Eurotrip
Amazing how quickly three weeks flies by...I've been busy with trying to figure out where to start with planning a trip to Europe sometime in the next year. I'm not sure if there is much of anything that is more overwhelming. I'm spending hours and hours pouring through message boards and reading every internet article written about travel in Europe. We have a sample itineray together...
Three days London.
Two days Amsterdam (houseboat on canal)
Three days Bellagio on Lake Como in Italian Alps.
Four Days Rome.
Anyone with deep travel experience in Europe want to tell me that I'm crazy and need to be doing something else or stopping else where. I am especially interested in advice on what to see in London and to a lesser extent Rome. Let me know!
posted by Jeremy @ 5:29 PM
10 Comments:
A quick comment on Rome...
It is one of the most beautiful and cool places to be but I think you could probably get by with 2 or 3 days there instead of 4. It all depends on what you want to do but to 'see' the major stuff you wouldn't need 4 days. Perhaps you could parlay the other days into a quick Venice sidetrip.
We have ruled out Venice because I hear it is an overpriced, overcrowded, smelly, tourist trap. But I'm sure it is nice...
Well no need to get fussy...
"Or a sidetrip to (whereever Jeremy thinks isn't beneath him)."
Yeah, your advice was helpful though, I may now take an extra day and steal one from Rome (like you mentioned) and use those two days for a stop in Switzerland.
Having gone to London at the beginning of this year, and having lived in Rome for about 8-9 months, and traveled around Europe generally, I would say that, IMO, you're going to be spending too much time traveling between locations as a portion of the overall trip.
I'm wrestling with the same issue right now with our (my wife and I) trip to Japan and S. Korea. There's tons of places we want to go to, but the reality of it is, it takes both a lot of time and a lot of money (trains/car rental) to get around.
AFAIK, it's going to take you about a day to get between each one of those locations. Maybe a little less so you have enough time to check in to your hotel and have decent dinner, but that's about it.
Your trip is pretty much covering Europe from top to bottom. I would concentrate on the north or south (or east or west).
For example, hit London and Paris (I was in Paris in 2004 if you have questions about it), which are pretty easy to travel between.
Or, hit Rome, Siena (+++!), and Florence and Venice (I'll write more on Venice if I remember).
As for London, my memory for names is terrible so bear with me ... obviously, Big Ben and Parliament, but there isn't much to do there other than go to the Abbey, which I can't remember the name of. My wife and I decided not to bother because the line was HUGE. I've seen enough cathedrals in Europe that I won't wait in line for one. You might be interested in watching the changing of the guards, but take a look at Buckingham Palace at least. It's another place that you'll walk to, go "wow" and then leave.
Other sites: Kensington Gardens is a really nice park for walking around. Canary Warf is NOT an interesting place to go to regardless of what you may have heard. Check out the London Museum and the internal library (hard to explain, but neat). London Bridge or whatever it's called is another "wow ... OK, where to next" place that you should walk across. The Tate Modern is a good sized museum that isn't too overwhelming in scope. From what I hear, the London Eye is a waste of time. I really liked the bar at the top of OXO Tower (it's on the opposite side of the Thames). It has a nice view and isn't too crowded for a drink in the afternoon. It's near the Tate Modern and the Globe Theater. We were pressed for time so we didn't see the Globe Theater (it was a little pricey IIRC).
St. Paul's Cathedral is pretty nice from the outside. Depending on the number of European cathedrals you've been to, it may or may not be worth waiting in line to get in. We didn't bother.
There's Picadilly Circus that's worth wandering through. Down the street from that is a big square that I can't remember the name of ... Trafalgar Square!
Check out Harrod's but be prepared for wall-to-wall people.
Covent Garden is a nice shopping area for walking and browsing.
Check out the Tower of London and the surrounding buildings. But I wouldn't recommend checking out the Crown Jewels if your time is limited. The line for that is HUGE.
I skipped Madame Toussads and the London Dungeon this trip. I went once before and I thought they were tourist traps.
