travel to italy

In article ,
(kim) wrote:

I am planning to go to Italy. i dont know where the best city to go.
what do you recommend and thank you

Without knowing the slightest thing about your interests, how long you
plan to stay in Italy, and what your budget is, I can only tell you what
I enjoyed when I visited Italy. I liked Rome a lot, Florence, and
Sorrento. What you enjoy may be totally different.

I this a serious question? PPPUUUULLLLEEEEZZZZEEEE!
"Shawn "Me" Hearn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(kim) wrote:

I am planning to go to Italy. i dont know where the best city to go.
what do you recommend and thank you

Without knowing the slightest thing about your interests, how long you
plan to stay in Italy, and what your budget is, I can only tell you what
I enjoyed when I visited Italy. I liked Rome a lot, Florence, and
Sorrento. What you enjoy may be totally different.

"clint" wrote in message ...
I this a serious question? PPPUUUULLLLEEEEZZZZEEEE!
"Shawn "Me" Hearn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(kim) wrote:

I am planning to go to Italy. i dont know where the best city to go.
what do you recommend and thank you

Without knowing the slightest thing about your interests, how long you
plan to stay in Italy, and what your budget is, I can only tell you what
I enjoyed when I visited Italy. I liked Rome a lot, Florence, and
Sorrento. What you enjoy may be totally different.

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some advice on travelling to Italy & Sicily. I'm
trying to choose in between the following two Trafalgar tours:

1) Splendours of Italy
14 days from C$ 1750 Touring: Rome • Sorrento • Assisi • Venice •
Italian Lakes • Florence • Siena• Bay of Naples


2) Highlights of Italy and Sicily
16 days from C$ 2190
Touring: Rome • Florence • Venice • Assisi • Palermo • Agrigento •
Taormina • Sorrento • Bay of Naples

http://www.ttcan.trafalgartours.com/...ver_frame.html

The 16 days tour includes Sicily, but it doesn't go to the Italian
Lakes and Siena. The price is also higher by $440. Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Please kindly advice. Thanks a lot!

Elaine
Canada

"Elaine" wrote in message
om...
"clint" wrote in message
...
I this a serious question? PPPUUUULLLLEEEEZZZZEEEE!
"Shawn "Me" Hearn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(kim) wrote:

I am planning to go to Italy. i dont know where the best city to go.
what do you recommend and thank you

Without knowing the slightest thing about your interests, how long you
plan to stay in Italy, and what your budget is, I can only tell you
what
I enjoyed when I visited Italy. I liked Rome a lot, Florence, and
Sorrento. What you enjoy may be totally different.

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some advice on travelling to Italy & Sicily. I'm
trying to choose in between the following two Trafalgar tours:

1) Splendours of Italy
14 days from C$ 1750 Touring: Rome . Sorrento . Assisi . Venice .
Italian Lakes . Florence . Siena. Bay of Naples


2) Highlights of Italy and Sicily
16 days from C$ 2190
Touring: Rome . Florence . Venice . Assisi . Palermo . Agrigento .
Taormina . Sorrento . Bay of Naples

http://www.ttcan.trafalgartours.com/...ver_frame.html

The 16 days tour includes Sicily, but it doesn't go to the Italian
Lakes and Siena. The price is also higher by $440. Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Please kindly advice. Thanks a lot!

Elaine
Canada

I never know how to answer a question like, "Is Sicily worth seeing?"

Yes, it is, along with the rest of Italy.

A couple of points:

Both tours are quite aggressive in terms of the number of places seen. 14
to 16 days isn't a lot -- I've spent 14 days just in Sicily. Do the 14 days
include your travel from Canada to Italy? If so you're losing two days at
the beginning (usually, you leave Canada mid-day-to-early-evening and arrive
in Italy in the morning the following day) and one day at the end, which
cuts down your time even more.

Are you sure you want to do a tour?

With fourteen days in Italy, I'd concentrate on 3, or perhaps 4, cities at
the absolute most. Rome requires a minimum of 3 full days to get any sense
of the city at all (3 days = 4 nights). Venice merits 3 nights. For Siena,
2 nights _might_ suffice, though we just spent four there in November.
Florence is a magnificent city -- at least 3 nights, though 4 would be
better. Last time we were in Sorrento, we spent 3 nights.

In my opinion, Palermo is not the most interesting city in Sicily. Taormino
is beautiful, and Agrigento has interesting ruins. I'd recommend that
anyone visiting Sicily spend time in Syracusa, which has a charming "old
town," as well as some fairly spectacular Greek and Roman ruins.

