SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday, July 30, 2018

Italy-- The island of Capri and Welcome to Rome!

Thanks for stopping by! Today I am recapping our trip to Italy with our stop in Capri and then heading to Rome. If you missed our first Italy post, click here


Okay, onto day two! So according to our itinerary we were supposed to go to Capri on our first full day in Italy, but the weather was supposed to be cloudy and cold. We decided we wanted to be able to appreciate the beautiful views in Capri and switched the two days. Before walking to the port to catch the ferry to Capri, we snuck up to the roof of our hotel and took a few pictures of the view.


Isn't that beautiful? We loved the view of the harbor, the castle (Il Castel Nuovo), and Mt. Vesuvius in the background.


We hopped on the ferry and after about a 45 minute ride we docked in Capri. 




We walked around the island burning off our gelato and pizza in advance.

Random little fact: do you see those tiny house numbers behind us? 52? Well those adorable tiled house numbers were on every building in Capri and I completely fell in love with them. Most of them were lemon themed because there were lemon trees all over the island-- you can see some if you look to the right of Devin's legs. Well anyway, I fell in love with these tiled house numbers and ended up buying some later in our trip to bring home. They are such a fun reminder of our trip and make me happy every time I see them!


Then we hopped on a gondola to the top of Anacapri. The gondola ride was one of our favorite things from the entire trip. The views were STUNNING! We had watched a Rick Steve's Europe video about Capri and he had highly recommended this. He was 100% right.


View from the top!


Once we made our way back to the boat, it was a whirlwind of getting back to Naples, getting our bags, getting to the train station, and making our way to Rome. Similar to travelling in China, the high speed train was a dream, with a smooth ride, more space than an airplane, faster trip once checking in and boarding times were concerned, and easy access to food and beverages when you want. Get on it America….

After getting to our hotel, the Marriott Grand Flora (booked with points!), we made our way to Piazza Novona to start our “Welcome to Rome” tour with Walks of Italy. I had read about Walks of Italy through my favorite travel blog, The Blonde Abroad. Before we travel anywhere I always check Kirsten's blog to see what shes's done there. Our guide for our walk, Angela, was excellent, an Italian with good English that had an obvious passion for the history and art she showed us. We saw a ton of Bernini sculptures, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and a few other sites. The tour also included free gelato, and who can say no to that??

Dev in Piazza Navona

Me in front of the Pantheon... it was seriously one of the coolest things we saw. I cannot believe how the architects thought of EVERYTHING and it was built almost 2,000 years ago. The oculus at the top of the dome is so simple, yet such a genius way to let light in. 

And then we made our way here.. and I literally just about lost my mind. Before we left to go to Italy I kept telling Dev "I can't wait to see the Trevi Fountain, I can't wait to see the Trevi Fountain, I CANT WAIT TO SEE THE TREVI FOUNTAIN!" and then we stumbled across it and Devin got a picture of my reaction to finally seeing it in person: 
As I said, I about lost my mind. 
 We really cannot say enough good things about the Walks of Italy tour that we did. It was the perfect thing to do once we got into the city because it helped us to get our bearings. The next few days that we were in Italy we felt like we knew how to get around because we had already walked it with our tour guide. If you go to Rome, we strongly recommend this company!

Next time we will be back with our visit to the Vatican and more of Rome. Thanks for stopping by! If you missed our first post about Italy, click here. And if you are curious about how we are able to travel to all these places without breaking the bank, check Dev's series of posts that begins here

6 comments :

  1. I want tiles now! The views at Capri are amazing, thanks for sharing. I had the same amazed thrill when I came out of the train station at Venice so many years ago. I could not believe I was there. Happy Trails to you and your guy.

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    1. We didn't get to Venice on this trip and we are dying to go. I am sure the views are stunning. Next time we will have to go there!!

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  2. That is a very lovely post, and you are a very lovely couple. I am a bit envious of your guided tour, wish i can also visit those areas outside Rome. I've been to Rome alone on the way home from Sweden, just passed by because i might not be able to go near there again. Imagine i toured those ruins on my own! I just walked from the FAO office, my base. Sometimes i lingered at the back of the tour groups speaking in English just to hear where we are now. I only have a book that i bought there to at least be my guide.

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    1. Haha I've done the same thing where I follow around tour groups for a little bit and try to listen to what they're saying. Happy I'm not the only one 😀

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