If you can, I hear the Horse Guards Parade is supposed to be good. It's down the road a little bit from Parliament and Big Ben. We miss-timed it so we just wandered the grounds for a few minutes.
Nottinghill is worth a good amount of time I think. If you can go on a Saturday, wander down Portobello Road Market. It's really crowded, and you probably won't see any antiques you actually want, but it's still worth an hour.
Everybody said the Millenium Dome is nothing to bother with, so we didn't.
We went to a few other museums in there in Knightsbridge, but I can't remember their names. Knightsbridge is where Harrods is (or near enough).
As for Rome, you'll need a good part of a day for Vatican City, which is basically St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum. You _have_ to do both if you're in Rome. I'm telling you! And go to the top of St. Peter's. It's arguably the best view of any cathedral/basilica in Europe.
Not only is there a lot to see in Vatican City, but the Museum is slow going because there is always a ton of people. St. Peter's is slow going to the top, but otherwise, you only need to stay there as long as you feel like (Vatican post office is the best place in Rome for sending mail and the entrance is right at the entrace on St. Peter's).
After Vatican City, Castel St. Angelo is pretty good, but if you're pressed for time, you don't need to go in. Just walk around it.
Piazza Navona and the Pantheon are right next to each other (5 minute walk). As a side note, I don't recommend eating anywhere near any sight I describe in Rome. They're all tourist traps and suck except for, sometimes, the gelato.
If you like coffee, by the Pantheon (right on the square) is a place called Tazza D'Oro. My favorite coffee beverage on the planet is the granita di cafe the way they prepare it. It's about 1200-1500 lira and I usually have to have 2 before I leave. There's no admission for the Pantheon and rarely a line.
And while I'm mentioning the area, there's a bar down the street from Tazza D'Oro called Mickey's (short for Michelangelo, name of the owner). It's a good mix of ex-pats and Italians. I'm not a big talker in bars, but this is a place to strike up conversations with fellow travelers and locals. They have fantastic sandwiches as well.
Further past the Panthone, heading away from Piazza Navona is the Trevi Fountain, which isn't nearly as interesting as it looks. Another "wow, where now?" place.
Past that, head to Piazza Di Spagna and the Spanish Steps. That's a good place to sit down and just people watch. Up the steps is the Borghese Gardens which is a nice stroll. If you swing around, I think it's north, and come back down, there's an enormous circular area that's kind of interesting to walk through on the way back into the center of Rome.
On the main strip (which runs parallel to the Spanish Steps and there are side streets for the high end stuff off of it) there's a lot of shops for very Italian clothing. From cheeseball jeans, to very expensive Versace and similarly priced stuff. Nothing probably to buy, but plenty to see.
This main road will take you over to the Emanuelle (sp?) monument which is enormous and pretty elaborate. Behind it is some museum that I can't recall.
Off past Emanuelle is the Coloseum. That'll take a while to deal with because there are a lot of people there on the inside.
There's also the old ... I forget the name. It's old Rome preserved pretty well. It's in all the guide books and is near the Circus Maximus (Circo Maximo?), which is basically just a long empty field. The CM is not too interesting other than to reflect on how old it is and how long it has been there. The Roman ruins are more interesting and recomended.
If you have time and the energy, you can keep walking towards Termini and there are a couple churches up that away that are pretty nice. Less tourists on the side streets as well and gives you more of a local flavor than the center of town, which I just described.
For food, I recomend packing a lunch from a market and heading to Trastevere for dinner time (I lived in Trastevere). You really can't go wrong in the old part of Trastevere (the area with cobblestone streets). I recommend Il Duca, although last time I went, the quality wasn't quite as good as when I lived there ...
In any case, Trastevere is a cool place to walk around and check out shops. Easily an afternoon of walking around. I would head up the hill where there's a fountain. Nice view from up there.
And I also recommend walking on side streets whenever possible. Not only to avoid tourists, but to see how normal people live (normal as people living in the center of Rome are). If you have a decent sense of direction and a map, it's hard to get lost. You always get dumped out on a major thoroughfare that is easy to find on a map.
