Little trip to Italy
We went on a sightseeing tour of Italy from 19.09. 09 to 26.09. 09.
Tour operator - Pak Group
Host - Gar Tour
City of Art Jeans Tour
Tour cities: Rimini - (San Marino) - Rome - Vatican - (Naples - Pompeii) - Siena - Florence - (Padua) - Venice - Rimini
A sea of impressions and emotions!!!
Everything was as originally stipulated in the program. Small delays and delays were only due to the fault of the tourists from our group!
Now in order:
1. We were accompanied by Lydia - she told a lot during our trip; She gave us great advice and never let us down.
2. All the guides in the cities were good, I especially want to mention the guide in Rome - Paolo (just an unusual and interesting person), the guide in Siena - Francesca (she spoke very interestingly and really worried)
3. We were very lucky: throughout the tour, our group always lived in the same hotel, which helped to avoid picking up tourists from hotels every morning.
Hotels on the tour were good: in Rimini, Montecatini Terme, Lido di Jesolo - 3 *; in Rome - 4*
5. We only paid for breakfast - we did not regret it. Every evening we went to the supermarket and bought there either fruit, meat, cheese, wine / champagne and all this cost us no more than 10 euros for two. Once we had dinner at a hotel in Rome (due to the fact that there was little time before the tour) - we ate full.
6. Regarding excursions: we were on almost all excursions.
Tour Naples-Pompeii: Naples did not live up to my expectations - a dirty city, the tour was running, because it is dangerous and the guides are afraid that something could happen to tourists, and therefore the main part was on the bus and only 30min walk around the city. But from Pompeii, I remained wildly delighted: from the school curriculum, I imagined that Pompeii is the ruins of several houses. And what was my surprise when I saw a whole city with houses and streets.
It’s a pity that Pompeii was given only 2 hours - you can spend the whole day there, walking the streets and entering houses - it’s great there !!!
Excursion to Siena: the city is simply magnificent! I would love to stay there forever: a quiet, calm, cozy city with a very interesting history and traditions that have survived to the present. One of the main traditions (and, as the residents themselves say, something around which all life in the city revolves) is Paleo. It takes place twice a year, in the summer. If possible, I will definitely come to Siena to see this celebration.
Guided tour of San Marino: a gorgeous little city-state on a mountain! I liked just walking around the city with a pizza in one hand and a camera in the other!
The tasting they take in San Marino is almost no different from the rest, only the prices there are really lower than in other places.
In Florence were only on a sightseeing tour.
We did not go to the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace, we decided to walk around the city on foot. We climbed to the dome of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore - the view of Florence from there is magnificent: we made a huge number of cool photos! We visited Piazzale Michelangello - another observation deck on the city!
Tour of Venice: a sightseeing tour - small and uninformative. We decided not to go on an excursion to the Doge's Palace. Instead, we went to wander through the tangled streets, came across a residential area, where life stopped and quietly, you can hear people talking in the apartment.
Before the sightseeing tour, we had lunch: on the advice of our guide, Lydia, we went to a small restaurant, not far from Piazza San Marco. For only 30 euros per person, we ate such goodies that we had not tried before.
We sailed away from Venice by taxi along the Grand Canal - there are no words how beautiful it is : -)
Transfers between cities: the longest transfer was from Rimini to Rome, but every 2-3 hours we had stops: for lunch, for tasting, so we had time to rest and were again ready to go towards the Eternal City - Rome!
The bus was good, plenty of space. The only thing is that for the first couple of days there were disputes over places, but they were safely resolved by the tkrists, almost without scuds : -)
On the first day we even managed to swim in the sea and sunbathe! So the rest was a success in all respects and we were satisfied!
We will definitely come back to Italy again and again!
