I'm glad you didn't put a character limit on ...

Italy | Sep 20 - Oct 10, 2022

I'm glad you didn't put a character limit on the review - this may take a while. I'll start by saying that we learned something new every day and had a great time doing it. The drivers (for the most part) were great and the tour guides amazed us with how easily they taught us about the history and every day living of the populace of centuries ago. The only downside we experienced on the trip was it forced us to realize we weren't 20 years old anymore. It would have been nice to not have to get up early nearly day and rush through breakfast to get to the tour - or to have more down time during an afternoon. We always had a good time, but we were getting tired by the end of our trip.
Villa Poggiano was the perfect first stop. Fantastic staff, grounds, and meals. There was a small field in our back yard with a farmer plowing up the ground with a small tractor and a 2 bottom plow. It took him 3 days. In the U.S. - that would have been done in about 5 hours. Just shows a different pace of living. Montepulciano was a lovely little town where we fell in love with a small little wine bar and the various shops. The staff at Villa Poggiano was great about calling a cab for us if we needed one. The taxi drivers were a little crazy, but we found that to be true all over Italy. Our driver - Danny - went out of his way to make sure one of our travelers was able to get a needed medication that was left at home, and in the mean time, kept us fully engaged with stories.
Palazzo Niccolini is in keeping with the small boutique hotels that sometimes gave us a "WOW" factor when we first walked in because of the paintings in the rooms. Supposedly original and untouched over the years, but maybe someone should "touch" them. It appeared as though there were water drips running down the walls and they needed some help. Again - meals were great and the people were fantastic! I'm sorry I don't remember the name of our guide (Livitaly Tours), but she was very good.
Train - Florence to Rome. Once we figured out how to read the train schedules, we were ok, but still managed to exit the train 1 station early. Louise was able to contact the driver and he picked us up with no problem.
Hotel Modigliani - location was great. Meals and staff were, once again very good. The room was way to small - to the point where it was uncomfortable and I wouldn't recommend it. Our sunset Rome walking tour, with Riccardo as our guide, was super. He was (in my mind) so typical "Italian", speaking with his hands so much, that I had to video him for about a minute. It was a great tour and while my preconceived notion was to not expect much, I'm glad to say it wrong and I would highly recommend this. The private Vatican tour with Sam gave me a lot of "wow's" because of the art, but I didn't feel this was exactly what I would consider a "private" tour, and Sam could have moved a bit more often. The constant standing in one place was starting to drain my knees and feet and it seemed his voice was becoming a constant monotone. It's a fabulous place and I think a different guide might be able to add more than I got out of it.
Our private Colosseum tour was probably the highlight of all the places we visited. I'm sorry to say I forget the name of our tour guide because she was really good! (Liv Italy tours) Walking through the bowels of the Colosseum gave me the chills wandering all tunnels and trying to imagine what it was like thousands of year ago. Really, really great!
Train to Naples. No problem. We got off when we were supposed to! 😉 Driver to the Caruso Place Hotel was jerk. He drove like a maniac (although it appears as though that is common in Naples), gave us a brief - and inaccurate - description of how to get to the hotel, and then asked for a tip! (so I told him to drive slower) We wandered around and helped by a local shop keeper who called the hotel and Alessandra came to our rescue. She led the way to the lobby and helped us get checked in. This was absolutely the nicest hotel we stayed in during our 3 week trip. The pizza making class turned out to be much more entertaining than I had anticipated - something fun for tourists to go to. The Pompeii tour was quite eye opening. I had no idea that the digging had to go down so far to find the artifacts and quite amazing at how well preserved they were. I can't remember the guides name (again), but she was just the opposite of Sam when we did the Vatican. She kept on going at a rapid pace, but still explained everything as we went along. Could have slowed down a little, but better than just standing around. Other than the Colosseum, Naples was probably my favorite city in Italy - but the drivers are crazy!! Glad I didn't rent a car while I was there.
On to Greece. An alphabet that I'll never figure out. We probably laughed more, and more often, than any one time in Italy. It wasn't that things were boring in Italy, it just happened that we clicked with our guides. Arrival to Athens was uneventful. Our first stop - Zillers Boutique Hotel. Great place, but the highlight was the view of the rooftop bar at night. There - in all its' glory, is the Acropolis all lit up. It's like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time - all you can do is say "WOW!" Our tour guide the next day was Kiki. She was great at letting us catch our breath on the way up the hill, but still talking about the area or the ancient Greek society while resting. Somehow or other, she got us to the top but made it feel like we didn't work that hard. After that the rest of the tour was almost an afterthought. Kiki was one of the best guides we had if for no other reason than the pace she maintained. This was the one tour I was really looking forward to and it was overshadowed only by the Colosseum.
Our driver for the rest of the mainland was George. Always on time, always smiling, always a smooth and careful driver.
On our way to Olympia, we stopped at "My Precious Olive Tree". Ioanna was our guide. I thought this was just going to be a gimmick to sell us something, but we not only got lunch, we adopted an olive tree (thanks to Tasos). The best part was after lunch was over, we met Ioanna's father, mother, and the farm manager - Jimmy. Well, Jimmy is now my new best friend. He produced a small bottle of Tsipouro! Never had anything like it, and we drank and laughed and everyone had a great time! That was the hardest I've laughed in months. Great stop on the tour!! We finally made it to Olympia and while we weren't expecting a Marriott, but the Leonidaion certainly was step down from what the last couple weeks were. We all realized that we are not in a major hub, so the idea of a new, modern hotel was out of the question. It was clean, and breakfast was good, and Damion was a first class host always offering his help and giving us directions and making sure our dinner next door was taken care of. Great guy. The hotel? - you have to remember where you are. It was fine. The tour of Olympia was everything I was expecting. Nothing spectacular, but I wanted to see what it was like at the beginning. Lots of temples, statues, and pillars. Much the same as what we have already seen. Fortunately, our tour guide left time for us to sit and take pictures when we wanted. This tour might not be for everyone, but I'm glad we got to see it. Well worth the time. We also stopped at the Kilo Honey farm, met the owner, got a little tour and explained how it was all done. It took no effort and really wasn't out of the way, so I have no problem doing this.
Last stop on the mainland was Nafplio. What a cute little town. A big fortress on top of the hill to protect it years ago. Sitting right on the water, we had a front row seat to some extremely fancy yachts coming and going. Great little restaurants all over town. We stayed at the Amymone Suites hotel. No elevator to get our bags up to the 3rd floor, but we did have a balcony and breakfast next door at the Wild Duck was delicious. Our tour guide was Theo for evening and the next morning. There is more to be seen than meets the eye and while I wasn't thrilled with him in the evening, he earned his keep the next day. Our dinner the last night was from Alaloum restaurant (courtesy of Travel 12 - thank you) and it was fantastic! I had never had roast rooster before! Our final stop was a wine and farm tour at Venikos. Cate was our guide and by the end of the tour we were laughing like we were old best friends. The lunch was very good and they were kind enough to get me a beer when I told them I don't drink wine.
Last but not least - Santorini. The Ambassador Suites Hotel was listed as 5 star, and while it was nice, the up and down of all the steps (and there were many) would cause me to look for something else. ...but the view was great, the breakfasts were just about anything you want, and they have their own helipad - just in case. The second day was guided by Will from Argyros Travel, and he not only did a fantastic job showing us things that everyone wants to know about, by the end of the day he turned out to be everyone's best friend with a big group hug to say goodbye. Finally - our Catamaran cruise in the Caldera lagoon. What a perfect way to end the trip. The crew on board was top notch, and the food and drinks were never ending. We happen to be lucky in that we got a good group of people to help share the cruise with.