Tours Other Than Rick Steves': 2002
There are lots of European tours available: one-day tours of a city or on a side trip...factory tours...two- or three-week bus, biking, or hiking tours. Here are some you recommend:
WEX Club Tours
Check out the World Explorers Club at www.wexclub.com They don't do many
European tours, but their trips are quite interesting from an archeological
perspective. Check out David Hatcher Childress' 'Lost Cities' series of
travel books and you'll get the feel of his WEX trips. Rick and David are
my favorite and only travel guides.
Walter
San Diego, CA USA 11/30/02
Acco-Dispo Tour
After a one week stay in Paris, a group of 8 adults joined a tour arranged
by the Acco-Dispo Tour Company listed in the Rick Steves guide to France.
All arrangements were made on-line with Dominique. We stated our preferences
of places to visit and days available and they did the rest — hotel and
train reservations had to be confirmed from here but it was easy. Owner,Pascal
Accolay was our driver. He quickly got to know each of us and was flexible
to make changes to meet our needs. The hotels and restaurants chosen were
unique and delightful. He was most patient translating menus and other information.
We visited chateaux in the Loire Valley. The trip to Normandy coincided
with the Veteran's/Armistice Day Holiday — quite moving! The visit to the
Abbey at Mount St. Michele and overnight stay in St. Malo were particular
high points. We saw parts of France that we could never have done on our
own. We recommend him for an individualized tour.
Bob and Mary Ann Cain
Salinas, CA USA 11/29/02
Paris L'Open Bus Tours
Just got back from a week in Paris. We had a wonderful time, but would not
recommend the L'Open Tour buses for people visiting Paris in the off season.
The buses come by only 1/3 as frequently as during the summer, and many
of them don't complete the routes, so you're left waiting 30 minutes at
a random stop on the route for another bus to come by. While we were standing
around waiting for a bus, we saw lots of the Cars Rouges buses going by,
so it looks like their schedule is better in the off season. I would recommend
them over L'Open Bus for cheesy off-season Paris overview tours.
Beth
Edmonds, WA USA 11/25/02
Spain — Seville private tour guide
My friend Kate and I just returned from 2 weeks in Spain. We hired a private
guide in Seville and want to share our experience. Dan O'Beirne of Magical
Spain did an excellent job of personalizing the 5 hour tour we signed up
for of Seville. The wish list of the things we wanted to see and do was
ambitious for the 2 and half days we would spend there. To help us make
the best use of our time, Dan helped us work out which things we could easily
do on our own. Then we set off to explore places that I'm sure we would
have missed without him. Dan expertly anticipated what we would enjoy most
and adjusted to "our" pace without skipping a beat. Dan took us to a little
hat shop and translated as the shopkeeper told us about some of the traditional
hats of the region. He even helped us get tickets to an "off the tourist
track" Flamenco show at the local Community Center. An impromptu sherry
tasting at a great little outdoor cafe produced our wine list on a napkin
that we carried with us and used for the rest of our trip through Spain.
We loved Dan's enthusiasm for the city and his great stories about the architecture,
history and people who came to live in Seville. Our tour with Dan was money
and time well spent and is on our top ten lists of recommendations of things
to do in Spain. www.magicalspain.com (5 hrs — 165 euros)
Terry
Newark, DE USA 11/23/02
Tours in Italy
We recently travelled to Italy and had our tours in Rome, Venice and Florence
organised by Natalie at NLB Travel. She was very helpful and gave us some
great recommendations of places to visit and restaurants in each area and
we would definitely recommend her. The website is www.nlbtravel.co.uk or
you can e-mail her at info@nlbtravel.co.uk
Natasha Witmore
Boston, USA 11/21/02
Dolomites Day Tour out of Venice
A tour company called "Venice-Day-Tours" has a day trip to the Italian Alps
(the Dolomites) which was wonderful. We saw absolutely spectacular close-up
views of the mountains and lakes as well as several small towns of the Veneto
and Cortina. Jonathan and Monica run this business and are very helpful.