Is this your first time in Europe? First time in Italy?

Your mileage may vary, but I'd recommend you consider doing this trip on
your own, rather than with a tour, and spend sufficient time wherever you
visit to acquire some sense of the culture and particular "aesthetic."
Italy is a very easy country to travel around on your own.

In article ,
(Elaine) wrote:

Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Siena is largely interesting for art history and architecture; however,
the second tour already gives you quite a lot of this particularly in
Florence and Assisi, and what you get in Sicily will more than make up for
the lack of Siena, given that you can't see /everything/ in a fortnight.

So it boils down to Lakes vs. Sicily, I think, and that's where your
tastes come in. Sicily's definitely worth going out of your way to see if
you are interested in Roman and Greek ruins (and if the tour includes them
- I assume it does, going to Agrigento). The lakes are probably to be
preferred if beautiful scenery is your thing.

In article ,
wrote:

In article ,
(Elaine) wrote:

Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Siena is largely interesting for art history and architecture; however,
the second tour already gives you quite a lot of this particularly in
Florence and Assisi, and what you get in Sicily will more than make up for
the lack of Siena, given that you can't see /everything/ in a fortnight.

So it boils down to Lakes vs. Sicily, I think, and that's where your
tastes come in. Sicily's definitely worth going out of your way to see if
you are interested in Roman and Greek ruins (and if the tour includes them
- I assume it does, going to Agrigento). The lakes are probably to be
preferred if beautiful scenery is your thing.


I often make a choice like this based on what I have already seen and
have at home

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the US so I have hiked in many a
mountain to many a lake and while the Lakes in Italy are lovely -- they
weren't at the top of my list -- Sicily with its ancient ruins is not
something I can duplicate at home -- so I would choose that

I LOVE Siena - but the poster above is right that much of what is
wonderful about it is similar to FLorence and Assisi --- if one has to
make a choice

In article ,
"PTRAVEL" wrote:

"Elaine" wrote in message
om...
"clint" wrote in message
...
I this a serious question? PPPUUUULLLLEEEEZZZZEEEE!
"Shawn "Me" Hearn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(kim) wrote:

I am planning to go to Italy. i dont know where the best city to go.
what do you recommend and thank you

Without knowing the slightest thing about your interests, how long you
plan to stay in Italy, and what your budget is, I can only tell you
what
I enjoyed when I visited Italy. I liked Rome a lot, Florence, and
Sorrento. What you enjoy may be totally different.

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some advice on travelling to Italy & Sicily. I'm
trying to choose in between the following two Trafalgar tours:

1) Splendours of Italy
14 days from C$ 1750 Touring: Rome . Sorrento . Assisi . Venice .
Italian Lakes . Florence . Siena. Bay of Naples


2) Highlights of Italy and Sicily
16 days from C$ 2190
Touring: Rome . Florence . Venice . Assisi . Palermo . Agrigento .
Taormina . Sorrento . Bay of Naples

http://www.ttcan.trafalgartours.com/...ver_frame.html

The 16 days tour includes Sicily, but it doesn't go to the Italian
Lakes and Siena. The price is also higher by $440. Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Please kindly advice. Thanks a lot!

Elaine
Canada

I never know how to answer a question like, "Is Sicily worth seeing?"

Yes, it is, along with the rest of Italy.

A couple of points:

Both tours are quite aggressive in terms of the number of places seen. 14
to 16 days isn't a lot -- I've spent 14 days just in Sicily. Do the 14 days
include your travel from Canada to Italy? If so you're losing two days at
the beginning (usually, you leave Canada mid-day-to-early-evening and arrive
in Italy in the morning the following day) and one day at the end, which
cuts down your time even more.

Are you sure you want to do a tour?

With fourteen days in Italy, I'd concentrate on 3, or perhaps 4, cities at
the absolute most. Rome requires a minimum of 3 full days to get any sense
of the city at all (3 days = 4 nights). Venice merits 3 nights. For Siena,
2 nights _might_ suffice, though we just spent four there in November.
Florence is a magnificent city -- at least 3 nights, though 4 would be
better. Last time we were in Sorrento, we spent 3 nights.

In my opinion, Palermo is not the most interesting city in Sicily. Taormino
is beautiful, and Agrigento has interesting ruins. I'd recommend that
anyone visiting Sicily spend time in Syracusa, which has a charming "old
town," as well as some fairly spectacular Greek and Roman ruins.

