Italy trip report
Jun 14th, 2004, 06:19 AM
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Italy trip report
My husband and I just returned from our first trip to Italy. We spent two weeks (startying May 22) in five places--Rome, Siena, Florence, Cinque Terre and Venice. I've also included some info about money and weather at the end.
ROME:
Rome was probably our favorite. Loved all the museums and ruins. Plus since it's a big city, we found it easy to find a variety of restaurants and shops. The metro system wasn't very impressive so we ended up walking a ton. Didn't mind much though because it was a great way to see the city.
Our favorite sites were the Vatican Museum, St Peter's Basilica and square, the colosseum and Roman forum, and the Borghese gallery. We also really enjoyed spending time in the area around the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain was impressive as well. Really loved the free tours that students offered to intice you to buy a paid tour, but found the paid ones to be disappointing. Sites that seemed to have the most free tours were the Roman Forum and St Peter's.
Our hotel was Hotel Duca d'Alba (www.hotelducadalba.com), recommended on this site and by Rick Steve's. We paid around 160 euro a night. The bed was very comforatable, the bathroom clean, the staff nice, and the breakfast just heavenly. The location near the Colosseum wasn't bad either and a pizzeria just down the street had the best pizza we ate in Italy.
SIENA:
Very much so a medieval town. My husband found the architecture fascinating. I thought it was too touristy. Il Campo, the main place to hang out, was just filled with tourists. Food was also surprisingly expensive.
Stayed at Albergo Canon d' Oro. Location was great (near a grocery store and walking distance from Il Campo) but the bathroom was not. Towels smelled awful. Paid about 80 euros a night.
FLORENCE:
Really liked the area between the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio bridge. If you can, try to find accomodations in this area. We stayed at a B&B owned by an Italian man and his American wife on the square where the Duomo and Baptistry were located. It was called Soggiorno Battistero ([email protected]). We paid 76 euro a night for the smaller room but it was very nice and I would definitely recommend staying there. They had sound proofed windows, very nice clean bathrooms with great showers, comforatable beds, ceiling fans and AC, and they bring a simple breakfast to your room at whatever time you choose. We saw some of their other rooms and they looked fantastic.
The Accadamia and Uffizi were alright, but if you're not a big art connoisseur like us, you might not find it that interesting. Rather, we loved the Science Museum. Great collection of clocks, telescopes, microscopes, dissection equipment, thermomemeters, and all sorts of other gadgets. This was by far our favorite site in Florence. Another thing I'd recommend is going to Piazale Michelangelo, right outside the city walls. The place itself is nothing more than a parking lot and sidewalk, but the views of the city are breathtaking, especially at sunset.
We also really enjoyed shopping in Florence. Lots of great markets with reasonably priced leather, linens, ceramics, etc.
CINQUE TERRE:
Of the five towns of Cinque Terre, we liked Vernazza the best. It is the smallest but has a lot of charm. Monterosso did have beaches but it was more touristy. There are many good restaurants in Vernazza and plenty of apartments for rent for cheap (we only paid 65 euro).
The hike between the five towns is great. The path is small and there are A LOT of tourists, but it really is the best thing to do in this area. My favorite hike was between Monterosso and Vernazza and between Vernazza and Corneglia. They are more challenging and very scenic. The hikes between the other towns were not very impressive...
VENICE:
We almost didn't include Venice in our itinerary due to its expense and comments from good friends that studied abroad in Italy. But we are so glad we did. I feared it would be overrun with tourists, but if you stay in the right area, it wasn't more touristy than the rest of Italy. We also thought it would be very expensive, but apart from the hotels and gondola rides, it wasn't really. We found many reasonable restaurants and the shopping wasn't over priced either. We loved wandering the streets (no cars! yay!) and shopping. The market near the Rialo Bridge is fantastic. We also went to a Vivaldi concert (there are tons of them every day so don't worry about getting tickets until you get there--very easy to do at a travel agency or with your hotel) and loved it. Definitely worth 20-30 euro a person.
Our hotel/pension, Pension Guerrato, was near the Rialto market in an old palace. We loved the location and the place was very clean. We had a room with a shared bathroom for 95 euros a night. http://web.tiscalinet.it/pensioneguerrato
MONEY INFO:
The best way to get cash is through an ATM, especially if your bank is a credit union. We got unbelievably good rates from ours and many ATM's in Italy never charged a fee. Changed dollars for euros is a bad idea b/c most places have incredibly high commission (18% at one place!)
We ate comforatably for about 60 euro a day for two people. We tried to keep it a bit lower, but if we had a sit down dinner with wine, it turned out to be closer to this. We had lunch at pizzarias or made our own with things from the local supermarkets.
WEATHER:
It was surprisingly cold in Italy when we were there from May 22 to June 5. We only had heat and sun in Rome. The rest of the time, we had rain and it was cold enough for pants and jackets!
LANGUAGE:
I speak Spanish and Greek, but not Italian. Did not have any trouble though whatsoever! Learned some basics before we left but ended up finding that not only did everyone speak English, but most spoke it very well. Only on a few occasions did we have a problem because of a language barrier. We were also shocked by how many English speaking tourists there are in Italy. At times, it felt like we heard more English than Italian...
PICTURES:
Check www.kyriaki.net in a week or so for LOTS of pictures!
ROME:
Rome was probably our favorite. Loved all the museums and ruins. Plus since it's a big city, we found it easy to find a variety of restaurants and shops. The metro system wasn't very impressive so we ended up walking a ton. Didn't mind much though because it was a great way to see the city.
