I need a vacation, people

[MadImmortalMan]

Man, that looks awesome, cc. What am I spending? I assume I will have to drive, which is actually something I haven't done in Europe before. No biggie. Also, what kind of side trips do you do when you go? Rome? Venice? Any cool historical sites? Monte Cassino has to be close. I'd like to mourn the rubble the USAF made of that.

[DGuller]

I always figured the people who get the worst flak aren't really tourists but people who just fly over a country and drop bombs.

[Pedrito]

If you want to stay in an agriturismo in Italy, you can check this site: http://en.agriturismo.it/, a good repository with helpful users' comments.

Some years ago I went here: http://www.fattoriapoggioalloro.com/eng/index.htm, a very nice place some 30 kms from Florence and Siena.

I suggest you choose a macroregion to visit - Veneto and the Lakes area in Lombardia, or Tuscany and Rome, or Rome and Naples; otherwise, better ask Beeb that came here in 2009 and did all the Grand Tour: Venice, Florence and Rome.

A bit of advice: if you plan to rent a car, don't travel on highways, usually clogged with trucks (and huns travelling to Barcelona  ), but choose secondary roads: you'll happen to see wonderful landscapes, esp. in Central Italy, and stumble in nice little towns outside the main tourist attractions.

some places to visit outside the Big Three:
In Veneto: Verona, the Brenta River Riviera, Padua (ring the bell in 36, via A*****, and you'll get a round of red wine from a fellow Languishite  ) , Asolo, Trieste and many other places.
In Tuscany: Pisa, Lucca, Siena (if you plan your visit in the first days of July, be careful because the whole city gets mad with the Palio race!), Volterra, Arezzo and all the small towns in the Florence and Siena countryside.
In Lazio and surroundings: Orvieto, Assisi, Gubbio, Viterbo, Rome, Rome, Rome. I forgot Rome.

If you decide for Italy, just ask and I'll be more than happy to help you plan the trip 

L.

[crazy canuck]

Man, that looks awesome, cc. What am I spending? I assume I will have to drive, which is actually something I haven't done in Europe before. No biggie. Also, what kind of side trips do you do when you go? Rome? Venice? Any cool historical sites? Monte Cassino has to be close. I'd like to mourn the rubble the USAF made of that.

I will gather up some other places we have gone as well.  As for cost, I cant really recall the nightly rates.   We try to stay for blocks of 3-4 days in one place and then move on and we try to drive no more then four hours in a day.  It is a vacation after all.  In some places you can get a discount for longer stays.

But I do remember the price of the meals on the first stay.  We ate their every night without knowing how much it was (no menus - its just what Mamma Maria feels like cooking that day).  In the end, a multiple course meal, endless wine, all the mineral water we wanted and after diner drinks cost 25 euros per adult and 15 per child.  Rates may have changed since then but I remember wondering how the guy made money at those prices.  Certainly a comparable dining experience in Vancouver would be in the many hundreds of dollars.

Regarding driving, yes, to get to agro tourismos you have to drive.  For me that is half the fun.  The biggest challenge is reverting back to rule based driving when you get back to NA.

[crazy canuck]

Some years ago I went here: http://www.fattoriapoggioalloro.com/eng/index.htm, a very nice place some 30 kms from Florence and Siena.

Here is another one near, I think very near, the one Pedrito recommended.

http://www.poggiarello.com/?l=en

Its a bit more pricy but I really liked it.  This family bought up an old farming village and converted it into an agro tourismo.  Its a bit of an adventure getting to it.  You literally have to travel on dirt roads that look a bit like goat trails.  But the country side is beautiful and again the meals are marvelous.  The highlights here are the wine list (the son in law travels Europe in the off season to stock their cellar) and the mother makes home made Lemoncello which is to die for.  I made fast friends with the son and son in law and drank wine and lemoncello until the sun came up a few nights.

Here you will see a lot more European tourists (because its Tuscany) but still very few NAs whom you will see flooding most other parts of Tuscany.

For some reason I cant find another of my favourites in Abruzzo but you get the general idea.  The web site Pedrito gave is also an excellent resource.

