Portugal — June 2023

Thankfully, our flight home left Rome at 2pm. It was nice to be able to get a full night sleep and not feel rushed this morning. We got packed up, got a taxi to the airport at about 10:30, and arrived for an unremarkable and easy check-in.  It’s a very nice airport with lots of shopping. Since we were early we spent some time just looking around. We did have about €12 in cash left … so we bought a couple last minute souvenirs. We then had a coffee and snack before it was time to board.  We shouldn’t have had the snack … they feed us three times on our flight.  We’re back on American soil; we flew Rome to Dallas. Now we are waiting to get on our flight to Fresno. This will be our last post.  So, two years ago we got our American Airlines credit card to start building miles. That’s how we got the flights for this trip. Additionally, we are reaping the benefits of the card that we didn’t even realize we had until now. When flying internationally, we get access to the “f...

We woke up this morning with no plans. After the requisite bathing and other basic morning activities we walked outside. We had talked a little about taking a high speed train to Pisa or Florence or Naples for the day … but the cost and tight schedule for a day trip didn’t sit well with us. So we decided to grab a taxi, go to the main train station and just see where the local trains were going.  Talking with a taxi/Uber driver is always hit or miss. Today the travel gods were with us; we had a very nice taxi driver named Marcelo who took us to the train station. We asked him where we might go that is just outside of Rome and accessible by train. He had several recommendations … but Tivoli sounded the most interesting to us. So we were off! Tivoli or bust! Tivoli is in the hills east of Rome. It’s not far, about twenty miles, but by train it was about 45 minutes; it had to wind its way up the hills. €11 round trip for both of us — Jim likes good deals — 😁.  From the town park...

We got out of our little apartment by noon today. We took a short little walk over to the smallest country in the world … Vatican City. The last time we were here in 2006 we took a tour of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican museums, etc.… So we decided just to look around in St. Peter’s Square today. Jim with a foot in each country — Vatican City & Italy.   Fun fact: Did you know that Vatican City is Europe’s only absolute monarchy?  And, one of only a handful in the world.  There’s really only one reason to be in Italy, MANGIARE! With that said it was time to have lunch. We consulted Rick Steves website forum to see if anybody had any good suggestions for a restaurant near the Vatican. Of course they did… We had an amazing lunch at Luma Bistro… if you’re going to be in Rome please don’t miss it.  It’s just a short walk until the tourists subside, but it was only about 10 or 15 minutes, if that.  After a fantastic pasta lunch we met the owner and chef, Max....