Destinations

I grew up in a small neighbor few yards away from the main historic center of town. I remember my mother taking me to the Borghese Gardens to play in warm summer afternoons and on Sunday all family would attending the afternoon mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, where, between the tombs that lay beneath the pavement, there are some amazing paintings of Caravaggio and Pinturicchio.

After mass, on special and happy occasions, we would go for lunch at a small restaurant located across the street from Piazza del Popolo on a little street called Via Margutta. Via Margutta runs parallel to the now elegant Via del Babuino, the street that connects Piazza del Popolo with Piazza di Spagna and the famous steps of Trinita dei Monti. I always loved Via Margutta, off of the beaten tracks rather than the more famous Via del Corso and Via del Babuino, it has a more typical roman flavor, laid back and relaxed. It has always been the streets of Painters and Artists, a little like Montmartre in Paris. My grandfather – who was always involved with artists and whose office was in Piazza di Spagna -  knew many of them…and knew they all congregated at this particular restaurant on Sunday. The restaurant is still there, it’s called Osteria Margutta, and the atmosphere was still the same when I stopped for lunch few months ago.

The street is now peppered with little art galleries and ceramic stores. Every last week in October the  street is filled with art works for a street fair, called  the Festival of the 100 Painters (Festival dei Cento Pittori). It is a chance to admire original works of art and maybe discover new talents. The Hotel de Russie is just around the corner and so is also houses one of new up and coming restaurants in Rome, the Margutta Vegetariano, a full vegetarian restaurant. You can also stay right in Via Margutta, where two family run bed and breakfasts are located both refurbished and upgraded: The Hotel Forte and the Hotel Manfredi. For more upscale Hotels in the area, try the Mozart, in Via dei Greci, the Locarno near Piazza del Popolo and the very nice Piranesi, in via del Babuino, opposite the Grand Hotel de Russie.

Venice — a classic, long in history, romance and visions of canals, gondolas and glass-made products. Today the city is vibrantly full of visitors trying to sample their ’sense of past’ in the present. Palazzos in muted shades of ochre, pink, dusky light browns face the Grand Canal teeming with water-borne craft plying their trade — delivery of goods, police and ambulance services rushing to vital destinations, taxi boats and public waterbuses taking people from one place to another. Catch a ‘tragetto gondola’ ferry from one side of the canal to the other, joining the locals going to market or just getting easily across to the ‘other side’ of town. This is a busy busy town filled with historic churches, grand buildings and a slightly decayed façade facing the challenge of the tides of time.

What more wonderful than seas with 1.5 foot swells, clear skies and a broad open decks to relax on between ports-of-call? Nothing!! I just returned from a marvelous six day ‘repositioning’ cruise aboard the SPLENDOUR OF THE SEAS, one of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s mid-sized ships. Sailing from Lisbon, Portugal via Gibraltar, Sardinia, Dubrovnik and finishing in Venice, Italy, we got to experience a range of wonderful places to visit. We even had time to relax at sea on two of the days. All guests on board seemed to delight in this extra open time to mingle, laugh, chat and also have a bit of quiet time. It made an excellent balance between sightseeing new places and enjoyment of the ship’s proffered offerings.

On board, there were so many options for all age groups — rock wall climbing, spa treatments, mini-golf, shuffleboard and table tennis, jogging track, dance lessons, as well as special programs for the youngsters aboard with specialized on board counselors provided by the cruise line. Teens had their separate spaces and younger ones a playroom with age appropriate activities.

Throughout the day there was light musical entertainment which all of us enjoyed by the pool. If music wasn’t wished, there were ample other deck areas for quieter activities including snoozing. At night the quality and range of entertainment was excellent — full-fledged dance shows, atrium area duets and quartets, and light entertainment in several smaller club Rooms.

The ship had over 47 different nationalities aboard this sailing which gave many groups opportunities to share life experiences and cultures. The ship is designed to give everyone the option to be super busy to totally relaxed and the choices on the daily activities ‘menu’ left by the cabin stewards were endless and easy to make. All in all — a good time and all too short.