Due to a lack of Internet access and time, I’m writing about the three cities I visited in Italy AFTER the fact. To be honest, I’m actually glad to be doing it this way since I am now able to compare each to the others. Before I get into describing each city, I’m going to address Italy in general. Knowing a little bit of Spanish and being quite fluent in French helped tremendously in understanding signs and communicating.

Italy is unique in that they do a few things completely differently than the other countries I’ve visited. There really isn’t such a thing as getting tap water in restaurants; instead it’s large bottles of water that cost between €2 and €3. The meals that we paid for as optional excursions included 3 or 4 courses, but when it came to paying for my own I tended to get pizza (a whole thin crust pizza, as opposed to a slice) for as low as €6, to save money.

Lots of toilets don’t actually have toilet seats, and require crouching over it. To buy food in snack places you pay for the food first and bring a receipt to the person who serves you the food. These may seem like small things, but these and other little things all add up to make Italy the first country where I felt I had to adapt. Then again, we were there for 4 days so I suppose the extended stay could be part of it. Now, on to each city in the order I visited them.

Venice

Venice was the most tourist-y place we’ve visited so far, but that’s part of what makes the city so great. There are so amazing shops to see that a person could easily spend an entire day wandering through the crooked streets and still miss some. I bought a pair of sunglasses for €10 but my friend actually bought a designer pair, which appear to be worth the money.

After we had walked around for about 3 hours we made our way to the gondola (you know, those long skinny boats with a man standing at the back with a long stick) ride, where 6 of us shared one. We had a couple of bottles of wine for the 35-minute journey through the canals of Venice, and just as I started to photograph the sights both my camera batteries died. It hasn’t been easy keeping them charged. I guess my memory will have to suffice for that part of my trip.

Following the gondola ride, we made our way to a nearby Italian restaurant for a very traditional Italian meal. Both of these were optional excursions, which some people chose not to attend. The great thing is you can do your own thing if you’ve got different ways to spend your time. So far I’ve done all of them, and the meal did not disappoint. There were about 5 courses (maybe more), a bottle of wine to split between 2 people, and a man playing the accordion and serenading us. He was so incredibly happy doing his job that it brought a huge smile to my face. Ok, so maybe part of the smile was wine-induced, but the whole dinner experience was a great way to get a feel for Italy.

Venice as a whole, though, felt a little overrated as far as what I expected. I think it’s marketed very well and beautifully portrayed in films, but the reality was that it paled in comparison to some of the other cities, even within Italy.

Rome

Although I would say that Rome was a better experience than Venice (mostly due to the sheer magnitude of its history) it was the city in which I was most ripped off. To avoid focusing on the negative I’ll first say that the buildings and ruins in Rome were an absolutely awesome sight. Rome is such an old city and was once the centre of the Earth, essentially. That part is amazing, but Rome also has its share of swindlers, scam artists and those ready to take advantage of foreigners. It’s something to beware and if not for having been warned I could have fared worse.

Both cab drivers I had charged us too much and tried to take advantage of us, and a restaurant charged us more than the actual cost of the meal. We hadn’t paid enough attention but realized afterwards. We had an extra day in Rome so we got wise to the attempts to milk us of extra money. I guess any country can have dishonest people, but to experience them at just about every turn was frustrating. I’d recommend seeing the city for its undoubtedly breathtaking architecture and history, but be aware that it’s a busy city that sees many tourists and therefore many locals out to make a buck. And yet, some of the street vendors that approach you actually have good deals. For example, 15 roses for €5, as offered to me by a man (who also sold megaphones) outside a bar we were attending.

After my previous experiences, I assume there was a catch of some sort. Oh Rome, why did you have to make me so suspicious of you?

Florence

Prior to leaving for this trip I had a friend tell me Florence was more beautiful and a better overall experience than Rome. I have to agree, and would say that it by far surpassed the other Italian cities. Venice was a cool city to see and Rome was brilliant in its historical significance, but Florence is a city that I could see myself re-visiting in the future. In the afternoon a few us walked around the city and just relaxed after the two days of hectic Rome.

Florence is a cleaner and friendlier city than Rome, in my opinion. It also has some gorgeous buildings and more than enough places to find Italian souvenirs and goods. The evening brought a couple f optional excursions my way, with a Tuscan dinner followed by some karaoke and dancing at a discotheque. It was a great evening of food, drinks and pleasant company. This was one of the first chances we had to visit a club as a group, with the majority of my tourmates opting to attend.

Overall

In a sense, every city I saw in Italy outdid the previous. Despite the struggles and frustrations of some, I’d recommend all three cities as they each bring their own special quality to the Italian experience. Onward to Switzerland, where I hear the water may be free again.

Nick is currently adventuring in Europe. One of RBC's partners, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, has recently launched a travel site featuring exclusive travel deals. Deals are exclusive to students who have RBC No Limit Banking for Students™ and Nick is currently experiencing one of their travel deals. Over the next 2 weeks, Nick will be writing about his experience as he tours Europe on a Contiki tour.