back in Rome...and an engagement!

After the Tremiti, we came back to Rome for 2 days because Alise, Tom's girlfriend had never been before. We spent Friday afternoon doing a quick tour of Rome's main sites...St. Peter's, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona and the Spanish Steps.

Spanish Steps

It was at the top of the Spanish steps that Tom proposed to Alise!!!

the newly engaged couple!

We had plans to go to dinner with Anna and Giuseppe that night in Trastevere.  What better way to celebrate than with the newlyweds and the newly engaged couple. After dinner, we went for a drink down along the river where there are heaps of outside bars set up only for the summer.

such a beautiful night/view from the top of the steps

Saturday, Tom, Alise and Abby toured the Colosseum and the Roman Forum while Andy, mom and I went "bar hopping" around the area to drink many coffees.

Abby and Andy at the Colosseum

We then went to Piazza Venezia and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier, followed by some shopping down Via del Corso.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

That night, we had dinner at the restaurant that Giuseppe and Francesco work at.

Smith Family and Frankino at the boys' restaurant

Tom, Andy and Alise flew back to Ohio that Sunday. We were sad to see them go, but had a great time touring central/north Italy for the second week that Mom and Abby stayed for.  More on that in the next post!

Alise's beautiful ring!!

Tremiti Islands

The day after the wedding, we had our last lunch at the Caggiano's then set off for Termoli, Italy.  Termoli is a city that lies on the eastern coast of Italy right on the sea. We stayed at a B&B in this town because the next morning, we hopped on a boat to the Tremiti Islands.

Termoli

I had once asked Giuseppe for a suggestion of where to take my family after the wedding that he thought would be beautiful.  His suggestion was the Tremiti Islands.  He had never been before, but had always heard how gorgeous they were...and gorgeous they were!!

The Tremiti Islands are an archipelago in the Adriatic sea made up of 5 different islands that are also a natural maritime reserve, although some parts are only partially reserved.  The most touristic island of the five and the one we stayed on was San Domino. A short distance away is San Nicola, which is the most populated island and where all of the locals live.

view of San Nicola from San Domino

The other 3 islands are uninhabited. In fact, one of these, Pianosa, is 22km from the others and still has undetonated bombs from WWII therefore not allowing anyone to even step foot on the island.

Abs and I on the boat tour around the islands

Our hotel was in a great location near the center of San Domino. We had a path that led to one of the few sandy beaches on the island...it was a far way to the bottom!

view of our beach from where we had lunch

We took a boat tour around the islands and got to jump off at onen point and have a swim. The hotel gave us scuba masks so we could explore the different fishes and reefs in the clear, clear waters.

looking at the fish off our boat

Next, we stopped off at San Nicola and saw the Badia Castle and toured around that island for a bit.

the 6 of us on San Nicola

That night, we took a night boat tour around San Domino that was offered by our hotel.  The manager, Gaetano, who spoke great english, luckily for us, gave a tour in both italian and english.  He leads this tour every 2-3 weeks because the Diomedee, a species of birds, comes out only when the moon is not out.  They fly around the island and their sound is like a baby crying.

view from the castle on San Nicola

We had the beset time here and I would highly recommend these islands to anyone! It was not overcrowded with tourists and it was neat to see an island that is still highly preserved.

Going into one of the many coves of the island on the boat

I have too many beautiful pictures from this trip that it's hard to choose the best to post on here!

My favorite picture of the 6 of us