Enjoy mate - best place I've ever visited. If you're interested in history then there's something to see around every corner. The food is amazing and the Vatican is worth a visit although the Sistine Chapel is a cattle market.
What I came away from Rome with was the realisation that there was centuries of history underneath your feet wherever you walked, it just hasn't been excavated yet.
I saw the band the eagles play in the colosseum. Can’t remember if that was Verona or Rome. Either way. Amazing night!!
Loved Rome and it deserves a few days, away from the main sites we also managed to explore the bit at the top of the Spanish Steps and had a nice walk far side of the Colosseum to the little graveyard where John Keats is buried then across the Tiber into Trastevere which is worth a mooch, ciao mate, we are in Sicily in 2 weeks.
We were there for a couple of weeks in August. One of my mates advised us to prebook tickets for all the main sites - we did it maybe 3 weeks before we went and both the Colosseum and Vatican museums we could only get guided tour tickets for as they’d sold out of plain entry tickets for the entire time we were there. And the Colosseum we only had 2 choices of time for that tour otherwise we’d have had to pay for an individually guided private tour (at nearly double the normal guided tour price). The Colosseum tour with the Palatine Hill and Forum was amazing, but certainly in August the Vatican was just too busy to really enjoy. We’d done it as a couple when we were first married and really wanted to show the kids the Sistine Chapel, but the busyness this time was a bit overwhelming. That said this time the tour finished in the basilica itself and in terms of tourist sites that was probably the highlight of our trip for me - absolutely stunning. I’ve been accused of posting boring irrelevant ****e before so DM me if you have any questions on getting around or other sites. Over 2 weeks we gave it a good go!
Thanks H Got guided tours booked for Vatican/Sistine/Basilica & Colosseum/Forum for similar reasons even though we booked them months ago and had decent choice. Staying half way between Vatican & Colosseum.
That sounds perfect. I’d prebook the Pantheon too, it’s not as bad as the big 2 you mentioned, but it’s still quite satisfying wandering in past a big queue! It’s a bit more niche, but we also prebooked the Maxxi, but there was hardly anyone there so if you fancy it you should be able to just turn up. It was excellent though (if modern architecture and contemporary art are your thing, it’s very much not a classical Roman site).
Nice one, thanks After we booked to go Weller announced a gig at the Auditorium Parco Della Musica, Cavea while we’re there, which is still only a walk and looks an amazing outdoor venue.
We did a guided tour on a Wednesday morning when the Pope was giving his address. Went straight to the front of the queue. The Vatican was very quiet and the Sistine Chapel likewise. If you’re not bothered about seeing the Pope it’s with considering. As we left( the Pope had said his bit and had done one) the queue to get in was ridiculous.
Went to the Holiday Village with daughter and g'kids a couple of years ago - the resort was excellent and perfect for kids, went to Lindos and Rhodes town, bags of history and architecture + sitting with a coffee and Metaxa watching the 'beautiful' people at Rhodes Marina was very enjoyable; my only gripe would be that the airport seemed manic and ill organised, it wasn't a deal breaker. Forgot to mention the food - it's brilliant, seafood, salad, barbecued meats, they're brilliant at it, I lived on Meze for ten days!
I’m going to Rhodes for the first time in a couple of weeks. We normally go to Italy but hadn’t booked anything and were hoping that we might get a good deal last minute but there was nothing available that we fancied at a price that we were happy to pay. So we just put any destination in the search and after skipping past Turkey and Bulgaria, there were a couple of cheap deals to other Greek islands but then the one to Rhodes appeared and it just looked right. It’s a small family run hotel about 30 minutes from Rhodes Old Town, so looking forward to a nice mix of chill out pool/beach days and a bit of culture on the others.
Stayed there a few years ago when you could walk all the way up to Monterosso - lovely place but the hill up to our digs was hard going after a night out. We really love Portovenere to the south - like Sorrento without the crowds - great swimming, lovely food and fabulous cliff top walks round Palmeria Island.
if anyone finds a wacky clock shop in florence, please let me know. i visited about 20 years ago on a cruise stop off but considered my chances of getting one of the amazing clocks home unscathed to be approximately nil. at the time i hoped there'd be some uk company importing them, but couldn't find anything when i got back. the clocks on sale included the kind of things dali might have painted, if i'd had the money and space, i'd've happily bought every clock in the shop
