saskhab wrote:
Hey, why not start one of these?
I'm going to Italy.
.
good call, Italy is beautiful country the differences from North South is amazing! they are exact opposites. North is more americanized where as the south is more exotic, with a ton of history around it.
this was my trip when i went
Milan -- Florence - Rome -- Almafi Coast (via naples) -- Bari (Family lives there) --Rimini --Venice -- Padova (nothing major, just a church that has family value i wanted to see) --Verona "ohh romeo romeo" - Como - Milan --home!
Milan - dont' go unless you want to shop, there is almost nothing to see or do there, one crazy ass church and nothing else. Shopping its amazing though.
Pisa - PASS! or do what I did, get on the train, run to Pisa, take the stereotypical picture and then run back to the train and catch the next, seriously its 30 minutes round trip!
Florence - Must see! Tip - if your going to see the statue of David, make an reservation, its much faster, when we went, there was this huge lineup around the corner, and then there was this TINY line up to the left, so we asked, the guy told us the small one was the reso line and the big one was walk ups, we asked how to make resos, he gave us a card to call, we walked around the corner to a pay phone, and made reso's for 15 minutes later, dam funny! Also, take the hop on hop off tour, every other city its useless, but here its great, you get to see everything and we paid the extra 8 euros to make it available for 48 hours, not just 24!
Rome - a guaranteed Must! its huge, amazing, beautiful. The spanish steps are the only thing thats really outta the way, otherwise if you like walking. Take the bus/train to Colesium and then work your where back everything is in a line that you just walk and you can see everything in a day if your so ambitious. We stayed for 3 so we got to soak it all in! don't take the hop on hop off, it just a straight line! Circus Maximus was neat, we didn't realize we were standing on it until we walk past the sign! just an open field with a track! heh
Cinque Terre is awesome if you like to hike! Otherwise skip it!
Naples - best pizza in the country, so venture outta the station to grab a bite, but dont need to see anything else, have you been to Hamilton? its that dirty!
Alfmafi coast - imo is the most beautiful part of the country, crisp blue water, moutain side resorts, women in bikinis! crazy ass volcano! You take the Train from Naples, its one of those local commuter trains, so its a slow go, but on the way down to Sorrento (where i stayed) you can stop by Vesuvius, short walk from the station, and you'll spend a good couple hours there just looking at the history left in stone. Don't feed the dogs though! they will either a) follow you around, or B) beg you for more then eventually start getting aggressive, but if you don't feed them, they won't bother you.
If you have the time, take the train to Capri, we didn't and regretted ever since, note it doesn't go on Sundays!
Bari - Dads home town, nothing really there except the Boat to Greece!
Rimini - its about an hour south of Venice, get there by numerous trains, just don't miss the stop! Its the equivilant of the coast of Miami. Long long beaches, big hotels along the coast, boardwalk, nightlife etc! Easy place to land some young Italian women! AND its topless!
Venice - if you havn't been, GO, if you have been, only if you have time!
Lake Como - Where George Clooney has a place! It about an hour and half north of Milan on the Swiss-Italy border, its the largest fresh water lake in Italy, i think its the deepest in Europe, anyways, its amazing. if you look at a map of it, we stayed in Como, but there is a lake bus that will take you to all the cities on the hills all around the lake, some are lame, some having awesome beaches, so you have to ask around, We went to Bellagio for the scenery and my wifes shopping and went to Mennagio for the beach.
uhh that is all!