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Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
Hey campers,
I stayed up last night taking advantage of some dirt-cheap offers from Qatar Airways to fly to Europe for the equivalent of $900 US. By local standards, that's about half what it cost and gives me a great opportunity to take advantage of a $5,000 cruise voucher I won from Princess Cruises while I'm over there. Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, spend a couple of days in Monaco, before spending 3-4 days driving down the west coast of Italy through Genova/ Pisa and the rest of the Italian xxx coast before arriving in Rome. b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. We've already done the UK and France, so really want to experience a different side of Europe. Would love to hear thoughts from any seasoned travellers. |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
]v[etaphoid:
Hey campers, Hi...errrm... Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, ... b) Fly into Prague,... You haven't mentioned when the trip will take place. The weather expectations may play a serious role in your choice. |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
Erick T. Barkhuis wrote:
]v[etaphoid: Hey campers, Hi...errrm... Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, ... b) Fly into Prague,... You haven't mentioned when the trip will take place. The weather expectations may play a serious role in your choice. Good point. I fly out in 12 days. This is a *very* last minute trip... |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
On Oct 6, 9:22*am, "]v[etaphoid" wrote:
Hey campers, I stayed up last night taking advantage of some dirt-cheap offers from Qatar Airways to fly to Europe for the equivalent of $900 US. By local standards, that's about half what it cost and gives me a great opportunity to take advantage of a $5,000 cruise voucher I won from Princess Cruises while I'm over there. Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, spend a couple of days in Monaco, before spending 3-4 days driving down the west coast of Italy through Genova/ Pisa and the rest of the Italian xxx coast before arriving in Rome. b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. We've already done the UK and France, so really want to experience a different side of Europe. Would love to hear thoughts from any seasoned travellers. Well, if you've 'done' France surely it makes more sense to now experience Italy, and Rome's sights are well ahead of anything in Monaco! It's also further south re the weather at this time of year! |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
Am Thu, 6 Oct 2011 19:22:29 +1100 schrieb ]v[etaphoid:
Hey campers, I stayed up last night taking advantage of some dirt-cheap offers from Qatar Airways to fly to Europe for the equivalent of $900 US. By local standards, that's about half what it cost and gives me a great opportunity to take advantage of a $5,000 cruise voucher I won from Princess Cruises while I'm over there. Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, spend a couple of days in Monaco, before spending 3-4 days driving down the west coast of Italy through Genova/ Pisa and the rest of the Italian xxx coast before arriving in Rome. What do you want to do a couple of days in Monaco? The country is tiny, and can well be seen in one day. I went there on a cruise and had about 6 hours, that was enough to see part of the palace (not opened all year), the car-collection and some of the other sights. Keep in mind, that hotels in Monaco are very, very expensive. So I would do that in a day-trip and rather explore a bit more of the scenery around Southern France. Pisa is okay, but very touristy. The major sights can be seen in a day. Count Florence in and maybe Lucca or Siena. Genova can be missed, unless your ship starts from there. It's not really such a nice city (compared to the other places you want to visit). Rather keep a bit more time for Rome. b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. That sounds also interesting to me. There are lots of things to see there. Depends on the season, though - Prague can be very cold in the winter. If you travel in autumn or spring or even winter I would prefer France and Italy - the weather will be nicer there than in Prague. Regards, Frank |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
Am Thu, 6 Oct 2011 19:55:47 +1100 schrieb ]v[etaphoid:
Erick T. Barkhuis wrote: ]v[etaphoid: Hey campers, Hi...errrm... Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, ... b) Fly into Prague,... You haven't mentioned when the trip will take place. The weather expectations may play a serious role in your choice. Good point. I fly out in 12 days. This is a *very* last minute trip... Then take option "a". Prague could be cold and rainy this time of the year, where as in Southern-France you could still have a few warm days. Regards, Frank |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
v[etaphoid wrote on Oct 6, 2011:
