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15 Days in Italy - Cost breakdown & notes

15 Days in Italy - Cost breakdown & notes

Old Oct 10th, 2015, 03:56 AM
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15 Days in Italy - Cost breakdown & notes

So my wife and I got back from Italy yesterday and were in Italy for 15 nights and I figured I'd write a post about our costs since I haven't seen anything too comprehensive about this yet and I'd share a few of my experiences with you all since you guys really helped me plan a solid itinerary!

Costs broken out (This is for two people):
Lodging (all nights were spent at AirBnb's) - $2,225.40 (41.87% of total)
Touristy Stuff (Entrance fees, gondola, audio headsets, etc.) - $848.41 (15.96% of total)
Transportation (Airfare with frequent flyer miles***, Trains, Boats, Bus, etc.) - $919.42 (17.30% of total)
Food & Drink: $1192.97 (22.44% of total)
Misc (Souvenirs/gifts, phone, etc.) - $128.92 (2.43% of total)
Total: $5,315.10

A few notes about costs:
-Total cash spent on the trip was around €650. Italy is definitely more of a cash based country in which only at sit down restaurants or at most ticket places do they take credit cards. Most gelato places, souvenir shops, taxi's, cafe's only took cash. We used credit card whenever we could, but for the most part, cash was the preferred method of payment. Also, we had some issues with credit card machines which would take a few attempts to actually finalize the transaction. I would say €250/week and more in Rome since things are about 10-15% more expensive there compared to the other cities.
-We paid $150 for our airfare using frequent flier miles
-Some of the costs were just converted to USD from Euro by multiplying by 1.15 for simplicity, so the actual cost could be slightly less (up to 5% given the exchange rates)
-Gelato made up a big part of our Food & Drink costs, not because it was expensive, it was just something we really liked there!
-Food was significantly cheaper than we thought it would be which was a very pleasant surprise, especially the beer & wine costs. Standard Italy beer (Peroni, Nastro, Moretti) was generally €3-5, averaging around €4. House white wine was around those prices too.
-We could have spent a lot more on food, but we ate simply, mostly Pizza and Pasta, so our food costs ranged from €5-20 per person for lunch and €10-30 per person for dinner, generally an average of €10 for lunch and €20 or so for dinner.
-The bulk of our transportation costs were the long distance rails (i.e. Naples to Florence or Venice to Rome), total cost of those were $400 just about and the rest we spent on regional train tickets, buses, taxi's, etc. We didn't use taxi's much and spent most of our time walking or using the subway in Rome. Total taxi costs for us were €100 and that includes €50 for a taxi to the airport from Rome, average taxi cost was around €10.

Our itinerary:
-4 Nights in Sorrento
-4 Nights in Florence
-3 Nights in Venice
-4 Nights in Rome

Trip Notes:
------------------
Cell Phone:

So when we first arrived in Italy, I wanted to get a SIM card on my unlocked iPhone so we could take advantage of Google Maps and have data if we needed it. When we flew into Rome, there were kiosks selling SIM cards for like €100+ Euro, this was absurd and it's important to note that you can get a SIM card for a lot cheaper. The big carriers there were: TIM, Vodaphone, WIND, 3. I had direct experience with TIM and 3 (TIM was our cell carrier, 3 was our wireless internet provider in Florence at one of the AirBnb's we stayed at). We ended up using TIM since it was the first legit cell carrier there and after looking around, I think we made the best choice since there were a ton of TIM kiosks compared to the other providers.

We paid €35 for 400 minutes and 2 GB of data with unlimited texting in which I will say that I used data very freely and didn't have any issues. Reception wasn't great, but it was decent enough. I had an iPhone 4S, so I only had up to 3G data transfer, but that was for the most part adequate.

Language:

It was definitely difficult communicating in Italy with the locals since many of them spoke very little English which made for getting around initially somewhat difficult. Rome was a lot easier when it came to communicating since most of the locals there spoke more English however we definitely struggled to communicate in Sorrento and the surrounding areas initially.

