TBT-TheBigToe
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Italy (Naples) or Greece (Athens)?
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TBT-TheBigToe
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Burns
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Lambourne
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Yeah Rome has always had a reputation for pickpockets and people running scams (they give you some free trinket and then they ask for money, or they say they have a way to skip the line and take you to a shop instead). Main tourist season is over so might be a bit less now.
If you're heading to Naples I recommend visiting Herculaneum over Pompeii, it's much less crowded. At least when I went, was a long time ago. Vesuvius is cool to climb but bring decent walking shoes, coarse dust and gravel everywhere.
If you're heading to Naples I recommend visiting Herculaneum over Pompeii, it's much less crowded. At least when I went, was a long time ago. Vesuvius is cool to climb but bring decent walking shoes, coarse dust and gravel everywhere.
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Cybsled
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Can’t speak to Greece, but I visited Italy for a couple weeks long ago
Rome: pizza is ass, but the sites are great. When I went the forum was free to visit, but now I think you have to buy a pass for the forum/collosium/Palpatine hill combo. Vatican museum is also a must see, just remember they have a dress code for the basilica (no shorts). If you use public transport, buy the tickets immediately. They will do random audits and the police will literally haul your ass to an atm to get money for the fine if you’re caught without one. Rome is pretty safe in the tourist areas, just don’t look like a dumb tourist and don’t keep your money in an obvious spot
Naples: Pompeii is a must see. Herculaneum too. Naples has some great museums. Good food also - best caprese sandwich I ever had was from some food stand a taxi driver recommended (I figured he was scamming us, but he was telling the truth lol). There is also the ferry to Capri, but unless you time it right you might be better off getting a place for the night there rather than try to make the last boat out
Florence: good food and museums. I forget when, but they had a “culture week” where admission to all the main museums was free. They also have a quirky museum dedicated to renaissance science and they supposedly have shit like Galileo’s finger in a jar, but it was closed when I visited
Rome: pizza is ass, but the sites are great. When I went the forum was free to visit, but now I think you have to buy a pass for the forum/collosium/Palpatine hill combo. Vatican museum is also a must see, just remember they have a dress code for the basilica (no shorts). If you use public transport, buy the tickets immediately. They will do random audits and the police will literally haul your ass to an atm to get money for the fine if you’re caught without one. Rome is pretty safe in the tourist areas, just don’t look like a dumb tourist and don’t keep your money in an obvious spot
Naples: Pompeii is a must see. Herculaneum too. Naples has some great museums. Good food also - best caprese sandwich I ever had was from some food stand a taxi driver recommended (I figured he was scamming us, but he was telling the truth lol). There is also the ferry to Capri, but unless you time it right you might be better off getting a place for the night there rather than try to make the last boat out
Florence: good food and museums. I forget when, but they had a “culture week” where admission to all the main museums was free. They also have a quirky museum dedicated to renaissance science and they supposedly have shit like Galileo’s finger in a jar, but it was closed when I visited
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Lambourne
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Dress code is a good one. In general, it helps to avoid looking like a stereotypical american tourist if you want to avoid pickpockets/scammers. Basically don't look like this
Pretty good advice here
thesavvybackpacker.com
Pretty good advice here
How to Dress Like a European & Avoid Looking like a Tourist
Fashion advice for dressing like an European while backpacking in Europe. Fashion tips for day wear and nighttime wear for bars and clubs.
thesavvybackpacker.com
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Burns
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So your saying if that dude just color coordinated to his sneeks, in all pink, he would be good to go as a Eurofag?Dress code is a good one. In general, it helps to avoid looking like a stereotypical american tourist if you want to avoid pickpockets/scammers. Basically don't look like this
View attachment 603582
Pretty good advice here
How to Dress Like a European & Avoid Looking like a Tourist
Fashion advice for dressing like an European while backpacking in Europe. Fashion tips for day wear and nighttime wear for bars and clubs.
Also, if I walk around in a velour track suit will everyone just assume I'm a Slav and not talk to me? ...or does it have to be Adidas?
On a serious note, blending in is always good. I have read other tips such as Americans lean on things and Euros don't. So if you don't want to be made as an American, don't lean.
Furry
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Whenever I get mistaken for a European in Europe, people assume I’m German. I have no idea why.
And honestly interactions like that are pretty rare, most humans are capable of pattern recognition. They are going to see you are a tourist by how you act even more than how you look. Scammers target tourist Europeans too. Head on a swivel, give darkies the eye so they know you are watching them is more important than anything. I also carry a decoy wallet where I keep some cash and a refillable credit gift card usually. I’ve never been robbed, but if someone were to pick pocket me or mug me they can just have what I’m carrying no fucks given. They’ll figure out later they didn’t get anything worthwhile.