They are adding longer hiking tours in the Dolomites next year. We also
took their day tour of the Hilltowns of Veneto and had a blast, especially
sampling prosecco!
Pamela Thames
Westminster, CA USA 11/07/02
Impressionist trip
In Paris recently we took a day trip to Giverny and Auvers sur Oise with
Paris Euroscope. It was a bit pricey-116 euros each — but well worth it.
They picked us up at the hotel, we were in a small van with 3 other couples
and guide. The guide went out of his way to make the trip worthwhile, even
taking us to several towns not on the tour on our way! We toured the American
Museum, Monets home and gardens (it is breath-taking-flowers, home, gardens,
water lilies!), had lunch at a lovely old mill made into a restaurant (with
wine!), saw Van Gogh's home and grave, and had time for a little free time
in the village. Then, we were delivered back to the hotel. Was a highlight
of the trip and I would recommend it to all. www.euroscope.fr or arrange
through your hotel
Sara Vogel
Atlanta, Ga USA 11/06/02
hotel tours
I booked a bus tour from hotel to Pisa. It was great. I like to use a hotel
in a major city as a base and book from there. I understand that rather
than try to navigate the coast, a base in Naples is convenient to the ferry
to Sorrento and Capri. A bus tour way up in the mountains to El Escorial
is a must from Madrid. It's only an hour but worth the bus trip. What a
sight!
Marie
Verona, NJ USA 11/05/02
Edinburgh Day Tour — Rabbie's
If your in Edinburgh I highly recommend one of the day tours with Rabbie's
Tours — especially with Shelby! She's the greatest! We took the tour to the
Highlands/Loch Ness/Glencoe. It was so beautiful and so much fun. Shelby
made the long "12 hours" more worthwhile! There are other tours that are
shorter but I must say this tour was fantastic. Shelby is very informative/knowledgeable
and she was ALWAYS pleasant, accomodating and so much fun! I was told that
many of the guests who stayed at my B&B (Dunedin), also enjoyed their tours
and spoke very highly of Shelby as well. We were given enough time at each
stop to enjoy each place. I felt the bus was comfortable enough for that
long ride. I will definitly take another one of their tours when I go back!
Rose
San Francisco, CA USA 10/30/02
Florentia / Firenza Antica in Florence
One of the delights of our trip to Italy was a guided tour in Florence by
a docent from Florentia, formerly Firenza Antica, a walking tour service
recommended by Rick Steves. Founder Simone Gaddini got high marks for advance
communication. He emailed for information on how to customize the tour,
then to confirm something he faxed and called my office. The docent, Simone
Anichini, was inspiringly passionate in his talks and flexible in his tour
agenda. He was a very bright and likable gentleman who clearly loves art,
Florence and helping others appreciate them. His talk about the David as
art and political history was deeply informative and his enthusiasm was
infectious. The time flew as he took us through the city and explained its
history and architecture. Highly recommendable.
Tim
Oak Forest, IL USA 10/26/02
Scala Reale in Rome
We took several types of tours with Scala Reale in Rome, recommended by
Rick Steves, and enjoyed them immensely. The docents we had were bright,
pleasant and well informed. They could discuss the planned itinerary very
knowledgeably and fielded a variety of questions, some of which seemed to
be like trivia tests which they handled amiably. I was impressed with their
range and enthusiasm. SR had documents waiting for us at our hotel and the
docents were almost always starting when and where they should. Before each
semi-private walk there seemed to be a little administrative confusion,
with some cell-phoning and referring to lists, but they always sorted things
out and got underway in good shape. We had a private tour on one day with
an extremely informative docent, although we were surprised that we were
expected to pay for his entrance fees and his lunch. Altogether very recommendable.
