Italy Itinerary

Venice Italy Accommodation: Guesthouse Ponte Chiodo Review

canal room at Ponte Chiodo, Venice Italy

The view from our canal-facing room at guesthouse Ponte Chiodo, Venice Italy

A reader asked the following questions about Ponte Chiodo, my favorite Venice accommodation.

Good morning.  I hope all is well.  My wife and I are taking her mom to Italy in February, March 2012 for her 60th birthday.  I am in love with Ponte Chiodo.  It seems like a very nice place, and it really seems the views of the canal will help make Venice a truly memorable experience for her. It also seems that there are plenty of Venice things to do close by. I have a few questions if I may:

1. Mattia recommended the double superior room on the first floor for my mother-in-law.  Which room would you recommend for my wife and I?  Size doesn’t necessarily matter for us, so we were drawn to the garden view you recommended.  Which floor was this on?  Does it have a double bed?  Was the bathroom en suite?

2. Speaking of beds, how are the beds?  Are they comfortable?  Are they comparable to what we consider Queen size here in the States?

3. My mom-in-law has MS.  She is still able to get around, but she has her days where she has a little less energy and may be a litle more inclined to take it easy one day (all the more reason for staying here; when she wants to sit and relax, she still has a wonderful view).  I noticed that Ponte Chiodo may be a little further away from the sites.  In your opinion, is Ponte Chiodo still a good option for us?

ponte-chiodo-garden-room

The window and view from garden-facing room at guesthouse Ponte Chiodo, Venice Italy

Let me know your thoughts if you are willing and able.

Thanks so much!
Brad

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ponte-chiodo-bathroom-garden-room

Nice bathroom with natural light in garden facing room


Hi Brad,

You will love Ponte Chiodo. My husband and I can’t wait to go back.

1. The garden view room we stayed in was on what we would call the third floor (Italians call it the second floor because they don’t count the ground floor).

I really liked the room because for 30 euros a night less than the canal facing room you still got a room that is bright, nicely decorated, high ceilings, nice view, and the nicest ensuite bathroom of all the rooms at Ponte Chiodo (the bathroom was bigger than others, and also had a nice big window. The bathrooms in the canal facing rooms are interior to the building, so do not have natural light).

Garden facing room

Only about 3 feet from foot of bed to dresser in our garden-facing room

Having said that, be aware that it is a very narrow room. I would estimate that it is 7 feet wide by 12 feet long (not including the ensuite bathroom). Once you put your luggage on the floor you have very little space to walk around.

The width of the queen size bed takes up nearly the entire width of the room (you have just a sliver of space to get off the bed). And from the foot of the bed to the bureau at the other end of the room there is only about three feet of walking space (see photo).

Mattia warned me that it was a very small room. I was expecting a dark garret or closet, so was pleasantly surprised and delighted with the charm of the room.

I would have no problem choosing the garden facing room again, since I have already had the experience of staying in a canal facing room.

By the way, in case you were wondering…canal facing rooms are just as quiet as garden facing rooms.

Ponte Chiodo Venice Italy superior room

Our canal-facing room at Ponte Chiodo Guesthouse, Venice Italy (second floor superior room)

MY ADVICE: Since this is your mother-in-law’s 60th birthday and you don’t know if she’ll ever get to Venice again, my advice would be to choose a canal facing room, because it is the ultimate Venice experience to open your shutters in the morning and look down at the canal and all the local life that happens around it.

2. The beds are extremely comfortable. In Europe they push two twin beds together to make a queen. Very strange but that’s just how they do it. We slept very well at Ponte Chiodo.

3. Your mother-in-law will have plenty to do even if she doesn’t want to venture far from Ponte Chiodo. Within a three minute walk is a neighbourhood shopping street, with a beautiful array of shops, restaurants, bakeries, etc. The only thing that may be a problem for her is the little bridge that she will have to cross to get there. It has about 5 steps up and then down. She could also walk in the other direction which, as I recall, is completely level right out to the sea. Everything is beautiful and charming and she will love it!

