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Ok, I have sold my house, bought a new one and are ready for our trip to Italy.
The trip is as follows

Ventimiglia 1 night
Alba 2 nights
Turin 1 night
Milan 3 nights
Venice 4 nights
Modena 1 night
Genoa 1 night
Cinque terra 2 nights
Mentone 1 night
Monte Carlo 2 nights

then cruise

Rome 1 day
Florence 1 day
Naples 1 day
Marseille 1 day
Majorca 1 day

then

Barcelona 2 nights
Tokyo 2 nights


Looking for any and all suggestions at places and transit between as we are driving in Italy, obviously not for the cruise.

We get to Ventimiglia on Thursday evening.

Buy the maximum collision damage waiver ......

bimboman wrote:Buy the maximum collision damage waiver ......

Are you one of my friends on FB?

3 nights in Milan and 1 in Rome

For Tokyo do the skytree

Diego wrote:3 nights in Milan and 1 in Rome

Yep, I'd personally not bother with Turin or Modena either, and do Bologna on the way through from Venice.

4 nights in Venice and only one in Florence? If you can change that slightly I would recommend it. Venice is beautiful and unusual and all that, but I can't imagine spending 4 nights there. Florence is quite possibly the most beautiful city in the world and if you can extend it to two nights you wont regret it.

And go see David - not the bird shitty replica outside, but the real fella. Whatever else you do - don't skip that.

Watch yourself and especially your belongings in Barcelona, especially at night and on or near Las Ramblas or Place de la Catalunya. Its a great city but it is full of pickpockets. The metro is excellent and taxis are cheap so transport will be no issue. The most popular touristic spots are the Sagrada Familia, Mt Tibidabo and Park Guell. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya is savage especially the modern art section.

The single best thing to do though is take the metro to Guinardo and walk up on foot to the Bunkers de Carmel. Try get there just before sunset or sunrise and bring a small picnic or a few beers. Its an incredible view of the city

Also the best restaurants imo are Gorria on carrer de la diputacio (you will need to book a reservation on their website) or Segons Mercat down by the port / Barceloneta area

Oh and I forgot to mention the bars, a fellow Corkonian Shane runs a bar called the Fastnet in Barceloneta, good spot. Another Irish lad Niall runs Michael Collins up at the Sagrada Familia. Robbie Dunne also has a couple of bars, Dunnes down by the port and the James Joyce by Arc le Triomphe. If your not sick of Irish bars at this point there is McCarthys bar in via Laietana. Don't bother with Shennaigans, Flahertys, Wild Rover or the George Payne

Edit forgot to mention the Garage brew pub if you are into microbrewery stuff

Brumbie_Steve wrote:Ok, I have sold my house, bought a new one and are ready for our trip to Italy.
The trip is as follows

Ventimiglia 1 night
Alba 2 nights
Turin 1 night
Milan 3 nights
Venice 4 nights
Modena 1 night
Genoa 1 night
Cinque terra 2 nights
Mentone 1 night
Monte Carlo 2 nights

then cruise

Rome 1 day
Florence 1 day
Naples 1 day
Marseille 1 day
Majorca 1 day

then

Barcelona 2 nights
Tokyo 2 nights


Looking for any and all suggestions at places and transit between as we are driving in Italy, obviously not for the cruise.

We get to Ventimiglia on Thursday evening.

Too many nights in Venice and non in Florence? Florence is probably one of the nicest cities in Europe and you will be missing it. I'd skip turin and go straight to Florence.

In Modena go to the Ferrari Museum.

Personally...

Venice > Florence

But if you go to Florence you’ll definitely need a few days for all the cultural stuff... you can’t just spend one night there... same with Rome.

But whenever I travel I generally won’t spend less than 3-4 nights in any major city (although I could only do a night each in Modena and Bologna).

I also preferred Modena to Bologna, but I also had the pleasure to dine at Osteria Francescana.

