Travel with Julie

Positano To Amalfi By Sea

The idea of leaving the car parked and taking a form of public transportation rarely crosses my mind when visiting the Amalfi Coast. The drive from town to town, while hair-raising and often treacherous, is one of the most beautiful drives in the world.  Besides, hubs gets such a kick out of driving like the locals, zooming around winding roads while two wheels hug the cliff's edge.  I wouldn't dare take that joy away from the man!

Then, it occurred to me on my last visit, that we might see the coastline in a completely different perspective if traveling by sea.  So, I hunted down the ferry schedule and off we went.  Pulling away from Positano was thrilling.  We spotted familiar sites and found some new ones.  It was amazing to see the whole town suspended off the side of the mountain instead of the small doses you get of it from land.

Gliding along, I recognized a favorite hotel, The Grand Hotel Tritone.  Hubs and I were lucky enough to stay here on our first visit to the Amalfi Coast years ago. Our room's balcony literally hung off the side of the cliff. Seeing the hotel's geographic location from the sea, I can see why--the entire hotel drapes down the cliff. From the road, all you see of the hotel is a small, meager elevator shaft that takes you down to the hotel lobby.

Glimpses of the road intricately constructed into the side of the mountain was a reminder of what I wasn't missing by not driving!

This was a complete surprise!  The Il Saraceno Hotel in Amalfi is converted from an ancient castle.  You don't see the castle from the road--only part of the modern building. What a great find!

The site of Amalfi approached by sea is so much more specatular than it is by car!  And, there's no worry to find parking.

Taking the ferry along the coast is so worth doing.  Not only do you discover the shoreline from a different angle, there is something special about allowing the Mediterranean sea breezes brush through your hair.

It's so easy to do, you'd be silly not to.  Ferry schedules vary depending on the season, so ask your hotel for a current schedule.  Then, walk down to the beach--the dock is on the right (stand facing the sea). Tickets are about €6 and the ride is around 20 minutes.  Note: there are two boats that depart from Positano.  One takes you along the Amalfi Coast, the other to Capri.

 

Planning a trip to Italy?  Click here to find out how I can help make your experience a unique postcard in your travel scrapbook!

3 Day-Trips From Florence In Luxury Or On A Budget

After visiting the famous museums, basilicas, and outdoor markets in Florence, it might be time for a change of pace.  Consider one of these day-trips either in luxury or on a budget:

Cinque Terre is five villages along the Italian Riviera coastline with pastel houses dangling from the cliffs. These scenic villages, founded by locals in the Dark Ages hiding out from marauding pirates, are linked by a train, a ferry and a hiking trail.

The Luxury Way:  Take a small group tour.  A guide will walk you through the Lovers Lane trail, take you on a boat trip along the coast, share some of the most scenic spots and help you explore the 5 villages in a memorable way.

The Budget Way:  Take the train from Florence to La Spezia, where you change to a regional train that makes all the local stops in the Cinque Terre.

Siena, the age-old rival of Florence, takes you back to the Middle Ages with its Gothic Duomo and Piazza del Campo where the Palio horse race is held each summer.

The Luxury Way:  Hire a guide.  A guide will conveniently pick you up at your hotel and drive you to Siena. Most guides include a short stop in the medieval village San Gimignano, too.  The drive takes you through the ever changing scenery of the countryside with vineyards and olive trees.

The Budget Way:  Take the train to Siena.  Plan ahead and check the train schedules.  Trains run at varying times and frequencies depending on the day.

A day in Chianti offers a unique landscape with green rolling hills, fields of vineyards and olive trees, medieval villages, stone farmhouses and country villas.

The Luxury Way: Hire a private driver.  Leaving from your hotel, your driver will take you to the heartland of Classico Chianti.  Along the way, you will stop in small villages to walk through ancient piazzas, wineries for tastings of the latest vintages, and nosh on rustic Tuscan fare.

The Budget Way:  Rent a car.  Map out your destination ahead of time, rent a GPS and set out early.  It's OK if you get lost (and you will!); take it in stride and take in the magnificent scenery!

 

Planning a trip to Italy?  Click here to find out how I can help make your experience a unique postcard in your travel scrapbook!

Why Hire a Licensed Tour Guide In Italy

Photo courtesy of MailOnline

When it comes to hiring a tour guide in Italy, not all guides are created equal.

Hiring a local guide can enrich your vacation experience.  In a short amount of time, they can present a millenium's worth of history and anecdotes in a fascinating and fun way.  Most guides are open to creating tours to fit your interests, and they love to answer your questions!  Tour guides make their cities come alive!