Sorrento:

We spent our first night just walking around Sorrento and that was a lot of fun. It's a cute little town that acts as a home base for the nearby areas you want to reach: Naples, Pompeii, Almafi Coast/Positano, Capri, etc.

The next day we went to Pompeii (€11/person) which was great and we also took a bus to Mount Vesuvius (€22/person) which was great overall for the views but the mountain itself was kind of disappointing since I was expecting to see a deeper crater at the top of the mountain. Overall it added to our experience in Pompeii and my wife and I loved Pompeii and would highly recommend it. Compared to Ostia Antica, Pompeii is a lot more preserved with a lot of ruined buildings that weren't just the stumps/bottoms of buildings but mostly the whole thing.

On our 3rd day we took the train to Naples (€3.60/person one-way) to explore around and get some good pizza. Naples was pretty gritty and reminded me of NYC. The pizza was very good though and we enjoyed our quick day-trip there. Naples is really hard to navigate btw, we tried using a map they gave us but it wasn't very helpful and we ultimately decided to use our cell phones to get around Italy and that turned out to be really helpful and easy with GPS location tracking. We went to the Pompeii archaeological museum in Naples (€18/person) and I gotta say it was not worth the money. I like history and I thought Pompeii was awesome, but the museum just didn't have as much as I thought it would. Also, the audio headset was totally not worth it since only a handful of items actually had audio notes. Some people might have liked it, but we went to a few museums and this was definitely the worst one. I've also been to Pompeii exhibits in the states, and those generally were more interesting.

On our last day in Sorrento, we went to the Almafi Coast. We wanted to take a boat there since we heard some horror stories about the bus, but unfortunately on Sunday they didn't have any boats from Sorrento to the AC. We ended up taking the bus to Positano for $8/person and that turned out to be a terrible idea. We were the last ones on the bus so we had to stand the entire 40 minutes or so and the trip was so windy and bumpy that a kid got motion sickness and threw up and I could tell a lot of other people were getting dizzy/not feeling great either, myself included. We were very glad to get off the bus and walked the 1-2 miles down the hill where they drop you off. Positano was a very beautiful area, but it doesn't really have much to see. We actually ended up taking a boat to Almafi (€8/person) since we didn't see too much to do besides the little shops, cafe's and the small beach. The boat ride was very nice, you get a great view of Positano and it was just nice to be out in the water. Almafi had a nice square and was a nice little town to tour around. We walked around for an hour and took a few pictures, grabbed some gelato/lunch and then took the last boat (€17/person) back to Sorrento (interesting how Sorrento doesn't have a boat to Almafi but Almafi has one to Sorrento). The boat ride back was a lot better.

Florence:

We took the train to Florence and I must say, fast trains are significantly better than slow trains. The cost is worth the 50-100% premium in my opinion. When we went from Rome to Naples, we took a slow train to save money since we didn't book that one ahead of time like we did the others and that was a mistake. It was crowded, no air conditioning and uncomfortable to sit in. The fast train from Naples to Florence was convenient, had power stations so you could charge your phone/laptop and was a lot quieter.

Florence overall was great. It was a lot bigger than Sorrento (multiple times over) and we stayed literally one block away from the Galleria Academia which was the perfect location.

On our first day in Florence we just walked around and enjoyed the sites. The duomo is breathtaking and the plaza was awesome.

On the second day, we went to the Galleria Academia ($37 pre-booked/person) and that was totally worth it. Btw, you should definitely pre-book, thanks for all the notes to do that since the line outside was 3 hours if you didn't pre-book when we were there. The statue of David was incredible and while the museum was pretty small in comparison to some of the others, I thought it was perfect how they laid out the museum to make David the main attraction.

Afterwards, we went to the Uffizi Gallery ($14 pre-booked/person) and personally, I didn't like it that much but that's likely due to the fact that I'm not a huge art history buff. I mean, it was great seeing all those paintings in which there were a ton of pictures of Mary and it was a huge museum, but overall, I really liked the Galleria Academia more.

