Italy is one of Europe’s most attractive and complex countries, crammed with thousands of years of turbulent history encompassing among other evocative names: Hannibal, Julius Caesar, the Roman Empire, Nero, gladiators, Anthony and Cleopatra, Charlemagne, St Peter, the Vatican, Popes, the Borgias, the House of Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, Mussolini and the Mafia. No other country can get even close to that many historically important figures or self-indulgent nouns.
The country embraces some of the world’s most fascinating ancient cities, with Rome, Venice and Florence topping a global list of ’see before you die’ candidates, as well as an unbeatable collection of art treasures led by Rome and Vatican museums.
Throw into the tourist pot cute hilltop villages, rolling golden vistas, good wine, opera, predictable sunshine, a serious attitude towards food with always edible, good value cuisine and you have one of the world’s most attractive destinations.
Roma
Upsides:
- summer sunshine is pretty well guaranteed and the Mediterranean is warm and inviting.
- the food and wines are superb and good value compared to most of Europe.
- anybody with a camera cannot fail to go home with stunning pictures of Italy.
- the law is generally considered to be an ass in Italy and Italians frequently disregard it, so anti-establishmentarians [always wanted to use that word] will enjoy life here.
- train and bus services are frequent and cheap, though frequently late too.
- the sights, large and small are unbelievable.
- there’s so little rain in summer that mosquitoes don’t breed.
- roads have posted limits but no apparent police control on them.
- Italians seeing a powerful car in the rearview mirror will let it pass as soon as practical.
- town centres are very walkable even if you do have to lurch deliberately in front of moving vehicles in order to cross a road at a pedestrian crossing. They won’t stop if you just stand there hoping.
- English has many similar roots to Italian via Latin so some bits of the language are kind of understandable.
Vatican City, Rome
Where to go:
The lakes and good value ski slopes of far north Italy, the Italian Riviera coast for summer beaches though they’re many are small and stony, visiting a couple of little hill towns – but most tourists would want to spend at least a few days in the magnificent cities of Rome, Florence, Venice, Genoa, and perhaps Pisa or Bologna before worrying about the smaller places like Verona and Lucca.
In the south of Italy – which starts below Rome – the coast of Amalfi is stunning, as are the two ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. From there things get very unsophisticated and tourism drops off dramatically, but the scenery of the Gargano peninsula is lovely while distant Sicily offers a Afro-rustic version of traditional Italy along with a couple of excellent beaches and ancient Greek sites. And then there’s Sardinia island, offering Italy’s best beaches and a delightful capital, Cágliari.
Venice, Venezia, Veneto
Downsides:
- Italian cuisine is excellent – pasta, pizza and risotto. Then more pasta, pizza and risotto, hmm. Then more of the same – if you are in a tourist area and on a budget or elsewhere and don’t read Italian [No, knowledge of French or Spanish is surprisingly not going to help with menus]. Nor is international cuisine readily available. Chinese? Mama mia!
However, if you can unleash a fat wallet or have studied up on Italian food words then the cuisine can be superb.
- directional signs for pedestrians have the same lack of continuity [or just lack] that road signs have. GPS, map-reading skills, patience, imagination and/or a grasp of Italian language will be essential to successful navigation in Italy.
- roads between magnificent towns are often sadly drab, garbage-strewn and bordered with concrete excrescences.
- while some Italians are cheerful, welcoming and speak English not a lot of those types work in the service sector so don’t expect to see a smile or hear ‘Have a nice day’ from your waiter or ticket collector. Never mind, you don’t have to tip them!
- mainland Italian beaches are frequently small, stony and packed or large, sandy and pay-your-way.
Genoa, Genova, Liguria
Best time to go to Italy:
The shoulder months April-June and Sept-Oct generally have the best weather and fewer tourists or cars on the road. The latter months are also good for swimming.
Winters will be decidedly chilly in north Italy but bearable in Florence, Rome and further south.
July and August are the worst months for tourism due to excessive heat, crowds and busy roads, though the sea will probably be delightfully refreshing.
Throw into the tourist pot cute hilltop villages, rolling golden vistas, good wine, opera, predictable sunshine, a serious attitude towards food with always edible, good value cuisine and you have one of the world’s most attractive destinations.
Roma
Upsides:
- summer sunshine is pretty well guaranteed and the Mediterranean is warm and inviting.
- the food and wines are superb and good value compared to most of Europe.
- anybody with a camera cannot fail to go home with stunning pictures of Italy.
- the law is generally considered to be an ass in Italy and Italians frequently disregard it, so anti-establishmentarians [always wanted to use that word] will enjoy life here.
- train and bus services are frequent and cheap, though frequently late too.