CC cards getting stolen is definitely a thing in Europe. If you swipe or tap there assume that your shit got stolen. I’ve had my CC card copied every single time I’ve gone to Europe and used it bar none, and about half the ATMs in Europe were turned off due to recent fraud when I tried to use them last time. Place is a shithole
TBT-TheBigToe
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In Rome now, going on silly ghost walk tour soon.
Tomorrow we take the train to Florence, if I don’t see something dedicated to Assassin’s Creed 2 I am going to be mildly disappointed.
Tomorrow we take the train to Florence, if I don’t see something dedicated to Assassin’s Creed 2 I am going to be mildly disappointed.
Cad
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I'd go to Italy over Greece, Greece is a little further along the slide to third world shithole than Italy, and Italy is about halfway there.
Both are great places to relax, see some culture, sit at a table at 7pm and watch the world go by. You can't really go wrong with either but if you want my opinion I'd go Italy.
Both are great places to relax, see some culture, sit at a table at 7pm and watch the world go by. You can't really go wrong with either but if you want my opinion I'd go Italy.
TBT-TheBigToe
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Ghost tour was retarded but interesting, it’s weird walking by buildings older than my country but cool.
Food has been good everywhere we went and there are eateries everywhere.
We are right in the core, 10-15 walk from a few cool sites, and 10-20 min cab ride from where we are too fat and lazy to walk to.
We took a cab to the castel de sant'angelo, which is even cooler looking in person than in AC Brotherhood, for the ghost thingy and it was great seeing all the architecture and cobblestone roads.
Cab rides are harrowing, I have anxiety issues to begin with and driving inches away from cars, trucks, buses, scooters, electric scooter things, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians is fun in a “oh god someone, but probably not me, is going to die” kind of way.
Everywhere is a parking spot on some streets, including the sidewalk, so sometimes you are squeezing between a parked car and a car trying to drive down the narrow road, made even more narrow by the excessive parking, just trying get from point a to point b. Crossing a road I advise using the pack system so when drivers ignore red lights and pedestrian crosswalks you can put a few bodies between you and them for safety.
Golf cart tour of Florence tomorrow, also seeing the statue of David, so that should be neat.
All the staff of everything we have done has either spoken good English or had enough understanding to understand what we say which has been great.
I dont take pictures but my wife had been sending our oldest son pictures of the food we eat and he is so envious that I am thinking of starting just to rub it in more.
I took this picture while having a cappachino, it was the table beside me;
Food has been good everywhere we went and there are eateries everywhere.
We are right in the core, 10-15 walk from a few cool sites, and 10-20 min cab ride from where we are too fat and lazy to walk to.
We took a cab to the castel de sant'angelo, which is even cooler looking in person than in AC Brotherhood, for the ghost thingy and it was great seeing all the architecture and cobblestone roads.
Cab rides are harrowing, I have anxiety issues to begin with and driving inches away from cars, trucks, buses, scooters, electric scooter things, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians is fun in a “oh god someone, but probably not me, is going to die” kind of way.
Everywhere is a parking spot on some streets, including the sidewalk, so sometimes you are squeezing between a parked car and a car trying to drive down the narrow road, made even more narrow by the excessive parking, just trying get from point a to point b. Crossing a road I advise using the pack system so when drivers ignore red lights and pedestrian crosswalks you can put a few bodies between you and them for safety.
Golf cart tour of Florence tomorrow, also seeing the statue of David, so that should be neat.
All the staff of everything we have done has either spoken good English or had enough understanding to understand what we say which has been great.
I dont take pictures but my wife had been sending our oldest son pictures of the food we eat and he is so envious that I am thinking of starting just to rub it in more.
I took this picture while having a cappachino, it was the table beside me;
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Cybsled
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Truest words spoken. I learned very quickly in Rome that the only way you were ever crossing the road without dying is when a fuckton of people would all cross at the sametime and you moved with the herd.
Lambourne
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When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Especially when it comes to traffic. Once you get used to driving the Italian way it kind of works, you claim your spot and they will give it to you. It's opportunistic and chaotic but not nearly as aggressive as it appears at first. If you're driving like it's a Swiss driving test and try to stick to signs or the lines on the road, you will get run over.
Honking and gesturing/yelling means you're about 3/4 way to a fistfight in most countries but in Italy it's not that big a deal. The stereotype didn't come out of nowhere.
Honking and gesturing/yelling means you're about 3/4 way to a fistfight in most countries but in Italy it's not that big a deal. The stereotype didn't come out of nowhere.