On our third day, we went to the bell tower first (€10 for the tower/duomo) and climbed to the top which was a lot of steps (400 or so) and the view was really nice. I can see how people would find it claustrophobic climbing up the stairs, but it wasn't that bad imo. It's just a narrow round staircase in which at times you had to wait in tight formations for people to come down and stuff (took about 15 minutes to get to the top). We also decided to climb to the top of the duomo (400 steps again also) in which that took about an hour since there were a lot of people who wanted to see the top and you had to queue up. Since it took so long to get to the top, I can totally see how the duomo would cause someone to get super claustrophobic since sometimes you were in a narrow stairway and shoulder to shoulder with a lot of people coming up and down. The view was definitely better in the duomo since there was no fencing around to block pictures. I gotta say the dome of the duomo as you're climbing up is interesting since it's a lot of pictures of demons and naked people running away from them. I'm not sure what the context was since I didn't read the history of those paintings but it was very unique for sure.

We then took a trip to Pisa and I must say that Pisa was the highlight of the trip. It was about €25/person to see the leaning tower and the cemetery area and it was totally worth it (Be sure to book in advance your tickets and you need to check all bags at a side building). The Leaning Tower was so cool and obviously you could have a lot of fun taking perspective photos (pointing to the top, holding it up, hugging it, etc.). Just don't get photo bombed! We actually had someone photobomb a few of our jumping pictures, which was amusing.

The climb to the top of the tower is around 170 steps or so, and after climbing 800+ with the bell tower and the duomo, it was definitely felt on this final staircase, but it was very cool how you could be leaning one direction and then another given the 'lean' of the tower. The top of the tower had a great view of Pisa too. The cemetery was cool and very isolated. There were like 3 people there while there were probably hundreds of people (if not thousands) in the Leaning Tower area.

On our final day in Florence, we took a trip to Siena and alas, it rained all day which kind of ruined the experience. The bus there wasn't exactly comfortable (€7.80/person) and I would recommend taking the train (we took the train back) since it's more comfortable and it's essentially the same cost (€1 more per person I think) and the timing at worst is 15 more minutes to get from Siena to Florence or vice versa. When it comes to transportation in Italy, we took 2 bus trips, and both were poor experiences, if you have the option to take a train, do it.

My experience of Siena wasn't great since it was raining that day and overall, I just didn't think too much of the town since it doesn't seem that there is too much to do besides the 3 big things: Basilica, Duomo and Il Campo (main square). The Basilica was cool and it was free too and it was basically another big church that was very focused on St. Catherine. The Duomo was interesting, though it does cost money. I would pay the €12 for the all access pass where you get to see the Museum, Duomo, Baptistry and a few other places. The Della Scalla is NOT included in your all access pass which was disappointing. I think the museum's top view of the entire town of Siena was the best part of the access pass and if you want to talk about claustrophobic stairways, the stairway to the top of the tower that overlooks Siena is probably 30% smaller than the already narrow Duomo stairway in Florence. I'm not a big guy too and had a tough time getting to the top of the tower given how narrow the stairway was.

I'll post back later on Venice and Rome.
cadd is offline  
Old Oct 10th, 2015, 04:38 AM
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Hi cadd - nice report full of detail and i like your emphasis on costings, though it might be better to take out the airfares as they vary so much; doing that I make it $4396 in total or, very roughly, $300 per day, or €264 or thereabouts. That seems pretty low to me, especially as you spend about $150 i.e. ½ of that per day on accommodation. [i know that that means that I've not counted in the trains etc - you don't provide a breakdown for those so i can't].

Anyway, it should provide a very good guide for those who are anxious to know how much their trips are going to cost - well done!

one or two points leapt out at me:

>

Though I loved the museum when I went about 2 years ago, I was surprised to read that it cost you €18 each, and checked up on the official prices:

http://www.coopculture.it/en/ticket....20Napoli&id=73

the normal price tickets are €8 each [that's what I remembered we paid] but there is a special exhibition there now which puts it up to €13 pp. add in the €2 pp reservation fee and the €4 for the audio guide, I suppose that it could cost you €18 each, which I agree is rather a lot.