Tim
Oak Forest, IL USA 10/26/02
Venicescapes Itinerary
Our least rewarding experience during our trip to Italy was an itinerary
with Venicescapes, which is recommended by the Rick Steves book. We had
substantial problems with both the format of the itinerary and the docent.
This is not a walking tour of Venice, as we had mistakenly expected, but
a series of lectures, albeit erudite, delivered after walking to various
points in the city and using some sights as illustrations. They were rendered
in a dull and rote-recitation manner as if the docent were reading from
an encyclopedia. He made it clear he did not want to answer questions not
related to the lecture material. We found him to be disconnected and even
dismissive and disdainful at times. Between lecture points he often walked
15 paces ahead of us and also made about two dozen phone calls during the
walk. After an hour, we debated ditching him and striking out on our own,
but we d paid $275 and chose to stick it out. By the last hour we were
counting the minutes. Also, while we were foretold there may be a fee for
entry to a private residence on this walk, we were surprised to learn that
it cost $30, and we found the residence to be only mildly interesting.
Tim
Oak Forest, IL USA 10/26/02
Rome tours!
Just returned back from rome this week. What a city! We ran into this
cultural association there called Saturnalia. Incredible! We did all of
their tours. We did this tour that takes you through these little hidden
piazzas in Rome, with this Australian named Tanya. We had some fun on that
one they gave us some wine at the beginning of that tour. We took a sunset
tour with Wendy (alabama?). We also did their Vatican tour with Tony from
PA. All of the tours were incredible. they were so friendly and so helpful.
gave us lots of dinner recomendations. I still have their flyer. One to
decorate the photo album. Their info was: saturnaliawalks@yahoo.com
Dani
Philadelphia, PA USA 10/26/02
kudos for discover rome
When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and also check out Discover Rome. I have
been on 2 of their guided tours through the Vatican and the catacombs. You
will see them give free tours of the collesseum. The guides are young and
energetic and full of information you've never heard before!
lucy
akron, OH USA 10/20/02
Globus/Trafalgar
I have been on the following bus tours with Globus: 10-day Northern Italy,
10-day Southern Spain, and 7-day England/Wales/Scotland. Also, an 8-day
Russia tour with Trafalgar. Both Globus and Trafalgar tours were very similar.
Since I am a woman and was travelling alone on the Italy, Spain and Russia
tours, it was an excellent way for me to travel. Although the majority of
the people on the tours were older couples, there were always a few single,
younger people to hang around with. On the England tour I was with my boyfriend.
He and I just got back from an independent tour of Germany and Austria where
we rented a car and , as a couple, we preferred that method to the tour.
The pluses to the tour mode are many — all arrangements are made for you, you get to relax on the bus, you see a lot of attractions without waiting in long lines. I think one of the best things is that they are so educational because the tour guides talk most of the time you are on the bus about the history and culture.
The downside to the tours is that you don't get a lot of free time to explore on your own and there are some attractions or places that you spend more time than you would like and some not enough. And, of course, on every tour there was at least one obnoxious person who complained about everything or was always late or couldn't keep up with the walking or got lost.
Overall, I enjoyed the tours and I thought they were a very
good value for the price. I think it depends a great deal on where you are
going, who you are going with and whether you feel more comfortable being
with a group or being on your own when deciding whether or not to take this
type of tour.
Kathy Ann Walsh
Scottsdale, AZ USA 10/09/02
Brewers Berlin
Kudos on Brewers Berlin Walking Tour. I've done many walking tours this
summer (London, Paris, Edinburgh, etc.) and by all means this is the best — over 10 hours long, all interesting. Terry knows his stuff. Berlin is
a fascinating city.