Also helps avoid the "zingari" (gypsies), who will go after people agressively to try and rob them. They're no joke. They're easy enough to avoid if you know to look out for them and don't look too touristy, but they're well trained at finding tourists not paying attention in tourist areas (that road by the Spanish Steps is probably the worst).
As for Venice, while it is overcrowded in many places, and there's a lot of crap on the main paths too and from the main square, it's really fantastic. You just have to take a 5 minute walk off the main strip, and then you see why people love it. If you stay on the main strip, forget it. It's a nightmare. But walking through empty alleys along canals is unforgettable. I really recommend it.
But, unlike Rome, it's REALLY easy to get lost. Not call-the-police lost, but pretty badly lost. You can't see the horizon and the frequent turns will cause even the best sense of direction to get confused.
In any case, yeah, Venice is both a tourist trap, but also one of the best places to go in Italy. It's not all that hard to get away from the crap.
I also like Siena a lot too. It's not too touristy and is about as close as you'll get to old Italy without heading in a rented car to the hinterlands. I really like everything about the city, from the food, the spaces, the amazing striped cathedral, the tower which has breathtaking views (I never say something is breathtaking, except for this view). It's a city that gives you a good idea why people talk about Tuscany all the time.
Phew. I've written enough for now. :)
I should mention that one day isn't enough for a quick Venice side trip. It'll take you a day to get there by train. Once you get into Venice, it takes a while to get to your hotel. By the time you settle in, the day is shot. Same with the return. You could fly, but that's pricey.
Two days is enough for a side trip to Siena though. Or Florence.
Longest. Comment. Ever.
Awesome. Seriously, awesome. This is exactly what I was hoping for an will completely helpful in our planning of this trip.
I can't thank you enough for taking the time, but I'll try.
Thanks.
No problem.
I just reread my comment and a couple things I wrote are a little unclear:
The OXO Tower is on the opposite side of the river from the main part of the city's touristic areas. It's on the same side as the Tate Modern and the Globe Theater. The bar is on the right wing in this picture: http://www.oxotower.co.uk/
The restaurant, which looked nice, but we didn't eat at, is on the left side. In the middle is a public balcony that you access by cutting through the restaurant. It feels a little awkward to do it, but the staff can't stop you (in the pic, it's the gap below the OXO on the tower). I'm writing a lot about something that isn't really worth writing that much about. It's just a nice view of London ... :)
From there, (and just about anywhere in London) you can clearly see the egg shaped office tower. It's pretty neat up close as is a building right down the street from it that is owned by a big insurance company ... Lloyd's of London I think. Anyway, architecturally, it's really neat to check out ... but they're both in the corporate area of London that has little else to see.
Trastevere is pretty big and is on the opposite side of the river from the Piazza Navona and other stuff. It's on the same side of the river as the Vatican. There's a "modern" section and a cobblestone section. If you go into the modern-er section, you'll wonder why I even mentioned the place. If you're bored in the evening, Trastevere also has the only English language movie theater in town AFAIK: The Pasquino (Sp?). On warm nights, the ceiling opens up (but of all the times I went there, probably happened only 3 or 4 times).
I forgot to mention the Campo di Fuori (it think I spelled it right, but maybe not; we just called it "the campo"). It's a great fresh food market in the morning. When it closes up in the afternoon, though, it's a mess.
IIRC, there are some reasonably priced hotels around the Campo and that's a good location to start exploring the city. They aren't the cheapest, but it's pretty good trade off. Over by the Spanish Steps is where the expensive hotels are.
There are hotels over by Termini, but I wouldn't recommend them because Termini is a little "out there." It's a bit of a walk to get to anything.
The Roman Forum is the old area I couldn't remember: http://tinyurl.com/cvxzp
That's way different than the advice A_B gave me when I was planning a trip to Europe. He told me to just say in Amsterdamn the entire time and get baked. So that's what I did, only I didn't go to Amsterdamn.
Are you sure that wasn't another New York stater? Maybe, someone by the name of Johnny?
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