Our favorite sites were the Vatican Museum, St Peter's Basilica and square, the colosseum and Roman forum, and the Borghese gallery. We also really enjoyed spending time in the area around the Spanish Steps. The Trevi Fountain was impressive as well. Really loved the free tours that students offered to intice you to buy a paid tour, but found the paid ones to be disappointing. Sites that seemed to have the most free tours were the Roman Forum and St Peter's.
Our hotel was Hotel Duca d'Alba (www.hotelducadalba.com), recommended on this site and by Rick Steve's. We paid around 160 euro a night. The bed was very comforatable, the bathroom clean, the staff nice, and the breakfast just heavenly. The location near the Colosseum wasn't bad either and a pizzeria just down the street had the best pizza we ate in Italy.
SIENA:
Very much so a medieval town. My husband found the architecture fascinating. I thought it was too touristy. Il Campo, the main place to hang out, was just filled with tourists. Food was also surprisingly expensive.
Stayed at Albergo Canon d' Oro. Location was great (near a grocery store and walking distance from Il Campo) but the bathroom was not. Towels smelled awful. Paid about 80 euros a night.
FLORENCE:
Really liked the area between the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio bridge. If you can, try to find accomodations in this area. We stayed at a B&B owned by an Italian man and his American wife on the square where the Duomo and Baptistry were located. It was called Soggiorno Battistero ([email protected]). We paid 76 euro a night for the smaller room but it was very nice and I would definitely recommend staying there. They had sound proofed windows, very nice clean bathrooms with great showers, comforatable beds, ceiling fans and AC, and they bring a simple breakfast to your room at whatever time you choose. We saw some of their other rooms and they looked fantastic.
The Accadamia and Uffizi were alright, but if you're not a big art connoisseur like us, you might not find it that interesting. Rather, we loved the Science Museum. Great collection of clocks, telescopes, microscopes, dissection equipment, thermomemeters, and all sorts of other gadgets. This was by far our favorite site in Florence. Another thing I'd recommend is going to Piazale Michelangelo, right outside the city walls. The place itself is nothing more than a parking lot and sidewalk, but the views of the city are breathtaking, especially at sunset.
We also really enjoyed shopping in Florence. Lots of great markets with reasonably priced leather, linens, ceramics, etc.
CINQUE TERRE:
Of the five towns of Cinque Terre, we liked Vernazza the best. It is the smallest but has a lot of charm. Monterosso did have beaches but it was more touristy. There are many good restaurants in Vernazza and plenty of apartments for rent for cheap (we only paid 65 euro).
The hike between the five towns is great. The path is small and there are A LOT of tourists, but it really is the best thing to do in this area. My favorite hike was between Monterosso and Vernazza and between Vernazza and Corneglia. They are more challenging and very scenic. The hikes between the other towns were not very impressive...
VENICE:
We almost didn't include Venice in our itinerary due to its expense and comments from good friends that studied abroad in Italy. But we are so glad we did. I feared it would be overrun with tourists, but if you stay in the right area, it wasn't more touristy than the rest of Italy. We also thought it would be very expensive, but apart from the hotels and gondola rides, it wasn't really. We found many reasonable restaurants and the shopping wasn't over priced either. We loved wandering the streets (no cars! yay!) and shopping. The market near the Rialo Bridge is fantastic. We also went to a Vivaldi concert (there are tons of them every day so don't worry about getting tickets until you get there--very easy to do at a travel agency or with your hotel) and loved it. Definitely worth 20-30 euro a person.
Our hotel/pension, Pension Guerrato, was near the Rialto market in an old palace. We loved the location and the place was very clean. We had a room with a shared bathroom for 95 euros a night. http://web.tiscalinet.it/pensioneguerrato
MONEY INFO:
The best way to get cash is through an ATM, especially if your bank is a credit union. We got unbelievably good rates from ours and many ATM's in Italy never charged a fee. Changed dollars for euros is a bad idea b/c most places have incredibly high commission (18% at one place!)
We ate comforatably for about 60 euro a day for two people. We tried to keep it a bit lower, but if we had a sit down dinner with wine, it turned out to be closer to this. We had lunch at pizzarias or made our own with things from the local supermarkets.
WEATHER:
It was surprisingly cold in Italy when we were there from May 22 to June 5. We only had heat and sun in Rome. The rest of the time, we had rain and it was cold enough for pants and jackets!
LANGUAGE:
I speak Spanish and Greek, but not Italian. Did not have any trouble though whatsoever! Learned some basics before we left but ended up finding that not only did everyone speak English, but most spoke it very well. Only on a few occasions did we have a problem because of a language barrier. We were also shocked by how many English speaking tourists there are in Italy. At times, it felt like we heard more English than Italian...
PICTURES:
Check www.kyriaki.net in a week or so for LOTS of pictures!
Jun 14th, 2004, 04:27 PM
#6
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About the free tours.... we ran into this only in Rome. Some tour companies, in order to get your business, offer free tours at some sites. At the end of the tour, they give you lots of info about other tours they offer that cost money. At St Peters, some guy in his 20's just approached us and offered it. At the Roman Forum, they were everywhere and easy to find. There are no paid tours at the Roman Forum, so if you see a tour, just join it. They were very informative and quite good. We did take one paid tour that they offered but it wasn't nearly as good as the free one. Hope that helps!
