Nick and Lucille Gamble, November 2006

On a beautiful November day, we were set down on top of a mountain, once the site of Jupiter's temple and began our walk to the temple of Diane. Our guide, Rob, was able to joke in four languages and was a fount of knowledge about the ancient Romans who had used the route we were about to descend. He has also sought out many seldom visited Roman roads and remains which have lain unused for 200 years and are now incorporated into Italian Geographic walking tours. Under the trees beneath the temple site, we came across a whole Roman road in its original condition. Few modern Romans having the enthusiasm to make the climb, the road has lain there unused for 2000 years. We walked the silent path and heard about how the early worshippers had used the road to make the journey on foot from the temple of Diane in the crater of a volcano to the temple of Jupiter.
As we came lower, the ancient Roman paving stones disappeared and the track became a path through the forest, these more accessible stones having long since disappeared into other more modern structures. After two to three hours, we emerged in a small hamlet which is perched eerily on the edge of a cliff overlooking the volcanic crater and the temple of Diane whose remains can be seen several hundred feet below. The hamlet offers refreshment and hospitality as well as traditional food and shops. We did not continue down to the floor of the crater and the temple of Diane - another day! If you are looking for a quiet holiday walking rarely trod ancient paths in the company of an exceptionally knowledgeable and humorous guide, this is it!

Mary, Bobby and Ford Van Fossan

This was our first trip to Rome, and Monique Hindriks was our tour guide.
She was wonderful! We started out with a sick child and Monique just took care of getting us some medical advice and made us feel very comfortable about everything. She was flexible and kind; we still went to see some sites around our hotel and we would keep walking back and checking on him. Then when he was feeling better we were off and running!

Our tour was amazing! Monique made it so much fun; she would fill us in on the history of the places we went. From the Coliseum we went to the Forum Romano where she explained to us in-depth all the historical buildings in this area such as the Arch of Titus, the Basilica of Massenzio, the Roman senate building, the Basilica Julia, Trajans column etc.
From the Forum we walked up to the Capitol hill where the city of Rome was founded, after this we went to a nice lunch where we enjoyed learning more about Monique and discovered her love for the Holland World Cup team. We were in Italy during the World Cup and my son really enjoyed keeping track of the games and even watching some with Monique! Then we were off to St. Peter's ......the line seemed a bit overwhelming but, Monique knew just how to get thru it quickly.

The next day Monique met us with a driver, Valerio and with his beautiful car which we headed off to Tivoli and Hadrian's villa and then we went to the Popes summer home and saw the
vineyards. The countryside was beautiful and we all enjoyed seeing the old Appian way.

Then I was curious about St. Paul's basilica and also this church which had all kinds of bones in it on display!

Monique and Valerio were really wonderful showing us around. It was great and much of it was due to Monique's expertise and fun loving spirit!

We can't wait to go back and see more with Monique! Everything was very professional and well planned.

Our best to Monique !

Debbie, David & Tyler Willse

Thank you for the pictures. They are wonderful momentos of our trip to Rome.
We had a great time during our visits in Rome and during the hike.
Thank you so much for your time and we hope to see you again.

Linda & Ron Jackson

Dear Robert, thank you for the great time we had during our hike in Italy. The places you, Monique and JR took us during the hikes were awesome. We never imagined that such places existed and we would have never found them on our own.

Linda and I still talk about the wonderful food we had while on the trip and we sincerely compliment you on your choice of restaurants for our lunches and diners. Thanks for the recipes you’ve sent us, we’re trying them out one at a time until we get them just right.

We’ll certainly recommend your tours to our friends and we’re planning to come back next year for another hike to a different area. Italy is so beautiful that it may take many more trips like this last one before we’re sure that “we’ve seen it all”.

Give our regards to your wonderful staff and thank them on our behalf.