We did Spain, Italy, and London a couple of years ago, but I researched and planned it all myself. I did look into a local TA, but she couldn’t get me exactly what I wanted, and her price was higher than what I knew I could do it for myself.
We did Seville, Valencia, Pisa, Florence, Cinque Terre, Rome, the Vatican, Naples, Pompeii, Isle of Capri, Venice, and London. Out of those, I’d go back to Isle of Capri, Venice, and London. We also really wanted to go to Salerno and down the coast, but couldn’t fit it in.
Highlights of the Italy portion of our trip:
- Exploring Cinque Terre and taking a boat ride along the coast. It was very beautiful.
- Leonardo Da Vinci Museum in Florence. We stumbled on this by accident, but it was really interesting. It’s a museum that focuses on Leonardo the inventor, not Leonardo the artist. The museum is full of his inventions made from his plans. Many are interactive where you can try them out yourself. Its a smaller museum, but it was a lot of fun. Especially if you are a fan of his work.
- The Coliseum. We did the underground tour. I don’t think I’d have really appreciated it as much if we’d done the standard tour. We didn’t really care for Rome overall.
- The Isle of Capri. We did a private boat tour around Capri to see the grottos and took the chair from the top which offered amazing views. I’d have loved to have been able to spend a few days on the island to really explore it and the grottos, but we didn’t have time. We did get to take one quick swim in a grotto, but it would have been nice to have had more time.
- Pompeii was very interesting. I’m not sure why, but ever since I was a kid it’s been on my bucket list to see, and I wasn’t disappointed. I had to sacrifice my visit to a mozerella buffalo farm to do it. If we go back, visiting the farm will be on my to do list.
- Simply exploring Venice was a highlight. The city was very beautiful and full of lots of interesting shops owned by local artists. I got sick our first day there; though, so we didn’t get to do much, but I still enjoyed what I did see.
We did a mix of trains and planes to get around. I initially thought we’d take trains everywhere, but after I started looking into it, I found that in many cases taking a plane was actually quicker and less expensive. I also learned quickly that I’m not a fan of Italian trains. Honestly, the entire public transportation system in Italy was very confusing. Many times the locals were more confused than I was because at least I’d done some research. It was very stressful. Airports weren’t a whole lot better, but at least I knew when I had arrived at my destination. Really do your research on getting from point A to B if you end up going without a guide. Spain and London were easy to navigate, but Italy not so much. That’s the one thing I wish I’d researched in more detail. Little things like figuring out which stop to get off at. Silly me, I thought they would announce the stops or there would be a sign or something. For instance, I had instructions like take Train A to Rome stop C, only figuring out which of the stops was Rome C ended up being very difficult.
The other thing that surprised us was that we really didn’t like the food at all, and even when we did find food that was ok or even good, we’d tire of it quickly because it was the exact same menu at every restaurant. We didn’t find much variety. We didn’t see any options for different types of ethnic foods, and we didn’t really even see different types of regional Italian food. For instance, when we were on the coast, whatever was the local catch, that’s all anyone served. No options for anything else. No chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, or even another type of fish. We got whatever was local and in season, and it was the same menu at every single restaurant we came across. However, we tend to try to avoid tourist areas when we travel unless we are specifically doing something touristy. I don’t think we ever ate in a restaurant that had any English translations or was really geared toward tourists, so maybe that was our problem. We found the food situation in Spain and London much better than Italy.
The last thing that stands out to me is that both Spain and Italy were really bad about textured sidewalks and streets. The one stamp they use that looks like the tops of
Lego bricks was the worst offender. Those little round parts would pop right up between the treads of my shoes and really hurt. The textured concrete really tore my shoes up and did a number on my feet. I’m not sure why they are so opposed to flat concrete, so be prepared for uneven textured surfaces, even where new concrete has been poured. I think the cobblestone was probably preferable.
Also, do any of you speak any Italian or Greek? I think it would be a good idea to have at least the basics down. We definitely weren’t fluent, but I could make out the gist of most things written down and knew a few useful words and phrases, and my sister could hold a basic conversation well enough to fool people into thinking she was completely fluent. We definitely needed those skills during our trip, especially trying to ask directions and navigate and at restaurants.
