LIVE from Odyssey of the Seas Transatlantic April 21, 2024 thru May 5, 2024

[Joe33472]

 

Up and early and in line at 6:45 am for the General Audience with the Pope.  We did the Scavi tour on Monday.   And Castel Gandolfo tomorrow.  Mass at the Pantheon on Saturday at 5 pm will wrap up most of our pilgrimage.   Next week we do two nights in the Almalfi coast then onto Florence on the 20th.

[marchand28]

There were 2 other people from the cruise on our Vatican tour!! What are the chances? Our guide was informative but had no patience with anyone who did not keep up or asked a question. Wouldn’t have even tried to tour the Vatican and museum without a guide though. St. Peter’s Square was mind boggling in the size and beauty. 

[Ocean Boy]

6 hours ago, Coralc said:

Gosh. We didn't go. there are 551 stairs to get up to the dome.  

It is an amazing view of the Vatican and Rome.

[LooneyCruzer]

We explored Rome again, multiple churches, monuments, sites, and restaurants. We spent a good 2 hours outside the colosseum taking pictures so we did not have to try and capture it all during the tour.
The actual colosseum tour was incredible. Especially the forum and outlying areas. Paintings and items and stones that are 2000 years old. So worth the lines and walking. The size of the place and history are just amazing. 

[LooneyCruzer]

We are across the street from reataurant Osteria da Fortunata - Rinascimento. They have an open window area where they make pasta from 7am until they close. It is very fascinating and addicting to watch. 
 

[Ocean Boy]

37 minutes ago, LooneyCruzer said:

We explored Rome again, multiple churches, monuments, sites, and restaurants. We spent a good 2 hours outside the colosseum taking pictures so we did not have to try and capture it all during the tour.
The actual colosseum tour was incredible. Especially the forum and outlying areas. Paintings and items and stones that are 2000 years old. So worth the lines and walking. The size of the place and history are just amazing. 

I have always found the Coloseum to be facinating.

[LooneyCruzer]

We ventured out today and went to Tivoli. A short 30 min train ride to a small town with really narrow medieval streets, quaint squares, and historical buildings in a very old town. The charming ambiance and local shops make it a delightful place to wander around. Tivoli was here before Rome was around. The Romans took it over around 338 Bc. The rich nobles came and built villas to escape Rome’s unrest.

We came here to eat at Li Somari, a Michelin star restaurant I saw on an episode of “The best places I ever ate”. More about that later as we are very early for our reservation as it started pouring down rain while at the gardens.
We also came to see Villa d'Este: A UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its stunning Renaissance gardens, magnificent fountains, and impressive terraced landscapes, and a world class museum. Villa d'Este is a masterpiece of Italian garden design. Commissioned in 1509 by the Cardinal's of the church to be more beautiful than anything the Romans had built. 
It is quite impressive and will give your legs a workout, another 15k step day 😉

 

Edited May 10 by LooneyCruzer

[LooneyCruzer]

Ok, wow, we are stuffed and very very happy. The food and service at Li Somari were just perfect. Starting with the best focaccia, so light and fluffy inside with just a hint of crispy, salty, rosemary crust, and great olive oil to dip it into. 
I had the chicken gnocchi. Totally unexpected and tasty. I did not know you could stuff gnocci. 
My wife had the seafood tortellini with fresh caviar roe. We both finished them off and licked the plates 😉

For dessert, we had the cats tongue with custard and salted caramel. Just heavenly, light and sweet and oh my…

 

[LooneyCruzer]

Tomorrow we fly home, so no more from me unless you want specific pictures of something. It was a great trip!!!

 

Remember for next year, it’s 2025 Jubilee in Roma. There was tons of construction all over getting ready. It will be really crowded, so plan ahead. 
 

