Venice Day Trips

[Crusin6]

Just be sure you can comfortably drive a stick shift. While it is certainly possible to rent an automatic you will have to pre arrange this. And while there may certainly be an available automatic on the lot at any given time I would not rely on this especially during peak times. So if you want an automatic shift do pre reserve it and expect it to cost much more. To all that will only rent a stick shift that is great but even though I can drive one I have always wanted an automatic in Europe. Just my preference

[Hlitner]

 

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Hank, I know you and your wife spend lots of time in the smaller towns and villages--do you feel the risk is just as great there?

 

I want to answer your question with a no, but we have a good friend who had all their luggage stolen from their car while parked on the street in a small town in Portugal while they were 20 feet away having lunch. That being said, we do sometimes take our chances in the smaller towns of France and Italy (less inclined to do this in Spain). But we both know it is always a risk. And by the way, we think the biggest risk is at the large rest stops along the Autostrade. This has taken on its own life in Italy where there are sometimes "pensioners" who will offer to guard your car for a few Euros. There is an infamous rest stop between Naples and Sorrento where we have run into this a couple of times and its happened in some other rest stops along the popular A1 in Italy.

 

The big problem seems to be the "Roma" or gypsies who have honed their craft over many generations. They are smarter then we tourists and know lots of tricks. During nearly forty years of travel we have managed to stay one step ahead of these "pros" but somehow get the feeling that our time is coming :). I could fill another long post with our personal tales of encounters with gypsies (in Italy, France and Spain) but suffice it to say that that we are still undefeated :)

 

Hank