techboy Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Again, thanks for the advice everyone. Will post pics in like 6 weeks. First, I just want to reiterate my earlier suggestion... as good as Tripadvisor is (and I use it extensively in my planning), the various Rick Steves guidebooks are invaluable. In this case, you'd want Florence and Tuscany, Rome, and Naples and the Amalfi Coast, or if that seems too much, just Italy. Most of what I'm about to share I got from there. Sounds like a great trip. We were just in Siena in April, and loved it. Get the combo pass (I don't remember what it was called) to all 5 big sites, then you can skip the lines everywhere. The Campo is amazing, and there's a little gelateria on the uphill side (coming down from the cathedral), just off the square that has amazing stuff. If you go into Florence, definitely make advance reservations for the biggies- Uffizi and Accademia. Clueless tourists spend hours in line, and sometimes don't even get in. You should do this as soon as possible. The other way to get in easily is to do a tour. Art Viva's tours are very good... we did Florence in One Glorious Day, which was about 95 Euros, and included their city walking tour, their Uffizi tour, and their Accademia tour. Very nice. Near Rome, of course, is Pompeii. The site is amazing, and if you go, seriously consider hiring Gaetano Manfredi as a guide. He's expensive, but it was an amazing experience, and well worth the money. We told him that we were already familiar with the basic Vesuvius backstory, so he cut the first hour off his normal schtick, and arranged to get us in to see parts not normally open to the public. Very cool, and his thoughts about Italian politics and public servants as we waited for an employee to unlock something were pretty interesting. Rome is our favorite city in the world, partially because of how crazy it is. There are any number of very important line skipping tips in the Rick Steves books, and you'll need them. One I haven't personally experienced because it happened since we were last there is that you can now make reservations in advance online at the Vatican. Do it. I also highly recommend Giolitti's, which has the best gelato we've had anywhere. Try the berry flavors, and definitely get the whipped cream. It's on the "Night Walk across Rome" in the Rick Steves books, which is a 10/10, and involves licking gelato in the moonlight at the Trevi Fountain. Outstanding. On the Amalfi Coast, you should try to make it down to Paestum, which has the best preserved Greek Temples outside of Greece. Stunning. I could probably go on all day, but those are general recommendations. ---------- Post added July-8th-2011 at 05:18 PM ---------- Be careful driving in Italy (though in Tuscany, it's not too bad), and don't even think about driving in Florence or Rome. What a nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_Edwards_Fan Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 First, I just want to reiterate my earlier suggestion... as good as Tripadvisor is (and I use it extensively in my planning), the various Rick Steves guidebooks are invaluable. This! He also has awesome audio tours that are all free. We used them for rome, florence, venice, Sienna, all outstanding. His walking tour of Florence may have been my favorite. My wife and i just listened with one earbud in so we could still talk to each other too. There is a Rick Steves Europe iphone app where you can pull them all down. Or, there is a podcast version. Again, all free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 This! He also has awesome audio tours that are all free. We used them for rome, florence, venice, Sienna, all outstanding. The walking tours are the best parts of the guidebooks, along with the practical information about how to avoid lines and where to find a clean bathroom. We haven't done the audio versions yet, but I've downloaded the app to my Android phone. ---------- Post added July-8th-2011 at 05:43 PM ---------- This is Amy's blog entry with some of the best and worst of Italy, as we see it, including (of course) awesome pictures. Here's the Trevi fountain at night: and here's one of the temples at Paestum: There's more stuff on the blog, but those are two of the things I was talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrellsMyHero28 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 + A million for Rick Steves. Did Rome-Florence-Venice for 2 weeks last summer, best trip I've ever taken. Make sure to check out Tuscany, specifically Cinque Terre if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 Rick Steve's Audio Europe App has been downloaded. I already bought Rick Steve's Italy like 4 months ago and have read the parts for where we are going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_Edwards_Fan Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Just dont make the mistake i did...one of my hotels didnt have wifi, and i didnt have them downloaded local yet so i had to go find wifi. You may want to just download the actual tracks for your cities and not have to worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 Just dont make the mistake i did...one of my hotels didnt have wifi, and i didnt have them downloaded local yet so i had to go find wifi. You may want to just download the actual tracks for your cities and not have to worry about it. How do i do that? Within the app, or from the interwebs? Edit: I figured it out. :geek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I already bought Rick Steve's Italy like 4 months ago and have read the parts for where we are going. Do the Night Walk across Rome, and don't skip the "optional" side-trip to Giolitti's. We did it every night we were in Rome after the first time we tried it. I know I'm being repetetive, but it might be our favorite thing we've done while travelling, and we're taking our 10th trip to Europe in