In Italy, where tourism is one of its leading industries, tour guides are held to a high standard to ensure you, the consumer, is protected and receives the highest level of service.  The Italian legislation, both at the national and local levels, defines the tourism professions and requires that everyone in the field possess a license.  But before the license can be obtained, an applicant must provide proof of:

1. Residency, or possession of the 'Permesso di Soggiorno' (Residence Permission) -- the Italian equivalent of the Green Card.
2. A degree in Art History or Archaelogy.

Once these requirements are satisfied, the applicant must then pass an intensive exam issued by the province where the applicant wishes to work. Because each province has its own licensing, an applicant wishing to work in Rome and Pompeii, for example, would be required to pass the Provincia di Roma exam and the Provincia di Campania exam.  This is also why you see the term 'escort' used a lot.  For instance, while a Rome-only licensed guide may not tour a group in Pompeii, he can 'escort' the group from Rome to Pompeii where the group can then hire a Pompeii-licensed guide.

Applicants who pass the exam must then meet tax regulations in order to be an in-good-standing licensed guide.

You can easily spot a licensed guide by the credentials they wear around their neck or carry on their person. Searching the internet for a licensed guide may seem a little trickier, but in fact, a licensed guide will always advertise their credentials.  They've worked hard for them and are proud of their achievement!

Walking around famous sites such as the Colosseum in Rome or St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, guides can be seen walking around and promoting tours. Most likely, these guides are considered the 'abusivo' guides, the illegal guides. You may hire one of these guides for less, and you may even find them seemingly knowledgeable.  Yet, stick around long enough and watch how fast they scram if police are seen in the area! Licensed guides are found through reputable tourism agencies and websites.

Italy's historical cities and sites deserve the best, and so do you!  Hire a licensed tour guide.

 

Planning a trip to Italy?  Click here to find out how I can help make your experience a unique postcard in your travel scrapbook!

The Cursing GPS

Renting a GPS when I toured small groups through Italy was a must. It allowed me to direct my attention to my guests while hubs did the driving.  During my last tour, our GPS worked swimmingly except we couldn't get the language switched to English. Her soft sultry voice directed us in beautiful Italian to turn a sinistra (left), a destra (right), uscita (exit) throughout the tour.

I liked the Italian version.  We seemed smart pretending to know everything Ms. GPS blurted out through the speaker box. And, our guests never knew when we made wrong turns! (Yes, that will still happen with a GPS and hubs behind the wheel!) 

For a week, Ms. GPS commanded, "Oo-shee-tah a deh-strah, oo-shee-tah a seen-ee-strah, oo-shee-tah, oo-shee-tah, oo-shee-tah!"

Near the end of the tour, a guest in the back seat asked, "Why does she curse and yell oh sh**, oh sh** all the time?"  

All week, our guests were thinking Ms. GPS had a potty mouth!!

Things to know about renting a GPS in Europe:

• Have the rental car agent set your GPS to English before you leave. Rarely do instruction manuals come with a rented GPS, and those that do are rarely in English.
• Have the rental car agent demonstrate how the GPS works.  Some rental systems are a little archaic and not as user-friendly as the newer systems.
• Do not rely solely on your GPS for directions.  Take maps and written directions with you.  This is especially true when heading to small rural towns.  Your GPS most likely will not recognize small streets in small towns.  It will direct you to the town, but once there, you will be left to manual methods to find your destination.
• Move the GPS out of sight once you've arrived.  The same is true for any personal belongings and valuables in the car.  Thieves are always on the watch for cars filled with goodies.

Renting A Villa In Italy

It's a romantic idea, isn't it? Living like Frances Mayes (Under The Tuscan Sun) in a dreamy villa with sweeping views of vineyards and olive trees while noshing on Tuscan feasts and imbibing on red wine is an incredibly romantic picture.

