Does anyone know of an English speaking doctor and dentist in the Amandola area? We are jsut preparing information for guests renting our house and realised that it woudl be useful to put in contact details. The pharamcist at Monte San Martino s
The Good Food Channel (Sky 249, Virgin 260) are currently showing a new series where Gary Rhodes travels to nine regions of Italy (Lazio, Sicily, Campania, Tuscany, Le Marche, Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Piedmont and Veneto)
Think this is going to take some getting used to - probably much more functionality but at the moment there doesn't seem to be a structure - while structure can be restrincting (eg all the sniping on the forum about setting up new topics) it does
on the previous forums there were often people coming back with empty vans which could take something - we had a van which came back from le marche at easter - not much help now i know. Given the decling in brits buying in italy though there may be fewer of these vans than previously. Good Luck chris
We did a rennovation so slightly different but echoing what people have already said about things not being included in the basic price - make sure you and your geometra / builder are talking about the same specification - we have a 280sqm house on three floors which our geometra would have crammed in at least 8 bedrooms and only one bathroom - we have 5 beds and 5 bathroms plus downstairs loo - even though we got a really good deal on all the plumbing supplies, tiles etc it is much more expensive to do a bathoom than just tile a floor and plaster the walls. We also had things like "oh did you want that steel support replacing with a wooden one" (what like all the others?) "did you want teh floor at teh top of the stairs remakeing" (what so we don't see the floor downstairs and it doesn't look like a death trap that wouldn't support the weight of a 2 year old let alone a grown man?). We also did not know about the stairs not being included until it was too late to replace them ("so when are you replacing the stairs?" "oh did you want different ones" "no this cement look is just what I want!") We also had an original preventino which was soooooooooo detaile ddown to the last screw but any subsequent things were a lump sum which we couldn't get any detail on - we ended up therefore not doing somethings becasue they were too expensive when we might have looked at a detailed preventio and taken out a couple of expensive bits or found cheaper ways of doign things. Best of Luck Chris
Hi all I've just made a quick trip with a load of furniture and, following the advice, drove through Belgium. However, rather than Lille, I went to Luxembourg via Bruges and Brussels and it was absolutely fine and is virtually the same distance (Google maps shows it as 12km farther): no roadworks and even the R0 Brussels orbital was clear at about 8:30 last Friday morning. Only problem was that there was a short section of the motorway closed before you get to Saarbrucken but the detour only cost about 15minutes. (On the return, the motorway is open all the way.) Incidentally, for those of you with LPG vehicles, it's only 42-44c / litre at the moment in both Belgium and Luxembourg compared mid 60s in France and Germany. Happy driving Duncan (Chris's husband)
Because our notary had to go to a funeral we ended up having to sign our papers on Good Friday - legal stuff took all morning and then we all (apart from the notary) set off for three quarter's of hour drive following our vendor's geometra for lunch not really knowing where we were going. The vendor, his geometra. our lawyer, his translator, us, our two children, then the vendor's wife tuned up with their son. We had an amazing lunch - all fish and about 6 courses - fond memories of our two children (then 9 &7 watching Ready Steady Cook in Italian!)Chris
Haven't had problems going out of Switzerland so haven't done it but if you look at google maps and get the directions going into Switzerland you can then reverse the route. Chris
Wish I'd known this last week as husband is just back in uk after driving to le marche on his own - he went via belgium to save dealing withthe tolls but the fishing net idea is great - an invention for dragon's den?
We drive down from Cheshire to S Marche at least a couple of times a year and do it leaving Cheshire eary one morning and arrive next day late. Leave home at 7am, Dover Calais ferry around 1pm (can't do tunnel due to gpl regulations), drive via Reims and Strasbourg. Stay overnight a Neuemberg am Rheine at the Krone hotel which is reasonably priced, clean, spacious family room (and free wifi) etc and has a nice restaurant (the family also have a butchers so the meat is particularly good) then through Switzerland into Italy. There was a bypass suggested on the old forums to avoid the main crossing at Basle (http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/travel-holiday-advice/9840-driving-down...) which is well worth doing Traffic is usually pretty good until you get to Milan. This route works out much cheaper than France (a year's ticket for Swiss motorways at around £25 is significantly cheaper than one way through Mont Blanc).My husband is there at the moment - he drove on his own (sleeping in the car) - this time he went via Belgium / Luxembourg becuase he felt he would save a lot on not having to stop and get out of the car to do the tolls in N france. Much cheaper due to no tolls and VERY cheap fuel in Luxembourg - we have lpg/gpl which in UK is 48p/litre and in lux was about 42c/litre amd petrol is also cheap. He reckoned 24 hours from Calais to Comunanza including stopping, hours for sleep etc.Won't add to the Le Marche love-in except to say we visited on a whim Easter 2007 (when Ryanair did v cheap flight form Liverpool) and fell in love with it, went back three months later and bought a house to rennovate. As people have said the area is geographically like Umbria but with fewer tourists - rolling hills, fantastic mountains, lovely hill towns and great food - plus the people are genuine - what more could you ask for? Chris
..but we had a similar situation in the states about 10 years ago - the hire company (think it was budget) just brought us a new car which they swapped for the defective one (but then ours hadn't actually broken down it just had major warning lights coming on). From what I remember we were originally asked to go to the nearest depot (which was about 100 miles away and I refused because we had babies and because I didn't see why we should be inconvenienced. Of course it's much easier to argue this at the beginning rather than after you have no car. Think your friend should get on to the head office and tell them how ridiculous what they are asking is - as well as the cost there is the inconvenience.Good LuckChris