Arrivederci

[clochette]

2 hours ago, LooneyCruzer said:

We ventured out today and went to Tivoli. A short 30 min train ride to a small town with really narrow medieval streets, quaint squares, and historical buildings in a very old town. The charming ambiance and local shops make it a delightful place to wander around. Tivoli was here before Rome was around. The Romans took it over around 338 Bc. The rich nobles came and built villas to escape Rome’s unrest.

We came here to eat at Li Somari, a Michelin star restaurant I saw on an episode of “The best places I ever ate”. More about that later as we are very early for our reservation as it started pouring down rain while at the gardens.
We also came to see Villa d'Este: A UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its stunning Renaissance gardens, magnificent fountains, and impressive terraced landscapes, and a world class museum. Villa d'Este is a masterpiece of Italian garden design. Commissioned in 1509 by the Cardinal's of the church to be more beautiful than anything the Romans had built. 
It is quite impressive and will give your legs a workout, another 15k step day 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that sounds like a wonderful day, did you catch the train from the termini station in Rome, I can't seem to find any information on it, the restaurant also looks wonderful.

[LooneyCruzer]

Yes we did. There are directs 3-4 times a day between Roma termini and Tivoli. Other time options stop in the tiburtina station and take an hour to get to Tivoli.
We left at 2:20 and got here at 3pm, that gave us plenty of time to walk to the gardens (12 minutes) and casually walk thru the fountains and museum for 3 hours, lots of stairs and uphill downhill ramps. 

Dinner reservations were at 7:30 and the last train back to Rome is at 10:30, arriving at 11:15, so there are still taxi’s or busses on the day schedule until midnight, to get back to the hotel. 
the train was 2.60€ each way and the bus was 1.50€. The gardens were 12€ each, so quite a cheap adventure, dinner and drinks costs withstanding. 

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, LooneyCruzer said:

We ventured out today and went to Tivoli. A short 30 min train ride to a small town with really narrow medieval streets, quaint squares, and historical buildings in a very old town. The charming ambiance and local shops make it a delightful place to wander around. Tivoli was here before Rome was around. The Romans took it over around 338 Bc. The rich nobles came and built villas to escape Rome’s unrest.

We came here to eat at Li Somari, a Michelin star restaurant I saw on an episode of “The best places I ever ate”. More about that later as we are very early for our reservation as it started pouring down rain while at the gardens.
We also came to see Villa d'Este: A UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its stunning Renaissance gardens, magnificent fountains, and impressive terraced landscapes, and a world class museum. Villa d'Este is a masterpiece of Italian garden design. Commissioned in 1509 by the Cardinal's of the church to be more beautiful than anything the Romans had built. 
It is quite impressive and will give your legs a workout, another 15k step day 😉

 

Did you know that the fountains are all gravity fed? There are no pumps.

[LooneyCruzer]

Yes we saw some of the uphill river feeding it all. Amazing technology for many hundreds of years ago when we assume they were all clueless

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, LooneyCruzer said:

Tomorrow we fly home, so no more from me unless you want specific pictures of something. It was a great trip!!!

 

Remember for next year, it’s 2025 Jubilee in Roma. There was tons of construction all over getting ready. It will be really crowded, so plan ahead. 
 

Arrivederci

Safe travels home. Thanks for sharing your trip. 😊

[marchand28]

Safe travels home. We got home from Rome yesterday. Stayed very close to the Colosseum. This was the view from our terrace. 

[Thisguylikestocruise]

Going on Odyssey in 4 months, thanks for the trip report. Did you like the solarium on Odyssey? Were the street scammers in Rome easy to avoid? I heard the bracelet guys outside the colosseum can get aggressive. 

[marchand28]

Not to jump in on @Joe33472 and @LooneyCruzer review. Since we were so close, we were by the Colosseum all 4 days. The guys selling stuff were plentiful but a firm “No” and they went away. 

[LooneyCruzer]

We spent most of our time in the solarium. 
The vatican area scammers were the worse, but no issues from saying no.
The walk around hawkers (water/chargers/hats) were terrible, but left with a no. 

