So, I'm about to take a group of students to Athens, Rome and Florence. Anyone got a "you should really see this" type place that's out of the basic stuff (Acropolis, Colosseum, Forum, etc.)?

Anyone been to Sienna and think that's worth a half day?

Sienna is pretty cool and dependent on your itinerary could be worth it. There are some other smaller towns in that region that are a nice veer off the typical path.

TechDawgMc said:

---

So, I'm about to take a group of students to Athens, Rome and Florence. Anyone got a "you should really see this" type place that's out of the basic stuff (Acropolis, Colosseum, Forum, etc.)?

Anyone been to Sienna and think that's worth a half day?

---

Sienna is very cool. Watching the horse race they do each year before would be cool. Rome has so many things to see same with Greece and Florence. Hit this highlight will be about the best you can do.

Thanks guys. We decided there is just too much to do in Florence for the time we have to try to also make Siennathough it does look really cool.

Really looking forward to this trip. Have wanted to do Rome for a long time

If you need a driver for Florence, I got a guy. He can set you up with a guide if you need one.

GoBearsGo said:

---

If you need a driver for Florence, I got a guy. He can set you up with a guide if you need one.

---

Thanks. I didn't notice this before I left. We are leaving Florence in a few hours. Wonderful city to visit. We've done a lot of walkingand climbing hills and stairs

Athens, Rome and Florence is quite the trip!

bularry said:

---

Athens, Rome and Florence is quite the trip!

---

It was indeed. Great people. Great food. And walking through history. And then the countries are beautiful as well. Hard to beat from my perspective.

TechDawgMc said:

---

bularry said:

---

Athens, Rome and Florence is quite the trip!

---

It was indeed. Great people. Great food. And walking through history. And then the countries are beautiful as well. Hard to beat from my perspective.

---

that's a lot of ground to cover. How many total days?

bularry said:

---

TechDawgMc said:

---

bularry said:

---

Athens, Rome and Florence is quite the trip!

---

It was indeed. Great people. Great food. And walking through history. And then the countries are beautiful as well. Hard to beat from my perspective.

---

that's a lot of ground to cover. How many total days?

---

Twelve days. Four in Athens (though only three nights), Four in Rome, Three in Florence, and then overnight in Milan before flying out. (turns out to be about $500 cheaper to fly from Milan rather than Rome)

TechDawgMc said:

---

So, I'm about to take a group of students to Athens, Rome and Florence. Anyone got a "you should really see this" type place that's out of the basic stuff (Acropolis, Colosseum, Forum, etc.)?

Anyone been to Sienna and think that's worth a half day?

---

How about taking a group of Baylor alumni?

GoBearsGo said:

---

TechDawgMc said:

---

So, I'm about to take a group of students to Athens, Rome and Florence. Anyone got a "you should really see this" type place that's out of the basic stuff (Acropolis, Colosseum, Forum, etc.)?

Anyone been to Sienna and think that's worth a half day?

---

Sienna is very cool. Watching the horse race they do each year before would be cool. Rome has so many things to see same with Greece and Florence. Hit this highlight will be about the best you can do.

---

I'm late to the discussion, but Siena is a very cool city and I love going there. The Palio di Siena is on my bucket list. I've never been there at the right time. Calling it a "horse race" undersells what it is quite a bit. The Palio di Siena been going on for 400 years, with parades and traditional costumes, and people are completely crazed. Each of the 17 contradas in the city has a horse in the race. There are bribes, there is all sorts of skullduggery, and if a rider that is expected to do well loses, he is ostracized, harassed, beaten, and generally humiliated by the fans of that contrada. There are usually one or more horses that finish with no rider and the riderless horses sometimes win. They do it twice per year, although there an occasional third palio if there is something special about the year, like Y2k and the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI. Worth it if you ever get the chance!
2023 was particularly wild.

Very late to this party, but I was in Florence and Rome two months ago. Took a half day excursion to Sienna. Cool place. I would definitely go back and see the horse race if I could.

El Oso said:

---

Very late to this party, but I was in Florence and Rome two months ago. Took a half day excursion to Sienna. Cool place. I would definitely go back and see the horse race if I could.

---

We must have been there at roughly the same time. Did the half day in Sienna which we enjoyed (as well as a great winery visit that same afternoon). We love Florence - that was our third time spending a few days there. We only briefly passed through Rome on this visit, but we only spent a small bit of time in Italy (mostly Venice and Florence). The majority of our time was hopping around between locations in Croatia and the Greek Isles…

- KEB

KEBasketball said:

---

El Oso said:

---

Very late to this party, but I was in Florence and Rome two months ago. Took a half day excursion to Sienna. Cool place. I would definitely go back and see the horse race if I could.

---

We must have been there at roughly the same time. Did the half day in Sienna which we enjoyed (as well as a great winery visit that same afternoon). We love Florence - that was our third time spending a few days there. We only briefly passed through Rome on this visit, but we only spent a small bit of time in Italy (mostly Venice and Florence). The majority of our time was hopping around between locations in Croatia and the Greek Isles…

- KEB

---

Odds we were in same room? I was there May 10. Nobody at my table liked red wine, so I had the whole bottle of one of the two and half the other. Then I grabbed another half full bottle from an abandoned table and drank it on the porch in the rain. Left for Rome the next morning.

Didn't quite cross - we were over there most of April, but we got home on May 1 or 2…

We would know for sure if we had crossed that you didn't get a half bottle of red off of my table!

- KEB

Following up on this a year later since I didn't report back on it.

We had a great trip. Athens was wonderful. Really friendly people. Easy to walk around most of the core area. We did a ferry out to Aegina Island--there were some cool places there. The food was superb. I'm a Florida native and tend to be a snob about oranges, but had some of the best oranges I've ever eaten at the hotel breakfast each day.

Rome was incredible as well. Did the major stuff--Colosseum, Vatican museums, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, etc. Two cool lesser known things. Went to Ostia Antica for most of a day. It was the original port city for Rome but got bypassed with a shift in the river. Large area where the ruins are still in good shape. Was a fascinating look into the time around the time of Christ. Did the Catacombs of Priscilla. They are run by an older order of nuns. Very reverent but historically fascinating tour.

Florence is an interesting city. Lots of art. The activity of the Medici's has major impact. One thing we did here -- we went up the mountain into a more "locals" area and got a lesson on cooking pizza and making gelato. It was a really fun evening with excellent food (mostly cooked by us).