Tra6

This is Part I of a trip report from my recent trip to Italy June 29 through July 20, 2005. Towns included will be Venice, Florence, Monterosso, San Gimignano, Positano, and Rome. We also took side/day trips along the way which I will mention. I will do one location at a time and include as many addresses, prices, etc as I can for future travelers. Most of the prices are for two people combined. We are both 28 years old, a banker/athlete and music teacher, and enjoy outdoor activities and basically never sit still for very long on vacation, just to give you a little background on our interests in planning the trip. I've been "planning/saving" for about 6 years, but only actively for the last 1-2. I am a bit neurotic when it comes to organization, and I kept a journal throughout the trip of everything we did, ate, saw, etc. I practically planned our trip on this site, so I want to "give back!" Here goes...

VENICE Day 1
June 30, 2005

Arrive in Venice after 2 flights (JFK to Madrid, then on to Venice) tired, yet excited. Picked up the 3 day vaporetti pass at the airport before departing. After much discussion (and research on this site) we decided to get the private water taxi/motoscafi to our hotel from the dock near the airport. This was 80 EU for my husband and I and worth it for the fantastic entry to this magical city. We knew we could have done it much cheaper, and will next time, but splurged a bit for our first trip. We were dropped off at the doorstep of our hotel, Pensione La Calcina in Dorsoduro, Room 33 - wonderful view (780 Zattere, 175 EU/night). Got settled and showered, called family back home, and headed out to explore. We loved the location of this hotel for wandering! Walked around in hot weather to have our first of many pizza margherita, bruschetta, and vino rosso (14 EU) at a little cafe in Campo San Stefano, a great spot to people watch! Later we visited the Galleria dell'Accademia and saw some wonderful artwork, then took a much needed nap before dinner at the restaurant at our hotel (44 EU). Dinner there was okay, but not as good as many of our later meals on the trip. The restaurant is in a great location however on the water with a great view of all the boats passing by. Finished the day with passeggiata (stroll around the streets alongside all the other visitors and locals) to San Marco - even better than all the pictures we had seen prior to the trip. This city is so magical, and unbelievably colorful.

VENICE Day 2
July 1, 2005

Wanted to start the day with 9:00 am mass at San Marco, but slept until 9:15. We needed it! Breakfast at the hotel (included in the price) included various meats, cheeses, pastries, coffee, tea, etc. and was good. It was pouring rain, so we decided to visit Basilica San Marco so we would be indoors for a while. We waited in line for only about 15 minutes. It is an incredible building, and a must do! We paid the extra 1,5 EU each to see the golden altar as well as 3 EU each to go upstairs and get a view from the balcony. Both worth it! There was a boychoir from Canada singing in the basilica which was beautiful and really added to the experience of being in this amazing space. I am a choir director, so it was magical for me to hear them singing the Bruckner "Ave Maria", one of my favorites! Next we walked a lot (rain stopped) all around the area and over to the Pieta where Vivaldi had been choirmaster. We went over to the Rialto bridge which was jam packed with tourists so we didn't stay long but had a delicious gelato (first of many!) right across from the Rialto vaporetto stop. Nap time, then dinner at Cantinone Storico (80 EU) near the Accademia Bridge, recommended by several at this site. Wonderful meal! Ravioli Bolognese, gnocchi with gorgonzola (melted in our mouths), pollo cacciatora, pesce, and cappucino. We had made a reservation for an outdoor table which was a good idea here.

VENICE Day 3
July 2, 2005

Woke up early this day, 7:00 after not falling asleep until about 3:00 am - no more cappucino after dinner!! After breakfast at the hotel, we mailed some postcards from the post office and headed to Murano on the vaporetto. We learned that the post offices have banks inside and we should wait in the line that says "posto" not "banco" Very convenient to have both in one place. Watched a glass blowing demo - the one that we were basically ushered into off the boat, wandered around, shopped, had lunch (pizza margherita and water at one of the many little places for 11 EU) and headed back. In bed at 3:00 to rest up for dinner. We napped more here than we ever have. I suppose a combination of jet lag, lots of walking, and the fact that restaurants basically don't open until 7:30 for dinner. Dinner was at a cafe in Campo San Margherita which was a bustling spot with lots of young people and loud music playing. We had very good gnocchi with pesto, sea bass, vino rosso, and water for 32 EU. The best part was the band playing extremely loud "american" rock music poorly in the square - we spent the night laughing with the waiters about how "romantic" it was! We discussed Il Palio with the waiters as well, which we had decided not to go to. A little too nuts for us. Went to bed early to leave for Florence the next morning. To be continued when I have a chance later. Just writing this report makes me hungry and wishing I was back there!

