Holidays

Two Gun Bob said:
If Carlsberg did pub lunches. I get that holidays overseas are taking a hit but the British Isles still has so much to offer the errant traveller, so don't lose hope and go and explore all that we have on our own doorstep.

Anyone recognise this fine hostelry of repute? That's some mighty fine logging going on in the background to see us safely through our session. Outside temperatures of circa 6 degrees but it's not all about the fiery ball in the sky.

allMnFa.jpg

We were reliably informed from Peter a regular visitor of this twilight ale house, that the aforementioned table is late 18th century oak featuring chamfered block legs joined by peripheral stretchers. The table was in the same family’s collection for over two hundred years and has aged beautifully, with wonderful colour and patina throughout.

I tend to agree and so we took great care to use mats to further protect it's life span.
Click to expand...
That's a beautiful setting for a pint mate :)
 
RobMCFC said:
Rome - by a mile. So much to see and do. Now challenging Seville as our favourite ever city break.

Pisa better than expected, Florence a bit of a disappointment - with the exception of the duomo, which in terms of the outside is the most incredible catherdral I've ever seen. Pity about the inside - it looks like they blew the budget all on the outside and asked the decorators to cover it in magnolia paint and said "give us some o' yer basic grey stone columns, gov".
Click to expand...
For me Florence is far superior to Rome...:)
 
I got married in Rome in 2018 at the Campidoglio,Town Hall,we hired 3 stretch limos to chauffeur us all around before the wedding,we stayed at the Flaminio Village which was an excellent bungalow/caravan site a few miles out of the City centre with great train links into Termini station

Just got back from 8 days up in the Andalusian hills,weather was perfect,spent a couple of days down on the costa at Nerja which I would strongly recommend to anyone,plenty to see and do,not as many chavs as some of the other well know resorts on the costa Del sol,watched us demolish Liverpool in a bar my pal runs,all good fun and shall be returning in a couple of weeks
 
Colin Bells Holdall said:
Heading to Rome at the end of this month, what requires a guide , whats free please.
Click to expand...
As we got back yesterday, I'll post a few thoughts and hopefully some of it will be of use.

First of all, anything you want to book, get it booked ASAP - this was the only city break where our usual policy of booking attractions 2/3 weeks in advance caused us problems.

The Colosseum - the number of ticket options is dizzying, but we found that the basic Colosseum + Forum + Palatine Hill ticket was great. They offer all kinds of "behind the scenes" and "Gladiator Arena" upgrades, but the basic ticket got us around the first and second levels with amazing views - and then you can go and wander around the forums / Palatine Hill at any other time in the day, all for the same ticket. I think we paid about 16 euros each.

The Vatican - St Peter's Basilica is mind-blowing inside - and it's free to enter but depending on what time you arrive, it can be a VERY long queue. We turned up at 4.45 in the afternoon and waitied about 45 mins. However long you have to wait (within reason) it's worth it. Best inside of a cathedral I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a few).

I think the pantheon is free, but various sites said you had to book. I'm still confused about this one. We bought an audio guide (which we didn't want, but it guaranteed us entry), but when we got there, we had to queue with everybody else. Don't be put off by the length of the queue - it moves constantly and we were in within 10 minutes every though we were queuing around the building. Impressive building.

Alter of the Fatherland - Amazing monument with a spectacular view. Never heard of it before I did the research a couple of weeks ago. We paid 15 euros each for the glass elevator ride to the top, which has stunning views of the city, but it appeared that they were letting people into the lower levels for free - we went up to the 2nd level before the elevator section, and the views were pretty good from there too. Even though we paid in advance, you can buy tickets whilst you are there.

There's many great sites that are free: The Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, Plaza Navona.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT - The Vatican Tour - 30 euros each, it's like coming out of a crowded rock concert or football game for 75% of the tour. They tell you you have to be quiet in the Sistene Chapel and you can stay as long as you want, but when you get in there, there's a bloke on a microphone saying "Please, no speaking" every four seconds (I'm not exagerrating - this ruined it for us) and we were waved through quickly. Don't get me wrong there's some amazing artwork to see on the tour, but just temper your expectations.

Finally, beware of the TAXI SCAM, which cost us 40 euros - I only pieced all of this together later because it happened so fast:-

Driver quotes a large price (38 euros from Vatican to Colossuem). This seemed off, but everybody was tired so I thought, what the hell. When we got threre, I handed him a 50 note (big mistake) and at the same time, he called out to my daughter in the back to be careful opening the door on a busy road. I turned around to check she was OK. When I turned back, the driver handed me a 10 euro note and said "I said 38 you gave me a 10". Me, being a humble, honest sort, assumed I'd made a mistake and gave him another 30 euros.

I felt miserable for a couple of hours after when I realised what had happened. I felt stupid (which to be fair, I was) but reading on Trip Advsior last night, it seems that this happens multiple times every day.

Having said all of that, it was a superb trip and right up the with Seville as the best city we've visited.

I'll be posting a video on my YouTube channel at some point, but it probably won't be before you go.

Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
We are thinking of Rome but are limited to school holidays. Has anyone been in August and if so was it packed and to hot to move around easily? If so we will probably put off until next year.
Click to expand...
It was pretty packed this week, with the start of Easter holidays and Holy Week, but I would imagine that it would be unbearable (heat and crowds) in August.
 
Just got back from Naples, brilliant city but a mad place. It's an earthy place with scooters flying past you from all angles but so much to see and cheap to eat and drink, we found a local bar and had an aporol spritz and a peroni for 3 euros, it's a good place to just wander around and we didn't see any issues. The train to Pompeii is about 40 mins and you can go up to the top of Vesuvius and walk around the crater, breathtaking.
We got a fast train to Rome for the day,about £55 each and it's o my 1 HR 10 journey time. As others have said Rome has it all but it's very crowded, I'd hate to go in the summer. Highlight was st peters/ Vatican,we did t go in but it's well worth the walk, so much history.
Trevi fountain was just mobbed but the Spanish steps is a good place to sit for a while.
 
RE: Taxis. Find out which cab app a city / country uses and download it. I don’t particularly like Uber but it’s the one for Croatia and I used it for Split. I heard nightmare stories about Welsh fans scammed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.