+- MacResource (https://forums.macresource.com)
+-- Forum: My Category (https://forums.macresource.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Tips and Deals (https://forums.macresource.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=3)
+--- Thread: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! (/showthread.php?tid=118792)
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - volcs0 - 06-17-2011
As someone sitting at a cafe in Italy this minute, I'm getting a kick out this thread.
Beautiful sunny breezy day here. Going to vatican tour this evening. Saw borghese last night.
Believe it or not, we are not finding it as friendly as paris, but still pretty easy to navigate and figure out.
I can give you my tips when we get back.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - stephen - 06-17-2011
Strongly recommend a side trip to the Cinque Terre for 2 days. Even though Rick Steves' crowd is all there now, it still feels relatively undiscovered. By the way, I love his books, TV shows, and web site.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - mrbigstuff - 06-17-2011
freeradical wrote:
The food is insanely good there.
Enjoy
not in Venice. In fact, it's sort of awful in most places along the beaten path.
Rome? yes, most food in Rome is insanely great.
again, get off the beaten path.
oh, and please don't try to see "as much as you can." that is not going to do you much good. take a day or more to just walk around the city with absolutely no goals in mind. explore, let whimsy lead your way.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - dmann - 06-17-2011
Thanks for the advice everyone! Since being banded, food is not nearly as important to me as it once was (!) but I plan to do plenty of wine sampling to make up for it.
Unfortunately, I am 42 years old and this is my first trip to Italy, or anywhere in Europe for that matter (long story as to why this is true.) Sad fact is I don't see myself having an opportunity to return there any time soon, so I do need to see as much as I can while I am there. Should I get lucky enough to travel again, I would go see someplace new.
Keep the ideas coming- I appreciate the input!
DM
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - rgG - 06-17-2011
I also second, or third the suggestion to check out hotel recommendations on Trip Advisor. They are a great source of information, and I have been very happy with the advice I have gotten from the reviews there.
My daughter just left Italy, she was there for a week. I was on a studies abroad program there, for a quarter back, in the late 70's and I have been back once since.
There are great things to do everywhere you go, just pick the things that are most to your liking.
My daughter was most impressed by the Sistine Chapel. I have not been back, since the restoration, extreme cleaning, and she said it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. When I was there, it was very dark and hard to make out any details, apparently now it is back to the way it looked when it was painted, or at least close. I would say not to miss St. Peters, the Vatican museums, papal apartments, and the Sistine, while in Rome. There is so much else to see also. She said it was very hot in Rome and that she nearly passed out while waiting to get into the Coliseum, so keep a water bottle handy, we don't want anyone falling down from dehydration.
Also, I second the idea about getting a reservation to the Uffizi, she waited too late, and said the line was just too long to even think of waiting. She had been once before, when we took her as a small child, but she didn't remember much of it, so it was a shame she didn't get to go back, so do make your reservation, before you leave the states, if possible.
Be sure to drink a cappuccino for me and maybe have a small gelato, any flavor you like, yummy!
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - pinkoos - 06-17-2011
We honeymooned in Italy back in 2000. Flew into Rome, then train to Florence, then day trip from Florence to Pisa (where we got attacked by a band of gypsies...more on that later) and then back to Florence and then train to Venice. Flew out of Venice back to the States.
I'm sure hotels, etc. have changed since the time we went, so I won't attempt to recommend any of the places we stayed. They were all nice, but nothing extraordinary.
My favorite was Rome. As others have mentioned, the churches and art is amazing, but my favorite by far was the Roman Forum. It will truly blow you away. We had one of those Eyewitness Travel Guides showing a picture of the Forum when it was just beginning to be excavated and the fact that a lot of that stuff was buried underground is hard to fathom.
All the tour books warned about pickpockets in Rome, but we didn't experience anything there. Instead, on our walk back from the Leaning Tower to the Pisa train station, a band of gypsies with babies/kids in tow kinda surrounded my wife and I and began "pretending" to beg for handouts. Then, they started chanting and crowding into us. That's when I felt one of the gypsies (with a baby in one hand) put her hand down my front pants pocket and go for my wallet. Apparently, they know that all the guide books tell you to not put your wallet in your back pocket, so she didn't even try to reach in there. Luckily, my wife started beating them away with her purse and they left empty handed. It's kinda a funny story but we can only laugh b/c they didn't get anything. If they had succeeded in stealing my wallet, it wouldn't be so funny anymore.
Venice was the best place to end the trip b/c by then we were kinda burnt out on churches, art, etc. It was a nice place to just sit at outdoor cafes, drink coffee, eat gelato and people watch. We did the Murano tour and saw how they made glass, etc. KInda cool.
Anyway, have fun.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - goodmanx - 06-17-2011
our daughter is leaving today for five weeks of singing in novafeltria, near rimini. if anyone's familiar with the immediate area, i'd appreciate any info.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - freeradical - 06-17-2011
mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=freeradical]
The food is insanely good there.
Enjoy
not in Venice. In fact, it's sort of awful in most places along the beaten path.
Even the food at the Autostrade gas stations was edible. I never had a bad meal at a real restaurant there.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - 3d - 06-17-2011
Have you checked out the Travel Channel site?
There's an Anthony Bourdain Rome episode. Peak around there, there might be more episodes. Check out YouTube for the episodes.
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/ci.Episode_Rome.map
*edit*
There's also a Venice and a Tuscany episode as well.
Re: What are your favorite travel related sites/blogs? I'm going to Italy! - OWC Jamie - 06-17-2011
If the DK travel books are in that list, the bigger ones($20+) are better than the smaller pocket ($12.00) ones. I don't care for the hotel and restaurant reviews / ratings in any of them as they seem to prove too often that the author was obviously never there, but the maps and histories / things to see are great. ( I avoid the top 10 crap/opinions)
Haven't been to Venice or Florence, but have had so-so food in Rome.
House wine always seemed to be pretty good, though.
I wanted to do Mt.Etna and Mt. Vesuvius so Naples, Capri , Sicily were my destinations of choice after Roma.