We arrived in the Port of Civitavecchia around 6:00 am. This is the closest port for access into Rome which is about a 1 ½ hours away. It is a really busy port and this morning there were at least 5 cruise ships there. Now for the logistics of disembarking in Civitavecchia.
The Port has a shuttle that MUST take you to the gate of the port. The gate is about 2 miles away.
Independent travelers (those that are taking cabs or trains, not the Holland America bus to Rome) like us have first access to the Port Shuttle Buses since we disembark before all the other passengers. Then the buses go to the other cruise ships to get their passengers and take them to the gate.
No one is allowed to walk to the gate.
If you hire a cab to take you to Rome (one hour away from Civitavecchia) they can take you from the ship thus avoiding the Port Shuttle Bus.
No cab will take you less than the trip to Rome. They want to earn their 150 euro fare.
If you want to take the train to Rome (cost of the trip is 4 euro versus the 150 euro cab fare) from Civitavecchia, you must first take the Port Shuttle, get out at the gate and walk to the train station about a mile away. No cab will drive you there. Even if you ask them nicely and are willing to pay 10 euro. They won’t do it.
So with this knowledge friends of ours had hired a driver to take them to Rome. They asked us if we wanted their cabbie to drop us off at the train station, thus avoiding the Port Shuttle bus, the drop off at the gate and the ensuing 1 mile walk over cobblestones dragging our suitcases behind us. Of course I happily said yes. Their driver showed up about 30 minutes later than planned and at least a dozen Port Shuttle buses had already been making their runs.
Once Marco, the designated cab driver, showed up he said he only had 2 people on his list to pick up. They explained the situation and asked if he would drop us off at the train station and we would pay him 5-10 euros. “It is against the law to do that. I must show the police your name on the list and if it isn’t on the list I would get in big trouble!” What a racket! So we said our goodbyes, and started looking for a Port Shuttle bus. Of course now they are few and far between but we finally find one, loaded our luggage on and got to the gate. We get out, get our luggage and drag it the mile down to the train station.
We found our train and got off at St. Peter’s Station. We started looking for a cab to take us to our hotel. No luck. Oh did I mention that once we got off the train we had to go down 50 stairs, under the track, up 50 stairs lugging our luggage? So I was ready for a nice cab ride.
Soon a man came over and asked if I needed a cab. I told him that we did and he made a phone call and said that a cousin of a cousin had a cab and he would take us to the hotel. Sure enough a nice man showed up walking from a nearby street and took my luggage and Jim and I followed behind. I started getting an uneasy feeling since we weren’t going in the direction of the usual cab areas but we soon walked up to his car. Did I mention that there wasn’t a TAXI sign on it?
Well I hop in, Jim hops in the front and we give him the address of the hotel. He fiddles around with his GPS and after a few minutes we agreed that he found the right hotel on his GPS and off we go.
Then Jim asks him how much he thinks this will cost us. The man makes a phone call and while talking on the phone he makes a turn into a street. I see that the street is barricaded with metal barricades but I figure he is going to squeeze through on the sidewalk. No he runs right into it and knocks it down. CRASH! Of course we aren’t hurt and he backs up and drives away.
The next 30 minutes of driving to our hotel was what I would consider a hair-raising experience. He passed on the left of a double yellow line, cut in front of buses and then had to stop at stop lights with the bus right on us. For most of the ride I kept my eyes closed and prayed that he would be honest and take us to the hotel and that he wouldn’t kill us before then (either by his driving or the locals driving). I have decided that the lane lines don’t matter in Rome. It is a joke to even have them. Most of the time there are 6 cars abreast in a road that is set up for 3!
We made it to our hotel and paid the cab driver (if that is what he really was) 35 euro so our trip from the Port to Rome only cost us 45 euro and very frazzled nerves!
We took the Hotel Shuttle to the Vatican and missed the papal blessing by 20 minutes. There were at least a million people there, if not more. We toured St. Peter’s again and remembered again just how beautiful it is.
From there we found Bus #64, the pickpocket bus. We were smashed into each other but came out unscathed and still with our wallets. We were reminded at least 3 times on the bus that we needed to watch out for pick-a-pockets. Maybe the pick-a-pockets were doing the reminding!
We toured the Pantheon, some nearby churches with a little known Michelangelo sculpture and headed to Trevi Fountain. On our way there we looked down an alley and saw a large group of stairs so after the Trevi Fountain we headed back to the “Spanish Steps”. After a long walk uphill to get there and up about 30 steps we landed in a huge Piazza and said” Is this it?” After discussing with another couple and looking at our maps we concluded that we indeed had not found the Spanish Steps, just a large stairway to a large Piazza. We needed to retrace our steps, and then follow our map to the real Spanish Steps.
We did and once we found the real ones we knew we were at the right place. They were beautiful with purple bougainvillea all around and thousands of people.
We found the nearest metro, took it to our shuttle stop and waited for the shuttle to take us to our hotel which sits on the outskirts of Rome and a very rural setting. A long day today and another one tomorrow.
Thursday 4/30/09
We had a busy day. Jim has lots of pictures. My knee couldn't take all the stairs today and I am down tonight. We will add pictures of the Roman Forum, Palentine Hill and the Colleseum later plus the ones from yesterday. We must have climbed 1000 stairs today and the knee inflammed. We thank you for reading and will keep you posted of our escapades in Dublin.