I was also surprised that you didn't find many people who spoke english in Sorrento; I was there for a week attending a language school and our problem was finding people who would let us practice our Italian on them. Rome was a lot easier, strangely enough.

I do agree with you about Pisa - the campo die miracoli is so wonderful that it can survive the awful tourist tat that surrounds it; it is particularly lovely at night when it is all lit up and all the hawkers etc have gone home. Shame about the rain in Siena - it too is a lovely place to wander around.

looking forward to your take on Venice and Rome!
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Old Oct 10th, 2015, 04:53 AM
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Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, the national archaeological museum was €13 for the ticket + €5 for the headsets for a total of €18.

Hah, that's so interesting about your experiences in Sorrento. I think sometimes it's also just luck too when you find someone who does or doesn't speak English.

Here's the exact breakdown of our transportation costs for two people (Converted to USD) for more clarity (I have no idea how this will look once I paste it)

Flight (Frequent flier @ $75/each) 150.00
Rome to Naples Train Ticket 64.52
Naples to Florence Train Ticket 111.25
Florence to Venice Train Ticket 102.17
Venice to Rome Train Ticket 111.25
Naples to Sorrento Train ticket 11.50
Sorrento to Pompei Train Tickets 10.12
Naples to Sorrento Train Tickets 8.28
Bus to Positano 18.40
Ferry to Almafi from Positano 18.40
Ferry to Sorrento from Almalfi 39.10
Sorrento to Naples Train Ticket 8.28
Florence to Pisa Train Ticket 37.26
Florence to Siena Bus Ticket 17.94
Siena to Florence Train Ticket 20.24
Taxi from Siena to Train Station 13.80
Water Bus from Train Station to AirBnb 17.25
Water Bus to Murano and Burano 46.00
Water Bus from AirBNB to Train Station 17.25
Taxi from Rome Train Station to AirBNB 11.62
Taxi to Rome Airport 57.50
Taxi 11.50
Taxi 11.50
Taxi (in the States) 4.30

Our Airbnb average per night were:
Sorrento - $137/night
Florence - $129/night
Venice - $167/night
Rome - $165/night

A few other notes:
1. Sorrento and Rome had some weird "City-tax" that they made us pay in cash on our arrival. Sorrento was €1/night per person and Rome was €7/night per person.
2. Groceries were a great way to save money in Italy. The prices for water/beer/breakfast bars/meat/bread were all very reasonable. I recall paying €1.80 for a huge bag of salami which was very reasonable.
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Old Oct 10th, 2015, 06:18 AM
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You're clearly more disciplined with keeping track of your expenses than I am...
It's a useful exercise. It gives people a good idea about the costs of a trip, and how it breaks down to its components.
Without having splashed out your money on luxury places, you also haven't economised on your accommodation. That USD 2000 can be a lot less when people choose cheaper places.
I was a little surprised at your transport bill, but you've done a lot of travelling within Italy (effectively almost half the country up and down again).
The city tax is normal, wherever you are in Italy. And almost all hotels want to have it paid separately.
Back home, in the Netherlands, I hardly use cash anymore, but even in Germany it's still the dominant way in shops and restaurants. When travelling, I use my credit card almost exclusively for hotel bills.
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Old Oct 10th, 2015, 09:03 AM
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I used to keep a running total of our expenditure but on our last couple of trips I couldn't be bothered - it never seemed to make any difference to our spending! i agree that your accommodation was more than i might have expected - I usually set a limit of €100 a night which brings something pretty decent in all but the priciest places.