Tom Pedersen
Paris, France 09/06/02
Mike's Bike Tours Barcelona
The afternoon tour was great and really a lot of fun, but I want to send
out a WARNING TO WOMEN who might be considering meeting the group to go
out at night. After hanging out at a bar and a dance club with the 20 somethings
from our tour group, we found out that the guides had taken this job for
the sole purpose of getting in the pants of young traveling girls. The worst
experience of our trip was worriedly searching the streets of Barcelona
for an hour in the wee hours of the morning until we found our friend close
to tears in an alley pushing the tour guide off of her. I had an opposite
experience with the very nice guides in Paris and have heard good things
about the tours in other cities, but if you do the tour in Barcelona make
alternate late night plans, and warn others in your tour group.
USA 09/05/02
Mike's Bikes in Munich
I did a bike tour in Munich with Mike's Bikes, a complete and total waste
of time and money. While at the meeting point, the manager convinced my
buddy and I to do the combination Dachau and Munich trip, costing us 29
euros. The Dachau tour consisted of a guide getting us to the memorial site
and back to town. Not a scrap of info on the concentration camp nor of Munich!
She did start us off with a nice pre-recorded intro of her life story. A
dreadful start.
Then came the city bike tour. The tour guide was a fun dude,
full of enthusiasm. Unfortunatly, he knew squat about German history. I
have a degree in the subject, am currently working on my master's, and pointed
out his massive historical mistakes one by one as we pedalled through town.
His reply was that he sometimes "gets carried away." This just burns me;
he almost admitted to making up most of the tour and there were almost thirty
tourists who went away taking this all in as gospel. After taking dozens
of tours of all types through Europe, I have finally found one worse than
the McDonald's bus tour in Rome. Avoid Mike's Bike tour in Munich.
Forrest Meyer
Seaside , OR USA 09/03/02
Cosmos Tour
My wife and I recently took a tour on Cosmos, mainly due to the low price
and the recommendation from our travel agent. We would have loved to have
joined a ETBD tour but it exceeded our budget for our vacation. All the
things Rick Steves warns us about on these bus tours were present to a degree,
but overall we still had a wonderful time and really enjoyed Europe. I wrote
a more extensive review of the tour and you can find it on my webpage at
http://www.nyx.net/~anwong/cosmos.html
Anthony
Sacramento, CA USA 08/30/02
Venice Walks and Tours
Recently took the Grand Canal intro tour on our first day in Venice, given
by VeniceWalksandTours.com. A lovely intro to Venezia — in a taxi with
only 8 others, prosecco included — so we thought we'd take another, the
Casanova tour of Venice. Their tours are delightful, informative, reasonable
and only for small groups. nexst time I'm going for the Ghost Tour!
Emma
Atlanta, GA USA 08/15/02
Ghost Tours
On our recent trip to the UK, it was sometimes challenging to keep our two
children, ages 8 and 10, interested in the seemingly endless sightseeing.
Thus we are especially appreciative of two "ghost tours" that we participated
in, each lasting about 2 hours in the early evening and costing 10 to 20
UKP for a family of four. The first,offered by Mercat Tours in Edinburgh,
visited various "haunted" sites, including underground chambers allegedly
used by nefarious individuals such as the infamous bodysnatchers of the
19th century. Our guide, Faith, dressed in black, was thoroughly entertaining!
The second ghost tour, offered by The Original London Walks, was led by
Sean (again dressed in black with the exception of his deathly white face!)in
the St. Pauls Cathedral area of London. Both tours concluded at local pubs.
Sure, these tours were maybe a bit short on historical accuracy but were
good fun all the same!
Bill Niemann
Dubuque, IA USA 08/07/02
Italy Tour
My boyfriend and I (along with a group of 4 others) went on an excellent
2 week tour of the Tuscany region of Italy with Andiamo. This was our first
time in Italy and I would have to say we were more than pleased. Jancie
Rudd took us to small towns such as Certaldo (where we stayed in a great
villa), Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra, Montevarchi and Cinque Terre (very
pretty). We had several wine tasting tours, a cooking class day with a wonderful
Italian chef and great shopping! After Certaldo, we went Florence for a
few days then to Venice. While in Venice we took a little day trip over
to Burano. The entire trip was great and very reasonably priced. Plus Janice
speaks great Italian! Get more info at www.andiamospecialtytravel.com
Angie H
Houston, TX USA 08/05/02
UK Tours
We wanted a tour that was a bit more for younger people and we found it
with Road Trip. We went on the Southern tour which took us down to Cornwall.
