World Travel Expert - 1000 Travel Ideas » Italy

5 Reasons you must Visit Venice

worldtravelexpert — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:47:29 +0000

Venice travel: for a real sense of history, culture and romance all wrapped up on one easily walk-able island, this Italian ‘city of water’ can’t be beat. And if you book in to a cheap Venice hotel, you’ll have a bit more cash to spare for poking around. For some ideas on where to start, see our five reasons to visitVenice below…

1. Venice Carnival- Starting a fortnight before Ash Wednesday and ending on Shrove Tuesday, Venice Carnival is hedonistic, colourful and bizarre in equal

Venice

measures. Revelry tops the agenda with masked street parties and balls running day to night (the mask tradition started in the 12th century as a way for aristocracy and commoners to mix on equal ground), and the prize for “La Maschera piu bella” is selected by a panel of costume and fashion designers. Wander around St. Mark’s Square armed with a camera to draw flocks of posing, creatively-costumed carnival-goers.

2. Eating Gelato – Forget everything you think you know about ice cream – you haven’t tried real ice cream ‘til you’ve gone for a gelato inVenice! With cafes, corner shops and special parlours selling artisanal ice cream on every street and a scoop costing around a Euro, it’s easy to sample, too. Gelato is made fresh on most sites (as opposed to from a frozen, pre-packaged mix) and flavours range from chocolate and strawberry to weirder concoctions like fig or avocado. Go for a different scoop every time!

3. Following James Bond – Venice has been the setting for many a classic movie. To follow in the stars’ footsteps, start out at Palazzo Pisani, east of campo Santo Stefano, where the final shoot-out at the end of James Bond movie Casino Royale was filmed. You can move on to the church of San Nicolòdei Mendicoli and Palazzo Grimani, where Don’t Look Now was shot, and St. Mark’s Square, where Indiana Jones emerges from a man hole in the Last Crusade.

4. Amazing Art – From Titian to Tiepolo, the history of Venice is intertwined with the history of art and artists. The Galleria dell’Accademia is your first stop for discovering the city’s store of great works: it includes Titian’s last painting, Pieta, and also holds da Vinci’s pen-and-ink Vitruvian Man drawing (which is displayed only occasionally). For more Titian, his Assumption is above the high altar at I Frari church, and Tintoretto’s Crucifixion can be seen at Scuola Grande di San Rocco.

5. Grand Canal - You can’t talk aboutVenicewithout mentioning the Grand Canal, the city’s main artery for commercial cargo for over 1000 years. Take a vaporetto (water taxi) from the main railway station to St. Mark’s Square to get a load of the stunning palazzos and churches lining the water-front. If you’re feeling flush or particularly romantic, upgrade your ride to a private gondola. The canal also plays host to Venice Historical Regatta, a boat race between competing Venetian neighbourhoods that takes place on the first Sunday of September every year.

Taking a trip to Vatican City, in Rome – 13

worldtravelexpert — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:02:45 +0000

I am very much a beach and coastal person myself BUT it would be wrong not to include a fair share of cultural and historical travel in the top 100 and this leads us to lucky number 13 and the Vatican.

The Vatican is unique in that it is a country within a city (Rome) of another country (Italy). Add onto that the fact that

Vatican trips

the head of the Catholic church resides there and also the benefits of being in Rome itself and this can be an attractive trip.

The area around the Vatican arguably has become very commercial with many souvenit shops selling religious insignia, but if you are interested in religious travel and historical travel then this has to be a trip worth considering.

You can learn a lot more about Vatican, Rome travel information online.

Skiing down a volcano – 3

worldtravelexpert — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:18:24 +0000

It might seem like an unlikely possibility but it very possible to ski down the active Etna Volcano in Sicily, Italy. Between the months of February and April each year, depending on how the winter has gone, you can ski down the side of the Etna Volcano which has ski lifts and runs set up for this very purpose. The lifts have been damaged a few times in the last few years with the lava damaging part of the ski lifts, in summer eruptions, but the lifts are always repaired and at the time of writing, skiing is possible.

When you ski down the Etna the v

Skiing down the Etna in Sicily

iew is amazing because you can see the coastline on a clear day, as you ski down the Etna. The skiing is limited in terms of number of runs and the skiing does not compare to skiing in a proper ski resort but this is a good experience. If you combine this with a trip to one of the Aelion Islands (such as Vulcano or Stromboli) you can have a fantastic trip in Sicily skiing. The North slope skiing goes from 1800 to 2300m whilst the South slope is slightly higher. You can get lessons and rent ski equipment at the slopes.

There are ski lifts on both slopes, with the northern one ascending from 1800-2300 metres and the southern one from 1900-2600 metres. There are also hotels and ample facilities on both sides, including instruction and rentals.

You can contact the Etna Tourism board directly via apt@apt.catania.it whilst you can find out about Flights to Sicily here.