Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Hotel Riviera

Anzio, Italy

(Pronounced: AAAAHN-shee-oh, Eeet-TAHL-ye-ah)

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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Billy is a man of countless ideas.

It was his excellent suggestion that when we flew from Guadalajara to Madrid, then to Rome, that we should find our way to a smaller coastal Italian town to relax our jetlag away.

Brilliant!

Billy made reservations at Hotel Riviera in Anzio Italy, about an hour's drive south from the Rome airport.

We were able to set aside the stress of travel and snuggle into a smaller, very friendly city, with rooftop bars, salumerias, beaches, and Roman ruins.

Perfect!

Our hotel from across the street

When we made reservations at Hotel Riviera, we were able to schedule a driver to pick us up at the Roma airport. A man with our name on a board picked us up and delivered us to this lovely hotel.

Our room is on the first floor with a terrific balcony. We had views of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Roman Emperor Nero's Beach and the pedestrian traffic below.

The reception desk

We were a little early and had to wait for the cleaning to be finished in our room.

Their system is to start cleaning from the top floors down, and since we were on the 1st floor, our room wasn't quite ready.

We took a walk about the town and enjoyed the sunny weather and to get our bearings.

It wasn't long before we were called to enter our sea view quarters.

Opening the door to our room

Here we are at our room's entrance and I'm opening the door.

Our bedroom

We had a sweet room with firm mattresses and a doorway to our own private terrace.

Just as an aside, the Italians have a feature on their doors where they can open up at the top - sort of ajar, opening towards you, slanted - in order to allow air to flow into the room while the door still being locked.

This was our first experience with this sort of door, and we were convinced that the door was broken and would fall off the hinges at any moment.

We treated that door VERRRY gently, until we realized that this was actually a positive feature and it was designed for this.

DUH.

Only here a few moments and already we are learning new things from the Italian culture!

A view of our room from the balcony

We had hangers for our clothes, plus shelves, extra pillows and a small refrigerator which is now something we look for when booking a room.

The door on the left leads to the bathroom.

Our balcony over looking the Tyrrhenian Sea

Oh we loved this balcony!

We had delicious lunches, watched the sunset and sunrise, saw the foot traffic below, and enjoyed the weather. Anzio's weather is constantly changing which is a big difference for us living in Chapala, Mexico where we have consistent sunshine.

The ruins of Roman Emperor Nero's villa is on this beach just to the right, out of the picture.

A look over the edge

Here's our view of the Tyrrhenian sea which is incorporated within the Mediterranean Sean, and with Al Terzo Restaurant and Rooftop Bar in front of us. We happened to be here during a weekend and a huge National Holiday where the streets swelled with tourists and the bars and restaurants were a-jumpin'.

Most anything we needed was within walking distance.

Breakfast bonanza included in the price of the room

We paid $111Euros per night for our room and it included this really remarkable buffet breakfast.

This comparable meal outside the hotel would easily cost $20Euros per person (includes cappuccino and tea) so if we subtracted $40Euros from the nightly price, it brings the daily price to $71Euros.

Very reasonable indeed.

Notice the offerings - pastries, croissants, waffles and pancakes, fresh fruit, yogurts, cheeses, juices, dried fruits, cereals, soft boiled eggs, and various meats.

Here's the other side of the buffet

This side of the breakfast spread included excellent cakes, pastry rolls, and tarts, changing daily and made on the premises.

Seriously, the first morning I didn't know where to start and found myself putting all sorts of things on my plate.

Then I went back for seconds.

OINK.

Another hotel requirement for our first stop on this adventure was that it included breakfast.

We definitely were not disappointed.

The dining room

Each morning we'd come down for breakfast (served from 7am to 10am) and meet with other hotel residents.

Some captivating people!

We met a couple from Denmark who spoke several languages, another young couple riding motorcycles around the coast, and some beautiful young women from Ukraine, just to mention a few.

I asked the one Ukrainian lady who spoke English fairly well - why they were there. "Oh just on holiday for a few days" I was thinking that perhaps they were escaping the danger there. Then she said "we live in Kiev and that is our home. We are getting tired of the sirens and going to the cellars but this is our life, so we go back."

Between our English, Spanish and Google Translate - and these people's ability to speak several languages themselves, we all had wonderful conversations.

One of our best treats of international travel - is learning about our fellow humans living on the planet.

We are not afraid to speak with anyone, and sometimes we make longer-term friendships.

View from our hotel rooftop

This is the view from our own hotel's rooftop.

Unbeknownst to us, our hotel also had a rooftop bar! It had not been mentioned, and had it been, we would have spent a happy hour or two here.

This shot gives you a very good look at Al Terzo's rooftop bar as well as Nero's Beach below.

Panoramic view from our hotel rooftop

Isn't this beautiful?

Such blue skies and water!

And you get an idea of our location in respect to other establishments in the area.

One of our many lunches on our balcony

Italy's food is simple and outstanding.

This grouping of meats is from a Salumeria along with fruit, wine, crusty bread, different olives and mustard all affordable and delightful. Who knew that the basics could taste so good?

The Chianti was $4Euros.

The vegetables, fruits, cheeses, olives and other items came to $20Euros.

All of this hearty food lasted us for days!

We were just getting started on our journey through southern Italy and Sicily, and quickly learned that products purchased in small stores were excellent quality and worth putting together in our room. We enjoyed many antipasta lunches during our time there.

Would we recommend Hotel Riviera in Anzio?

Absolutely!

Editor's note: Wifi here at this hotel, unfortunately, was spotty. Seemingly it went down every 20 minutes or so. We utilized our phones as hotspots which helped. One could also go to the lobby for a better connection.

__________

Hotel Riviera

Porto D’Anzio Riviera Mallorzzi, 37

Anzio, 0042RM Italy

Tele +39 06 984 5468

Website www.anzioriviera.com 

e-mail: hotel@anzioriviera.com

__________

Our Driver sent by our hotel

Augusto Tulli

00042 Anzio Piazza Dante Zemini, 32

Tele: 339. 577. 7407

Speaks some English 

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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