Christmas Trip 2014 (part 2): Travel Day and Rome

Our flight to Genoa, Italy left Abu Dhabi at 3:40am on Friday the 19th of December. We had about a 3 hour lay-over in Istanbul before we arrived in Genoa at 12:30pm. It is a very small airport so it took no time at all to get through passport control, probably one of the easiest entries we've had yet! Basically, hand them your passport, they stamp it and your done. No questions, easy peasy! We headed out of the airport, grabbed a taxi, and headed to the port. At the port we checked-in on the cruise, checked out our cabin (nice ocean-view out the back of the ship), explored the ship and just took it easy for the night.

Our cabin

Our view

Our cabin window from the outside

Dec. 20 - Rome
Our cruise ship got into the port of Civitavecchia this morning. For our excursion we had 1 1/2 hour bus ride into Rome and then a few hours touring the city. It was difficult to take photos on the bus but it was neat to see everything. I am bummed we didn't get to see Trevi Fountain but I guess that just means we'll have to go back sometime! We did get about 45 min. to wander around near St. Peter's Basilica and had some yummy pizza and gelato.

St. Paul's Basilica

The Pyramid of Cestius

The Colosseum

Arch of Constantine

Some steep steps in Rome (not the Spanish Steps)

Pretty area next to the Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps are behind that beautiful Christmas Tree

St. Peter's Basilica

A Nativity Scene outside St. Peter's Basilica

Yummy Gelato