Evening star., 1938-08-28
The Travellers Notebook
In Which Guest Writer Pens d Few Observations,
Some Practical, Some Whimsical, for Frst-Tnp
Travellers to Italy.

well. You buy coupons from your
travel agent that pay for your hotel
anywhere in Italy. There are seven
classes Of hotels in price range, be-
ginning with the IL" Quxury) and
IS" (superior) and then running from
"A" through "E." At a lower rate
than you would have to pay in cash
at the hotel itself you can buy cou-
pons for whatever class Of hotel that
you prefer. and your coupon specifics
whether you get room with or with
out bath and whether you get all your
meals at your hotel, also
Coupon prices this summer range
from approximately IS for room
with bath and all meals at an y"
hotel to about q dollar for a room
without bath and only breakfast and
one other meal at an "E" hotel. No
matter what class of coupons you buy
before leaving home, once in Italy
you can pay the difference and stay
at better class hotel. or if you stay
at lower class hotel you are paid
the difference in price by the hotel
management. Then, too, when you
buy your hotel coupons you get a
book listing all the hotels in Italy.
from which you can choose the ones
where you want to stay.
RUT the wonders Of your travel agent
don't cease here. He urges you
also to buy your railway ticket for
the entire time you're 70 be in Italy
before you leave home. If you're to
you do buy your railway ticket either
before you leave for Italy or. before
you've been there three days, you got
a so per cent reduction in price.
Then you become introduced to
what is known as tourist lire. 1t seems
confusing at first because you see your
self going around spending a special
kind of money with tourist" stamped
on it, But it's not that. Lire leach
is worth about S cents) are all the
same Tourist lire consist only Of
checks for Italian lire that you get
at better rate of exchange than If
you waited until you reached Italy
and converted your dollars into lire
there.
BY the time you stagger out Of your
agents Office, heavily burdened with
wallet full of hotel coupons, railway
tickets and tourist lire check books
you have sudden feeling you can't
60 to Italy at all. You've spent all
your money. And then suddenly you
remember at lot of other things you
meant to ask your agent, but never
quite got around to 1t, what with all
the discussion of money and one thing
or another. You're going to a Fascist
country and you don't know any of
the rules; and you would have liked
to have known some dishes besides
spaghetti that you could order and be
typically Italian, something like the
French "peches flambes" or "crepes
suzettes"; and you would have liked
to know whether it really is true that
the italian men do have that unique
little greeting for likely looking ladies'
THEN you arrive in Italy and here
are few things you discover:
When you address an Italian with
a phrase from your little red book
ie. "Quanto?" or e questa la stanza
di bagno?"-more likely that not he'll
answer in English.
Italy is very sunny and frightfully
hot in summer. particularly climbing
Mount Vesuvius.
Another world exists on the bal
comics and rooftops in Italy. There is
nothing that quite equals leaning
back in a deck chair on lofty balcony
overhanging the Bay of Naples at
Sorrento and hearing the fishermen
as they glide by in boats far below
you as they sing "Funiculi, Flnicula.' y
THE most beautiful automobile drive
in the world is from Sorrento to
Amalfi. along a winding ledge above