It was really cool and because it was aimed at the younger market it was
full of energy and exciting things. An enthusiastic and knowlegable tour
guide was with us the whole way and we stayed in some really nice hostels
and bnb's. it was also a very good price. Highly reccommended! Their website
is www.roadtrip.co.uk
Rachel Taylor
New York, USA 08/02/02
Private Guide in Paris/Nice
My wife and I began our honeymoon in Paris during the last week in June.
It was our first international traveling experience. Because of over estimated
language barrier intimidations and because I felt we deserved something
special to start our honeymoon I suprised my wife with a private guide for
our first day. We had a great time! Our guide, Agnes Dumartin, was wonderful.
She is an Art History graduate and it was apparent that she had a great
deal of information to offer as we roamed many of Paris' sights. She will
be moving to Nice soon where she will be giving tours also. She can be reached
on her cellular phone at: 06 81 82 17 67 or adumartin@voila.fr. If you have
any questions please e-mail me. I'd love to hook-up a great traveler and
a great guide as my experience was so much fun.
Joshua Bettencourt
Roseville, CA USA 07/26/02
Tour guides in Rome & Barcelona
We've had two excellent experiences with tour guides. One was in Rome, with
Daniella Hunt, who took us on a tour of underground Rome. She was able to
make it all come alive. Her web site is http://www.rome-tours.com/book.shtml
The other was in Barcelona earlier this year. This was a small organisation
with various themed tours. It was only the two of us and we had a great
time. http://www.myft.net
Doug
07/20/02
Walking Tours Rome
There's an Irish guy who does a free tour in the Roman Forum, very funny,
former teacher, and compared to the other people who do free tours there,
he was way better — it was unscripted (unlike a lot of the other tours that
are given for free) I think his name was Colin or Collum. He gave me a private
tour of the Vatican which was great. I have his card, he's at www.geocities.com/vinorosso.
Jay
NY, NY USA 06/20/02
Through Eternity — Guided Tours Rome
We made arrangements with Through Eternity (www.througheternity.com) and
went on all of their tours. They were wonderful! The tour guides were so
passionate about the subjects they presented. Not to be missed.
Richard
San Jose, CA USA 06/12/02
guided tours — Rome
We found Scala Reale tours to be an excellent alternative to the cattle
drives you usually get with tours of the Forum, Colloseum, etc. Their web
site explains it all. As a "member" you can join the tours. Worth it!!
Dennis Rizzo
Mount Holly, NJ USA 06/12/02
Missed opportunity
If you have at least 4 hours between flights connecting at Schiphol Airport
in Amsterdam, look for the bus tour booth. We were sad that we discovered
it too late to enjoy the short tour that included a visit to a cheese factory
and a wooden shoe factory.
Carol
USA 06/10/02
Cooking Tour in Florence
The Accidental Tourist cooking tour in Florence was incredible. Besides
a wine tour and tasting of wine and olive oil, Tim, our guide and cooking
teacher taught us how to make pasta in a beautiful country villa. It was
a wonderful full day and now my husband can make me dinner!
Sharon Fredrickson
Miami, FL USA 06/06/02
Bike Tours
I just got back from Amsterdam and took a great bike tour with Mike's Bike
Tour. The guide was friendly, funny and had a ton of useful information.
It is a great thing to do so you know the city and get the insider tips.
There are brochures everywhere in the city telling where the meeting point
is. They also have tours in Barcelona, Paris and Munich. I definitely recommend
it even if you aren't an avid cycler. If I survived, anyone can.
