recent Italian holiday...

reiteration

ok, just a quick review of our Italian holiday break from last week... as we bought this break from groupon -
Rome, Florence and Venice: 6 Nights With Return Flights and Train Transfers*

for a flight from manchester it was going to be 279 - but we upgraded to B&B for 309 quid (direct with travel agent) ... still a bargain...

in Rome we stayed at the St Pauls hotel which was fine (tho, room a bit small) - not a 4 star hotel tho...(and you have to pay city tax at hotels and this is per person, and the cost is based on the star rating, and for the 2 nights here we paid 24 euros)... it was a 10 minute walk from the nearest metro and we found a cheap market there and bought 3 litres of red wine (from vats) for 4.50 -  very drinkable too...

Rom itself it great, tho, I'd read reviews of pickpockets, but we never experienced/saw anything like that, but there was a big police / arm presence around...
coffee was expensive tho - and expect to pay around 4 euros for a small cup, and 10% service charge on a meal (normally 50 euros in total for a couple of pizzas and a drink or two)... and the transport is cheap- around 1.50 for 100 minutes (i.e. each way) for both the metro and bus...

next we were at the Diva hotel in Florence - but this was a bit further out (by bus) and in not such a nice area haha... the air con was broke and we say around 10 sleeping mosquitos on the ceiling...my lady wasn't happy so she looked for a more central hotel and I just drank wine... so, we booked he Albergo -which was decent enough but very central (was 135 quid for 2 nights) and florence itself it amazing...
when eating out - the restaurant will give you bread - and you'll get charged whether you eat it or not - so, if you don't want it then tell them to take it away straight away - as you will normally get charged about 3.50 euros each for about 3 slices each...

I did feel as tho there was a tourist tax there and locals would pay less... but the food we had (mainly pizzas and pasta was spot on)...and people were out to get what they can - in Rome we went to a park and 6 blokes dressed in old roman outfits accosted us and took photos of us whilst acting in a tiny play that lasted 45 seconds... then they wanted 10 euros each haha...we gave them 10...and blokes selling roses would shove them into women's arms forcefully whilst demanding money - I had to shove one guys arm away from my lady and he wasn't happy..!

we then went upto venice which was a bit colder and wetter (rome and florence were both 24 degrees) and the Centrale hotel was around 10 minutes walk from the station - the station there stunk of urine and and had drug dealers hanging around - but luckily we were able to get a direct bus from the hotel to venice itself (and also the airport home)...

we were always sure how to valid the bus ticket on the bus - and the driver didn't seem bothered when it flashed red...and 2 blokes asked us for our tickets and we handed them the paper bit (but still kept the card part) and they got off with them...we first through they were inspectors - but now not sure..!

but overall a decent holiday and worth it...