe a 10 minute walk from the town center/world famous duomo.

looking back at the front of the train station after we exited:

 

across from the train station is the Basilica De Santa Maria Novella. we would not go in this church, but don’t worry, better things ahead

 

[Guest]

As we walked, a celebration parade passed us. At the time we didn’t know what they were celebrating, but we would sure find out later!

 

 

 

I spy the Duomo di Firenze straight ahead

 

 

[Guest]

The Duomo was finished in 1436 and can be visited by tour groups or simply purchasing tickets online in advance. I chose not to do either. Shocking, right? How can we come to Florence and not go inside one of its main attractions?!

 

closer and closer we came

 

 

 

in the below you can see the hint of the line…

 

 

[Guest]

The place feels so unreal. It’s surreal. Massive. Like a Disney set.

 

The level of detail….indescribable 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ozark_Kid]

7 hours ago, singinalot said:

The place feels so unreal. It’s surreal. Massive. Like a Disney set.

 

The level of detail….indescribable 

 

 

 

 

 

That is amazing!