Heidi
Dallas, TX USA 05/28/02
Assisi Walking Tour
We were part of one of Anne Robichaud's group tours of Assisi. While her
private tours are somewhat pricey (as per Rick's book), you can be a part
of a group of about 12 visitors at a *very* reasonable price. She offers
a wealth of knowledge about St. Francis and the sites of his home town...
well worth your investment of time. If you get the chance, definitely take
advantage of the possibility of having lunch with her and the group after
the tour. You can get details at http://www.annesitaly.com.
David Ourisman
Berkeley, CA USA 05/23/02
through eternity
Just returned from Rome and Sperlonga. In Rome we booked tours with Through
Eternity. We showed up at the meeting point provided but no guide showed
up so we contacted them and they told us the guide would be there the next
day. The guide did show up the next day but refused to give the tour as
we were the only 2 that showed. They then told us we could do the Vatican
tour for 1/2 price. Guess what, no guide showed up for the Vatican!
jim guthrie
Seattle, USA 05/22/02
Tour Guide in Prague
While in Prague my sister and I wanted to find the small village our grandfather
came from in Czech. We went to the TI in the main square. The young girl
was very helpful. She called a man named Demitrius and he picked us up within
a couple of hours. We took off in a van to a town nobody heard of. But we
found it. Over a 150km way. Went to the church and cemetary. Then went into
the village looking for our family. He spoke to several people for us. We
had pictures and papers from ellis island. He spent eight hours with us
and even found us a hotel back in prague. (we thought we'd stay closer to
the town. But there was no tranportation back) He was so helpful and still
corresponding with people in Ceske Libchavy and us by e-mail. All of this
for $120 euros. I'd recommend him to anyone wanting to see any part of Praha.
He speaks perfect english. contact him at info@royalrent.cz phone is 42-0604993588
or 4202/22247515
Donna H
Bartlett, IL USA 05/16/02
Tangier bus tour from Nerja
Nerja, Spain we have seen an advertisement from a local co. that is offering
a weekend bus trip to Tangier. Leave Fri. two nights in a four star hotel
return Sun. Booked right now so couldnīt take but the price is only 57 euros!
Drew Barron
London, UK 04/14/02
Private Rome Tour Guide
Before leaving for our March 2002 Rome trip, at our request, our hotel in
Rome gave us the name of a local Rome tour guide for private tours. We booked
a 4-hour tour of the city with him for the day of our arrival. He picked
us up at our hotel and took us in his own car around the city. Although
the tour covered a list of things, still it was flexible; for example, he
stopped at one location after I told him my profession as he thought the
site would interest me. Going in private car enabled us to see many places
we would not have otherwise visited while in Rome. I highly recommend the
tour guide, Valerio Morante, who is a licensed Rome guide (apparently you
have to be licensed in each city in Italy). His e-mail address is valpiu@libero.it
Ciao!
Donna Longhouse
Tampa, FL USA 04/08/02
Original London Walks
Just back from London with a 14 year old. Take the "Original London Walks"
of Old Hampstead. We did it on Sunday morning with Charles. He was a delight.
Also took the Explorer Day out to Richmond and Hampton Court with them and
it was a great day that also included a river cruise up the Thames, into
a lock which was raised and open to let our boat pass and docking just like
Henry VIII would have done at Hampton Court. My son was very impressed.
Then we did their Ghosts of London walk on a rainy night. What fun and all
of the guides are very informed. It only costs five pounds for the 2 hour
walks (you can get a discount card if you plan on taking more than one walk)
and you meet at the designated underground station. I have also done their
night pub walks and the one along the Thames is great. Their web site is
"www.walks.com" Check it out if you are going to London.