- the sights, large and small are unbelievable.
- there’s so little rain in summer that mosquitoes don’t breed.
- roads have posted limits but no apparent police control on them.
- Italians seeing a powerful car in the rearview mirror will let it pass as soon as practical.
- town centres are very walkable even if you do have to lurch deliberately in front of moving vehicles in order to cross a road at a pedestrian crossing. They won’t stop if you just stand there hoping.
- English has many similar roots to Italian via Latin so some bits of the language are kind of understandable.
Vatican City, Rome
Where to go:
The lakes and good value ski slopes of far north Italy, the Italian Riviera coast for summer beaches though they’re many are small and stony, visiting a couple of little hill towns – but most tourists would want to spend at least a few days in the magnificent cities of Rome, Florence, Venice, Genoa, and perhaps Pisa or Bologna before worrying about the smaller places like Verona and Lucca.
In the south of Italy – which starts below Rome – the coast of Amalfi is stunning, as are the two ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. From there things get very unsophisticated and tourism drops off dramatically, but the scenery of the Gargano peninsula is lovely while distant Sicily offers a Afro-rustic version of traditional Italy along with a couple of excellent beaches and ancient Greek sites. And then there’s Sardinia island, offering Italy’s best beaches and a delightful capital, Cágliari.
Venice, Venezia, Veneto
Downsides:
- Italian cuisine is excellent – pasta, pizza and risotto. Then more pasta, pizza and risotto, hmm. Then more of the same – if you are in a tourist area and on a budget or elsewhere and don’t read Italian [No, knowledge of French or Spanish is surprisingly not going to help with menus]. Nor is international cuisine readily available. Chinese? Mama mia!
However, if you can unleash a fat wallet or have studied up on Italian food words then the cuisine can be superb.
- directional signs for pedestrians have the same lack of continuity [or just lack] that road signs have. GPS, map-reading skills, patience, imagination and/or a grasp of Italian language will be essential to successful navigation in Italy.
- roads between magnificent towns are often sadly drab, garbage-strewn and bordered with concrete excrescences.
- while some Italians are cheerful, welcoming and speak English not a lot of those types work in the service sector so don’t expect to see a smile or hear ‘Have a nice day’ from your waiter or ticket collector. Never mind, you don’t have to tip them!
- mainland Italian beaches are frequently small, stony and packed or large, sandy and pay-your-way.
Genoa, Genova, Liguria
Best time to go to Italy:
The shoulder months April-June and Sept-Oct generally have the best weather and fewer tourists or cars on the road. The latter months are also good for swimming.
Winters will be decidedly chilly in north Italy but bearable in Florence, Rome and further south.
July and August are the worst months for tourism due to excessive heat, crowds and busy roads, though the sea will probably be delightfully refreshing.
September 12 undefined
The Netherlands vs Holland:
The correct term for this country is the Netherlands [Nederland in the Dutch language means low lands], or more formally ‘The Kingdom of the Netherlands’ [which includes Aruba and the Dutch Antilles].
The reason for the Netherlands/Holland confusion is that the two most important of the country’s twelve provinces – historically the most powerful and still hosting the most important Dutch cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam – are called North and South Holland; those were the places that made the country great and those were the places everyone talked about.
Even the Dutch people [aka Nederlanders] call their country Holland from time to time, including at international soccer games.
The origin of the Dutch name/language is a combination of German deutsch and Dutch dietsch meaning language of the common people – as opposed to the Latin language that the posh folk spoke in medieval times.
The Netherlands:
Flat packed is one way to describe this low lying snooker table of a country at the centre-west of Europe, with the North Sea on one side, Belgium and Germany on the others.
Half of the Netherlands lies below sea level and is saved from inundation and infertility only by dykes [huge, sloping grassy walls]. Survival of so many large people in such a small, endangered location is thanks to the creativity, stamina, organisation and efficiency of the Dutch people.
Visitors to Holland tend to enjoy the stimulating urban life rather than trying to find wild things on Netherlands nature walks, though the 300 km [200 mile] long coast offers several scenic trails through sand dunes and nature reserves. However, biking from town to town through damp and sunken fields is as close to a Dutch wilderness as most tourists experience.
A traditional grassy sea wall, also known as a dyke, protecting low-lying Dutch land.
Travel Safety:
Theft is not common in Holland and generally confined to bike ‘borrowing’, bag snatching or pickpocketing perpetrated by non-Dutch nationals. Be especially careful with bags on commonly travelled tourist trains such as those to and from Schipol Airport.
Another Netherlands scam involves two or three men of probable east European extraction pretending to be ‘undercover’ police, showing fake IDs and searching tourists in remote locations. In the process valuables magically disappear. The best response to this harassment is either refuse point blank to be searched or if the men are are pushy demand to be taken to the police station for the search.