As far as getting to the major sights, you are a 5 minute walk from the Ca’Doro vaporetto (water bus) stop. You just hop on it and then get off at any of the major sights.

There is a restaurant very near Ponte Chiodo (maybe 3 minute walk) that served the very best pasta that we have ever had. I think it is called Restaurant Ca’Doro but the locals know it by another name. I can look it up if you like.

For more information or to make a booking enquiry, go to Guesthouse Ponte Chiodo.

 

 

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Our Tuscany Itinerary: Florence, Lucca, Pisa, and Others

Guest post by Judy Toth

Room at Cassafrassi Hotel in Tuscany

Room at Cassafrassi Hotel in Tuscany (photo: tripadvisor-tinatot76)

Tuscany…oh, where to start?  We absolutely adored Tuscany.  We stayed at a rural agriturisomo called CasaFrassi Hotel near the town of Castellina in Chianti. Our accommodation was gorgeous, with a view of vineyards and olive trees and lots of relaxing amenities such as tennis, swimming, and gardens to sit in.

We did our grocery shopping in the town of Castellina in Chianti, which was about 10 minutes north of where we were staying. The beautiful medieval town of Siena was only 20 minutes away. Siena is much like Lucca (walled town) but bigger.  It was a place you could wander around forever looking at churches, stores, restaurants etc.  We also went to Monterrigioni (very small version of the walled town) and San Gimignano (very old, very beautiful walled town).

Lucca

Lucca was very nice.  Like many of the old towns it is encircled by a huge stone wall.  It is best to park at one of the many parking areas outside the wall and walk in.  Great shops, plazas, and churches (of course).  Lucca was one of our favorite Tuscan towns.

Florence

While we loved Florence, we didn’t get to see much.  The primary aim here was to go to the Accademia to see the statue of David and to go to the Uffizi Gallery.  Unfortunately, we got there on a Saturday that happened to be a holiday (May 1 is May Day) and the galleries were closed.  The next day was Sunday.  On Sunday we learned two new words in Italian:  chiuso (closed) and sciopero (strike).  The gallery workers went on a one day strike.  Our last day in Florence was Monday and galleries are always closed on Monday.  (We hoped that since there was strike the day before that they would consider opening on Monday.  Funny, funny Americans!)

We did see the Duomo in Florence (church, baptistery, and campanile) which was gorgeous (do pace yourself, however.  I looked at only a few of the churches and by the end of the trip I wasn’t sure which was which!).  We also saw the Medici Chapel (small but interesting), Piazza della Signoria (great plaza with fantastic fountains and statues, just a cool place to hang out), and, of course, Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge).  Ponte Vecchio crosses the Arno river at its narrowest point.  The bridge is lined with leather shops, jewelers, and goldsmiths. We also enjoyed walking around the Boboli
Gardens—very pretty and relaxing.

Pisa

Pisa is a pretty small, cramped (as opposed to cozy) city.  We were told that once you have seen the leaning tower and the church etc, there is not much else to see or do.  That’s accurate. In our opinion, you could easily see and experience enough of Pisa in one day.  We stayed there for 3 nights because we used Pisa as a jumping off point for other visits.  We spent one day seeing all we wanted to see and explore in Pisa, one day to go west and visit some coastal towns, and one day to go north to see Lucca.

Coastal towns in Tuscany

The coastal towns that we saw (on the Tyrrenian Sea) were Livorno (the northern part of Livorno was pretty ugly—just a shipping port, we didn’t venture deeper into Livorno), Tirrenia (just a small beach town for locals, the most interesting part to us was exploring a golf course),  Marina di Pisa (would probably be a nice place to visit and walk along the ocean in better weather: it was gray, cold, and stormy the day we were there) and Viareggio (looked like it had even nicer beaches and cottages to stay in).