as for c/cards, the UK is going the way of the Netherlands, rather than Germany, which is definitely more of a cash economy. Italy is somewhere in the middle - we use c/cards for big bills like hotels and more expensive meals; cash for drinks, snacks and ice-cream of course.
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Old Oct 10th, 2015, 09:04 AM
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Bookmarking....looking forward to the next installment!
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Old Oct 10th, 2015, 12:03 PM
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Yes, the gelato and the afternoon beer are best paid cash, if only to leave an appropriate tip.
Curiously enough Poland is much more a card country than Germany. Even with the smallest transaction you get the question »cash or card?«.
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Old Oct 10th, 2015, 01:22 PM
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It may be that your experience of the Naples Archaeological Museum was disappointing because rooms were closed or items were out on loan?
I have been there three times and each time varying rooms were closed off. I agree that spending all that money for a sub-standard audio guide is a bit of a rip off.
The museum sells a good guide book but it is pricey too at 12 euro.
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Old Oct 11th, 2015, 06:21 AM
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We returned yesterday (Rome & Venice), and had similar experiences. Excellent post, and very helpful. I was surprised how much cash we burned through, especially in Rome.

I'd like to add one thing about using cash .... many stores / Tabac's sell transport tickets (biglietti) but you will pay cash if you buy from them.

Booking (way) ahead made a huge difference in the cost of lodging. We stayed at the same hotel in Rome a few years ago and it was more than $300/night on short notice; it was less than a third of that when booked and prepaid several months in advance.
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Old Oct 11th, 2015, 09:14 AM
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Great details. Thanks for sharinng!
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Old Oct 11th, 2015, 09:50 AM
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nice report and from a different perspective
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Old Oct 11th, 2015, 03:16 PM
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Venice:

Total cost for food & drink for 3 nights: €181.10
Total cost for tours/entrance fees: €60.00
Total cost for gondola: €100.00
Total cost for transportation around Venice (doesn't include the train to Venice from Florence): €70.00
Total cost (not including lodging/long-train to get to Venice): €411.00

We took the high speed train to Venice from Florence and the total trip was 2.25 hours. There are two Venice stops, one that goes to the main land area (Mestre) and then one to the island (Santa Lucia). We took the train all the way to the island. Once we got off the train, it took a little bit to get oriented since Venice is made up of a lot of islands. Water taxi's are super expensive I hear (our Airbnb host said they can be like €60 just to get to his place which is only about 30 minutes away by water bus) so we took the 5.1 Water Bus (there are different bus systems separated by numbers) which cost €7.5/person. Our Airbnb was once again in a great location since I wanted to make sure we were in the heart of all the places we stayed. So we were literally a 5 minute walk away from St. Mark's square/Doge's Palace. There was also a conveniently located little pizza shop next to us that we frequented for yummy pizza and water/cokes.

We didn't really do anything on our first night besides wander around St. Mark's square and check out the Rialto Bridge which was pretty cool at night time. It was nice hearing the live music played at night time by the various bands in St. Mark's square which was romantic and unique.

One interesting observation we had was Venice was the first city that people started to hustle us to go to their restaurants which was got old after awhile. We didn't experience this in Sorrento/Florence.

On our second day in Venice, we wandered around a lot of Venice checking out the various Piazza's as well as the first Jewish ghetto. We also took a trip out to Burano which was unique.

The Jewish ghetto was a lot smaller than I thought it would be but it was definitely unique to see and I'm glad we got to see it since it was the first historical Jewish ghetto. While we were in that area we also ventured to some of the more remote/less touristy areas including a small little park which was nice since Venice was extremely crowded after 10 AM all the way until 9 PM or so at night.

To get to Burano, you have to take the 3 Water Bus to Murano in which there are two Murano stops, the first one is the town you get to the visit and the other is the connecting port which has nothing but a few shops in it. A note about the water bus tickets, they cost €7.50/person but we were told that you need to pay a second €7.50 from Murano to Burano, but that didn't appear to the be the case when we got to the second stop and waited for the connecting water boat (line 12), so we got the €20/person unlimited day pass, but in hindsight, perhaps just doing €7.50 one way and getting a ticket back would have been better.

