During our final week in Rome we largely took it easy, but did venture to a few of the remaining places that were on the list to visit. Museo e Galleria Borghese is perhaps the most well-known art gallery in Rome. The gallery is housed in Villa Borghese, constructed in the early 1600s, about the…
Author: Garrett and Stephanie Estep
Retired early to travel the world.
Orvieto, Italy. (March, 2023).
Tourist traffic noticeably picked up during our last week in Rome, which we suspect coincided with a lot of spring break travelers. Instead of fighting the now larger crowds, we chose to spend a couple of days in a nearby hill town, Orvieto. On a Friday morning we packed overnight bags, locked up our Airbnb,…
Vatican City, Italy. The Vatican Museums. (March, 2023).
This blog post is the second part of our Vatican City experience, exploring Musei Vaticani. If you missed our visit to St. Peter’s Basilica, click here. Vatican Museums, per its website, consists of 26 museums (!) showcasing artwork and objects amassed over the past several hundred years. The objects range from ancient paintings and tapestries,…
Vatican City, Italy. St. Peter’s Basilica. (March, 2023).
If you are in Rome you will go to Vatican City at some point. It’s inevitable. From our perspective Vatican City is generally divided into four distinct parts: St. Peter’s Square; St. Peter’s Basilica; Vatican Gardens; and, the Vatican Museums. The main approach to Vatican City is along a pedestrian zone in Rome. The walk…
Rome, Italy. (March, 2023, Part III).
There are a lot of churches in Rome (in Naples and Palermo, too). A lot. We made it a priority to visit a select few of them, specifically the four major basilicas. A basilica is a church designated as important or significant by the Pope. Exactly four of them are considered major basilicas of the…
Rome, Italy. (March, 2023, Part II).
Perhaps the only place in Rome as well-known as Vatican City is the Colosseum. It is also, along with the Vatican City Museums, one of the few places that you should consider buying tickets well in advance. Individual tickets must be purchased from Parco Archeologico del Colosseo, either online or on its app, unless you…
Rome, Italy. (March, 2023, Part I).
After arriving at Roma Termini by train from Naples, we hopped on Metro A line and headed to the Cipro station. From there our Airbnb is only two blocks away, conveniently located near a large Carrefour Market. We purchased month long ATAC metro passes on Ticket Appy for €35 each a few days in advance,…
Naples, Italy. (February, 2023, Part IV).
Naples has a reputation for being crowded, dirty, full of thieves, and unsafe. Yes and no. Mostly no. Crowded? Not really in February. In some areas it seems crowded because the streets are so narrow, particularly in the Centro Storico and Quartieri Spagnoli neighborhoods. But I bet this place is packed to the gills in…
Pompei and Ercolano, Italy. (February, 2023).
I doubt many first-time travelers to Naples neglect to visit either Parco Archeologico di Pompei or Parco Archeologico di Ercolano (a/k/a Herculaneum). With the luxury of having an entire month in Naples, we ventured to both. EAV’s Circumvesuviana regional train line is the easiest way to reach Pompei and Ercolano from Naples. Go to Garibaldi…
Reggia di Caserta, Caserta, Italy. (February, 2023).
Getting to Reggia di Caserta (“Palace of Caserta”) turned out to be much easier than anticipated. Trenitalia, Italy’s government owned train company, operates Metro Line 2 in Naples, which doubles as a regional train line. So we were able to buy train tickets direct to Caserta from Piazza Cavour (a metro station near our Airbnb). …