Is this your first time in Europe? First time in Italy?

Your mileage may vary, but I'd recommend you consider doing this trip on
your own, rather than with a tour, and spend sufficient time wherever you
visit to acquire some sense of the culture and particular "aesthetic."
Italy is a very easy country to travel around on your own.



I definitely agree with this -- go 3 places in Italy -- on your own if
you waren't wedded to the idea of a tour, especially if you have a
companion going with you

In my opinion, Palermo is not the most interesting city in Sicily.
Taormino is beautiful, and Agrigento has interesting ruins. I'd
recommend that anyone visiting Sicily spend time in Syracusa, which
has a charming "old town," as well as some fairly spectacular Greek
and Roman ruins.

Palermo is nice for a few days, especially if you are a history buff and
are interested in such out of the way 18th & 19th century history as the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Spanish Bourbons. Palermo houses one of
the main palaces.

If I were you
I would concentrate on a region..
( there are 20 regions in Italy)
it is difficult to say what is better than what..
Of course. Rome is number one..
Venice is unique in the world
I do not particularly like Florence.. even if its museums are somehow the
most important in Italy
( I think that the Museo Vaticano is the best ever..
cannot be compared with anyhting else in the world )
the region of Florence ( Toscana) offers many towns big and small that are
worth a visit
Lucca
Siena
Pisa
Volterra
Arezzo
San Gimignano
Massa marittima

while umbria ( the region of Assisi)
offers towns like
Gubbio
Perugia
Spoleto
Todi
Orvieto
and so on
I rather am fond of Gubbio.. to me better than Assisi
even if Assisi is a unique medioeval town going back to its full splendour
after the earth quake
if you wander around you will think you are in the times of Romeo and Juliet
( actually Zeffirelli's film was filmed in Assisi, they just had to remove
the electric cables to make the twon look real..)
As to Sicily. I guess it boasts a wonderful scenary
and the best preserved greek temples in the world..
then of course you have monuments of all ages and occupatios .. Greek Roman
Norman Arab and finally spanish borbons.

I would definitly concentrate in Rome with 4 days there.. 3 days in
Florence..
2 days in venezia

then you could just put names in a cylinder and pick them one by one.
It will not make too much of a difference
you will not be disappointed.
It is funny yr tours do not mention Naples and Pompei
I think Naples is a wonderful town ( Taking monuments and scenary into
consideration )
and Pompei is a must.
do not forget that all these towns are a few hours from each other with a
fast train.
I would go alone. without a tour..
and would stay in a place as long as I like staying in it.
one more comment..
a decent hotel will cost between 70 and 100 eur
per night ( two persons )
but these prices are for internet bargain hunters.
a pizza will cost you between 5 and 7 eur
a good dish of pasta almost the same
wine della casa ( of the house ) from 5 to 10 eur litre
I paid 20 eur for 1/4
of litre of brunello di Montalcino..
but again it depends on where you go.
last summer in August in rome a half litre of mineral water was 2.5 eur
a robbery
but it was also record hot..
until I found many fountains with good fresh water and filled bottled to
bring with me.
"Elaine" ha scritto nel messaggio
om...
"clint" wrote in message
...
I this a serious question? PPPUUUULLLLEEEEZZZZEEEE!
"Shawn "Me" Hearn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(kim) wrote:

I am planning to go to Italy. i dont know where the best city to go.
what do you recommend and thank you

Without knowing the slightest thing about your interests, how long you
plan to stay in Italy, and what your budget is, I can only tell you
what
I enjoyed when I visited Italy. I liked Rome a lot, Florence, and
Sorrento. What you enjoy may be totally different.

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some advice on travelling to Italy & Sicily. I'm
trying to choose in between the following two Trafalgar tours:

1) Splendours of Italy
14 days from C$ 1750 Touring: Rome . Sorrento . Assisi . Venice .
Italian Lakes . Florence . Siena. Bay of Naples


2) Highlights of Italy and Sicily
16 days from C$ 2190
Touring: Rome . Florence . Venice . Assisi . Palermo . Agrigento .
Taormina . Sorrento . Bay of Naples

http://www.ttcan.trafalgartours.com/...ver_frame.html

The 16 days tour includes Sicily, but it doesn't go to the Italian
Lakes and Siena. The price is also higher by $440. Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Please kindly advice. Thanks a lot!

