| Tips and photos of Italy tourist attractions and tourist traps, posted by real travelers and Italy locals. Map |
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 The Leaning Tower of Pisa by hopang
During the summer months, the queue to climb up the tower is extraordinarily long. You may have to wait between half an hour and one hour for your turn to climb up the tower. It is because only certain number of persons are allowed at the viewing platform at any one time to avoid congestion and for safety reasons due to the heavier weight!
When you reach the viewing platform you are rewarded with only the view of the city of Pisa which doesn't mean anything as the tower is not very high! Furthermore you climb the staircases up the tower at your own risk! Certain parts of the staircases certainly look rather haphazard and in disarray and do not look in particularly good condition! Leave a Comment
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 Free guided walking tour! by hopang
Each one of them will lead a group of approximately ten tourists. The tour is usually conducted in English and lasts approximately half an hour. Of course they will explain to you and provide you with all the important details of the various popular attractions inside St. Peter's Basilica. At the end of the tour just outside the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica, they will ask for a small donation for their effort. This is when everyone in the group starts to disperse. A good samaritan may probably donate two or three euros to the tour guide out of pity!
Disperse from the walking tour group before the tour guide asks you for a small donation.
Do not join the guided walking tour in the first place unless you are willing to pay for the simple service of the free-lance tour guides. Leave a Comment
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 Virtual gondolas are cheaper ! by sourbugger
Here are the tips to keep the price of a gondola trip down:
1) Don't go after a rainy day - there is pent up demand.
2) Find a quiet canal area with only a couple of gondaliers - they don't want others to know your haggled price.
3) Avoid firms with ticket booths etc
4) Avoid the Heavily tourist-infested areas. Back canals are more interesting anyway
5) Try in the early evening - they may have had a poor day
6) Gondaliers will only vary 10-20 euros on their starting price but will change the length of the trip as a bargaining tool.
7) When they give a time they will inevitably knock off 10 minutes - take this into account.
8) Discuss it man to man - it's better that way trust me. With the fairer sex present they will play on it to make you look mean / uncaring / unromantic.
- I ended up paying 60 euro for 45 mins.
1) Divorce
2) Dump the girlfriend
3) Develop violent sea-sickness
4) Take a boat without consent in the dead of night and learn to punt pronto!
Basically there is no alternative!
On the other hand you could...
Go punting in Cambridge - it's even got its own bridge of sighs which is much nicer.
Or try punting in Durham. England - the locals will add renditions of the cornetto advert for free at any opportunity Leave a Comment
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 'Guilietta's' balcony, Verona by blint
The house actually belonged to someone of the same family name as Shakespeare's character, so therefore the tourist board decided to market it as Guilietta's house even though she NEVER existed. No Shakespeare did not write the story based on any real characters in Verona. The only thing it was based on was that family feuding in Italy was common at the time.
The whole thing of signing you and your lover's name there for eternal love has to be seen as nonsense too. I mean, Romeo and Juliet were doomed!. Even worse is the idea that if you touch Juliet's breast you will have good luck in love. I think it is only lucky if you haven't touched a woman's breast for a long time and that's the closest you've come!
Well anyway, if you like the romantic idea then take a look, but please bear in mind it is all a tourist gimmick!
DON'T part with any money!!!! take a look and go.
There is so much more to see in Verona. The Duomo, the amphiteatre, the old gateway, the old centre etc... Leave a Comment
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Describe the tourist trap? Naples!
If you call yourself a traveller, you have to go. This is not your London, Berlin or New York. These guys, trained by the Camora I suspect, know how to hustle and a classic example is the main railway station.
No matter how you try to disguise your tourist status, they can spot you a mile off. Two approached us, asked what train we were looking for, dutifully helped us load our bags onto said train and then came the sting.
I mean, really, these guys were dressed in railway uniform for heaven's sake! How brazen is that?
Learn to say no. Unlike me being sucked in a couple of times.
Believe me, they don't take the first "no" as an answer. You've really got to be firm and, when you've just arrived on the SIcily Ferry and the cab drivers nail you, you are vulnerable. I had read all about them before I arrived and still got stung. They know how to work your emotions at the right moment. Remember, it's how they live. Leave a Comment
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 Castello Estense by Paul2001
The dungeons are of interest. There are a couple of salons that also deserve a passing glance. Leave a Comment
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 rest room by Toja
when finally we found a rest room in Venice.. another problem.. 45 minutes break because of some sevage problems.. I guess they have a notorious problem with the sevage system there...
never believe they will fix it any minute, go somewhere else ;-)
hmm.. try to think of something else..
It happened once that one Greek girl asked by a tourist where the rest room was in the hotel... sent him to the hotel restaurant instead :-)
A sister of that girl told me this story :-) Leave a Comment
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We were taken to one as part of a guided tour of TIvoli that I had paid for, we were fronted by a friendly man in the biggest piazza in Naples who also took us to one. The "one" being a shop that sells cameos.
The routine is that once you are lured to the shop there will be a table with tools on it that have the appearance of being used. In those shops, trust me, no-one ever soiled their hands on creating, only on taking your money!
They even go so far as to having an old relative sit at a supposed work table.
Both the tout and the supposed artisan will disappear before your eyes as the sales pitch eventuates.
Included in that pitch will be the line that "ours is unique, all the others are manufactured". Crap. Just like the supposed ceramics factory I visited in Turkey, it's all manufactured elsewhere and they all look the same.
Having said all of the above, there are some nice pieces and, if you want one, don't let my dissertation spoil your purchase.
Since you may feel slightly embarrassed trying to get out of their clutches, try pleading that you're out of money or you have to meet someone down the road or you have to be somewhere else in 5 minutes.
Don't worry, they won't get nasty as you walk out of the shop. Leave a Comment
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 Self served restaurants behind
the Vatican by polartraveller
Be very careful what you "assumed" to be the cost of your meal and the actual cost.
Some charges 2 euros for just a dinner roll. Of course if you have already consumed the emal there is nothing you can do but pay up. A simple meal at these tourist traps can run you 15-20 euros plus!
Also, many "pasta dishes" are just supermarket microwave dinners with over inflated prices!
Pay for your food BEFORE you eat it.
Don't get conned by the polite staff into paying after you eat.
Stay away from these places, look for places with set menu and check out the food that the people are eating before seating down.
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 Marco, Sara and I by dr.firasLeave a Comment
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