In Rome breakfasts will be taken in the hotel, which offers a good selection on the breakfast buffet.
Five evening meals are included where your leader can choose from a variety of characterful restaurants near to the hotel. All will be authentic ‘Rome restaurants’ but each will have its particular style.
On our first night, we might well visit a Roman ‘bistro’ where an assortment of salads, cold platters of cheeses and cooked meats is a great way to start the meal. This can be followed by a crafted and unusual pasta dish (no they won’t give you the recipe, we have tried) and a choice of light desserts. A great start to the holiday.
We certainly will visit the nearby Pizzeria, with a roaring wood burning oven, producing the thinnest, crispest pizzas you have ever experienced. It is always full of local diners, a good sign of quality. A fish restaurant is close by, where the fish greet you at the door lying on beds of ice, maybe hold back a bit on the pasta that night. They serve rather good meat dishes too.
When we visit the Vatican, we can choose one of the many boutique restaurants hidden in the streets behind St Peters. Probably after a long day we can let ourselves go with huge plates of spaghetti. Or maybe, if we are early enough, they will just have prepared the Lasagne………it soon goes!
For vegetarians, have no fear, all the restaurants have excellent choices. We can even find pizzas which are gluten free, if wheat is a problem.
What else? A rustic meal with pitchers of red wine in a cellar restaurant, an elegant restaurant with a slightly Turkish inspired menu, everywhere some of our clients may well choose yet another pizza with a side salad which can be a meal in itself.
For lunch we might have a Caprese Salad or restrict ourselves to bruschetta with mediterranean tomatoes which melt in the mouth and always, always there is gelato. It has been suggested by several clients, that you can have a gelato twice a day for the whole tour and feel no side effects whatsoever.
If there is one thing the Romans do well that is eat!
When we get to Venice meals change a little whereby each morning will start with breakfast in the hotel before heading out for our days activity.
Lunches are not the normal Ramblers Holidays packed lunches because to protect the fragile environment of Venice the city authorities have banned the consumption of food and drink in public spaces. This means that picnics are not an option so we will be eating in cafe/ restaurants. You can get a light lunch for around €10 with drinks extra. On the plus side there is somewhere to sit and have a chat, a handy toilet, also warmth and shelter inside should the weather be less kind!
To finish each day your leader will take you to sample local culture further in local restaurants experiencing the different local cuisine and of course sampling the classic Italian dishes including fresh pastas, pizza, or rich local seafood.
Please note that in Italy it is customary to pay for water consumed at the dinner table estimating around €2-3 per 0.75cl bottle.