LoveItaly

Hi Tra6, you are making me hungry too!!
Good trip report, thanks for sharing. I hope you add your other segments to this thread so that they are all together. Take care.

motor_city_girl

So glad you liked La Calcina and we had the same room in April! Did you find my earrring? LOL! Lucky you to be there when the outdoor floating restaurant was open. We only had lunch at the hotel's restaurant. It was good but nothing special. Too many other places to eat.

Can't wait to read the rest of your report. Bringing back memories...we did a similar trip in reverse.

Statia

Enjoying your report Tra6. Looking forward to your Florence installment.

ira

Looking forward to more, Tra.

TRSW

Me too!!! Cant Wait.

Tom

LoveItaly

Hi Tom, how many more days is it now??? Best wishes to you.

Tra6

Part II of my Trip Report

FLORENCE Day 4
July 3, 2005

Started out early - 5:00 am. The only reason we left so early was because our reservation at the Uffizi was at 11:45 When we arrived by vaporetto at the train station it was 6:15 and our train wasn't leaving until 6:45 so we thought we had plenty of time. You know what they say about the best laid plans....When I looked at the departure board and didn't see our train, I glanced down at the e-mail I had printed for our "paperless" tickets and realized that we were at the wrong station! We were supposed to be at Mestre, not Venezia Santa Lucia - oops. I had originally booked online at trenitalia for a later train, but when I made the change to accomodate our Uffizi reservation I didn't realize the computer had changed our departure station. Another lesson! I panicked for a moment and then asked the ticket agent what we should do and the lovely and friendly lady with wonderful english (like most people we encountered!) explained to me that the 6:32 train out of Santa Lucia was our train, and would be going through Mestre at the first stop, va bene! If we were on the Metro North in New York, they'd have charged us for the short ride to the next station! We got on and had a wonderful scenic ride to Florence. We "met" a group of 5 older ladies and 1 man, who spoke no english, traveling to Naples who had a heck of a time figuring out which seat numbers were theirs. The seat configuration takes some getting used to in my opinion. The numbers don't exactly go in order and you end up sitting in a seat next to one that could be 3 or 4 numbers away from yours, funny! I am glad we reserved our seats ahead of time since I am kind of a nervous Nelly and anal about planning ahead, but it clearly wasn't a full train and we could have just as easily gotten tickets that day. The Eurostar was beautiful in 2nd class - no need for 1st class. Anyhow, back to the group of Italians. I understood enough Italian to be able to help them with their seat numbers and locations, and my husband helped each lady store her luggage on the upper rack. The man came in last and although we aren't fluent in Italian by any means, we basically understood what his reaction to my husband was, "he must be American, because an Italian man would have taken one look at all this luggage and told you to take a hike". One of the funnier moments of the trip. They later bought us coffe and tea on the train and were very sweet and appreciative of our help. Upon arrival, we left our luggage at the hotel, Residenze Johlea I, Via San Gallo 80, Room 1 (95 EU/night) and headed out to the Uffizi. The hotel was inside a building that seemed to house offices and other businesses. It was a bit off the beaten path, but nice. FYI- We traveled with one large backpack each and one small carry-on backpack which was very convenient for a long trip such as this since the wheels on larger luggage seemed to be no match for the cobblestone streets of Italy when we saw other travelers fighting with traditional luggage. I am extremely happy we reserved the Uffizi in advance. As it was, we got the last reservation for that week about 3 weeks in advance, and as I said earlier, we had to start the day at 5:00 am in order to get an early train. The booking phone number I used was one I received on this site (from the U.S. 011 39 055 294 883) It was a few Euro more, but well worth it. When we arrived, we paid for our reservation and tickets and went right in, early! There was a line that went around the corner of people without reservations and many people we met later on the trip said they never made it in at all. For 6 EU I would recommend the audio tour (two people share one unit) unless you have a guide. It was very helpful and kept us focused in such a large museum. The Uffizi was of course wonderful and in my opinion a trip to Florence would be incomplete without it. After that, we headed for Palazza Pitti, home of the Medici. We were "museumed-out" so we simply bought tickets for the Boboli Gardens (6 EU each). They were beautfiul and the view of Florence from the upper section was spectacular. Wew wanted to go to the Kaffehaus, another fodors.com recommendation, but it was closed. Not sure if just for that day, or forever. We were very disappointed since it was brutally hot and we needed a drink and a couple chairs! After taking some wonderful pictures in the garden, we headed for a bar somewhere off of Via de' Guicciardini near the Ponte Vecchio for pizza, again. The Ponte Vecchio was a wonderful picture stop but that's about all since I am not much of a jewelry person and it was very crowded. If I were not an educator with the summer off, I would definitely travel at some other time of year as most places were very crowded, which we had anticipated. Back to the hotel to wash up for dinner at a wonderful restaurant thanks to my fellow fodorites - Il Ritrovo on Via del Pucci. Our favorite meal of the entire 3 weeks! Also the most expensive. We had a wonderful red wine from Montalcino, ravioli bolognese (meat sauce), risotto with melon and mint - very different and delicious, filet mignon with shallot sauce, and steak with balsamic and green pepper sauce, and a chocolate souffle so rich we almost licked the plate!! The bill came to 109 EU, and was worth it. Everything was delicious, the chef came to ask how everything was and talk to everyone at the various tables, our waiter-his son, was very pleasant, and we had a nice conversation with another american group dining that night. If in Florence again, we will certainly go back!

