After I'm through vacation

[renferme]

Justin,
We flew into Rome; rented a car, drove to Colle and used it all over Tuscany,
after a week there, we drove back to the airport, returned the car,
took a cab into Rome. Stayed in Rome for 3 nights and walked all over town.
Auto rentals are expensive, sorry to say, but more convenient than buses.
Our villa host recommended that we bus into Florence, but we drove. It's a big town. We found a parking space and then walked around Florence that day.
Ray
.

[justin]

Ray, thanks for the response. I've got Italy on my list of "places to visit". Right next to a dozen other beautiful places. My wife recently told me she wouldn't mind visiting Italy for a few days (hint hint ) to which I responded, "we can rent a villa for a couple weeks or months if you want, to get really immersed in the culture". That is, once work is out of the way, we can do that.

[califdreamer]

I've been very happy with accommodations provided by the Agriturismo plan in rural Italy. Last summer stayed at an olive oil farm in the Puglia region. Nice quiet room and private bath, good restaurant, beautiful surroundings and extremely friendly hosts. Several years back stayed at a restored 15th century farmhouse in Tuscany that was an agriturismo. The Agriturismos are typically houses on farms that are set up for tourist stays and can be quite economical. We found them by wandering around during shoulder season. You'd probably need to make reservations in advance if you're looking for mid-June to early September arrangements.

[WanderALot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor I'm hanging it up at the end of August and am thinking of "getting out of Dodge" for awhile. Never traveled to Europe and am thinking of England, Scotland, Ireland--possibly Greece & Italy if I wait until the winter months. What are some ways to enjoy myself, see intersting things on the cheap, and not have to stay under

In Dublin, try and stay at Trinity College. They rent out the student dorms during the summer and you can eat at the student cafeteria as well. Very nice experience and relatively cheap (we were there pre-Euro and paid 35 punts/day in '00).

While traveling through England and Scotland, we took a backpackers' bus around. This bus travels counter-clockwise around England/Scotland/Wales (and you can get off at Chester, Wales and take a ferry to Ireland if you wanted). It's a hop-on, hop-off bus which stops at hostels in various cities. Most of the hostels were decent so we ended up staying at them half the time, but you always have the freedom to stay someplace else. I believe this only cost about 100 pounds. If you're interested, I look up the website of the bus company.

I know you are looking for off the beaten path, but Edinburgh is not to be missed. Especially during the Tatoo/Fringe Festival.

[Calgary_Girl]

DH and I went to Croatia a couple of years ago (family is from there). There are a million "private rooms" you can stay in...you basically get acosted by these little old Croatian ladies the minute you get off the boat or bus so it's no problem finding a place. We paid about $40/night CAD for the both of us.