Nevertheless, that romantic bubble can be quickly burst without careful evalution of the villa and the services its owner provides.  A few important things to know are:

1. Is their a local name of the villa?  Imagine driving into the countryside after a long flight and you have difficulty finding the villa.  You stop to ask a local for directions, but they only shrug their shoulders because they don't recognize the name of the villa.  Many villas have been given 'new' names by their current owners, while long-time locals know it only by its original name.  Ask the owner you are renting from for previous names the villa is know by.
2. Are there clear and precise directions?  Obtaining an address is great, but GPS systems rarely identify specific addresses in rural Italy.  It is better to have specific directions of getting to your destination.
3. How do you get the keys upon arrival?  Most villas are rented by management companies. Again, imagine pulling up to your vacation rental after an exhausting flight and a long drive in a foreign land only to find a note on the door that you need to pick up the keys in the nearby village. Finding out this information in advance will save you time and frustration.
4. What is included in the price?  Can you imagine your surprise when you check out and find the use of electricity was not included in your rental price?  Oops!  It's not that uncommon. Electricity is very expensive in Italy.  And even though more and more rentals are including it in the rental price, some do not.  It's always a good idea to find out upfront or risk being hit with a high electric bill at the end of a great vacation.
5. Will electricity be turned on upon arrival?  I speak from personal experience on this one (and this is why hubs now travels with a flashlight)!  As I mentioned in #4, electricity is expensive in Italy, so the electricity is typically turned off when a property is vacant.  When we arrived at our rental property (in the dark), we found hand-written instructions on how to turn the electricity on. Even though it was written in English, it may as well have been written in Italian because it was all Greek to us!  We called the management company and had to wait an hour with only the light from our car's headlights before someone arrived to help us out.
6. Is the property staffed?  Some rentals are completely independent and others have a manager nearby on the property.  It is greatly convenient to have someone nearby should something in the rental break or not work properly.  If the property is independent, make sure instructions will be left behind for operating appliances and phone numbers to call when there are problems.
7. What exactly does child-friendly mean?  Child-friendly to an Italian villa owner means they allow children to stay in their property.  Child-friendly to you may mean there is an electric cover on the pool, cabinets and toilets sport child locks and stairways are blocked with child gates.  If this is important to you and the safety of your children, ask.
8. What personal amenities are provided?  A friend of mine rented a beautiful villa in Tuscany. After 15 hours of flying and 3 hours of driving, they arrived late in the evening tired and in dire need of a restroom.  They bee-lined to the villa's restroom only to find no toilet paper.  They quickly jumped back into the car and sped to the nearest village.  Everything was closed.  And sadly for them, everything was closed the next day for a national holiday.  Their story is now recited with humor, but they didn't find it so funny at the time.  Only in high-end luxury villas will you possibly find the kinds of amenities you will find in a hotel:  toilet paper, bath soap, shampoo. For obvious reasons, you will want to find out before you leave home.
9. Is a workable washer/dryer provided?  Washing and drying clothes in Italy is another story! Water is a commodity in the countryside, so using a washing machine is discouraged. Dryers are rare, and finding one that actually dries is even rarer.  Drying clothes on a line outside is prefered--not a problem unless it rains. If your packing will be determined on whether you will be able to do laundry or not, find out the washer/dryer situation beforehand.  Oh yea, and pack your own detergent!
10. Is cleaning service provided? In most rentals, only a final cleaning is provided in your rental cost.  There are a few that offer a mid-week linen change, and even fewer that offer a daily cleaning.  If you don't mind spending your vacation picking up after yourself and your family, then it's not a problem.  Otherwise, ask if there is a cleaning person you can hire during your stay.
11. Is a cook provided?  OK, there are several things to think about here.  If you plan to cook meals for you and your family, you will want to make sure a market is nearby.  You will make several trips to the market during your stay because refrigerators are very small and hold very little.  Also, be prepared to do your own clean-up (unless you've hired a cleaning person as suggested in #10).  While some properties offer the services of a professional chef, you may also ask about the availability of a local cook--someone's nonna (grandmother), perhaps.
12. Who do I call in the event of an emergency?  At home, you have your doctor, the fire department, the police department and other important contacts programmed into your phone or written down in a phone book.  It is just as important--or maybe more so--to do the same in your vacation home.
13. How is payment made? Here's another horror story from a newbie renter:  A couple picked up their keys to their rental property and were asked for the full week's rental in cash.  A whopping €8,500.  They were directed to the nearest ATM (the only one in town) to find they could only withdraw €250 per day.  Fortunately for them, the owner allowed them into the property with the agreement they would go directly to the bank the next morning for the cash.  If it is not clearly stated on the property's website, ask how payment is to be made when you confirm your rental.
14. Bring all copies of correspondence with you.  It's a vacation and you'd like to think you can trust everyone, but that's not the world we live in.  Make copies of all of your correspondence with the owner or management company and pack it with your other travel documents.  That way, you have a leg to stand on should an issue arise that strays from your original agreement.

Are you planning a trip to Italy?  Click here to see how I can help make your vacation a trip to remember!