Arco Della Pace arch and wonderful grounds lie behind La Sforza
Note the huge lemons grown in the area.
City of Naples is to right around the bay.
of island. Mt Vesuvius can be seen off end of Naples bay
down into crater. We hiked half way around the summit crater on the spectacular trail
Again Pompeii ruins with Vesuvius looming in distance
near entrance to Vatican Museum with St Peters dome in background
Front of St Peters from plaza with papal balcony in center
From the roof level of St Peters , it is a 323 step, winding, long climb that I did for this view
View from front of Pantheon
Famous Trevi Fountains " known for the coins thrown in" and wishes
My 2nd major trip of the 2011 year of travel took me out of Anchorage on May 27th to Seattle, and then on to London Heathrow and Milan on British Air. I arrived in Milan at the big MalPensa air terminal late the next day. My January South American travel friend , Sergey Poliakov, had a week off from his graduate studies at The London School of Economics and met me in the airport. We shared a cab to the nice Hotel Berlino not far from downtown Milan , where we stayed for 2 nights and toured Milan. The highlights were the 4th largest cathederal in Europe, the huge Gothic Duomo, the glass ceiling lst shopping mall in Europe , the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II , the famed old La Scala oprea hall, and the beautiful Parc Sempione with its famous Castello SForzesco, a full day.Then on the next day it was an early train across to the east and Venice. We had a wonderful small hotel on the island Lido Venezia , a short water taxi across from the photographed St Marks Square. A half day of water taxi and walking the heart of Venice and then the second full day enjoying Venice were wonderful . Two nights and a day and a half , then on the long high speed train south to Rome, on to Naples and a night near the central train station. Early the next day back to the train and on south to Salerno on the coast . Lunch and a wonderful , sunny boat ride up to the north and the marvelous Amalfi coast to Amalfi. Amalfi was wonderful, two nights in a lovely little hotel on the water with wandering in the charming town and a half day climb and hike high up the mountainside to lunch on a terrace of a sun drenched restaurant, overlooking Amalfi and the blue Mediterranean. The following day it was a leisurely boat ride along that amazing vertical coast and into the famous grottos. I liked the Green grotto and the Blue Grotto on the isle of Capri best. We climbed to the top of Capri above the harbor and had a late lunch, then took lots of pictures and toured the island until nearly dinner time and the high speed catamaran trip back across the bay to Naples and our same hotel near the central train station. Then , the following day it was up early and the train to Pompeii. There we caught a morning bus about 2/3rds of the way up Mt Vesuvius. Sergey and I then hiked the about 1200 ft vertical up the sunny trail to the rim of the caldera, and then half way around the rim and back. Upon return to Pompeii, we then hiked the incredible ruins of Pompeii the rest of the afternoon. Back on the train for a high speed ride north to Rome and our hotel near the Rome airport. Sergey had one day with me there to tour Rome and the Vatican , then had to return to school the following early morning.. He had been to Rome before, so was a good guide and we made it a full day at the Vatican, the Vatican Museum, and capped it off by climbing the entire 323 steps from the balcony roof level to the top of the St Peters Basilica . The next two days I was on my own and hiked much of Rome, seeing the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Victor Emmanuel Monument, Capital Hill, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountains, Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese gardens and much more. Then on to Split in Croatia.
No comments:
Post a Comment