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| Submission date: 2006-07-27 - Date of Stay: July 2006 |
| Submitted by: Nat Wieczorek - From: United Kingdom |
| Type of Traveller: Mature Couple - Age Group: 41 - 50 |
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| Wonderful Columbus! |
| What a superb location! 2 mins walk from St Peter's on a long avenue, lined with shops, a chemist, ice cream parlour, bistro's and hop on hop off bus tours. About 30 minutes walk from old Rome, along the Tiber, and a short walk from Castle St Angelo, where all the traders line the bridge.
The hotel is an old palace, very calm and cool, and very spacious. It is also wonderfully quiet. We saw no one on our floor all week.
The rooms are basic, but have lots of character. There is an excellent mini bar for your chilled drinks. The bed is medium firm and the view looked onto St Peter's Dome and the quiet gardens. Seeing the sun go down was glorious from the bedroom window, which was quite small, with glass windows and wooden shutters.
I thought the bathroom more 3 star than 4, but it had a good bath and shower.It had a hairdryer in the bathroom. The Air conditioning was great and the room very cool at night. In fact at night the room was cool, dark and totally quiet. Bliss. No door slamming. The maids put on fresh sheets every day and came in after breakfast. There is a safe in the room.
The breakfast was great,a large buffet, till 10am but this seemed quite flexible. Cheese, ham, croissants, bread rolls, cakes, fruit tarts, yogurt, fresh fruit, eggs - the lot. Every type of tea and good coffee. You can sit in the garden and the staff are great. No hassling or rushing.
We didn't try the restaurant food as it looked abit dear. The setting is grand, though, beneath a painted ceiling. Very Renaissance.
The whole hotel is a wonderful palace and just so convenient for everything. In the back streets are some great little restaurants serving good food at a reasonable price.
At night we sat in the garden, beautifully lit with twinkling lights, had drinks and listened to the pianist.
We loved this hotel as it was away from the noise of Rome, but not out of the way. The car transfer from the hotel to Ciampino airport was 50 Euro's for about a 45 min trip. Well worth it.
We had a look at the suite rooms and although they are alot bigger, we didn't think they were worth the money unless it was something very special like a honeymoon. We spent very little time in our room, so size didn't really matter. We had ample space anyway.
If you want cool, calm and sedate, this is for you. The staff were friendly and couldn't do enough for us. Check out is 12 noon and they lock the bags away. Do the Vatican Museums, then pop back for the bags. We would highly recommend this hotel. |
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