East coast Corsica?

[MapisM]

i guess the trains arent running on marine diesel.

LOL, actually they dismissed diesel trains already many years ago, around here. :encouragement:
Sorry to hear that your taxi experience was disappointing, but saying that you dislike Italy on that basis looks like a bit of a sweeping generalization.
I met also some British folks that made Germans seem helpful, but I never jumped in such conclusion, if you see what I mean...

 

[adey]

Fuel is disgustingly expensive, I paid 1.78 euro a litre...... Good job we cruise slowly.

Still one good thing we can get to Rome by public transport for 1.50

I paid 1.774 euro/ltr last week in Lavagna (NW Italy). The trains are indeed crazy cheap but even less reliable than the taxis!
Have to say though, that almost all Italians I've met have been terrific people. Love the place.

 

[Lozzer]

MapisM, I agree bit of a generalisation. However, I cannot help but feel the majority of people I have had to deal with are trying to get one over me or just not trying to help.

For instance two people scuba diving for 1 hour using our own equipment so all we needed was guide in a rib. €600. RIP OFF.

Call harbour master / pilots for entering Genova and Livorno. €100 in and out. Just for a VHF call. By the way because one was at 0400 the hit me with a surcharge.

Wondering around town hi can you point me to x. You get given wrong directions every time.

Perhaps the places I have been are the wrong places but I find the place dirty and smelly... Even Rome the biggest tourist site in the country.

Food has been awful, best I have had Chinese takeaway.

The harbour office at Porto did Roma has to be the worst I have been to. Rude and surly middle aged woman behind counter. It was to much effort for her to call me a taxi, she gave me a number that didn't work and then got annoyed when I asked for alternative.

Having said all that we have a choice and I cannot see us coming back to mainland next year. I would sooner go to Turkey.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

MapisM, I agree bit of a generalisation. However, I cannot help but feel the majority of people I have had to deal with are trying to get one over me or just not trying to help.

For instance two people scuba diving for 1 hour using our own equipment so all we needed was guide in a rib. €600. RIP OFF.

Call harbour master / pilots for entering Genova and Livorno. €100 in and out. Just for a VHF call. By the way because one was at 0400 the hit me with a surcharge.

Wondering around town hi can you point me to x. You get given wrong directions every time.

Perhaps the places I have been are the wrong places but I find the place dirty and smelly... Even Rome the biggest tourist site in the country.

Food has been awful, best I have had Chinese takeaway.

The harbour office at Porto did Roma has to be the worst I have been to. Rude and surly middle aged woman behind counter. It was to much effort for her to call me a taxi, she gave me a number that didn't work and then got annoyed when I asked for alternative.

Having said all that we have a choice and I cannot see us coming back to mainland next year. I would sooner go to Turkey.

By contrast we had our first trip by sea to San Remo a few weeks ago, and they couldn't have been nicer. Friendly and helpful ladies in the capitanerie, helpful marineros, cheap berthing, food in town was good and amazingly cheap, and one restaurant we went to was really very good indeed (found it using tripadvisor reviews). Can't wait to go back.

That all said, I agree with you about Rome, we were there last year and I'd have to agree that it was pretty unpleasant, at every level. Full of tourists like us though, so I guess there's no motivation to change.

 

[jfm]

I'm surprised about the charge just to enter genoa lozzer. Bad luck, or maybe is a new thing. I've entered and left several times and never had to pay, but not this year. Hope rest of your summer goes well

 

[Lozzer]

Thanks JFM

I've used an agent for Italy as I have no language skills here. I have managed to use my Spanish on one person, ordered coffee and nice piece of cake.....

I have never felt comfortable in Italy. As you know I'm on a yacht that travels so am happy to go anywhere. This is a no go zone for me now.

I probably don't have to pay these port fees but what can you do, once you are served with the invoice they have you. Fortunately I don't have to use or recommend these people in the future.

Did I see your heading to Corsica and Sardinia. I will be long gone by the time you guys arrive sadly..

