Italy- more on our 12 days
Apr 14th, 2005 | 07:42 AM
#1
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Italy- more on our 12 days
Rome restaurants:
Lunch at Ristorante Smeraldo (via principe amedeo), GREAT artichoke antipasta and riggatoni!
Dinner - Il Gabriello (in Rick Steve's book but don't let that stop you). Make reservations!
Spent the day in Orvieto between Rome and Florence. One thing, there is no luggage storage at that train station. We finally figured this out (no one speaks Enlgish at the station) and found a hotel across the street. We paid them to keep our bags for the day.
The Duomo there is is beautiful. We did the underground Etruscan ruins tour. There are only two English tours/day but we were with only one other couple and their kids so the guide did the tour in both languages.
Lunch at I Sette Consoli is a must! One of the best meals the whole trip.
Tried to do wine "tasting" but their idea of tasting is a whole glass. The winery that Rick Steve's talks about is NOT within walking distance and they were at a festival out of town that week anyway. Some of the stores that sell wine let us taste.
It is a very beautiful and peaceful town!
In Florence, we stayed at the Residenza dei Pucci and could walk to all the majors from there. Nice place, 130,50 euro with Rick Steve's discount. Light breakfast.
I would highly recommend the Boboli Gardens for a picnic. Very romantic and great views of the city withouth climbing the steps of the Duomo. Just remember to go out through the main entrance instead of down the big hill on the side. It put us about 2 miles out of our way.
Next we went to CT and stay in Monterosso. I am very glad we stayed there and did not feel that is was touristy. Stayed at Hotel Villa Steno in a room with a view of the ocean. Great patio for drinking wine in the evening and salty air to wake you up in the morning. Beautiful gardens with lemon trees galore!
Definatley explore other towns and eat at Gambero Rosso in Vernazza...THE BEST meal of our trip. Also Alta Marea in Monterosso was wonderful. DO NOT eat at Il Moretto in Monterosso.
Finally, Venice. I had major problems with motion sickness on the trains and was not feeling well when we arrived. Couple that with the awful weather and Venice did not immediately meet my expectations. We eventually warmed up to each other and part as good friends.
Our hotel was Pensione la Calcina and it is right on the water but quiet. 175 euro with Rick's dicount. GREAT breakfast and the room was nice. They had a bottle of prosecco for our anniversary sent to the room.
We went to the gregorian mass at the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore and really enjoyed it. The Church San Marina Dei Frari was also really pretty for another "off the path" site.
Two restaurants we enjoyed were Antico Panicicio, S. Polo, 945 and Tavernetta San Maurizio, San Marco, 2619. Great prices and wonderful food. Very much "locals only" spots, not English menu but staff helpful.
It rained most of the time in Venice but out last night cleared up for a gondola ride. It was beautiful and amazing, dark and quiet, very romantic. Definatley splurge to go at night and ALONE! We finished our last evening with a concerti at Chiesa San Vidal. Amazing!
Lunch at Ristorante Smeraldo (via principe amedeo), GREAT artichoke antipasta and riggatoni!
Dinner - Il Gabriello (in Rick Steve's book but don't let that stop you). Make reservations!
Spent the day in Orvieto between Rome and Florence. One thing, there is no luggage storage at that train station. We finally figured this out (no one speaks Enlgish at the station) and found a hotel across the street. We paid them to keep our bags for the day.
The Duomo there is is beautiful. We did the underground Etruscan ruins tour. There are only two English tours/day but we were with only one other couple and their kids so the guide did the tour in both languages.
Lunch at I Sette Consoli is a must! One of the best meals the whole trip.
Tried to do wine "tasting" but their idea of tasting is a whole glass. The winery that Rick Steve's talks about is NOT within walking distance and they were at a festival out of town that week anyway. Some of the stores that sell wine let us taste.
It is a very beautiful and peaceful town!
In Florence, we stayed at the Residenza dei Pucci and could walk to all the majors from there. Nice place, 130,50 euro with Rick Steve's discount. Light breakfast.
I would highly recommend the Boboli Gardens for a picnic. Very romantic and great views of the city withouth climbing the steps of the Duomo. Just remember to go out through the main entrance instead of down the big hill on the side. It put us about 2 miles out of our way.