FLORENCE Day 5
July 4, 2005

Slept late today - 10:00 am when the housekeeping staff knocked at the door. Started by taking the bus to Santa Croce. We bought two 4-ride passes which totaled 7,80 EU and quickly realized nobody ever looks at the tickets. Santa Croce was my favorite church of the trip, although it was under heavy renovation. A word about dressing appropriately: I packed several long skirts and capri pants and only one pair of shorts for the beach and was glad I did, since many churches enforced the "covered knees" rule. I also carried along a small top that basically covered just my shoulders and was glad I had that too! I simply put it on upon entering and left it in our bag the rest of the time. My husband was okay with long shorts, but wore pants to the Vatican and saw many men in shorts having no problems. If it weren't so hot, he would have worn pants more often. Next we walked to a restaurant that was in the guidebook I brought, the Rough Guide. I actually tore out the sections of regions we'd be visiting, and rebound it which was a good decision. It was our bible on the trip. I am glad I didn't carry the entire 1000 pages! This restaurant had our favorite pizza of the entire trip - Il Pizzaiuolo on Via de Macci. Supposedly the owners are from Naples and they make the pizza in that style. I had pizza caprese (fresh tomato, mozz, and basil) and my husband had prosciutto. Both were delicious! He also had a beer and we both had water and the bill came to 21 EU. It was interesting to me that it was not as common to tip the waiters in Italy as it is here in the U.S., and yet you pay a coperti, or cover charge/service charge and also pay for water and often bread. It all seems to even out in the end but I felt guilty not tipping like we do here at home. We did often leave an extra Euro or two, but were never quite sure what was most appropriate. In one place we were told they weren't allowed to take tips. Anyhow, we next walked around the Piazza Repubblica, and saw a sign for the movie "War of the Worlds" in its original language. We decided to buy tickets for a showing later that night since it was very hot, and we really didn't have any other plans. We thought it would be fun. In the meantime, we went to visit the Duomo and joined in with a tour in english given by what seemed to be a British student. They were offering "free" tours, and simply asked for tips at the end which seemed fair to us. Next we waited in line outside for about 30 minutes to walk up inside the dome, which was worth the 6 EU each since it is a spectacular view of the city! On the way to the movie, we stopped for some gelato (mmmm) and acqua minerale which grew on us so much that we began ordering it with gas rather than naturale for the rest of the trip. We got to the theater early and found ourselves in a theater with only one other woman and her son watching previews in Italian for childrens movies such as Madagascar. We quickly realized we had walked into the wrong theater. The one with our movie was down the street. Oops! We found it funny that the man taking tickets looked at ours and ripped them as if we were in the right place. We suspected he was having a little laugh at our expense. The outside of the theater had posters for War of the Worlds, so we thought it was the right one. Guess we hadn't been very observant about our surroundings when we got the tickets earlier that day. We only missed a couple minutes at the beginning so it all worked out. We were surprised when there was an intermission. You don't see that in America much anymore! We weren't very hungry for dinner after the movie, so we headed back to the hotel. On the way, we popped our heads in to the church of San Marco and heard the choir rehearsing for a concert. They were singing "Va Pensiero", a very well known Italian piece, and a song I had sung when I was in Italy 10 years ago with my high school choir. What a nostalgic moment! Of course, by the end of the walk home we were hungry, so we went up the street from the hotel to get some paninis and pasta before bed.

FLORENCE Day 6
July 5, 2005

Another late day, beginning at 10:00 am. Breakfast in the room at Residenze Johlea was a tray of cakes and cookies and some instant coffee and tea. Our least favorite of the trip. Today we shopped. Went to the Piazza del Mercato Centrale for some great outdoor market shopping. We spent a couple hours strolling through and ended up with lots of good stuff - pashminas, ties, wallets, t-shirts, etc. for all our friends and family. Very good prices, the best of the trip. I would recommend doing the bulk of your souvenir shopping here. We even found blown glass jewelry identical to some we had bought in Venice and Murano for half the price. We dropped off the goodies in the room before heading to our reservation at the Accademia. We had made the reservation at the same booking phone number as the Uffizi and glad we did again! The David was of course wonderful along with the other artwork. Has anyone else been there recently and can you please clue me into something?? What's with the giant copy of Michelangelo's Last Judgement from the Sistine Chapel with a picture of a modern-day man with an erection in the middle of it at the Accademia??!! There was no sign describing it, just a bunch of people standing under it looking at it in horror. Very strange! Next we went down to Santo Spirito and were a little past its closing time, so we hung around in the Piazza there, waiting for the restaurant La Casalinga to open. We had read about La Casalinga on Via del Michelozzo in our Rough Guide Book, and so far, all their recommendations had been good. This was no exception. With extremely reasonable prices, we were not surprised to see a line outside the door before they opened. We met another couple in line from the U.S. and had dinner with them. We had spaghetti, fusili, veal, steak, lots of wine, bruschetta, and water for 45 EU for the two of us, 90 EU for all 4 people which was great! I would highly recommend this restaurant. It's much easier to find by simply standing in front of Santo Spirito, facing the front steps, and taking a right. La Casalinga is down that street on the right. Blink and you'll miss it (like many Italian restaurants!) After a bit too much vino rosso, we foolishly walked all the way back to the hotel. Somehow walking long distances always seems like a good idea when you're tipsy, and not so good the next morning! To be continued in Monterosso....

TRSW

Tra6 - Another great report. Thanks for the tip on La Casalinga. I will be sure to check it out in October. Looking forward to the next entry.

Tom

(LoveItaly - 79 and counting)

Carmen

I noticed that "artwork" at the Accademia also. No idea what the story was on that. Anyone else know?

LoveItaly

The "artwork"! A lot of young artist really believe in pushing the limits. Too funny.

Tra6, I really am enjoying your report. And I agree about the market for shopping. I don't remember ever seeing a movie theater in Florence however, that is intersting.

More please!

SusanP

Tra6, You're the first one I've read about that went to La Pieta in Venice. A few months ago, I posted a question about this, as I had read The Venetian Mask, by Rosalind Laker, which was centered around this orphanage/music school where Vivaldi was music master. I really wanted to see it after reading this novel, and it's supposed to have a great Tiepolo ceiling. Can you tell me more about La Pieta?

In any event, I'm looking forward to more of your report!

Tra6

SusanP,
I was interested in visiting the Pieta since I am a singer and music educator. There was actually an art show set up inside when we went. We didn't spend much time, just poked our heads in and looked around. In case you don't know where it is, it is very close to St. Mark's. As you exit the St. Marks area toward the water, take a left and follow the water over two bridges and it is right after the second, just before the third bridge. We also saw that there was a small Vivaldi museum down the street behind the church, but nobody was there to let us in when we arrived, during business hours when they should have been open. Bella Italia! I will have to read the Venetian Mask now.

Tra6

LoveItaly,
There are two theaters right near one another (which was our problem!) both just west of the Piazza Repubblica. One on Via Brunelleschi and the other on Via de'Sassetti. We just got lucky that they were showing an american-made movie in its original language.

SusanP

Thanks, Tra6, I did know where La Pieta is located. Yes, you must read The Venetian Mask!

Statia

Tra6, we also noticed the odd seat numbering on Eurostar. We had a heck of a time finding our seats and finally had to get help from an attendant.

Also, I believe the Kaffehaus is permanently closed, or at least that's what I read somewhere. We wanted to go there two years ago and it was closed then, too.

Still enjoying your report. Thanks for posting.

Tra6

MONTEROSSO Day 7
July 6, 2005

Arrived in the Cinque Terre after another interesting train adventure. We began the day by not having enough euro to pay for our "cash only" hotel, Le Rezidense Johlea in Florence. I knew their policy well in advance, just lost track of how much we had spent at the markets My husband ran to an ATM that only gave us 250 EU and we already had 25 EU. The bill was unfortunately 285 EU. We were a bit worried about getting to the station for our train to Monterosso (through Pisa), so we pleaded with the woman working there, and she finally accepted the balance in US Dollars. She just looked up the current exchange rate and we gave her a little extra for her trouble, and to make sure she didn't get a raw deal. We rushed to the bus stop around the corner from our hotel because at this point we only had 30 minutes to get to the train station, and we knew it would take about 20 to walk, so we hoped a bus would come shortly. After one bus passed for some unknown reason, the second stopped and we made it to the station with 7 minutes to spare. Of course, we didn't see our train number on the departure board (no numbers were listed, only times) so we headed for a different train leaving for Pisa. We knew this was not our train, but at least it was heading for Pisa and we could connect to Monterosso. We had learned at this point that the trenitalia staff didn't really mind if people were on the wrong trains. It's funny that in the U.S., when we take trains we look for the train's 'final destination' city name on the board, and yet for some reason it didn't cross our minds that our train wouldn't say Pisa! Rather, it was actually headed for Levanto. Turns out that's the train we should have been on. It left about 10 minutes before the train we ended up taking. After that experience, we learned to look for the large paper posters at the stations showing the final destinations and various stops of each train! We met a young girl on the train from Canada traveling solo for 4 months! We were so impressed by her independence and comfort level in traveling. It made us feel pretty silly for worrying about whether or not we were on the "right train" for the Cinque Terre. She was headed there too, so we took some comfort in that - we knew she would get us all there We ended up with a little time in Pisa to have some pizza with her in the train station before departing for Monterosso, which was very good! It was in the same place as the McDonald's. When the train stopped in Riomaggiore, we got a glimpse of what the Cinque Terre was all about. So beautiful! We couldn't wait to get off and get to the beach! The train went quickly through Manarola, Corniglia, and Manarola and went directly to Monterosso. We didn't expect that, so it was lucky we were paying attention and got off! We had about a 10 minute walk to our hotel, the Villa Steno (135 EU/night). The walk up to the hotel was quite a few steps, but worth the climb. We loved our room and especially the terrace (Room 18). This hotel was another wonderful fodors recommendation. The view was awesome, and we loved the terrace where we would enjoy wine, cheese, and bread (from the store right at the bottom of our stairs) every night! There were lemon trees, grape vines, basil, and rosemary plants within arms reach of the terrace which was so charming. We had an outdoor dinner that night at Al Carugio which was a fodors recommendation and was very good (35 EU for water, wine, appetizers, and meat/fish course). It was here that we saw the first of many gatti wandering under our feet wanting a taste of our dinner! We have a cat at home, so I enjoyed the company, unlike many other patrons.