three weeks, so there's been a fair amount to compare it to. I googled it just now, and this blog entry runs it down with some pictures, which give you a taste for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBash Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I think I'm gonna do a trip to Europe in October by myself so I will have to check out this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper 21 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 im going on a crusie from barcelona to france to rome, florence and pisa. im so pumped i leave the 28 and got tons of advice thanks for this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 im going on a crusie from barcelona to france to rome, florence and pisa. im so pumped i leave the 28 and got tons of advice thanks for this (I should get paid by Rick Steves for this ) Cruise Europe with Rick's latest book. It's an opinionated article, but the book it's discussing sounds like it would really help you, especially with the logistics of getting in and out of port towns to the sights, and deciding whether or not the cruise organized tours are a good value (Rick Steves' books, as I have said, excel in this kind of essential practical information). This Cruise Excursion Cheat Sheet is an example of what I'm talking about: Our Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports guidebook is designed to help cruise passengers make the most of their limited time and budget, particularly while they're in port.One of the biggest potential add-on expenses for cruisers are shore excursions offered by the cruise lines (which can range from about $50 for a three-hour walking tour, to $150 or more for a full-day bus-plus-walking tour). Some of these can be a smart, cost-effective way to efficiently link out-of-the-way destinations. Other excursions charge a premium for something you could easily do on your own. This at-a-glance chart gives you a quick yes, no, or maybe as to whether a cruise-line excursion is worth considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royallypwned Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I went to Italy in August 2000 for 11 days. Started in Rome and ended in Rome. In between, went to Venice, Florence, and Milan. Absolutely loved it. The best italian restaurant I went to was on the first night in Rome. It was this underground place that was so good that we went back when we came back to Rome just before the trip ended. I wish I could remember the name, but if I were to see the name, I might recognize it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Our favorite restaurant in Rome is Da Lucia, in Trastevere. Amazing Pasta alla Gricia, and very reasonably priced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I've read that the food in Rome and Venice is largely forgettable by Italian standards. I hope someday to experience some of that dissapointing Italian cuisine ( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I've read that the food in Rome and Venice is largely forgettable by Italian standards. I hope someday to experience some of that dissapointing Italian cuisine ( We've never felt like we could afford a sit-down restaurant while we were in Venice (we usually run on a tight budget), so this is only by reading also, but my understanding is that you can get really good food, but you need to go seafood, for obvious reasons. We thought Da Lucia was excellent, but I'd say that the restaurants in Tuscany (Siena and Florence specifically) were better. Naples has the best pizza, by far. Some of that is recency bias, since we've loosened up our budget on our last couple of trips, so more restaurants, and that did not include Rome, but did include Tuscany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 (I should get paid by Rick Steves for this ) I assumed you already were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_Edwards_Fan Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I've read that the food in Rome and Venice is largely forgettable by Italian standards. I hope someday to experience some of that dissapointing Italian cuisine ( Venice was actually my favorite food. I am a seafood nut though and dont get good seafood out here in the midwest all that often. I was amazed at the range of seafood that got pulled out of the Adriatic...and i loved the simple style the used to prepare fresh seafood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I assumed you already were. No, but skipping merrily past tourists that were going to wait for hours in line (literally) in Florence and Rome buys a lot of loyalty from me. .and i loved the simple style the used to prepare fresh seafood. Probably the defining characteristic of Italian food in general is its simplicity. It generally has very few ingredients, and there's an emphasis on the quality and taste of those ingredients. It's a very different approach from American cuisine, and as I've gotten into it more, one that I find pretty amusing. Here's one example: Over one long Italian meal, Claudia (a Roman tour guide) says she loves American food. Her favorites include the BLT sandwich and "chili soup." She's charmed by our breakfast culture and that we "meet for breakfast." She says you would never see families going out for breakfast in Italy.But she notes that in the US, size matters more than quality. She says that the average number of ingredients in an American restaurant salad or pasta is eight or 10, while in Italy the average salad or pasta has only four or five ingredients. And she can't understand our heavily flavored salad dressings. "If your lettuce and tomato are good, why cover it up with a heavy dressing? We use only oil and vinegar," she says. When I try to defend the fancy dishes as complex, she says, "Perhaps 'jumbled' is a better word." Some of my other Italian friends are less tactful. At dinner with three Tuscan friends — Manfredo, Roberto, and