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Italy
KCW
Posts: 1,334 ✭✭✭
Going to Italy in the beginning of July. We will be mostly in the Rimini area. If anyone has any Cigar related info for that area, I would appreciate it.
1
KCW
Posts: 1,334 ✭✭✭
KCW
Posts: 1,334 ✭✭✭
Comments
¨Only two people walk around in this world beardless - boys and women - and I am neither one.¨
¨Only two people walk around in this world beardless - boys and women - and I am neither one.¨
I have family northwest of Torino and I've also visited portofino, Sardinia, Rome, Florence, and Venice. The country is outstanding IMO
Venice is interesting, very walkable. If you want to do a Gondola, they´re €80 during the day, €100 after 19:00. Holds up to 5-6 passengers, I think, and that price is for a standard 30min ride and tour through the canals. The gondoliers will always try to sell you on the ¨premium package¨ (usually around €150), but I can´t imagine it´s worth it. Don´t try to use them like a taxi - they will go in a circle and end up right where you started. If you particularly want to pick up a cigar while you´re there, there´s only one place I found that just so happened to be right next to my accommodation. It´s a standard ¨Tabaccheria¨, but the guy has a little tower humi. He easily had the best selection of anybody in the city, and it was fairly diverse and in good condition, but he was a little snooty about it. It is:
Tabaccheria ¨La Casa del Sigaro¨
www.houseofcigars.it
With that said, there´s nothing much of note around them, so you´d be making the trek ONLY to pick up a cigar. You can find many cafes along the canals to enjoy your smoke, but if you want a different experience visit the historic Venetian Casino. It´s not far from the Tabaccheria, and I believe there´s a €10 admission fee (if you want to skip this, go into any respectable hotel and ask about the casino, and ask if they ¨know anyway to get past the admission fee¨ - every hotel has free entry passes, and I had no problem getting a couple). The casino requires a jacket for the second floor (table games), but they will give you one for free at the coat check if you require. No other dress code, I saw guys in jeans and shorts, but wearing the jackets. Anyway, they have a private smoking room on the second floor - it was a bit lonely when I went, but if you open the windows you´re sitting in a big ballroom overlooking the Grand Canal, and you can order from the bar there as well.
Hope you enjoy!
¨Only two people walk around in this world beardless - boys and women - and I am neither one.¨
Do it! For your first time in Europe they´re equally suitable (and the countries are quite similar, in and of themselves), so it just depends on which one calls to you more. Architecturally speaking, I think Spain is more interesting, especially when you hit Barcelona and see Gaudi´s work (La Basilica de la Sagrada Familia is breathtaking in person), and I´d say the same about the food. I definitely prefer Italian wine over Spanish wine though, but after coming from California where a decent bottle costs $15-$20, I love the fact that, in-country, you can find great wines all day long for under €5 a bottle (my favorite wine from my recent Italy trip was a €2.50 bottle of Sangiovese that bought at a grocery store and drank along the canal). In terms of art, well, Florence was the seat of the Renaissance, and that influence spread throughout the country, so you could spend years going through Italy and never see it all.
As for me personally, while I´d love to host you in Sevilla... we´re actually presently planning a relocation to California. We hope to be there by November, but depending on my wife´s visa, it may take a little longer. Even still, I´m happy to help with any planning you might need for that trip - it´s a lot more accessible than you might think, and there´s all manner of ways to save money and get more out of your trip (my father recently came to visit Spain for 2.5 weeks, and his wife - who sees herself as a travel expert because she often travels for work - dominated a large part of their travel arrangements. They spent more money in these 2.5 weeks than my wife and I have spent in a combined total of nearly a year of travel around the world.)
¨Only two people walk around in this world beardless - boys and women - and I am neither one.¨