As Night Falls in Rome

Also see Rome at Night Photo Album

Light Transforms Buildings and Fountains

We stayed at Trevi Fountain  until the sun started to set and the fountain's lights began to glow softly, casting shadows into the flowing waters.  It was a very peaceful way to end a long day of exploring the ancient city of Rome.

A short walk away, we climbed the dimly lit stairs up to Quirinal Palace, the residence of the President of the Republic of Italy.  On the piazza stands the imposing Monte Cavallo Fountain with the two giants, Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri.  The fountain seemed to glow as the light was cast onto its form.

In the distance, the dimly-lit dome of St. Peter's Basilica could be seen, with the background painted by nature as the sun continued to set.  St. Peter's dome had formed the bookends of our day.

Leaving Quirinal Hill, we walked past Hotel Giardino which would be our post-cruise hotel, and continued for about 15 minutes along  a wide main street of Rome lined with shops.   Doing some window shopping along the way, we finally concluded our day, by checking train schedules for our morning trip to the pier in Civitavecchia, in the lobby of Hotel Sonya.

 

Several photo albums from our pre-cruise stay in Rome are posted on our Facebook Fan Page.  Become a fan to be notified about updates.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




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Our Rome Adventure Begins

Over a year ago, we planned a 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (Rome to Venice) on Star Princess.  When traveling to Europe, it is a good idea to arrive at least 2 days early so that you can adjust to the time difference and also take advantage of the extra time to see more of the departure port before the cruise.

In this case, that meant scheduling 2 nights in a hotel in Rome, Italy.  We selected Hotel Sonya based on Rick Steeve's recommendation and due to its location to the Rome Termini train station. You'll see why that was important in a couple posts.

Arriving in Rome

Flights "over the pond" typically leave late in the afternoon for early morning arrivals. Our fight wasn't an exception. We departed on time from Washington Dulles International Airport and arrived in Rome before 8 AM the next morning, slightly ahead of schedule.  After deplaning, the first stop is passport control where we were waved ahead at the checkpoint.   Next stop was baggage claim where we had a short wait for our bags.  One of our bags was the second bag off the plane and the other followed shortly afterwards.
The next stop was customs where we had nothing to declare which meant we were able to leave right away.   This was by far the easiest entry we've ever experienced.

There were several options for getting to our hotel, but we decided the easiest would be to take a metered taxi. With the four of us splitting the cost the price per person was about the same as other options and we had door to door service this way.  The driver unloaded our bags, we paid him, and went inside to check-in.


As expected, our rooms would not be ready until after 2 PM, so we checked our bags, got a map from the hotel and set out to explore ancient Rome.  Our first stop was for coffee and a light snack at one of the cafes down the street from the hotel.   While having out refreshments, we plotted out our path to the Colosseum which was first on our list for day 1.

We've posted a few pictures on our FB page, so be sure to sign up so that you'll be notified as we add more.   Rome - Colosseum Album.

Come back for the continuing story of our Mediterranean adventure.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




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Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat