My mom and I just got back from the Best of Italy Tour on August 16th. We had a wonderful time and saw a lot (more than we could have on our own). .

To start we had a lot of laughs over the Italian bathrooms, and small hotel rooms. But all the hotels were very nice and well kept. If you stay at the Novetel Venezia (Mestre) don't be fooled by the location. It looks like there is nothing to do, but after a little exploring we discovered the town square with shopping and I also discovered a grocery store comparable to our Aldi which had diet coke for less than 3 euros. The hotel staff is nice and will draw you a map of were these places are.

The Grand Hotel in Assisi is very nice, but there is nothing around it. Once you arrive you are there for the evening since it is too far from the town.

The Astoria outside of Florence was very nice, however we had to laugh at the bathrooms. We were on the top floor with only one other room. The bathroom had a sewery smell, and on the last night the shower flooded. When I flushed the toliet, the shower flooded more. Again I don't understand Italian plumbing.

My favorite hotel was the Mediterraneo near Termini in Rome. They had a wonderful rooftop bar which overlooked the city; very nice.

I would not go back to Southern Italy. I thought it was dirty, and being an animal lover my heart was breaking seeing all these homeless cats and dogs roaming the streets. We drove through Naples and to me it looked like a dump. Maybe we didn't see the nice parts but I wouldn't go back there.

Capri would have been good for about a half day. We spent two days there and it was a waste of time. It is highly expensive with Prada and Versace stores which none of us could afford to shop in. Also the food is quite pricey. However one day we found a deli and brought lunch back to our room and ate it on our balcony overlooking the ocean, which was nice.

Another waste of time is Pisa. It is a tourist trap that looks like a flea market. The cathedral is beautiful, but hang on to your wallets, many interesting characters walking around. If you don't want to buy anything don't make eye contact with ther venders who are everywhere, otherwise they won't leave you alone. It would have been nice to spend more time in Seinna (worth it) instead of sitting on a bus for half a day to go to Pisa.

Also watch the restaurants around the Vatican they are quite expensive and the food is not that good. For lunch we split a pizza, had two diet cokes (6 euros each) and a little pastery and our bill was almost 30 euros.

An outside eatery across from Termini had very good food at decent prices. Stick with the wine and skip the Cokes.

One frustrating thing about Globus was the misinformation I received from them before our trip. I had heard that the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel would be closed due to an Italian holiday. I contacted Globus via e-mail at least 3 times to find out if they were going to change the itinerary or if we would still be going to these. After three e-mails they finally replied and said that it would be taken off the tour, and instead we would be going to St. Pauls and the Catacombs.

Since we were coming in early and I didn't want to miss these we spent one of our extra days at the Vatican. When our tour began the following day, our T.D. told us that we would be coming back early from Tuscany to see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine. Again if they had given me correct information, we wouldn't have wasted an extra day in Rome seeing what we wre going to see anyway.

Also because of the Italian holiday, most of the stores were closed, except for the souvenir shops. In a way that was good because we were getting killed on the dollar to euro exchange. All the optionals were worth it; especailly the Tuscan Dinner, we had a great T.D. and wonderful people on our trip. I would go with Globus again, it's just frustrating that they gave me the wrong 411.

Annagrace, I wish our tour directore was as good as yours. We complained to the Globus Denver office and received a voucher for our next tour asking us if we would give them a second chance. Other than that we did enjoy everything on the tour.

Thanks for your review, Annagrace. Interesting.

quote Annagrace: "Capri would have been good for about a half day. We spent two days there and it was a waste of time. It is highly expensive with Prada and Versace stores which none of us could afford to shop in. Also the food is quite pricey. However one day we found a deli and brought lunch back to our room and ate it on our balcony overlooking the ocean, which was nice. - unquote

Yes food & beverages are pricey in Venice and Capri, coz they've to transport them by boats to the respective islands.
Capri has the most expensive Castle for sale at $38 million
http://images.forbes.com/media/lifestyl . .. .. . 19feat.jpg

quote Annagrace: "I would not go back to Southern Italy. I thought it was dirty, and being an animal lover my heart was breaking seeing all these homeless cats and dogs roaming the streets. We drove through Naples and to me it looked like a dump. Maybe we didn't see the nice parts but I wouldn't go back there. - unquote

Unfortunately the distribution of wealth is uneven with industries concentrated on the North. Hopefully Southern Italy will benefit from tourism. Southern Italy is actually very scenic and unique, such as Alberobello in Puglia, Calabria, Sicily . .. .. . many are designated as World Heritage sites.

I agree, Pisa is a tourist trap. The three Hours that we spent there could have been used elsewhere.