Ilaria — I listen to a sharp critique. "I think American pioneers did not know to make a good salami or prosciutto so they could not preserve their meat properly," Manfredo says. "This is why you have the barbecue sauce: to hide this taste of rotting meat." "Is there no barbecue sauce in Italy?" I ask. "No," says Manfredo, "but I like very much to make Buffalo wings. Could you kindly send me a package of Frank's Original Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce when you return home?" We all laugh, and then Roberto adds, "I think, in America, a restaurant is looking not for what is good food. What is good is what sells. Real lasagna is only this thick," he says, sticking his knife through two steamy inches of lasagna on the plate in front of him. "In the United States they make it twice this thick" — flipping another serving on top — "and they fill it with mozzarella. There is no mozzarella in lasagna!" The others cluck in agreement. Roberto continues, "If you go to an American restaurant and say the food is bad, you get a coupon for a free meal. More bad food. If you say the food is bad in a restaurant in Italy, you get kicked out. To get free food here, it is vice versa—you say, 'This is the best beefsteak I've ever eaten.' Chef will then say, 'You must try the dessert.' You say, 'Oh no.' He says, 'Here. Please. Take it for free.'" "In a real Italian restaurant when you complain, the chef will tell you, 'I cooked this as a boy the way my grandmother cooked this,'" Manfredo says. "It cannot be wrong." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Franks hot sauce? :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Franks hot sauce? :doh: We apparently do some things right. Europeans also seem to like American breakfast, even if they don't generally do it themselves. In Italy, breakfast is a cappuccino and a pastry, standing up at the local bar. (And definitely something you need to do at least once... go local. Just make sure you pay the cashier first, and then give the ticket to the barrista... they have a thing about not their clean hands not touching dirty money... a lot of places in Italy work that way). Italians are definitely very opinionated about the correct way to make a dish, though. We hired a really good private tour guide in Ravenna, and as we were talking about Italian food, she told us to watch out for Spaghetti Bolognese. "This dish does not exist!" she told us. "They make it for tourists. If you see it on a menu, be very wary." (Apparently, "bolognese" is a style applied to various pasta, but not spaghetti. That just isn't done. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Oh, here's a sculpture you might want to check out while in Rome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Oh, here's a sculpture you might want to check out while in Rome. **** yes! We can do that instead of going to see the Pope. That ****bag has decided to go on vacation and now i wont be able to get my Pope on. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005-07-17-pope-vacation_x.htm Great timing, Pope Jerkface. :hammer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 I just realized I never updated this thread upon my return. Got a ton of good advice from this thread, so here are a few highlights: Took the biggest damn plane ever. Seriously the most comfortable flight I've ever taken. Even the food was good. Not just good for airline food, but good good. Flew into Florence and took a car to Siena. View from the hotel room. Started drinking wine, since, you know, Tuscany and all. 2nd day we had booked a lady to drive us and a few other people around Chianti to wineries and farms. Chianti is now my favorite vino. At one of the farms. This is the best smelling room EVER. Barrels of wine being turned into 10 year aged basalmic vinegar and cured pig quarters. :drool: I asked this guy how old the buidling was. Older than the United States by like 300 years. Man did i drink a ****load of wine that day. But italian wine doesn't give you hangovers, so we drove into Florence the next day...... ---------- Post added February-6th-2012 at 11:57 PM ---------- Florence is INTENSE. Worse by far than NYC. The Duomo is so big I couldn't get it all in the frame at one time, not even close. Spent most of our time inside the 2 museums, so no pictures. Then we took a train to Naples, which is a ****hole, but we only saw the trainstation. I've always wanted to take a train that had a bar car. We had a driver pick us up at that Naples train station and take us to Positano. I won't even get into driving in Italy, it is INSANE CRAZY. Postiano from the hotel balcony: Positano from a boat: ---------- Post added February-7th-2012 at 12:05 AM ---------- Then took the train to Rome. Rome was amazing. We got there in the middle of the afternoon, didnt really get our bearing and just went for a stroll. Took about 15 minutes until we ran into this. That Coliseum will just sneak up on you. Trevi Fountain Inside the Coliseum ---------- Post added February-7th-2012 at 12:10 AM ---------- The Forum Inside St. Peters, which was amazing. Pope John Paul II entombed here. In order to get the entire church in one frame we had to snap the pic from the other side of St Peters Square. I am over 1/4 mile away from the front of the church in this pic. It's ****ing BIG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renaissance Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 That pic looking out the window is nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsburySkinsFan Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 That pic looking out the window is nice! Agreed, that pic looks like every painting of Tuscany I've ever seen. Not sure why but I guess I always figured it couldn't possibly look THAT good...but wow, very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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