Real police are concerned, reliable and mostly speak good English.
Biking or inline skating:
Holland is one of the most cycle friendly countries on the planet as the land is almost flat, about 85 % of Dutch people travel regularly by bikes and most of the time bikes have priority over other vehicles.
There are said to be more bikes than inhabitants [16 million] in the Netherlands. It has about 17,000 km [including 20 long distance routes totalling 6,000km] of well-marked cycling paths/lanes and every local VVV will provide appropriate information.
Commercial cycling packages/tours are frequently on offer, too. Detailed cycle maps are available at book stores. Netherlands Railways are cycle friendly as bikes can be carried on trains or rented/ parked/ repaired or even bought at more than 100 stations throughout the country. Check out bike-rental vouchers at the station.
Try the windmill trail, the flower bulb trail, North Sea and Wadden Sea, long coastal routes or riding white bikes in Hoge Veluwe National Park.
Destination information:
Some of the Nederland’s biggest tourist attractions are Amsterdam, Leiden, Haarlem, Delft, The Hague, Rotterdam and Maastricht.
When to go to the Netherlands:
Best: May-September.
n.b. weather conditions can change rapidly and dramatically in the Netherlands so always carry warm/cool and wet gear with you on your Dutch trip.
Worst: Winters are cool, December-February, but when winds start to whistle across the flatlands, the chill factor freezes your blood and bicycles are not on the menu du jour – a warm, dry taxi will do nicely. However, if you’re visiting for purely urban life and wrap up well then winter can be interesting and is naturally less touristy.
Spring and Autumn involve a lot of rain so grey skies sometimes seem to be Holland’s default setting.
Flat packed is one way to describe this low lying snooker table of a country at the centre-west of Europe, with the North Sea on one side, Belgium and Germany on the others.
Half of the Netherlands lies below sea level and is saved from inundation and infertility only by dykes [huge, sloping grassy walls]. Survival of so many large people in such a small, endangered location is thanks to the creativity, stamina, organisation and efficiency of the Dutch people.
Visitors to Holland tend to enjoy the stimulating urban life rather than trying to find wild things on Netherlands nature walks, though the 300 km [200 mile] long coast offers several scenic trails through sand dunes and nature reserves. However, biking from town to town through damp and sunken fields is as close to a Dutch wilderness as most tourists experience.
A traditional grassy sea wall, also known as a dyke, protecting low-lying Dutch land.
Travel Safety:
Theft is not common in Holland and generally confined to bike ‘borrowing’, bag snatching or pickpocketing perpetrated by non-Dutch nationals. Be especially careful with bags on commonly travelled tourist trains such as those to and from Schipol Airport.
Another Netherlands scam involves two or three men of probable east European extraction pretending to be ‘undercover’ police, showing fake IDs and searching tourists in remote locations. In the process valuables magically disappear. The best response to this harassment is either refuse point blank to be searched or if the men are are pushy demand to be taken to the police station for the search.
Real police are concerned, reliable and mostly speak good English.
Biking or inline skating:
Holland is one of the most cycle friendly countries on the planet as the land is almost flat, about 85 % of Dutch people travel regularly by bikes and most of the time bikes have priority over other vehicles.
There are said to be more bikes than inhabitants [16 million] in the Netherlands. It has about 17,000 km [including 20 long distance routes totalling 6,000km] of well-marked cycling paths/lanes and every local VVV will provide appropriate information.
Commercial cycling packages/tours are frequently on offer, too. Detailed cycle maps are available at book stores. Netherlands Railways are cycle friendly as bikes can be carried on trains or rented/ parked/ repaired or even bought at more than 100 stations throughout the country. Check out bike-rental vouchers at the station.
Try the windmill trail, the flower bulb trail, North Sea and Wadden Sea, long coastal routes or riding white bikes in Hoge Veluwe National Park.
Destination information:
Some of the Nederland’s biggest tourist attractions are Amsterdam, Leiden, Haarlem, Delft, The Hague, Rotterdam and Maastricht.
When to go to the Netherlands:
Best: May-September.
n.b. weather conditions can change rapidly and dramatically in the Netherlands so always carry warm/cool and wet gear with you on your Dutch trip.
Worst: Winters are cool, December-February, but when winds start to whistle across the flatlands, the chill factor freezes your blood and bicycles are not on the menu du jour – a warm, dry taxi will do nicely. However, if you’re visiting for purely urban life and wrap up well then winter can be interesting and is naturally less touristy.
Spring and Autumn involve a lot of rain so grey skies sometimes seem to be Holland’s default setting.
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