Comments posted
on the previous forums there were often people coming back with empty vans which could take something - we had a van which came back from le marche at easter - not much help now i know. Given the decling in brits buying in italy though there may be fewer of these vans than previously. Good Luck chris
We did a rennovation so slightly different but echoing what people have already said about things not being included in the basic price - make sure you and your geometra / builder are talking about the same specification - we have a 280sqm house on three floors which our geometra would have crammed in at least 8 bedrooms and only one bathroom - we have 5 beds and 5 bathroms plus downstairs loo - even though we got a really good deal on all the plumbing supplies, tiles etc it is much more expensive to do a bathoom than just tile a floor and plaster the walls. We also had things like "oh did you want that steel support replacing with a wooden one" (what like all the others?) "did you want teh floor at teh top of the stairs remakeing" (what so we don't see the floor downstairs and it doesn't look like a death trap that wouldn't support the weight of a 2 year old let alone a grown man?). We also did not know about the stairs not being included until it was too late to replace them ("so when are you replacing the stairs?" "oh did you want different ones" "no this cement look is just what I want!") We also had an original preventino which was soooooooooo detaile ddown to the last screw but any subsequent things were a lump sum which we couldn't get any detail on - we ended up therefore not doing somethings becasue they were too expensive when we might have looked at a detailed preventio and taken out a couple of expensive bits or found cheaper ways of doign things. Best of Luck Chris
... but we don't arrive until 13th August - if there's anything during last 2 weeks August then we'll try to come. chris
Hi all I've just made a quick trip with a load of furniture and, following the advice, drove through Belgium. However, rather than Lille, I went to Luxembourg via Bruges and Brussels and it was absolutely fine and is virtually the same distance (Google maps shows it as 12km farther): no roadworks and even the R0 Brussels orbital was clear at about 8:30 last Friday morning. Only problem was that there was a short section of the motorway closed before you get to Saarbrucken but the detour only cost about 15minutes. (On the return, the motorway is open all the way.) Incidentally, for those of you with LPG vehicles, it's only 42-44c / litre at the moment in both Belgium and Luxembourg compared mid 60s in France and Germany. Happy driving Duncan (Chris's husband)
Because our notary had to go to a funeral we ended up having to sign our papers on Good Friday - legal stuff took all morning and then we all (apart from the notary) set off for three quarter's of hour drive following our vendor's geometra for lunch not really knowing where we were going. The vendor, his geometra. our lawyer, his translator, us, our two children, then the vendor's wife tuned up with their son. We had an amazing lunch - all fish and about 6 courses - fond memories of our two children (then 9 &7 watching Ready Steady Cook in Italian!)Chris
Haven't had problems going out of Switzerland so haven't done it but if you look at google maps and get the directions going into Switzerland you can then reverse the route. Chris
Wish I'd known this last week as husband is just back in uk after driving to le marche on his own - he went via belgium to save dealing withthe tolls but the fishing net idea is great - an invention for dragon's den?
We drive down from Cheshire to S Marche at least a couple of times a year and do it leaving Cheshire eary one morning and arrive next day late. Leave home at 7am, Dover Calais ferry around 1pm (can't do tunnel due to gpl regulations), drive via Reims and Strasbourg. Stay overnight a Neuemberg am Rheine at the Krone hotel which is reasonably priced, clean, spacious family room (and free wifi) etc and has a nice restaurant (the family also have a butchers so the meat is particularly good) then through Switzerland into Italy. There was a bypass suggested on the old forums to avoid the main crossing at Basle (http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/travel-holiday-advice/9840-driving-down...) which is well worth doing Traffic is usually pretty good until you get to Milan. This route works out much cheaper than France (a year's ticket for Swiss motorways at around £25 is significantly cheaper than one way through Mont Blanc).My husband is there at the moment - he drove on his own (sleeping in the car) - this time he went via Belgium / Luxembourg becuase he felt he would save a lot on not having to stop and get out of the car to do the tolls in N france. Much cheaper due to no tolls and VERY cheap fuel in Luxembourg - we have lpg/gpl which in UK is 48p/litre and in lux was about 42c/litre amd petrol is also cheap. He reckoned 24 hours from Calais to Comunanza including stopping, hours for sleep etc.Won't add to the Le Marche love-in except to say we visited on a whim Easter 2007 (when Ryanair did v cheap flight form Liverpool) and fell in love with it, went back three months later and bought a house to rennovate. As people have said the area is geographically like Umbria but with fewer tourists - rolling hills, fantastic mountains, lovely hill towns and great food - plus the people are genuine - what more could you ask for? Chris
Think that one is well and truly over Penny - pity Chris
..but we had a similar situation in the states about 10 years ago - the hire company (think it was budget) just brought us a new car which they swapped for the defective one (but then ours hadn't actually broken down it just had major warning lights coming on). From what I remember we were originally asked to go to the nearest depot (which was about 100 miles away and I refused because we had babies and because I didn't see why we should be inconvenienced. Of course it's much easier to argue this at the beginning rather than after you have no car. Think your friend should get on to the head office and tell them how ridiculous what they are asking is - as well as the cost there is the inconvenience.Good LuckChris