I just wanted to say thanks to all for all the help & info I received on this helpline in planning my family trip to Italy. Your help was invaluable and our only problems were on the transportation end, and one was my own fault for UNINTENTIONALLY going against advice here. Here goes: Rome was awesome. We used Ron in Rome for our first full day and are forever grateful. We could never have seen so much in one day without him and he also helped us with train tickets & lots of great advice. The kids (both 10) thought "uncle Ron" was great referred to him throughout the trip:) We did the Vatican with Angel Tours & really enjoyed that as well. We had some transportation issues so called ahead & they waited for us. Jimmy was informative & entertaining which is exactly what I was looking for with the kids. If you are more interested in a more in-depth or educational tour, they may not be for you, but it was perfect for us. We stayed in the Piazza Navona area and loved it -- almost everything was within 15/20 min walking dist & it was very lively at night.
Posted by
Smithtown, NY, USA
106 posts
So glad to hear that you enjoyed your time with Ron in Rome. My husband and I are traveling to Italy for 12 days in late September and just booked an afternoon with Ron on the day we arrive in Rome from Florence. He will be taking us through Ancient Rome and then any other sights we have time for that are of interest. Any recommendations? We will be spending approximately 5 hours with him that afternoon.
Thanks and welcome back!
Terry
Posted by
Taylor, TX, USA
416 posts
What were the transportation problems? Might be good information for others going later.
Posted by
OP
Massachusetts, USA
376 posts
Terry, Our favorites were the Roman Forum & Coloseum. But there is just so much to see & do. We were only there 2 full days which was not nearly enough & did not get to everything we wanted. I would recommend making a list of what is most important to you and working with Ron via e-mail so he can set up an itinerary that will make most of your time.
Posted by
OP
Massachusetts, USA
376 posts
Nancy, Most of our transportation "problems" were more just more of an inconvenience than anything. In Rome we took a taxi out to San Sebasto (sp?) catacombs, about 15/20 min outside the city. We had a 1:30 Vatican tour scheduled. We finished at the catacombs at 11:30 so had 2 hours to get to the Vatican - s/b easy. Planned on the bus as you can't really get a taxi going back. The bus did not come for over an hour. When it finally did, it drove for a little while then the driver pulled over to take his break for 10 - 15 min before continuing on. When we got to the last stop, we got off & had about 10 mins to get to the Vatican. Ended up grabbing another cab and arriving about 5 min late, but they waited for us?.
2. The GPS couldn’t find our Agriturismo in Castellina, it kept sending us down a dirt road that dead ended. Although the hotel was down a dirt road, it was still about 3 miles away. After asking 3 people for directions, finally found someone to direct us.
3. Although I updated the GPS maps before I left, I may have done something wrong (new to the GPS world). On our way to Venice there is a new highway just before you get there that the GPS did not have so of course the GPS was all confused and so were we. We were only about 15 min out of our way when we finally got off the highway. And Finally .....
Posted by
OP
Massachusetts, USA
376 posts
4. The biggest issue. On our day trip to Florence, about a 40 min drive from our hotel, we had planned to take the train from Poggibonsi, about 25 min away. Got to Poggibonsi OK, couldn’t find the train station. Found the train station, couldn’t find parking, found parking, went into rinky-dink station – no ticket agent only 2 ticket machines. Ok, but they do not take credit cards and they only take 5, 10 & 20Euro bills I only have 50E bills as that is what the ATMs keep giving me. As it is now 1 ½ hours since we left our hotel, decide to cancel and try again “maybe”. Daughter starts to cry – wants to see “the David and Florence”. Husband caves and decides to attempt to drive into Florence, yes I know – bad idea, but very sad 10 year old. No problem finding Florence, big problem finding parking recommended by hotel. Finally find parking, it is now 3 hours since staring out, no one is very happy. Now we are just waiting to see how many ZTL tickets we get?. Good news is, both the David & the prisoners were amazing & so was the cathedral. Didn’t see the rest of the sites we planned. I repeat – do not do Florence as a day trip from Tuscany – stay at least one night & go there by train.
Posted by
Calgary
2297 posts
Hi Joann,
I hear you about the bus ride back from the catacombs. We were there on a Sunday so the schedule was very scetchy. This is us also waiting an hour to get back:
Florence as a day trip only works if you REALLY get moving first thing in the morning. I had bought the bus tickets the day before and checked the schedule so we were prepared. But in the end it didn't quite work for us either as one person in our party had enjoyed the Tuscan wine a bit too much the night before and was a bit slow in the morning .... So we got there closer to noon.
Siena worked well as a day trip for us. Some shoe shopping, some lemondade sipping on the piazza, kids loved the torture museum ;-)
Posted by
OP
Massachusetts, USA
376 posts
Maybe if I had known about the torture chambers. I had not really planned what we would do there as I thought I would just look in the guidebook the night before. Unfortunately, we lost our RS guide book before we got that far, probably in CT, but realized it too late. As far as Florence, I "thought" we were making an early start, apparently not early enough when it takes 4Xs as long to get there than planned:( There is always next time though!