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Road trip around Europe


Ldlian987
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We stayed in Pisa, Florence, Bolognia , La Spezia and Tavernelle near Sienna.

Actually it was 26 days.

For Cinque Terra, pronounce Chinkwee terra if you didn't know, we stayed in La Spezia and took the train from there. Can also go by sea (ferry ) but cannot drive. IIRC we were able to see 4 of the 5 villages in one day moving from one to the next by train.  Glad my missus said she didn't want to miss this part.

Pisa was great but two nights is ok even if you spend one day in Lucca which we liked.

Florence of course can't be missed, very impressive. 

We could have missed out on Bolognia although it is supposed to be the food capital of Italy we found the food disappointing.

The missus also wanted to stay in Tavernelle and we hired a car for 7 days for this part.  Tavernelle was central for a lot of great places - Sienna, San Gimignano, Certaldo, Volterra all of which were easy drives by car.

 

Steak Fiorentina was fabulous, ate it four times.  I mentioned it on the beef thread here.

 

Book the Uffizi gallery on the internet, shouldn't miss it even if you aren't artistically inclined and the Pitti Palace also in Florence is free with just a 20 minute queue on a Sunday I think.

 

We only had the car for the final week and getting about the rest of the time was quick, easy, clean and cheap using the two rail companies in Italy.  When staying in any of the cities or towns it was easy walking to everything.

 

 

Sounds very similar to my planned itinerary!! Rome - Venice - Bologna - Florence - La Spezia - Portovenere - Genoa - Milan - Como over 3 weeks.

 

Except that I would be staying in Portovenere instead of La Spezia and taking the ferries over to the Cinque Terre villages. 

 

Is Bologna worth visiting (apart from disappointing food) ? Am planning one night stop there on the way to Florence from Venice.

 

Wish I could squeeze Tavernelle into my itinerary too - ah well, next time round :)

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Bologna has nice main square and the free walking tour from the tourist office in the main square was v good.  Also visit large church a few miles from town center on small tourist train.  But when compare to smaller towns like San Gimignano then we found Bologna disappointing.

 

Wow you are doing a lot of travelling in your 3 weeks.

Driving or train.

The fast trains show the speed inside the coaches.

Top speed we travelled at was 300kph. 

When that speed was shown everyone cheered.

 

Just remembered there is a church in Bologna which has the most amazing lifelike statues we've ever seen.  We wouldn't have seen it except the free walking tour took us there.  If you go to Bologna then do not miss this.

Edited by Neutrino
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Sounds very similar to my planned itinerary!! Rome - Venice - Bologna - Florence - La Spezia - Portovenere - Genoa - Milan - Como over 3 weeks.

 

Except that I would be staying in Portovenere instead of La Spezia and taking the ferries over to the Cinque Terre villages. 

 

Is Bologna worth visiting (apart from disappointing food) ? Am planning one night stop there on the way to Florence from Venice.

 

Wish I could squeeze Tavernelle into my itinerary too - ah well, next time round :)

 

Always enjoyed Bologna , if you can plan your date , try to stay over the weekend . they closed the roads at the main square so stay at the Grand Hotel Majestic , which is right on the main square . For food , the place to go is Da Nello which is just next to the hotel . Great local place with years of history and good food . 

 

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo is the place to stay at Como , freaking good views from most of the rooms , and one of the best hotel i have ever stayed in Italy .  

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Always enjoyed Bologna , if you can plan your date , try to stay over the weekend . they closed the roads at the main square so stay at the Grand Hotel Majestic , which is right on the main square . For food , the place to go is Da Nello which is just next to the hotel . Great local place with years of history and good food . 

 

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo is the place to stay at Como , freaking good views from most of the rooms , and one of the best hotel i have ever stayed in Italy .  

 

Thanks for the tip bro! Unfortunately wont be in Bologna over the weekend, but will check out Da Nello :)

Bologna has nice main square and the free walking tour from the tourist office in the main square was v good.  Also visit large church a few miles from town center on small tourist train.  But when compare to smaller towns like San Gimignano then we found Bologna disappointing.

 

Wow you are doing a lot of travelling in your 3 weeks.

Driving or train.

The fast trains show the speed inside the coaches.

Top speed we travelled at was 300kph. 

When that speed was shown everyone cheered.

 

Just remembered there is a church in Bologna which has the most amazing lifelike statues we've ever seen.  We wouldn't have seen it except the free walking tour took us there.  If you go to Bologna then do not miss this.