Next we went to CT and stay in Monterosso. I am very glad we stayed there and did not feel that is was touristy. Stayed at Hotel Villa Steno in a room with a view of the ocean. Great patio for drinking wine in the evening and salty air to wake you up in the morning. Beautiful gardens with lemon trees galore!
Definatley explore other towns and eat at Gambero Rosso in Vernazza...THE BEST meal of our trip. Also Alta Marea in Monterosso was wonderful. DO NOT eat at Il Moretto in Monterosso.
Finally, Venice. I had major problems with motion sickness on the trains and was not feeling well when we arrived. Couple that with the awful weather and Venice did not immediately meet my expectations. We eventually warmed up to each other and part as good friends.
Our hotel was Pensione la Calcina and it is right on the water but quiet. 175 euro with Rick's dicount. GREAT breakfast and the room was nice. They had a bottle of prosecco for our anniversary sent to the room.
We went to the gregorian mass at the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore and really enjoyed it. The Church San Marina Dei Frari was also really pretty for another "off the path" site.
Two restaurants we enjoyed were Antico Panicicio, S. Polo, 945 and Tavernetta San Maurizio, San Marco, 2619. Great prices and wonderful food. Very much "locals only" spots, not English menu but staff helpful.
It rained most of the time in Venice but out last night cleared up for a gondola ride. It was beautiful and amazing, dark and quiet, very romantic. Definatley splurge to go at night and ALONE! We finished our last evening with a concerti at Chiesa San Vidal. Amazing!
Apr 14th, 2005 | 07:49 AM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
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I'm glad you posted that info about no luggage storage at the Orvieto train station. I thought I had read here fairly recently that they did have storage there. Do you know the name of the hotel who held your luggage? How much did you pay for that? Thanks!
Apr 14th, 2005 | 12:11 PM
#4
Joined: Mar 2003
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Hi, we are staying at V.Steno in July 2005. What was great about Alta Marea and so awful at the other. Also we plan on driving from Monterosso to Orvieto, to overnight in Orvieto. Is that what you did and if so how was the drive.Thanks.
Apr 15th, 2005 | 03:11 AM
#5
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Joined: Mar 2005
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The name of the hotel that stored our luggage was Hotel Europa. It is right across the street from the train station, a little to the left.
We were so flustered about this whole thing that I just walked up to the counter and said I would give her 5 euro now and 5 when we returned. At that point, we didn't care how much it cost. Pretty silly but this was our first "problem" during the trip and we really wanted to see Orvieto. They were really nice and we felt safe leaving our things there. We did have locks on our bags.
With regards to the gondola ride, there are several places to begin. You can miss them, they have big docks with the typical striped poles in the water. We caught ours just down from the Accademia Bridge. We actually never saw gondolas during the day, more towards afternoon. It would be better "people watching" not as romantic. But basically the same sights.
Now the CT restaurants...
Alta Marea had friendly staff and wonderful food. Their pesto was amazing and the calamari was awesome.
Il Moretto, no one spoke English and therefore, the waitress screwed up my order. Nothing horrible but still not exactly what I wanted. They tried to scam us into getting a WAY more expensive bottle of wine and this was really, weird...we were the ONLY two people in the restaurant! Even when we finished our meal (about 9 PM) no one else had arrived. Kind of eery.
We were so flustered about this whole thing that I just walked up to the counter and said I would give her 5 euro now and 5 when we returned. At that point, we didn't care how much it cost. Pretty silly but this was our first "problem" during the trip and we really wanted to see Orvieto. They were really nice and we felt safe leaving our things there. We did have locks on our bags.
With regards to the gondola ride, there are several places to begin. You can miss them, they have big docks with the typical striped poles in the water. We caught ours just down from the Accademia Bridge. We actually never saw gondolas during the day, more towards afternoon. It would be better "people watching" not as romantic. But basically the same sights.
Now the CT restaurants...
Alta Marea had friendly staff and wonderful food. Their pesto was amazing and the calamari was awesome.
Il Moretto, no one spoke English and therefore, the waitress screwed up my order. Nothing horrible but still not exactly what I wanted. They tried to scam us into getting a WAY more expensive bottle of wine and this was really, weird...we were the ONLY two people in the restaurant! Even when we finished our meal (about 9 PM) no one else had arrived. Kind of eery.
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