ekscrunchy

Absolutely. fantastic!!! What a wonderful plan you devised, and without a car! I'm not sure we could do all that, but since I know very little about the NE, your photos have prompted me to look into a trip including that area......

We ate in the same restaurants in Termoli!

Those photos of Treviso and around were taken in early October???Looks like a great time to be there...thank you again!!

tcinct

Ekscrunchy,
Thank you again for your kind remarks! We were in Treviso from Oct.12th to Oct.18th. Every owner of every place we traveled to remarked how warm October was this year.
I have great admiration for your forum posts! I feel like I am right next to you when reading about your experiences in Italy. I know you have enriched our trips with the knowledge you share! Thank you!!!

tcinct

When we first traveled to Italy we had very little experience traveling on trains. One time we boarded a train to go to Venice and a large group of people didn’t move from the aisle and we weren’t able to reach our seats. So we exited the train to reenter a different door and when we stepped off the train the train left the station! After that we were a little nervous about boarding trains so we boarded a train that came right before the one we were supposed to take. Luckily the train we boarded was going to the same location but we did have to pay the current fare for the day.

It helped to check out the location of the bins (platforms) ahead of time, know our train number for the departure boards and know how many stops till our destination or at least know the stop before we arrived at our destination.

As for buses, we met one of the kindest bus drivers in Italy. Shortly after arriving in Milan one time we were so jet lagged and tired we fell asleep on the bus! The bus driver stopped the bus where he knew we needed to exit and came back to where we had fallen asleep and gently woke us up. He came off the bus with us and pointed in the direction we needed to go.

A different experience we had a few years ago was trying to take a bus from Florence to where we were going to a pasta class in Tuscany. I asked the bus driver at the bus station in my limited Italian if he was going to the town we needed to go to and he smiled and shook his head yes. We boarded the bus. While we were traveling he was pulled over by the police! We were able to find a taxi to take us to the pasta class. We made it in time for the class and experienced an unexpected but wonderful tour of the beautiful Chianti hillside on the way there.

Trains, buses, ferries, and private transfers allowed us to travel north, south, east, and west in Italy. There was no screaming, we are still married, and no cars were required!

Adelaidean

Such an interesting report, I love Italy too, but have only been as far south as Volterra.
Train and bus travel is usually great, but the occasional sardine can squishing on a melting bus has left us a bit frazzled.
Thanks for a great read. Always enjoy reading what other travellers choose to do.

bilboburgler

In a lot of smaller stations (especially through stations, which get the same train time after time) you'll find a map of the train stuck up on a wall so you can find where you carriage will be, it saves all that "where do I get on thing".

SusanP

Great report, especially since I don't ever plan to rent a car in Italy. I think I need to stop reading reports, because even though I've been to Italy many times, I keep finding more places to go! 😀

tcinct

Hi Bilboburgler,
That's a good suggestion about using those departure and arrival boards at the train station as a guide. On our last train from Treviso to Milano Centrale though, we saw people leaving the platform after a barely audible announcement in Italian. When we saw the mass exodus we just followed the crowd! The train platform had changed within 10 minutes of departure requiring a quick exit down a lot of stairs from that platform to a sprint down the halls underneath the train station and up another set of stairs to the platform the train's arrival was changed to. What a mad dash! We were glad to have only carry on luggage that day!

tcinct

Hi Adelaidean,
Than you for your reply! I enjoyed your trip report - Switzerland and north Italy! I laughed at the photo of you explaining to your husband your travel plans! Your photos are exceptional! The detail was wonderful and I have a fine appreciation for you taking the time to write about your adventures!

tcinct

Hi SusanP, thank you for your response! I agree, travel reports lead to more trips!

TDudette

Salis Ristorante Enoteca meal looked fabulous, tcinct. It does involve a bit of a learning curve, but if one has the time, it is possible to enjoy most of Italy's glories by train and bus. We often forgot to validate train tickets, but having the train leave you must have been a horror!