Eastern European Vacation Day 16

Friday November 12th, 2010.
Disembarkation day – always a bit stressful… when will we get off? Will the bags make it? Will our driver be there to meet us? Will he know where to go? The ship docked on time in Civitavecchia which is actually about 40 miles north of Rome and we had arranged, through our hotel, to have a minivan pick us up – the rates Cunard quoted us were outrageous. It turns out that we needed of worried about anything; in fact coming through the port was probably the smoothest transition we have ever made getting off a cruise ship. We easily found our bags and emerged from the terminal just as the driver was pulling up in a nice Mercedes minivan – he even had a sign with my name on it! The bags were loaded and we were whisked off and checking into the Hotel Dei Mellini about an hour later.

We quickly dropped off our bags and headed out for a walking tour and lunch. The Mellini is a nice little boutique hotel located in a quiet neighborhood north of the Vatican; we stayed here about 5 years and loved it. At the Piazza Navona we had lunch in an outdoor café right on the square; the weather was brilliant – a bright warm day and the lunch was great. Next we strolled to the Pantheon; no matter how many times I see it I still marvel at the construction of this incredible place – over 2000 years ago! On to the Trevi Fountain, it was quite busy for this time of year; nevertheless Sandra and I managed to push our way to the front so we could make our deposit (3 coins of course) – thus guaranteeing our return (hey it worked last time!). We stropped briefly for a cappuccino and then resumed our trek to the Spanish Steps. Again the area was busy, but we managed to get some good pictures – posing on the steps of course.

We had pre-booked tickets for the Galleria Borghese for 5PM so we jumped in a cab and headed off. The Borghese is a small gallery that houses an eclectic collection of art that once belonged to a Pope – we visited the gallery last time and definitely thought it was worth a second look. The highlight of the collection for us was the marble statues by Bernini and Cosani – absolutely incredible. At the end of our allotted time we jumped in a cab and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

On our last visit to Rome, Sandra and I discovered a small restaurant very close to the hotel that we really liked; however we could not remember the name of the place or its exact location. Thank goodness Sandra had remembered the approximate spot and we were able to find after only a few minutes of looked – I should be honest here and say that we tried to find the place at lunch time following the directions from the hotel concierge and were not successful. We now know the restaurant is called Berninetta; and it was as good as we remembered. The thing we liked about Berninetta is that we were the only tourists in the place – in fact we were the only non-Italians. The restaurant is very much a place for locals; the food is basic but very good.