Our cruise has come to an end and we are now in Rome for the next few days. We are doing a post cruise extension and many of the people we met on board the ship are doing the same thing. One of the best things about small ship sailings is that you get to meet so many people. Our ship had 400 passengers and of them about 160 are on The World cruise. The Aussies in the last segment numbered 12 and we have been a tight little group for the past couple of weeks.
Once we disembarked Regent Navigator for the last time we were once again on board a bus for our day’s sightseeing. This was the first day out of 42 days that we had to don a raincoat and grab the umbrella so we have been lucky weather wise.
Our first stop was at Pallavincini Estate for a wine tasting tour. This beautiful old renovated farmhouse with it’s huge underground cellar was where the talk began. We learnt about the whole wine making process and then it was over to the cellar door for the tasting. I’m not a wine connoisseur but the white wine was very good and the owners had laid out trays of food to nibble on with the wine. We munched on pizza, olive oil soaked bread, cheese and sweet biscuits.
The rain, complete with thunder and lightening had really set in as we set off to our next destination for lunch and a pasta making demonstration. Lunch was unlike anthing I had ever eaten. So much food! We were served five courses. Home-made pasta with mushroom, Penne Pasta with tomato sauce, Roast Pork with roast potatoes and bitter greens, Zablagione and finally very strong Espresso Coffee. I waddled back to the bus!
After this very large lunch the bus took us to Castel Gandolfo where we entered the Apostolic Palace, built in 1623 by Pope Urbano Vlll. The palace is used as a summer retreat for the Pope and it is a spendid building. We were given our own audio guide to take us through the many floors of the palace. I commented to Philip that if everything inside this palace was sold it would probably pay for the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral!
After we had finished our tour of the Palace we were given privileged access to the Vatical (Barberini) Gardens. I had read so much about these gardens that it was almost an anti-climax to walk through them but they are simply beautiful and literally take your breath away. I was surprised that there were only 20 gardeners to take care of the 40 hectare gardens but as they are well established gardens it is now purely maintenance.
Today was a long day because our little ship went through some rough seas the night before and not many of has had a good nights sleep so we were grateful when we were finally taken to our hotel - The Grand Hotel Bernini Bristol. It is a lovely hotel and I can’t wait to explore the area tomorrow.
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