(Take any of this advice with a grain(s) of salt. What do we know?!)
Luggage:
We each pack one carry-on sized suitcase. For those who've backpacked, this seems too much; for those who are used to taking multiple bags, this seems too little for 10 days. For us, it's just right. You can wheel it around cobblestones, still lift it up the inevitable stairs at train stations and hotels, and, if you wear each pair of pants twice*, have otherwise fresh clothes to wear every day and room for a teeeeeny bit of shopping.
Wear comfortable walking shoes. Hopefully this does not involve your neon clunky American running shoes but you know what, #youdoyou. Being able to walk 5, 10, even 15 miles a day is exhausting and comfort should rule over fashion. (I brought Nike "lifestyle" shoes and Alexis wore converse).
Now, if you want to look more like an Italian (I will not say blend in like one because trust me, they know you're American) they seem to wear retro New Balances or really thin, sleek sneakers. The men all wear beautiful Italian leather shoes and skinny pants and would never be caught dead in a t-shirt. AND THEY ALL HAVE LONG HAIR. Not ponytail hair, but real Richard Gere-style locks. But I digress.
*wear pants two days in a row in order to achieve the full (and often necessary) benefit of that stretched out fabric.
Planned/Unplanned Activities:
We love a good walking tour. Sometimes we know in advance there's a tour we want to schedule and we've been lucky in several countries using viator.com. We also like to show up in a city and just hit-up the sites on our own time.
If you're going to be in a city a few days, it's usually good to pre-schedule one activity, and preferably in the beginning. That way you can get a feel for the city, talk to the tour guide or other travelers and figure out what else you might want to explore there. Between us, we've taken food walking tours in several cities (Istanbul, Bogota, Florence) and always enjoyed seeing cities this way. You usually get a local tour guide who's happy to answer all kinds of city-related questions.
I also like to google the city we're in. First two things that usually come up are: the Wikipedia page and Trip Advisor's "Top 10 Things to do in X". Both are extremely helpful. Also, I search the city's name as a hashtag on Instagram and you can see where all the cool kids are checking-in. Granted, you do get a lot of Kim Kardashian lookalikes selfie-ing in front of a Duomo, but still.
We visited none of the "major" museums in Italy. For some, this may seem crazy but for us, big museums are overwhelming, expensive, and crowded, all to catch a glimpse of the "David" statue. Plus, there's a really good replica just outside. We really enjoyed smaller museums, often attached to churches. Even those can be overwhelming because there's. just. so. much. important. stuff. Take in what you can and appreciate that everything is really really old and was/is really really important to a lot of people.
Dining:
Pick a square/piazza in the city you're in, walk 3-4 blocks in any direction and you'll usually find good cheap(er) food. Bonus if menu is handwritten. Bonus bonus if it's only in Italian.
We found the this most helpful in Rome where the city is massive. In smaller places, still try and stay a just a little away from the main tourist attraction.
We also spent some time searching Yelp for good places...but we also got lost trying to find many of those places.
All this being said, sometimes you're tired and hungry and someone's about to have a meltdown (no, I'm not writing a parenting blog) and you just want to find a place to sit the f down. That's ok too.
Wine is usually cheap. You can order a glass but it's more economical (and more fun) to order a half liter. If you don't want to mess with the wine list, you can just order red or white and they will bring you the table (house) wine. In our experience, it was always quite good.
"Apertivos" are a real thing here. People go out with their friends around happy hour time, order a drink, and linger over the many snacks that are brought to the table. Some snacks are small like nuts and chips but sometimes you get lucky and there are plates and plates of finger foods.
There is no tap water in restaurants. You will always be asked if you want flat ('naturale') or sparkling ('frizzante'). You will pay for it.
Get dessert. You won't regret it.
Tipping:
You do not tip in restaurants, or anywhere else for that matter. They don't expect it and you don't need to. Though, for restaraunts in tourist/high trafficked areas, you will pay a cover fee, sometimes called a bread fee. This is supposed to be posted but isn't always. It seems to range from €2-€5. This is annoying but you can't fight it (we tried, for you).
Lodging:
European hotels are going to be way smaller than American ones. Even the fancy nice ones. The showers will be tiny, the shower heads will be detached and will spray all over the place, and you'll probably want to bring your own toiletries (does no one in Italy use conditioner?) But if your trip is good, you're probably not spending much time in the hotel.
Some places we stayed had breakfast included, others did not. The breakfasts will usually be a buffet of meats and cheeses, cereals, yogurt, fruit in syrup, some sort of assorted pastries, and a one-touch espresso machine. It's an added benefit if it's included but we would never factor that into where we're staying. It's also really nice to find a cafe near your hotel and have croissants and coffees and people-watch.
Staying connected:
We've never sprung for an international calling plan. In the old days it was calling-cards to Mom but today, we use wifi wherever we can get it.
You can download the Skype app and for mere pennies, you can call anyone, anytime, in any country over wifi.
Very easy instructions: land in Italy. Go to iPhone settings. Turn off cellular. Turn on wifi. Search for networks that are unlocked. Connect.
All of our hotels had free wifi. Most restaraunts and cafes do, too. Those are usually password protected but as long as you're buying somethings they'll give it to you. (Ask them to write it down. My Italian alphabet wasn't up to speed and I couldn't understand when they would verbally spell it out.)
Transportation:
We lucked out and got a non-stop flight to Rome. As someone who hates to layover anywhere, I know this is not always possible.
Before you show up to a new city, google map how far it is from the train station to your hotel. Sometimes it's walking distance (lucky!) and sometimes you need to take a cab. People don't seem to hail taxis, at least in the cities we were in, but there will be taxi stands outside major transportation hubs and hotels will always call one for you. Pay in cash.
If you're taking a train, the departure board probably won't tell you which platform you're on until 5-10 minutes before departure. Get a feel for where the numbered platforms are so that when yours appears, you can hustle over there quickly.
If there's a funicular, always take it. It's probably going somewhere you want to go.
If you can climb to the top of something, do it.
If you can walk somewhere, do it.
Notes on Italian culture:
The bro culture is real strong here. Large groups of male friends, teenagers to older men, seem to go out to dinner together. I'm talking eight or ten men sitting at a long table drinking wine ordering multiple courses and having a rip-roaring time.
So many Italian women have curly hair. Big, wild, rockin' it curls. I haven't seen this much curly hair since I was in Israel. Or maybe since I looked at the selfie album on my iPhone. I don't know if the Italian style/feminist media focuses on this issue like ours do, but it was refreshing.
Most Italians speak some level of English. Chiusi was the only city we visited where we encountered non-English speakers, and that is a very small town. It's shockingly easy to get around and express what you want through limited shared words and a lot of hand gestures/improv. We found everyone to be SO NICE and very helpful.
Great tips!
ReplyDeleteThough I dont remember having issues getting tap water at restaurants when I was there.