Hidden gem in Tuscany

Our serendipitous find was a town called Colle di Valle d’Este. It is a tiny town, not yet on the tourist maps (although it looks like they are doing work to get prepared to attract tourists).  We were there on a Saturday.  We wandered around the town (not much to see at this point) and enjoyed seeing a typical Italian town enjoy their Saturday.  The best part was sitting and watching the men playing bocce.  They really took the game seriously (and are not used to having a ‘gallery’ so they were really hamming it up).  Their wives were sitting off to the side in a circle talking.  It was wonderful.

Other itineraries

We talked to many people before we left as well as  people that we met on the trip.  It seems unanimous that Venice and Lake Como are “must sees”.  The only variation I heard on that is that some people said that Venice is the most unique place they’ve ever been and could have spent forever there.  Other people said that it was the most unique place they’ve ever seen but once they saw it, a couple of days was more than enough.

We hope to hit northern Italy on a trip that we combine with either Switzerland or the south of France. Hope this helped give you some ideas of what might work for you!

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Italy: Transportation Between Rome, Florence and Tuscany

Guest post by Judy Toth

My husband and I love to walk, both for the exercise and because we see so much more).  So in each city or town we visited in Italy, we walked everywhere.  In Rome we did check out the subway just in case we had inclement weather or got very tired but we never used it.

To get from Rome to Florence and back to Rome, we took the train.  Great trip!  We went first class so that we had a reserved train as well as a reserved seat.  The direct train is fast (1 ½ hours) and pretty economical (even in first class).

After we finished our visit in Florence, we rented a car to drive to Pisa, around Tuscany, and back to Florence to pick up the train back to Rome.  In general, it was not difficult to find our way around driving. The most difficult part was making sure that we were on the right road to get in and out of Florence.  Street signs are not always readily visible, directional signs are somewhat unclear, and intersections are complex. However, once you are on the highway or in the small towns it is much easier.

If you do decide to rent a car:  check the hours of the car rental location (they probably close from 1 to 3 in the afternoon), the hours they tell you are only guidelines not gospel (they may decide to close at 12:30 or not reopen until 4), and you may have to wait a while for a car.

We were very lucky when we picked up our car, but not so lucky when we dropped it off. At that time there was a long line of people waiting for cars because they had “run out” of cars and were waiting for returns.  In fact, one man, who had apparently been waiting quite some time, saw that we were returning a car and came up to us and tried to cut a deal to just take our car.  We were not going to let THAT happen!

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Italy and Tuscany: 2 Week Itinerary

 

map of Italy

Italy - so much to see!

Guest post by Judy Toth

Recently my husband and I spent two weeks in Italy.  We had never been to Italy before and I had quite a dilemma when I was planning the trip. So much to see, so little time!

I knew a little bit about a lot of places and so I started out trying to ensure we saw all the “high points” (museums in Florence, canals in Venice, historical monuments in Rome, the hilltowns of Tuscany, Pompeii, southern Italy where my mother was born).

As I began to try to fit this all in, I realized that I needed to pare the list down.  I know that our preferences for travel are to see and truly learn a small area rather than hit the highlights of a vast area and to have approximately 50% of our time planned and about 50% open for ‘serendipity’.

I also didn’t feel the pressure to make sure we “see it all now because we may never be back”.  Typically, when we find an area we like, we will go back to explore more on future visits.

Given those preferences I thought about what was really drawing us to Italy.  The first big draw was to see the area where my mother was born.  However, as I read about southern Italy, I learned that there is not much in the way of famous/historical sites and that area is less ‘user friendly’ for tourists.  Since this was our first trip to Italy, it didn’t seem like that was place to start.

tuscany

Tuscan countryside - it really does look like this!

Our second big draw was to see Tuscany.  That became the beginning of my plan—how much could we see in and around Tuscany in two weeks?  The plan we came up with was fly into Rome, train to Florence, drive to Pisa, drive through Tuscany, and train back to Rome.

We reasoned that we would start in the biggest city and, as we became more familiar with language, lifestyle etc, would work our way to smaller and smaller towns.

Our plan worked well and we feel that we learned a lot about a small portion of Italy.  In my next several posts I’ll share with you what we learned.

See Judy’s 2 Week Tuscany Itinerary here.

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