Not a busy season this year, only 4000 miles 5 countries.

We are selling our motor boat as the sailing yacht is now in production, then I will be covering some miles I gambling on 20,000 per year..... Lots of countries as well. Hoping my Spanish will be useful.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Lozzer, I've visited Italy more times than I care to remember over 30yrs and I can assure that your experience of Italy and Italian people is entirely untypical. Yes, in the tourist hotspots, they know how to fleece people; they've had hundreds of years of practice. But ordinary Italians are generally as hospitable and welcoming as you could wish for; in fact they put we Brits to shame. As for the food, once again, if you frequent the tourist hotspots, the food is often dire and aimed at extracting the maximum number of Euros from every visitor. But stay away from the tourist areas and you'll eat as well as anywhere in Europe, maybe better. As Jimmy says, Tripadvisor is excellent for identifying good restaurants.
Although this is my first season full time in Italy, I don't recognise the experiences you have had in marinas. In every one I've visited, the staff have been very friendly and helpful. Where I do agree with you is on the costs. Fuel is wallet bustingly expensive as is most anything to do with boating. I don't blame the average Italian for that but Italy's sclerotic political system which has loaded businesses with unsustainable taxes that have to be passed onto customers. Plus of course, a misguided venture into the Euro but that's another argument!

 

[MapisM]

MapisM, I agree bit of a generalisation. However, I cannot help but feel the majority of people I have had to deal with are trying to get one over me or just not trying to help.

Well, again, sorry if your IT experience was so bad.
Otoh, I must say that such a collection of negative-only experiences is indeed unusual, as also others confirmed.
I mean, I'm obviously biased with IT, but I've also been in many other places around the world, including some that are not exactly known for being very civilised and welcoming.
But in none of them my experience has been as bad as the one you are reporting.

"Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind" springs to mind a bit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to turn the tables in Italy's favour.
It might be a common practice (also in many other Countries, if we're honest), but there's no excuse for ripping off tourists, anyway.
Otoh, it's true (again, not an excuse, just a fact) that most of my fellow citizens tend to "react" being unpolite, whenever they sense that someone is standoffish towards them.

The opposite is also true, though.
In fact, coming to think of it, maybe the fact that I never had an array of negative experiences as the one you are reporting, anywhere in the world, has something to see with the fact that I'm used to be as kind as I can with the locals, wherever I am (also within IT itself!).
You know, along the lines of "I'm grateful for the hospitality in your lovely place", rather than "I'm paying for your services, and I'm expecting you to do your best"...

PS: all that aside, fair winds for your next experience with sails, wherever you will be heading.
Knowing from which sort of mobo you are coming from, I can only imagine how gorgeous the yacht will be...!

 

[Lozzer]

Ok I want to balance my view a bit now having spent 2 weeks in Italy.

I think I am working out that Italians are pretty laid back people and happy to go just with the flow. In someways its nice but not when you have pressures of work. Fortunately I have had time to relax and see things from the Italian way. Now when I go to the shops and they are chatting away rather than serving I just browse a little more. No worries i can take my time.


Shops not open when it should be no problem, theres a coffee shop next door lets have a cappucino...

Instead of asking for directions I put on a good pair of shoes and go search, find new parts of the town that I might have missed.

Overall things have improved, I just wish I could communicate better with the locals...

will I come back, not sure, would I recommend yes if you want an easy place to travel in and out of with a massive tourist centre on your door step.

ciao

 

[MapisM]

Overall things have improved, I just wish I could communicate better with the locals...

Beware, that might be dangerous.
In the small island which I call home during summer, I met people from England, Germany, France... even Ecuador.
They came several years ago, and decided to live (mostly) here, go figure...

Glad to hear that you had some better experiences, anyway!

 

[AndieMac]

............In the small island which I call home during summer, I met people from England, Germany, France... even Ecuador.
They came several years ago, and decided to live (mostly) here, go figure...

Ha, that's not a hard one to work out, fascinating, intellectual folks with diverse life experiences on an Island paradise.......could be part of the reason