Best Of

This was a good tour, with a combination of large cities, small towns, and a lakeside stay. We were a group of 21 experienced travelers, led by Tour Director Theresa. Rudy, who was training to be a Tour Director for this tour, accompanied us. Among the the 21 travelers was a group of 4 couples who were traveling together, which could have been a problem. However, although they ate meals together, they were very pleasant and mingled well with the rest of the group during the day. In what was a first for me, the Tour Director assigned people to dinner groups and dinner times for the nights that dinner was included, but not as a group. I was a bit skeptical of that at first, but I found that it worked out well.

Because there has been discussion on the Forum about tipping, I have to mention that on both this tour and the one that followed (“A Week in Puglia”) the Tour Director mentioned that tips for hotel housekeeping were not included. (In fact, I have it in writing from this TD.) Both TDs also said that tips for local guides were included, but that people were welcome to add something if they wanted to. That did not sit well with me. It seemed like they were encouraging people to tip extra.

The hotels were very nice, although I was disappointed in my room at the elegant Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees in Stresa. The room was very small but adequate, obviously designed for a solo traveler (which I was), but the bathroom was a postage stamp! The door would not open all the way because it hit the toilet, and the toilet could not be used without closing the bathroom door. I have heard in the past that Tauck does not assign hotel rooms; the hotel does. However, I pay a single supplement to be treated the same way as other guests. I did not complain at the time, but if this happens again, I will. (On the Puglia tour that followed, I learned that a solo traveler on that trip had had the same room in Stresa on the Northern Italy trip last year.)

Over the years, I have learned that I prefer cities to the countryside, so I was not surprised that I preferred Milan to the smaller towns, although I did enjoy Bologna. I arrived in Milan a few days before the tour started, and took advantage of that time and a free afternoon during the tour to do a walking food tour, see “The Last Supper,” for which I had bought a ticket from the Convent two months in advance, visit the Pinacoteca di Brera (an art museum), tour the Duomo and its rooftop, and do a tour of and attend a performance at La Scala. ( Our Tauck tour was supposed to include a visit to the Duomo’s interior and not a tour of La Scala, but because of a change in schedule, it skipped the Duomo and included La Scala, so I did the opera house twice.) I’m glad I had the extra time in the city to see and do these additional things. For me, the highlight of the Tauck walking tour of Milan was our visit to the Ambrosiana Library that houses many of Leonardo Da Vinci’s original writings and sketches.

I had been to Lakes Como and Maggiore on previous Tauck trips (“Lake Como, Venice, Florence and Rome” and “Switzerland: Europe’s Crown Jewel”) but was still awed by the beauty of those lakes and surrounding towns.

Verona and Bologna were nice towns to walk around and soak up the Italian atmosphere. We had a brief visit to Bergamo, that I did not think added much to the tour, but it gave us an opportunity to get out and stretch our legs on a walking tour. I enjoyed walking along the bank of the Adige River that runs through Verona. We had an excellent walking tour of Bologna, during which I especially enjoyed the visit to the university. During the free afternoon in Bologna, I took a tourist train ride up a hill outside the city to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. Usually, there is an icon of the Madonna there, but it just happened to have been moved to the cathedral across the street from our hotel for its annual week in the city during May, where I did see it. Apart from the hilltop church itself, there was nothing to see there, except views over the city of Bologna. On my own, I went to the Church of San Dominico, because I had been told that there were three small statues done by a young Michelangelo, but the side altar on which they were displayed was closed off by a gate. Fortunately, a fellow traveler went later in the day, by which time the gate was open, and she was able to get photos of those statues that she shared with me.

Our hotel in Bologna, the Grand Hotel Majestic Gia Baglioni, offered a tour of the hotel with a professor of art history that I found very interesting. Many of us took the tour. I was sorry that I had left my phone in the hotel room, so I was not able to take pictures, because rooms were locked after our tour. If someone is taking this Northern Italy tour I encourage him or her to take the tour of the hotel. I was able to take a photo later of the portion of the Roman road that had been unearthed in the lower level of the hotel, near the restaurant.

When we moved from one hotel to another, we had a couple of stops that I found interesting. We happened to visit a factory where we could observe all of the steps involved in making Parmesan cheese at the same time that some inspectors were testing the finished wheels of cheese (by tapping them) to see whether they qualified for the official seal of approval. Most did, but at least one wheel didn’t pass. I also enjoyed the balsamic vinegar tasting and factory.
On the other end of the “interest spectrum” was the visit to the Ferrari Museum. I know that some people really enjoyed it, but I opted out early in the tour and went to the cafe to enjoy a double espresso.

I had been to Venice twice already, so did not mind that the tour did not include a visit to St. Mark’s or the Doge’s Palace. We were treated to a concert, mostly of Vivaldi, at the Museum of Music in the San Maurizio Church on our walk to the hotel. The concert was not on our original schedule, and was a lovely surprise. It was also a treat to sit and relax inside the church out of the hot sun.

Our final day included a morning trip to the island of Burano. I had not known anything about Burano, other than it had been known for lace making, but I was pleasantly surprised by its charm. The homes are all painted in vivid colors, so that merchants returning from voyages could easily spot their homes. If a homeowner wants to change the color, he or she has to get permission from the authorities.

Tauck, as usual, provided a ride to the airport (in my case, part way by boat, then by car), but I had not only the transportation, but also a young lady who stayed with me all the way through check-in and up to security. That’s why I travel with Tauck — I know that they will take good care of me!

On the whole, I enjoyed this trip. It would not recommend it as anyone’s first trip to Italy, and I don’t believe that it was any of my fellow travelers’ first trip to that country. It was a good mix of cities and towns. The hotels were all in good locations. I had originally been disappointed when I had seen on a map the location of the Gritti Palace in Venice, because it seemed to be far away from “the action,” (my previous tours had stayed at the Danieli and the Metropole) but it really was not far, and the bar/breakfast room right on the Grand Canal was a real treat. The activity level is 2, but there were a few days where someone with difficulty walking might have had trouble. The weather was getting hotter as the trip continued. Venice was uncomfortably hot for me, even though it was early June. If, like me, you do not like the heat, I would recommend taking this tour earlier in the season or in the fall.

(As I was typing this review, I received in the mail a hand-written note from Theresa, our Tour Director, thanking me for taking the tour. That was very thoughtful of her, and I appreciate it.)