Departed Rome for Pompeii and Sorrento, southern Italy (Campania). The country-side appeared similar to coastal Queensland except for the abundance of Umbrella Pines. As we travelled Mt Vesuvius began to appear and before long it was all that we could see on the horizon. Vesuvius is a huge volcanic mountain with twin craters and is still active. We arrived in Pompeii for a walking tour of the excavations that have uncovered the ancient city buried under 30 metres...

Buongiorno! What a day!! Off early this morning for a tour of the Vatican including the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. A break in the afternoon followed by a walking tour of Rome city landmarks followed by dinner in the city. The Vatican Museum was amazing with all the ancient artefacts, the statues, tapestries, paintings, pottery, mosaics, architecture and Ancient Rome's engineering feats. The visit to the Sistine Chapel left us speech...

Ciao!Early start this morning with breakfast, check out of the Budapest hotel, transfer to airport and our flight to Rome to start the Italian leg of our awe-inspiring journey. We landed in Rome and met our transfer to our hotel mid afternoon. Following a briefing by our Tour Director, we had a short bus ride around some of the inner city sights including:- St. Peters and the Vatican (very close to our hotel)- Castel Sant' Angelo- the Tiber River, the 2 ancient ...