Two days to play with in Italy
Feb 5th, 2008, 07:38 AM
#1
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Two days to play with in Italy
My husband and I are heading to Italy in a couple weeks. We will be there a Tuesday-Tuesday.
We fly into Rome and will spend 3 full days in Rome with a good friend living in Rome. (This will not be our first visit to Bella Roma and we are traveling from Europe so no days will be wasted with Jetlag.)
We are then heading to Tuscany with our friend on Friday where we will spend all day Friday in Florence and then off to a small town in the countryside to stay the night with a friend of our friend. Saturday, we will probably visit Lucca or Pisa.
Our friend will head back to Rome late Saturday night and I have Sunday and Monday to play with.
Does anyone have any interesting suggestions on where to spend Sunday and Monday? I have thought about:
1. Heading back to Rome slowly and stopping and spending Saturday night and Sunday night somewhere else in Tuscany or somewhere in Umbria. San Gimignano, Siena, Perugia, Orvieto just to name a few of the towns that are calling to me. Then head back to Rome late on Monday for our Tuesday flight.
2. Go back to Rome (where we can stay in our friends flat for free while she is out of town) and taking a couple day trips from Rome. Perhaps Tivoli, Ostia Antica and give us any extra time to do things we might have missed on our first 3 days in Rome.
So, any suggestions? And what would YOU do given this situation?
We fly into Rome and will spend 3 full days in Rome with a good friend living in Rome. (This will not be our first visit to Bella Roma and we are traveling from Europe so no days will be wasted with Jetlag.)
We are then heading to Tuscany with our friend on Friday where we will spend all day Friday in Florence and then off to a small town in the countryside to stay the night with a friend of our friend. Saturday, we will probably visit Lucca or Pisa.
Our friend will head back to Rome late Saturday night and I have Sunday and Monday to play with.
Does anyone have any interesting suggestions on where to spend Sunday and Monday? I have thought about:
1. Heading back to Rome slowly and stopping and spending Saturday night and Sunday night somewhere else in Tuscany or somewhere in Umbria. San Gimignano, Siena, Perugia, Orvieto just to name a few of the towns that are calling to me. Then head back to Rome late on Monday for our Tuesday flight.
2. Go back to Rome (where we can stay in our friends flat for free while she is out of town) and taking a couple day trips from Rome. Perhaps Tivoli, Ostia Antica and give us any extra time to do things we might have missed on our first 3 days in Rome.
So, any suggestions? And what would YOU do given this situation?
Feb 5th, 2008, 08:13 AM
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I think two is a better option than one also. I did Ostia Antica as a day trip from Rome and it turned out great. Really easy to do, even for us without a car. I believe we just took the metro then transferred to a commuter train. It was very interesting! On another trip we went to Pompeii from Rome, much longer trip but still doable in the timeframe you mentioned.
Feb 6th, 2008, 07:34 AM
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Im a big Rome partisan, but Id think that a day of travel through Tuscany to get back there would be wonderful, followed by a final day in rome. You dont say how you are travelling - if you dont have your own car, a stop in Orvieto (just a day visit, not necessarily an overnight) would be enjoyable and convenient.
There is so much to do in Rome, and you will have had the countryside experience, so I dont think daytrips outside of Rome are so important. Of the near-Rome adventures, I like walking out the Appia Antica best. {Particularly good for a Sunday - (with a good guide book you can walk right out of the city into the campagna starting, say, from the Baths of Caracalla, leaving the city through one of the old city gates, visiting one of the catacombs along the way and stopping for a lovely lunch at say, the Hostaria l'Archeologica. Do have a guidebook so you know what you are seeing/walking past. Its magical.
Id definitely save Pompeii for a separate trip to the south.
There is so much to do in Rome, and you will have had the countryside experience, so I dont think daytrips outside of Rome are so important. Of the near-Rome adventures, I like walking out the Appia Antica best. {Particularly good for a Sunday - (with a good guide book you can walk right out of the city into the campagna starting, say, from the Baths of Caracalla, leaving the city through one of the old city gates, visiting one of the catacombs along the way and stopping for a lovely lunch at say, the Hostaria l'Archeologica. Do have a guidebook so you know what you are seeing/walking past. Its magical.
Id definitely save Pompeii for a separate trip to the south.
Feb 6th, 2008, 11:52 AM
#6
An alternative view: If you haven't been to Florence before, I'd go there for one of your days. You say you're "heading to Tuscany on Friday and will spend all day Friday in Florence and then off to a small town..." Actually, you won't be spending all day in Florence but only a few hours.