 

[Joe33472]

5 hours ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

Going on Odyssey in 4 months, thanks for the trip report. Did you like the solarium on Odyssey? Were the street scammers in Rome easy to avoid? I heard the bracelet guys outside the colosseum can get aggressive. 

 

We didn't really like the Solarium much, but it's very popular.  Every time we walked through it was totally packed.  A lot of chair hogging, but still a LOT of people in there.   We brought swimwear but never sat out in the Solarium or pool deck.... too many other things we wanted to do.   But if we were going to sit out, it would probably would have been at the regular pool deck.  We did visit these outdoor areas via the Solarium which were cool.

 

 

 

As far as vendors on the streets in Rome, I've found it's best just not to engage or even make the slightest of slight eye contact with these folks.  No reason to even say "NO".    Pretend they don't even exist and they will get the message quickly.   I've found that engaging can make it worse.  

 

Definitely don't accept any "free" gift (bracelet, rose, trinket, or whatever) is being offered or take a picture with someone dressed up in a costume.   This trip the street vendors seem to be pushing battery chargers and selfie sticks, more than bracelets.   And an annoying jelly toy that makes an awful screeching noise.   The guys are just trying to lake a living and approach thousands of peoples per day, so if you walk past and don't say anything, they will be okay. 

[LooneyCruzer]

I thought it was amazing that 6 days in Rome, and they have some crazy drivers and traffic, scooters and motorcycles everywhere, mixing with cars and busses and trams and huge crowds of people crossing and walking in the streets and jaywalking, and there was not one accident, or person or vehicle getting clipped. 
In Dallas, we cannot go an hour without a wreck. 

[Coralc]

2 minutes ago, LooneyCruzer said:

I thought it was amazing that 6 days in Rome, and they have some crazy drivers and traffic, scooters and motorcycles everywhere, mixing with cars and busses and trams and huge crowds of people crossing and walking in the streets and jaywalking, and there was not one accident, or person or vehicle getting clipped. 
In Dallas, we cannot go an hour without a wreck. 

We would never rent a car or consider driving there on our own. The traffic is too busy, and somewhat insane. 

[Joe33472]

28 minutes ago, Coralc said:

We would never rent a car or consider driving there on our own. The traffic is too busy, and somewhat insane. 

 

I've rented cars at Termini several times, but it was immediately leaving the area and out of the city.  Totally agree that driving in Rome would be a nightmare, not to mention parking and the ZTL zones that are all over the city. 

 

The bus system is pretty extensive and we've taken the bus a ton of times since we've got here on Sunday. Yesterday we took one of those cute little buses up to the top of the Spanish Steps.  The bus was adorable and much easier walking down the stairs than up. 

 

Really small inside, but there was only a couple of other travelers besides us, which was a nice change. 

 

 

 

[Cronullagal]

On 4/22/2024 at 7:33 AM, clochette said:

so looking forward to following you, we are doing the opposite TA Rome to Cape Liberty in October 2025, so I have lots of time to plan.

Doing the TA November 2024, looking forward to any tour suggestions 

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Cronullagal said:

Doing the TA November 2024, looking forward to any tour suggestions 

The Rol Call thread may have some ideas.

[GimmeOcean]

Back home last night after spending a few days in Rome followed by a few in Barcelona. Loved Rome for the history, but the constant pushy money grubbing from cab drivers, waiters, street vendors got old. Cab drivers in particular were just looking for any opportunity to scam. One waiter practically demanding a tip. What a turnoff.
 

We stayed at the Albergo del Senato hotel right next to the Pantheon, it was nice enough (though very noisy from street crowds) but next time I would choose some place more convenient to the metro and busses, and not have to rely on taxi$ so much to get around.

 

Barcelona wasn’t nearly as bad in this respect.

 

As for the cruise itself, we enjoyed it very much. Odyssey is a great ship to cross the ocean on. We are definitely planning more TAs and other repositioning cruises for the future.