9-night DCL Mediterranean with Greek Isles cruise - Day 4: Tivoli

Tivoli

I had heard of the scheduled worker strikes that sometimes happen in Europe, but I had never been visiting in the midst of one. When I learned of it from our Facebook cruise meet group (and also later from our travel agent - a good reason to have a travel agent) we knew we needed to pivot. Roger had asked to go to Tivoli from day one so I really wanted to make that happen and as the time got closer for the trip, it looked like renting a car would be our best option. Apparently, I’m just collecting countries I’ve driven in (Mexico, Iceland, and Denmark up to this point). Prior to arriving in Europe, I went to the local AAA office to get an International Driving Permit (IDP) for $20. One need not be a member of AAA and it took all of 15 minutes. 

Dru and I left the apartment around 8 AM and walked over to Termini to the Budget rental counter. I didn’t price out any other rental companies. I just chose Budget because I’m already a member and all my info was on file. We had tried to do the pre-registration ahead of time but couldn’t get connected with them on the phone. Turns out, we didn’t need it because I’m a Budget member so they sent us straight up to the counter where the cars are. Once there, we got the keys and headed out. It was quick and easy and we were on the road. 

I drove over and picked up Emmaline and Roger from the AirBnB and we drove to Hadrian’s Villa. The traffic in Rome was pretty bad and it took us a bit, but it wasn’t too bad. Driving in Rome is about as crazy as you're imagining and for the most part, I was able to get the hang of everything. There were a couple of wonky intersections that I'm not sure I traversed correctly, but whatever, we made it through. We got to Hadrian's Villa around 10 AM. We spent about two hours there exploring all the different parts of the estate. The place is massive, but we covered nearly all of it. It is really a stunning site and pretty well preserved.  It was so hot though. We were all sweating buckets and really feeling fatigued by the end. We left there and drove a little further into Tivoli and parked the car in a lot that Roger had found and walked right around the corner to eat lunch at a restaurant that I had found. We had a really nice lunch and finished it off with coffee and cookies as well.

We then walked over to Villa d’Este. Villa d’Este was the 16th century home of a cardinal.  First we started inside the villa and then after all the rooms started looking sort of the same, we moved out to the extremely elaborate gardens and fountains. Again, it was just a massive area that was so impressive and beautiful. And again, we were there for almost two hours. After that, we were so hot and tired and we spotted some gelato on the way back and had some of my favorite of the trip.

Back to the car, we drove over to Villa Gregoriana which is another papal villa. This one from the 19th century. We didn’t go in or see it, but there was a beautiful waterfall on the  hillside that is somehow related to the villa in some way? Or part of the villa grounds? I don’t know. It was pretty. Then we drove back to Rome, which was totally uneventful except for the traffic was heavy and then Dru and I couldn’t figure out how to operate the gas pump. The payment was at a central box where you then press a button for your pump number and then go pump the gas. The Italian gas station attendant clearly thought we were morons. 

We dropped Emmaline and Roger off at the apartment and set about returning the car to Termini. But we couldn’t figure out how to do it. We tried three different locations Google maps fed us until we finally got the right one. Between all the driving in circles and traffic and stopping to try to figure out where to go, it took us an hour to return the car. I was starting to get worried we would need to get gas again! When we finally did return it, apparently we didn't do it correctly and there was a gate we couldn't get through which caused more drama and a very angry Italian garage attendant yelling at me in Italian. Good times. 

Finally, we made it back to the room and everyone cleaned up and took showers. Roger and I went downstairs to a little pizza shop two doors down and got Roman-style pizza which is sold by weight and then re-heated up in a little oven NY pizza style. It was good. We even tried the one with potatoes on it. We had some salad stuff left over from the night before so we had that too.

We spent the rest of the evening packing and getting ready to leave the next morning for the next part of our vacation.