Hey campers, I stayed up last night taking advantage of some dirt-cheap offers from Qatar Airways to fly to Europe for the equivalent of $900 US. By local standards, that's about half what it cost and gives me a great opportunity to take advantage of a $5,000 cruise voucher I won from Princess Cruises while I'm over there. Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, spend a couple of days in Monaco, before spending 3-4 days driving down the west coast of Italy through Genova/ Pisa and the rest of the Italian xxx coast before arriving in Rome. b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. We've already done the UK and France, so really want to experience a different side of Europe. Would love to hear thoughts from any seasoned travellers. I wouldn't recommend your option a) - driving down through Italy to Rome. I've done it in reverse and although it sounds interesting, in reality it's no fun at all. Unlike France which as you probably know, has a superb network of minor roads one can use if one's not in a hurry, in Italy there's really no alternative to the autostrade for going any distance. Driving on Italian autostrade is a really dismal experience - in general they're poorly surfaced, crowded, and have laughably inadequate stopping facilities. In addition they're fond of building concrete walls on either side of the motorway which effectively block any view one might get of the surrounding countryside. -- Mike Lane UK North Yorkshire mike_lane at mac dot com |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
On 06 Oct 2011 in rec.travel.europe, ]v[etaphoid wrote:
b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. We loved Praha when we visited there in October a couple of years past. Prices were reasonable, and there's enough to keep you entertained for several days. Transit is inexpensive and quick. The weather was OK, if on the cool side. In the evening there were concerts taking place all over - just look for signs, or wait for somebody to pop out of a building and give a mini-concert to entice you in. Followups set to r.t.e -- Joe Makowiec http://makowiec.org/ Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/ |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
On Thu, 6 Oct 2011, ]v[etaphoid wrote:
a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, spend a couple of days in Monaco, before spending 3-4 days driving down the west coast of Italy through Genova/ Pisa and the rest of the Italian xxx coast before arriving in Rome. b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. Well, I'd do the second since I'd never been there, but as a standalone trip, and possibly in a different season. But I see you are forced to do it now, and to terminate in Rome (which would otherwise be odd). Since I do not drive, and do not like what airports have become, I'd do the trip by train. Perhaps a train trip from Prague through Austria and Italy could be fun, and parts of it rather scenic. May be you could combine also a boat trip on the Danube, visit to Vienna and or Venice. Concerning your first alternative, I do not think Monaco has much to be seen, an urbanized area with a fake castle. Perhaps the Oceanographic Museum. Also the drive on the motorway, which in Ligury runs up on the hills and slightly inland, is not particularly scenic. By train, closer to the sea, it could be slow, and with lots of tunnels (even more in the modernized part). Anyhow here are some interesting sights over the way. Just after the Italian border there are Balzi Rossi, a prehistoric cave near the sea, little museum with a funny cobbled beach. Also in Mortola there are the Hanbury gardens which are very nice. All these places are on the normal road (not motorway) between the border and Ventimiglia. The old town of Ventimiglia on the hill is nice, but a few hours are enough. There are interesting villages inland, but a bit out of the way. The rest of the coast is heavily urbanized, and the towns are not in general particularly interesting. I would except the Parrasio (the old centre of Imperia Porto Maurizio, the Olive Oil Museum in Imperia Oneglia just on the back of the rail station, the village of Cervo which has a beautiful view from the sea, also Laigueglia and, later on, Varigotti, are nicer Mediterranean-type little towns. Albenga is a city of roman origin, and the centre can be walked in a couple of hours. Similarly Final Borgo (slightly inland from Finale Marina). Nice views on the village of Verezzi (up on the hill over Borgio) and nice walks up to there and down to Finale (but very steep). Of course Genova is an interesting though busy city. Ancient churches and buildings, lots of interesting museums (Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Rosso in via Garibaldi, the Galata Museum of the Sea and the Aquarium in the old harbour). Also the gardens in Nervi (an eastern suburb) are nice. Later on the 5 villages of the Cinque Terre, and Portovenere and Lerici on both sides of the La Spezia gulf (but not La Spezia itself) are nice. I do not know much the Tirrenian coast (from La Spezia to Livorno, Grosseto and Civitavecchia), but there is no motorway there, and no high speed train line. May be a disadvantage or an advantage ... In Latium there will be interesting Etruscan sites at Tarquinia and Cerveteri. |
Prague or Monaco for a flying visit...
]v[etaphoid wrote:
Hey campers, I stayed up last night taking advantage of some dirt-cheap offers from Qatar Airways to fly to Europe for the equivalent of $900 US. By local standards, that's about half what it cost and gives me a great opportunity to take advantage of a $5,000 cruise voucher I won from Princess Cruises while I'm over there. Long story short, I've got 6 days to kill in Europe before the cruise departs Rome. I've narrowed my choices to two options; a) Fly into Nice in Southern France, spend a couple of days in Monaco, before spending 3-4 days driving down the west coast of Italy through Genova/ Pisa and the rest of the Italian xxx coast before arriving in Rome. b) Fly into Prague, spend two-three days there before another flight into Rome where we could spend a bit more time seeing the sites of Roma, if not anywhere else in Italy. We've already done the UK and France, so really want to experience a different side of Europe. Would love to hear thoughts from any seasoned travellers. Thanks to all (especially Giovanni for his detailed hitlist!) for the excellent responses to such a general question. Much appreciated... |
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