Just to jump in on the Barcelona recemendations - Hire a bike. They are pretty cheap & it's a lovely city to bike around in (there are a decent amount of cycle lanes) - we tootled around all day & cycled up from the beach past the Sagrada Família & onto Park Guell

In terms of resteraunts: I'd recomend Belmonte (by the old Post Office), El Xampanyet cava bar & the mercat de la boqueria on La Ramblas - but there are a lot of nice resteraunts - just avoid the tourist traps along le Ramblas & by the beach

There is also a lot of cool bars - just wander around the Gothic quarter & La Ribera districts and drink where you fancy

Which cruise company/ship are you on?

edit: in Barcelona, if you are on an overnight, check out the Flamenco show at the Palau Dalmases, Montcada 20 08003. It is an amazing show (as you might expect) in a wonderful, intimate location. Breakfast/brunch at Milk (Carrer d'en Gignàs, 21, 08002 ) - I can recommend almost everything on the menu, it is great. It's pretty small tho, so you may have to wait for a table but it's worth it.

Don't try and drive over the bridge in Genoa.

bimboman wrote:Buy the maximum collision damage waiver ......

That's a moronic bit of advice, even if meant in jest.

Buy car rental excess insurance from a third party. Mine is 50/year.

Thanks for the advice. Rome and Florence are one day cruise stops, not overnighters (I have been to both before).

The cruise section looks rushed but there you go you know this anyway.
Looks a great adventure you will have a marvellous time

Double post

PornDog wrote:4 nights in Venice and only one in Florence? If you can change that slightly I would recommend it. Venice is beautiful and unusual and all that, but I can't imagine spending 4 nights there. Florence is quite possibly the most beautiful city in the world and if you can extend it to two nights you wont regret it.

And go see David - not the bird shitty replica outside, but the real fella. Whatever else you do - don't skip that.

I'd go with this suggestion. Florence is absolutely stunning, and is well worth an extra day or two. And tbh, spending 4 days with the citizens of Venice is my idea of hell, Its a beautiful place, and well worth a visit, but the inhabitants are as nasty a bunch of avaricious cnuts you're likely to meet anywhere.

Zakar wrote:

bimboman wrote:Buy the maximum collision damage waiver ......

That's a moronic bit of advice, even if meant in jest.

Not the car:

Short Man Syndrome wrote:Which cruise company/ship are you on?

edit: in Barcelona, if you are on an overnight, check out the Flamenco show at the Palau Dalmases, Montcada 20 08003. It is an amazing show (as you might expect) in a wonderful, intimate location. Breakfast/brunch at Milk (Carrer d'en Gignàs, 21, 08002 ) - I can recommend almost everything on the menu, it is great. It's pretty small tho, so you may have to wait for a table but it's worth it.

We are on Regent seven seas.

Lenny wrote:

PornDog wrote:4 nights in Venice and only one in Florence? If you can change that slightly I would recommend it. Venice is beautiful and unusual and all that, but I can't imagine spending 4 nights there. Florence is quite possibly the most beautiful city in the world and if you can extend it to two nights you wont regret it.

And go see David - not the bird shitty replica outside, but the real fella. Whatever else you do - don't skip that.

I'd go with this suggestion. Florence is absolutely stunning, and is well worth an extra day or two. And tbh, spending 4 days with the citizens of Venice is my idea of hell, Its a beautiful place, and well worth a visit, but the inhabitants are as nasty a bunch of avaricious cnuts you're likely to meet anywhere.

If I'm with certain friends, and they happen to get into my way, I'll still shout "ATTENZIONE" as obnoxiously as possible at them.

If you are in Tokyo two days, I wouldn’t recommend the SkyTree, it’s a bit out of the way and about $30. You can get a cheaper or free view from office buildings with restaurant floors at the top all over the city.
Don’t miss Shibuya and Harajuku for weirdness. Shinjuku, Shimbashi-Yurakucho or Ueno-Ameyokocho for some gritty salaryman nighttime fun. Avoid Roppongi like the bad Aids.

SkyTree advice reiterated on the news that the suppliers of its seismic shock absorbers have been falsifying test data.