The Port has a shuttle that MUST take you to the gate of the port. The gate is about 2 miles away.
Independent travelers (those that are taking cabs or trains, not the Holland America bus to Rome) like us have first access to the Port Shuttle Buses since we disembark before all the other passengers. Then the buses go to the other cruise ships to get their passengers and take them to the gate.
No one is allowed to walk to the gate.
If you hire a cab to take you to Rome (one hour away from Civitavecchia) they can take you from the ship thus avoiding the Port Shuttle Bus.
No cab will take you less than the trip to Rome. They want to earn their 150 euro fare.
If you want to take the train to Rome (cost of the trip is 4 euro versus the 150 euro cab fare) from Civitavecchia, you must first take the Port Shuttle, get out at the gate and walk to the train station about a mile away. No cab will drive you there. Even if you ask them nicely and are willing to pay 10 euro. They won’t do it.
So with this knowledge friends of ours had hired a driver to take them to Rome. They asked us if we wanted their cabbie to drop us off at the train station, thus avoiding the Port Shuttle bus, the drop off at the gate and the ensuing 1 mile walk over cobblestones dragging our suitcases behind us. Of course I happily said yes. Their driver showed up about 30 minutes later than planned and at least a dozen Port Shuttle buses had already been making their runs.
Once Marco, the designated cab driver, showed up he said he only had 2 people on his list to pick up. They explained the situation and asked if he would drop us off at the train station and we would pay him 5-10 euros. “It is against the law to do that. I must show the police your name on the list and if it isn’t on the list I would get in big trouble!” What a racket! So we said our goodbyes, and started looking for a Port Shuttle bus. Of course now they are few and far between but we finally find one, loaded our luggage on and got to the gate. We get out, get our luggage and drag it the mile down to the train station.
We found our train and got off at St. Peter’s Station. We started looking for a cab to take us to our hotel. No luck. Oh did I mention that once we got off the train we had to go down 50 stairs, under the track, up 50 stairs lugging our luggage? So I was ready for a nice cab ride.
Soon a man came over and asked if I needed a cab. I told him that we did and he made a phone call and said that a cousin of a cousin had a cab and he would take us to the hotel. Sure enough a nice man showed up walking from a nearby street and took my luggage and Jim and I followed behind. I started getting an uneasy feeling since we weren’t going in the direction of the usual cab areas but we soon walked up to his car. Did I mention that there wasn’t a TAXI sign on it?
Well I hop in, Jim hops in the front and we give him the address of the hotel. He fiddles around with his GPS and after a few minutes we agreed that he found the right hotel on his GPS and off we go.
Then Jim asks him how much he thinks this will cost us. The man makes a phone call and while talking on the phone he makes a turn into a street. I see that the street is barricaded with metal barricades but I figure he is going to squeeze through on the sidewalk. No he runs right into it and knocks it down. CRASH! Of course we aren’t hurt and he backs up and drives away.
The next 30 minutes of driving to our hotel was what I would consider a hair-raising experience. He passed on the left of a double yellow line, cut in front of buses and then had to stop at stop lights with the bus right on us. For most of the ride I kept my eyes closed and prayed that he would be honest and take us to the hotel and that he wouldn’t kill us before then (either by his driving or the locals driving). I have decided that the lane lines don’t matter in Rome. It is a joke to even have them. Most of the time there are 6 cars abreast in a road that is set up for 3!
We made it to our hotel and paid the cab driver (if that is what he really was) 35 euro so our trip from the Port to Rome only cost us 45 euro and very frazzled nerves!
We took the Hotel Shuttle to the Vatican and missed the papal blessing by 20 minutes. There were at least a million people there, if not more. We toured St. Peter’s again and remembered again just how beautiful it is.
From there we found Bus #64, the pickpocket bus. We were smashed into each other but came out unscathed and still with our wallets. We were reminded at least 3 times on the bus that we needed to watch out for pick-a-pockets. Maybe the pick-a-pockets were doing the reminding!
We toured the Pantheon, some nearby churches with a little known Michelangelo sculpture and headed to Trevi Fountain. On our way there we looked down an alley and saw a large group of stairs so after the Trevi Fountain we headed back to the “Spanish Steps”. After a long walk uphill to get there and up about 30 steps we landed in a huge Piazza and said” Is this it?” After discussing with another couple and looking at our maps we concluded that we indeed had not found the Spanish Steps, just a large stairway to a large Piazza. We needed to retrace our steps, and then follow our map to the real Spanish Steps.
We did and once we found the real ones we knew we were at the right place. They were beautiful with purple bougainvillea all around and thousands of people.
We found the nearest metro, took it to our shuttle stop and waited for the shuttle to take us to our hotel which sits on the outskirts of Rome and a very rural setting. A long day today and another one tomorrow.
Thursday 4/30/09
We had a busy day. Jim has lots of pictures. My knee couldn't take all the stairs today and I am down tonight. We will add pictures of the Roman Forum, Palentine Hill and the Colleseum later plus the ones from yesterday. We must have climbed 1000 stairs today and the knee inflammed. We thank you for reading and will keep you posted of our escapades in Dublin.
2 comments:
Ack! I didn't know you posted pictures of Rome! Yay!
Michelangelo's Pieta gives me goosebumps everytime I see it.
GOSH...THAT"S JUST AMAZING!!!
-Deanna
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