B. Weisenbach
Barrington, NJ USA 03/26/02
D-Day Beaches, Normandy
If you are thinking of going to the D-Day beaches in Normandy, I really
suggest doing some sort of tour. We first signed up for a bus tour that
left from Paris, but then we discovered that there are much cheaper tours
that leave from Bayeux (a really cute town close to the beaches) and the
train tickets to get there from Paris are only about $10. I think the tickets
were about $20 a person. Just go to the Bayeux tourist office and there
are a lot of whole and half day tours to sign up for. Or call the office
ahead (sorry I don't have the number anymore, but it should be in any guidebook)
and reserve a spot, which is what we did. It was so valuable to hear the
facts about each place from the tourguide, not to mention the beaches seem
to be difficult to get to on your own. The beaches were a highlight of our
2 month trip and I highly recommend it as a day trip for anyone visiting
Paris.
Jen
Boston, MA USA 03/26/02
Three Amigos Tours in Rome
For our tour of the Forum we used a Scottish professor
of history named Chay and he was amazing, he gave us his e-mail address
which is threeamigostours@hotmail.com. I have a son aged 6 who cried when
we had to finally leave this guy!
craig lyle
seattle, USA 03/17/02
Moscow-A Great Tour Group
In Moscow I have used Patriashy Dom as a tour company: www.russiatravel-pdtours.netfirms.com
They run many daily excursions at reasonable prices — their guides are very
good, especially Felix Meltser (I took about 15 tours with him in the last
few years). You can also hire their guides privately.
Marc David Miller
New York, NY USA 03/17/02
St. Petersburg, Russia-a great guide
From a recommendation on www.LonelyPlanet.com board I met Olga Stepanova,
a guide in St Petersburg, Russia. She can be reached at stepanovaolga@hotmail.com
I used her for several days in St Petersburg and she was wonderful — so good
that I brought her with me to the Lake Baikal region so that she could translate
for me. Several of my friends hired Olga for their tours in St. Petersburg
as well and agree with me. Her prices are very reasonable, and I found her
to be a needed resource, even though this was my third trip to St. Petersburg.
I have had friends show me around, and have taken other guides in Petersburg,
but using Olga was more efficient — I have a great knowledge of Russian history,
and she would arrange for guides from some of the museums to show me their
collections, while she would simultaneously translate for me. For most of
the less-specialized sights (Hermitage, Peterhof, city tours) Olga is licensed
and quite knowledgable. I have already booked her for my next trip in June.
Marc David Miller
New York, NY USA 03/17/02
Prague-A Great Tour Guide
I used a wonderful guide in January 2001, Nina Jelinkova. Her life story
is something out of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"; her mother was
Jewish and lived in England during the war, became a Communist party member,
then left in 1968 and returned to find her job gone. Nina had great difficulty
getting into university because of her mother's "suspicous" past. Later,
Nina was trained as a civil engineer, which is why she knows the architecture
of Prague so well. Even though I have read about 10-15 books on Prague art
and architecture and history, she brought the streets and buildings to life
for me, something that I could not have done on my own or in a large group.
Several of my friends have used her as well and were quite satisfied with
their tours. Her contact information is Nina Jelinkova JelinkovaNina@volny.cz
Cost is quite reasonable for a westerner — usually not much more than a group
tour (please confirm these rates).
Marc David Miller
New York, NY USA 03/17/02
Guided Jewish Heritage tours in Spain
Recently enjoyed a guided Jewish heritage tour in Spain which helped us
trace our Sephardic Jewish roots and the horror of the Inquisition which
started in Seville in 1478. The tours are run by a small American company
based in Seville with resident expat & Spanish guides full of history, medieval
egends, insider's insight and a sense of humor. They are reached at www.MagicalSpain.com
M.D. Levi
mlevi@wmjcorp.com, CA USA 03/10/02
Ski Europe
Just back from ski trip to Trois Vallees in France followed by 3 nights
in Nice. Ski Europe has packages to many areas at good prices. Be advised
that their initial price should be multiplied by at least 2 to get total
cost of trip even if you stay out of expensive restaurants. They didn't
even cover the cost of transfer from hotel in Nice to Nice airport at end
of trip for 6 of us.
