Mordecai's honeymoon thread - Page 2

I'll start off by saying that Florence is probably my least favorite city in Europe. If you removed the tourists, it may be the best, but you can't. I'd suggest as foodguy says -- a stop. Try to take the train out, it is one of the great stations in the world. Other than that, I haven't been to any of these areas, but I have been to other remote areas in Italy and each has exceeded my expectations to a great degree. They would all be great places to spend your first weeks as a married couple.

I spent part of my honeymoon in Florence - it was horrible. my wife really wanted to go, and we loved the stuff we saw, but I ended up spending a good part of my time in a little cafe above a butchers shop, because it was the only place I could go that wasn't chock full of tourists.

Spent half the honeymoon in Tuscany near Loro Ciuffenna. Did a day trip to Florence, not bad not my favorite. Really enjoyed the area. It was November and they were harvesting olives and making oil. There are few places I say this about, but I could die a happy man in Tuscany. One of the other places is West Texas or the mountains in New Mexico. So, you know my taste are suspect.
Edited by Bhowie - 9/13/12 at 8:56pm

this was never in question.

MarBear - if you reconsider Europe and want to do it on the cheap and interesting I can help you out in Central America. Tons of great things to do, places to see, etc..

I have a lot of friends who have gone, they love it. Their taste is a bit suspect, kind of like bhowie.

Also, which month?

 

What's not to like?

 

 

 

lefty

http://www.villabelpoggio.it/en/chianti-charming-hotel.html

Here is where we stayed. Very affordable. We would go to the market in Castelfranco buy fruits, bread, cheese, and prosciutto eat that throughout the day for lunch and dinner. We'd hangout there. Went to Loro Ciuffenna. The innkeeper was really great, Paola. She actually had us over for dinner with her and her daughters one night. Her husband was an artist/craftsmen. He had built a giant Trojan horse that was as tall as their place. Cool home great sense of style, was surprised to find an Arco Lamp in their living room. We visited a few farms around there and an olive oil press late at night. Really enjoyed the country side. After all I am a pig wrestler at heart. We went to Florence with another newly wed couple from Spain. Monteverchi was really shitty.

We were there for 5-7 days not sure. We spent the same amount of time in Rome before and the last day or two back in Rome

Edit: I see you were talking to Bowie and not me. Please disregard, Mrdecai.

Edit 2: My first post had an error in it. This should clear it up.

I'm sold

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) Yeah, definitely a good idea not to stay in central Firenze. I'd choose a location that's in the middle of everything (Pisa, Firenze, Arezzo, ...) and then you can go wherever you want to.
Siena is really beautiful too. The train system in Italy is pretty good, and very cheap fwiw.
It all depends a lot on the time you want to visit the area too.

All of this depends on when you actually go.

The problem with Umbria is that there are no beaches.

Ugh, beaches are overrated, imo.

Spent every summer in Calabria growing up. It's pretty much tourist free outside of a handful of Germans and Swiss at the most popular beaches. during August. It sounds like you're pretty comfortable with the idea of driving around without some set itinerary, which works well for Calabria. A few places I love:

Paola - wonderful architecture, Norman castles
Pietragrande and Caminia - the best beaches I've been to in Calabria
Tropea - covered in your post. will say that it is really, really crowded during peak vacation time.
Amantea - Byzantine castle, monastery. great town.

I'm not very well versed with restaurants, museums, etc. unfortunately, but there are surprisingly good Chowhound posts on it (check out bob96's posts off the top of my head). Most of my time in Calabria has been spent stuffing my face at relatives' houses. Just make sure that if you go to Calabria that your breakfast in the morning is a brioche stuffed with gelato and a granita with panna from a local bar

Tip: You will find that all over Calabria, every single store will say their credit card swiper s broken. They're lying, so either carry a decent amount of cash on you or try arguing with them.

Slovenia is pretty sweet.

 

 

If you're into it book a fly fishing trip on the Soca.

 

lefty

There is also an old midevil city in Montenegro on the adriatic, like Dubrovnik but less touristy