Elaine
Canada

Hi,

I'm hoping to get some advice on travelling to Italy & Sicily. I'm
trying to choose in between the following two Trafalgar tours:

1) Splendours of Italy
14 days from C$ 1750 Touring: Rome . Sorrento . Assisi . Venice .
Italian Lakes . Florence . Siena. Bay of Naples


2) Highlights of Italy and Sicily
16 days from C$ 2190
Touring: Rome . Florence . Venice . Assisi . Palermo . Agrigento .
Taormina . Sorrento . Bay of Naples

http://www.ttcan.trafalgartours.com/...ver_frame.html

The 16 days tour includes Sicily, but it doesn't go to the Italian
Lakes and Siena. The price is also higher by $440. Is the Sicily
really worth seeing or should I see the Italian Lakes and Siena? I've
never been to either place before.

Please kindly advice. Thanks a lot!


Italy's a compicated multicourse banquet for all the senses and all
observations are subjective and in the eyes of the beholder....

I first went in 1962, young, single and adventurous.

I last visited in 2003, anything but young, spoused, and perhaps a tad less
adventurous when it came to hotels...

Having been to Naples 21 times and not yet died (The "See Naples and die!"
bit) and spent more time than most in Sicily (Italians don't go there much,
but send the USNavy instead, considering that since more than half of all
Sicilians ever born now live in the US, we must understand them better), I
feel less compelled to return to those haunts.

My list.....

"XX" For those who have the time and the spirity (and the car), but perhaps
as comfortable a place and the most "Italian" you'll ever find...the little
town of Civatella d'Agliano not far from Orvieto, where the hotel "Lair of
the Porcupine" and the winery in the cellar provide all that life can
expected to be.

1. Venice - If there is only one place to be visited once in your life, by
most standards the world's most entrancing city and by Western standards
likely the most beautiful. Between your feet, vaporetti and traghetti, it
remains the easiest city in which to sightsee. ....can smell a bit in High
Summer/ebb tide.

2. Rome - to not spend a minimum of at least two full "sightseeing" days -
preferably more -in Rome is a crime against nature. Anyone whose family
has included at least one professed Christian of any
denomoination/schism/sect since 1800 is obligated to visit St. Peter's and
the Vatican Museum. The list of mandatory sites is as long as your legs
will make it.

3. Tuscany - Siena/San Gimignano/Volterra and a chunk of Chianti - Urban
and rural scenery and sights beyond compare, good food and wine, hospitable
folks. Siena? God grant me at least one more return. The old hotel in
which I stayed in 1962's still there. I didn't think much of it then (and
wouldn't recommend it now). Places to stay....out in the countryside of
Chianti....for to walk out on a hilltop terrace, coffee in hand, early on a
Chianti morning is to begin to appreciate the palettes of the painters of
the Renaissance....With a dash of grappa in the coffee, the colors are even
more vivid. Of course, I would even stay in a truckers' motel in
Poggibonsi - a tacky road junction/industrial suburb, if it meant I was
free to drive around in Tuscany.

4. If it weren't Disneyworldish, it would be the one city in the world
that to die without visiting would be to have led an incomplete life. Home
of the grimmest and grimiest (and maybe best) art museum in the world, the
Uffizi, and enough sights in a small area to satisfy even the halt and
lame. Turn in your rental car, as parking is "remote" and expensive, while
driving can be like maneuvering a tractor trailer thru a schoolyard (with
the vigili closing all the gates). I'm not sure which one should see
first, the Pieta in Rome or to walk North from the Duomo to hope that the
line is short for David, but the guy was good at more than ceilings.

Tie 5.& 6. The Amalfi Coast and a place to which I cannot return without
some remorse, having once long ago fallen madly and passionately in
love/lust there, the crescent Rapallo/Sta. Margarita/Portofino.

Places one ought to visit and may not have time to....

The Lakes
Pompeii/Hercul.
Taormina
Assisi
Ravenna
.....and a thousand sleepers like the Southern Coast of Sicily, a strange
and almost empty land, out of time, or the cathedral at Monreale, a
"suburb" of Palermo (although maybe it's the othe way aroud), one of those
places where the wandering Normans left indelible bootprints..

Places nobody goes but more should if only to appreciate the cost of war
and to contemplate what was Hell in a very small place....

The little town of Cassino in the shadow of the mountain of that name
(applicable to Canadians also for the nearby slopes received a catholic
irrigation in the blood of a number of nationalities).

TMO