Pictures from Vatican City
Following Smiling Sam's suggesting of posting pictures from previous Tauck trips, I am sharing some of mine of St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. We have visited twice, once on the Classic Italy tour and the second time on the Rome, Amalfi Coast and Sicily tour. When we went the second time, St. Peter's Basilica was closed the day Tauck planned to take us so we booked an independent tour the day before our Tauck tour began. We took an elevator to the base of the main dome so had a beautiful "close-up view" of the dome and some of the mosaics. We then went onto the roof of the Basilica - others took stairs to the cupola for what they said were fantastic views, but we didn't tackle the stairs. The first time we visited the Sistine Chapel, we were not allowed to take pictures - but they were permitted on our second trip. Tauck's after-hours tour of the Sistine Chapel is a wonderful experience. On the Classic Italy tour, our tour director arranged for an optional excursion to see some of Rome's sites at night so I included one of those pictures as well.
Comments
Great pictures. We were considering the Classic Italy tour in 2021, but with tours likely delayed a year the ones we have queued up for 2020 will move to 2021. We’ve been to Italy a couple of times, but only to Venice with Tauck. I’m sure the way Tauck does it would be way different than how we did it before. As part of your tours did you visit Tivoli? I thought all of the fountains there were amazing.
Have not been to Tivoli
Sam, we are booked for Classic Italy Small Groups for October 4th of this year with some pretour activities planned. Doubt it will occur, but I will follow the advice of this board and wait for Tauck to cancel and, then, book for Fall, 2021. As noted on some other topics, it is doubtful that tours will be allowed until the virus is purged from both the U.S. and the visited country. Think this is a good tour to take in small groups, as you get to sample some smallish local restaurants and stay in boutique hotels.
When I read, "When our tour gets cancelled we will re-book for . . . ." I wonder what is going to happen if another season (or seasons- spring, summer, and fall) gets cancelled and we have a large number of people trying to re-book and competing for the same limited number of spaces at the same time a number of first timers (for that tour) have already booked- there won't be enough openings! It has actually already started. We were supposed go on the 22 March 2020 Jordan & Egypt tour (booked over a year ago before it was even announced) so when it was cancelled I re-booked immediately. The equivalent 2021 departure date and my next choice were both already sold out leaving alternatives that will be either too cold or too hot. I am on a wait list but don't have much faith any spots will open up and I've already booked our air. I will have been waiting for over two full years- I ain't getting any younger and hate to admit it, but we are rapidly running out of time! Tauck added additional departures in the spring and fall of 2021, but for this tour that means temperatures over 100° F in many places. That is why there are still openings. If our January 2021 gets cancelled, I don't know what we will do.
If you ever get a chance I'd recommend a visit to Tivoli. All of the fountains are gravity driven by the river next to the estate. Here are a few pictures to peak your interest. Even though we had a drizzly day when we visited, it was still special.
Very cool. Beautiful pictures - will have to add this to our list. Hoping for good health so we can continue to travel, but like Alan, I know the years are numbered. We did rebook our Passion Play/Danube cruise for 2022.
It looks like Tivoli is about 40 min. N.E. of Rome (the Pantheon). Based on past history as reported by a number of Classic Italy travelers over the years, due to Vatican scheduling, the schedule for your stay in Rome can change, completely with little prior notice, i.e. on the way from Naples! Ours did. So you might not want to book an excursion to Tivoli if you are locked into a certain day and time.