MONTEROSSO Day 8
July 7, 2005

Started the day with breakfast at the hotel which was very good. We unfortunately decided to do laundry! Instead of paying about 20 EU for the hotel to do it, we paid about 17 EU to ruin half of it at a place down the street. Our first problem was that my husband used the "change machine" in the place, which was in the same building as an arcade, and ended up purchasing 10 EU worth of tokens for pinball machines! Luckily the man working there, who spoke very little english understood what happened and offered to exchange the tokens for euro and "helped us" with the laundry. It didn't hit me until it was too late that when he asked me if I wanted the clothes "calda", it meant the water would be 95 degrees celcius, which converts to something way too hot for colors! I was thinking, "sure, warm water is okay". All my beige undergarments (inlcluding a brand new $42 bra - ladies, I know you can relate) and all my white clothes (skirts, shirts, etc.) turned grey from something black that was in the load!! From that point forward we washed clothes in the hotel sinks! After that, we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza. This took about 1 hour 40 minutes, including stopping for pictures and water breaks a few times. It was often steep and somewhat strenuous, but a fantastic hike with unbelievable vistas!! Vernazza was adorable. We had some pizza margherita and a panini and some water right next to the water. My knee, which has never been a problem before, began to hurt after the hike, so we decided to take the train back to Monterosso and save the other towns for another day. We turned on the T.V. when we reached our room at Villa Steno and saw some coverage on CNN World about the London bombings. Having been out all day, we didn't even realize it had happened. We were so sad and scared for the people in that area. It made us a little nervous, but unfortunately, it's a sign of the times and we didn't change any of our travel plans because of it. We just watched more CNN when we could to get updates about the developments. It stirred up many of the same emotions I had on September 11th, and the same emotions I feel each night when I watch the news reports about the many lives being lost all over the world everyday. That evening, we ate dinner at Belvedere down near the beach which was very good (35 EU for water, wine, appetizer, and pasta course). I made some more kitty friends!

MONTEROSSO Day 9
July 8, 2005 (our 4 year anniversary)

After breakfast at the hotel, we got on a train for Riomaggiore. We explored around there for a while, had some focaccia and walked to Manarola on the Via dell'amore. This was a much easier walk than Monterosso to Vernazza, with many more people on it. We got on the train there and headed back to Monterosso. My knee was still bothering me a little from the hike yesterday, so I didn't want to push it. We went to the beach for the rest of the day - beautiful warm weather. We were lucky so far on the trip with wonderful weather everyday but one. We enjoyed some yummy gelato from a place right near the beach, and headed to the store at the entrance to the stairway for Villa Steno for wine, cheese, and bread appetizers for our terrace! We had a lovely anniverary dinner at Hotel Porto Roca which has a spectacular location up on a cliff - you can see it from everywhere, and from our table we could see for miles! We had delicious ravioli with sage and butter, caprese salad (tomato, mozz, basil), very good lamb and chicken meals, wine and water. The cost was 68 EU. On the walk back to the hotel, we saw that there was going to be a concert near the beach so we stopped to see what was going on. It was a group called Buio Pesto, and we had never heard of them. The whole experience was sort of funny. The group had a build up/intro that would have made you think you were about to see Aerosmith. You had to be there! We only lasted about two songs, then decided to call it a night. I would be curious to know if they are really popular in Italy or if they are an unknown group, and if any other fodorites were there! Before leaving this part of the report, I have to say that we truly enjoyed the Cinque Terre area, expecially Monterosso and our hotel the Villa Steno. I have seen many posts on this site about the area and was very concerned that a trip there in July would be congested and lacking charm, but we were pleasantly surprised by it. In my opinion (and my husband's), it is definitely worth a visit, even in the summer. After all, what better time to be at the beach? Next stop - Toscana!

ira

Hey tra,

Keep it coming.

motor_city_girl

Glad you liked CT and Villa Steno. We loved our time there too. Hope your knee is feeling better!

MrGreen

I can't get over the detail you are putting in these reports! Very helpful! (And great reading, too.)Thank you!