Burano was a small little town in which every house there was painted in some color (all colors, pink, blue, white, yellow,e tc.) and no two houses next to one another were painted the same color. My wife liked how quaint the town was and it was just a little fun day trip that took an hour or two to walk around shop a bit. Burano is known for its knitting of white flowered cloths and Murano is known for its glass.

After Burano we took a Gondola ride in which it appears Gondola rides are all under one company, where before 7 PM it's €80 for about a 30-35 minute ride and after 7 PM it's €100. We took the one after 7 PM, looking back it was totally worth it since in the morning/afternoon, all the tourists are taking them so it's like bumper Gondola's! In the evening it's pretty isolated and it's romantic and quiet. There's no haggling on price for the Gondola rides.

On our final full day in Venice, we visited the Doge's Palace and did the Secret Itineraries tour (€20/person) and St. Mark's Basilica in which Doge's Palace was pretty awesome and the tour was worth it since you got to see an entirely different part of the Palace. Our tour guide was pretty good and seeing the weaponry was very unique and cool as you got to see all the various weapons of the renaissance and middle age era in the palace.

After Doge's, we went to St. Mark's and a quick note, I would highly recommend the "skip-the-line" option if you book in advance online for €2. You save about 20-40 minutes doing that which I thought was worth it.

We also went to the top of the Bell Tower (€8/person) and it only took us 15 minutes or so to wait in line and you get to take an elevator up. The view was amazing, though it was fenced off which was annoying since you get fence in your pictures.

Overall, Venice was great since it's such a unique city with all its mini islands and bridge pathways. It's a bit more expensive than Florence/Sorrento, but overall, it wasn't too bad. I just didn't like the constant hustling to go to bars/restaurants, but the views, the architecture of buildings were all great.

I'll add a separate post on Rome later on since it'll be long given how much we saw and did.
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 12:34 AM
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" There's no haggling on price for the Gondola rides."

ah, not strictly true
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 03:06 AM
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Thank you for an extremely interesting post.

We haven't traveled south of Rome, and we have generally had no trouble using credit cards for everything except street purchases like gelato.

I'm glad I never counted up the prices of going to all those museums!
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 06:04 AM
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There is lots of info here on the website of the association of Roman museums, including days when there are reductions, free entries, and special events:

http://en.museiincomuneroma.it/ne_fa.../museo_di_roma

for some museums there is even a reduction for subscribers to the newsletter, which just means sending them your e-mail address and letting them send you an e-mail every so often - I use it to practice my italian!
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 07:20 AM
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" There's no haggling on price for the Gondola rides."

ah, not strictly true

---

I guess YMMV for this since we did ask a few Gondola crews around Venice and they all quoted us 100 euros and weren't willing to bend even though they had a bunch of people just sitting around. They only take cash too.

---

"It may be that your experience of the Naples Archaeological Museum was disappointing because rooms were closed or items were out on loan?
I have been there three times and each time varying rooms were closed off. I agree that spending all that money for a sub-standard audio guide is a bit of a rip off.
The museum sells a good guide book but it is pricey too at 12 euro."

---

You could be right since we didn't see any plaster bodies, we only saw the trinkets from the ruins and some interesting sculptures, it didn't seem complete compared to the other showcases I've seen in the past.
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 07:31 AM
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cadd - the downstairs of the NAM is full of the most wonderful marble sculptures [so good that even I, who is not much of a fan of such things was impressed] ; the upstairs is where the Pompeii artefacts are. There are other parts too but those are the main areas.

did you not see both?
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 08:24 AM
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the trick is to find the bar where most of them drink and ask nicely, Mrs Bilbo took me there so no idea where it was but she did all right.
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 08:36 AM
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Mrs Bilbo took me there so no idea where it was but she did all right.>

were you present when the bargaining took place, bilbo?
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Old Oct 12th, 2015, 08:39 AM
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hovering, with a large glass of red wine in hand.
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