And so … our Italian tour comes to an end

Thirteen days … unforgettable experiences, new friendships, special moments, wonderful memories …. we’ll cherish them all 🙂

We had gone full circle with our Trafalgar Tour ‘Best of Italy’ last year in June … Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, Isle of Capri, Assisi, Classe (Ravenna), Venice, Verona, Milan, Lake Maggiore, Lake Como, Pisa, Florence, Siena and back to Rome

 

Hubby and I were a little disappointed with the location of our hotel, Aran Mantegna Hotel .. very modern and comfortable but in a residential area, quite far out of the city centre.  We had time to spare the following day before catching our flight home but not enough time to take a hotel shuttle to the city for a last look and cappuccino perhaps.   A waste of a morning .. ok for some, but I like to see and do as much as I can 😉  I am so pleased we decided to spend 3 days exploring Rome on our own before the start of the Tour.

Our room and view from our room .. a nice looking apartment block

After our arrival at the hotel, we had time for a ‘freshen-up’ before gathering in the foyer again for our last evening together .. our Farewell Dinner at the Grand Hotel on Via Veneto ..

Now .. it was 10 months ago since our driver Pietro drove our coach through Rome on that evening.  An unfamiliar route.   So …  I cannot recall what ruins these are …

.. and what buildings these are ..   (if anyone knows .. please tell me in the comments .. thanks!)

 Grand Hotel on Via Veneto ..

  A lovely old hotel, but the venue for the dinner, which I think was the pub, was a bit disjointed!!   We were seated at odd tables in the L shaped room with other tables through doors in another room.  (I am comparing our Farewell Dinner in Paris the year before, where we were all together, seated at long tables … far nicer!)

But we had fun!    Delicious food, good wine, dancing between the tables and new friends !!  What a way to end a fabulous holiday in Italy !!!

  Celebrating yet another birthday on this trip … this time … Richard ..

 

 

I started posting blogs on our Italian holiday in July last year .. our first three days and then the tour.  Stopped posting Italy posts in September because we had our daughter’s wedding, hubby and I went away with friends from Colombia to Cape Town and a private game reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal, and then it was Christmas.  My Italian blogs started again at the end of December .. until now!!!!

Thank you all for coming along for the ride, a journey I hope you’ve enjoyed as much as I have putting it all together 🙂

Where next …  I hear you say?   No overseas travel for us this year, sadly .. just a local holiday at our North Coast of Kwa Zulu Natal in May and a possible trip down to the Cape later in the year.  I am going to see my Mum in Somerset West, half an hour by car from Cape Town, for a few days on 7th May

…. Trafalgar Tours : Best of Italy : June 2013