"Insurance" they sell will only refund $500 of the amount you paid them
if you cancel in the 35 days before the trip. I'd have lost $1300 if my
elderly husband had another stroke. The set up good trips but with these
caveats.
Ellen Jori
Occidental, CA USA 02/16/02
USO Tours
For Americans with an military i.d. card (retired too), the USO in Rome
has tours that are led by very informed people for reasonable prices. The
USO is near the Vatican at Via del Mascherino 37; Phone: 6-686-4232. They
will also cash checks for euros up to $200. This helped us when the ATM
machines did not work the day we arrived. The USO also has a web site (http://www.uso-center.org).
J. King
Fayetteville, GA USA 02/16/02
Enjoy Tours
I highly recommend Enjoy Tours which is based in Germany. My cousin is in
the Army, based in Weisbaden, and told us to try Enjoy Tours since they
cater to the servicemen and their families. We did the 3 countries tour
where we went to Switzerland, Austria, Lichtenstein. The tours are affordable
and the guides and bus drivers spoke excellent English. The tour buses were
big and comfortable. Visit them at www.enjoytours.com!!
Shauna
ROSWELL, Ga USA 02/15/02
Barcelona Spain Tours
We had a great private tour guide in Barcelona. She is an American woman
named Debbie who has lived there for some time, and she helped make our
experience in Barcelona a great one. Debbie knows much about the history,
culture and people of Barcelona and she was also a lot of fun to be with.
We saw in one day with her what would have taken us 3 days to see on our
own. She was also helpful with recommendations for good restaurants and
stores with the best deals. For lunch, she took us to a wonderful tapas
bar. She also gives tours to sights outside of the city, such as Montserrat
and other places. You can contact Debbie at debiness@aol.com.
Marie
Chattanooga, TN USA 02/08/02
First Taste of Europe
My wife and I took the Trafalgar Tour "European Highlights" and found it
simply wonderful :) We spent two days in London, a day in Amsterdam, a day
in Germany, two days in Lucerne (Switzerland) and two days in Paris. It
was a great introduction to Europe and the escorted tour concept. Even though
we were from a pretty "exotic" land (from The Bahamas), everyone firgured
out our accents :) and treated us nicely, and we got along well. My only
regret is that we did not choose a longer tour, because it was so much fun.
triom
Eric (triom)
Nassau, Bahamas 01/29/02
Tapas tour in Madrid
Stephen Drake-Jones now charges 25 Euros for Wellington Society membership
and tour.
Linda
Seattle, WA USA 01/29/02
UK ideas
Footpath Holidays offers wonderful, reasonably priced walking tours in the
UK. They offer delux accommodations, 3 meals per day and are wonderful people
to deal with. I took the Cotswolds walking tour, which was based in Stroud,
and really enjoyed it. Walking is the best way to really see new places.
Their website is http://www.footpath-holidays.com/ Also in the UK, I've
taken two day trips from London with Backroads Touring Company (www.backroadstouring.co.uk).
Both tours were really excellent (great guides, great sights that were off
the beaten path). Although they no longer offer the day trips from London,
they do have a few London tours (they also do longer tours in UK and Europe),
and I think they are worth investigating.
Susan
CA USA 01/25/02
TOURS IN ROME
I took a tour recently with a company called Odyssey Tours. Their guides
were very friendly, enthusiastic and had a great knowledge of Rome and it's
history. They were very reasonably priced and gave lots of advice on hotels,
restaurants, bars, shopping etc. You can contact them on www.odyssey-tours.com
Natalie Brown
London, England 01/10/02
riverboat tours
Took a tour on riverboat down the Danube to Christmas Markets. Boat, crew
and staff were excellent. Fellow passengers were a bunch of pretentious
snobs! I hope other cruises are not filled with the same type passengers;
Was made to feel like an Innocent Abroad, although this was our 6th tour
of Europe! We will stick to bus type tours in future, nicer bunch of travelers.
Barbara Ormonde
Ontario, CA USA 01/06/02