One last tip.  If you are going to stay in Rome for any length of time (and what self respecting Languishite wouldn't) I suggest that you rent an apartment rather then stay at a hotel.  You will probably get a better location at a much less expensive price.  You can use sites like owners direct to set that sort of thing up.  Last time we got a great place just off the Campo di Fiori.

Ok this is really the last tip.  After a long plane ride to Rome have a private driver pick you up and take you to your apartment.  They are not much more expensive then a taxi but you will be in an airconditioned car with a driver that can get you to where you want to go for a set price - so depending on the taxi driver you might get, the private driver might even be less expensive.  Plus its really cool to do it this way.

edit; ok I lied, I do have one more tip.  If you start in Rome, dont pick up your rental car in Rome.  If you can try to arrange to pick it up at a train station outside Rome.  It can take forever to drive out of that city.

[MadImmortalMan]

One last tip.  If you are going to stay in Rome for any length of time (and what self respecting Languishite wouldn't) I suggest that you rent an apartment rather then stay at a hotel. 

Yes. We did this in London as well the last couple times. A company called Acton. We rented them by the week. Mrs. MIM is somewhat good at such things. Usually. (Don't mention the Kensington Day's Inn on Cromwell Road.) The (Acton) rooms were ridiculously small, but nice and close to the tube. They had a small kitchen-like closet thing with a stove and fridge that let us live at least partially out of Tesco and not solely restaurants. No AC. Barbarians.


My wife is a scrooge. Luckily, we haven't had a holiday in two and a half years so there's a bit saved to spend here. Actually, I've made a packet in the stock market and she doesn't really know that. She will. We have to file our taxes soon.   




One of the things I love about you bastards, it's for things like this. Once, I had a layover in London. One day. So, I post--I have one day in London, what do I do?

RH basically gave me an itinerary---I followed it---and it was one of the best days of my life. Absolutely perfect. Avoided the crowded tourist shit, saw as much as possible, all-around great time. Maybe I didn't thank tricky dick for that properly, but I should have. We printed out his post and went with it. I actually had a Languish post in my pocket guiding me through my first extra-NorteAmericano experience. RH--If I find myself in London again soon, I owe you one. 

[Caliga]

One of the things I love about you bastards, it's for things like this. Once, I had a layover in London. One day. So, I post--I have one day in London, what do I do?

The next time I go to Europe, I ain't staying in a single hotel.  I'll crash with Languishites in exchange for simple gifts. 

Britain - bottles of bourbon for anyone (since the British are all a bunch of drunks)
Poland - my feet for Marti to molest to his heart's content
Hungary - a porta-potty for Tamas

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm basking in the fulsome praise here, positively basking 

Glad my suggestions worked out so well for you MIM.

[Syt]

Visit Vienna.

[Oexmelin]

Here is the French equivalent to Italy's agroturismo: http://www.bienvenue-a-la-ferme.com/

[Pedrito]

In related news, the Colosseo is undergoing restoration works so it may be not completely accessible until mid-2011;

and the Leaning Tower of Pisa is not so leaning anymore: in the last ten years massive injections of Viagra into the ground under the foundations made the tower regain 28 millimeters of tilt

L.

[DGuller]

Silly Italians.  Straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa is like giving the French a shower.

[Caliga]

I was in Pisa in 2004 (or maybe 2005, forget for sure) and the tower is still very noticably leany.  Took to obligatory forced perspective photo of me trying to push the tower back into place. 

[The Brain]

One of the things I love about you bastards, it's for things like this. Once, I had a layover in London. One day. So, I post--I have one day in London, what do I do?

The next time I go to Europe, I ain't staying in a single hotel.  I'll crash with Languishites in exchange for simple gifts. 

Britain - bottles of bourbon for anyone (since the British are all a bunch of drunks)
Poland - my feet for Marti to molest to his heart's content
Hungary - a porta-potty for Tamas

Why don't you mention Sweden? Don't you trust my hospitality?

[Pedrito]

I was in Pisa in 2004 (or maybe 2005, forget for sure) and the tower is still very noticably leany.  Took to obligatory forced perspective photo of me trying to push the tower back into place. 

:facepalm:

L.