 

Am taking trains throughout - too much of a hassle to drive from city to city heh.

 

Is the church you mentioned the one in the link below?

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187801-d3389513-r296613676-Chiesa_di_Santa_Maria_della_Vita-Bologna_Province_of_Bologna_Emilia_Romagna.html

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Bye! See u guys in 2018! Huat ah!

Wah, so long haven't back yet?  :XD:

you mean is it safe of the West of Ukraine?  it's completely safe, the tough situation only on the East

You live in Ukraine?

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you mean is it safe of the West of Ukraine? it's completely safe, the tough situation only on the East

I was in Slovakia last month and my guide was commenting how cheap Ukraine is. I just realised everything is relativ3 cuz Slovakia was very cheap...

 

Ukraine must be dirt cheap

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Thanks for the tip bro! Unfortunately wont be in Bologna over the weekend, but will check out Da Nello :)

 

Am taking trains throughout - too much of a hassle to drive from city to city heh.

 

Is the church you mentioned the one in the link below?

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187801-d3389513-r296613676-Chiesa_di_Santa_Maria_della_Vita-Bologna_Province_of_Bologna_Emilia_Romagna.html

 

Yep, that's the church with the statues.

 

Stunning.

Could look at them from different angles for hours.

The skill required to carve them is spectacular.

Edited by Neutrino
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We were in Tuscany for three weeks in June this year.

Didn't have problems hiring auto and never saw any car free zones except when have to park outside small city or town but no problem walking there.  Really wasn't a problem as good parking always available and the demarcation is obvious.

 

Autostrada can have a limit of 90kph so be careful.

Smaller roads have speed cams in strange places.

 

We'll be arriving in bergamo & collecting our rental car from there.

Will be visiting maranello region for the ferrari museum tours as well as some sight seeing, will also be proceeding to bolognia area but I'm not sure if its car friendly.

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Sori to hijack/tompang a question. If I am going to rent a car in Munich and it says is a manual car, will it be a left hand drive or a right hand drive? I am used to RHD manual car but not LHD. Can google map or Waze map be use in Europe?

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Wah, so long haven't back yet?  :XD:

 

 

Come back for more than one month already bro. Very busy.. Will share some photos of the trip here when I free. :D

Sori to hijack/tompang a question. If I am going to rent a car in Munich and it says is a manual car, will it be a left hand drive or a right hand drive? I am used to RHD manual car but not LHD. Can google map or Waze map be use in Europe?

 

LHD. Most countries in Western EU are LHD, unless u visit UK.   :D

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Hello Forumers,

I plan to road travel to Euro in coming school holiday,

landing Italy self-driving to France and Germany, then return car to Italy,

I heard there is not speed limit in Germany, all cars travelling about 200km/h on their expressway, does it mean I have to rent a high class cars such as BMW, Mercedes etc, normal Japanese/Korean car cannot follow the cruising speed,

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Hello Forumers,

I plan to road travel to Euro in coming school holiday,

landing Italy self-driving to France and Germany, then return car to Italy,

I heard there is not speed limit in Germany, all cars travelling about 200km/h on their expressway, does it mean I have to rent a high class cars such as BMW, Mercedes etc, normal Japanese/Korean car cannot follow the cruising speed,

Minimum speed 100km/h

 

U can rent VW, Opel, Fiat

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Hello Forumers,

I plan to road travel to Euro in coming school holiday,

landing Italy self-driving to France and Germany, then return car to Italy,

I heard there is not speed limit in Germany, all cars travelling about 200km/h on their expressway, does it mean I have to rent a high class cars such as BMW, Mercedes etc, normal Japanese/Korean car cannot follow the cruising speed,

Not all are no speed limit lah.

Depends on road conditions and weather condition, speed limit may vary.

Typically on no speed limit road, most car travel around 140 - 160km/h on slow lane.

Fast lane strictly for overtaking, make sure you get out of the fast lane immediately after overtaking. As fast car can come from behind at above 200km/h or more.

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I rem there is a pecking order on autobahn:

1. Porky

2. Merc

3. BMW

4. Audi

5. VW

mostly a Manual gear cheap, Auto gear more expensive

Not all are no speed limit lah.

Depends on road conditions and weather condition, speed limit may vary.

Typically on no speed limit road, most car travel around 140 - 160km/h on slow lane.

Fast lane strictly for overtaking, make sure you get out of the fast lane immediately after overtaking. As fast car can come from behind at above 200km/h or more.

wah, 160km/h consider as road hogging
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