Off to Florence / Pisa - general fabness please!

[bramblebooks]

Any recommendations for places to eat (see!!!) in Florence and Pisa? Off with the kids in a week or so.

Will I need more than a day in Pisa - got some flexibility on times.

Youngest ds is registered disabled, anyone know anything about disabilities and tourism in Italy? ( ie 'fastpass' tickets).

If you get time take a trip to nearby Verona. Lots of gorgeous Romeo and Juliet sight seeing to be done, the balcony, the tomb, all very romantic and lovely.

In my opinion don't go to the restaurants in the centre, overpriced and not that good (I'm Italian, BTW) Head down towards the outskirts of the city and stumble upon a traditional, family run trattoria, this is where the best food can be found at a fraction of the price in a far more relaxed environment.

Ooh Pisa and the Campo di Miracoli was where I discovetred I was PG! There are some nice restaurants. Not mentioned already I think is Lucca. Easy trip on the train from Pisa and very lovely!

veggie mummy - sounds gorgeous. We'd not planned on driving in Italy!! As a veggie mummy myself I might give the kebabs a miss, unless they're vegetable ones ;) Siena sounds heavenly.

Cilit, went to Verona last time and rubbed Juliet's lucky tit. All v. gorgeous, and saw 'Carmen' at the Arena. Heavenly!

I'm liking the trattoria idea - we're renting 1km out of town but on a bus route! I speak reasonably good Italian, so am hoping that the children can soak in some atmosphere.

POrto - that's gorgeous and Oooooh! Lucca, I want to go there!

Only a week to go now

Try Del Fagioli, corso Tintori 47 r I - 50122 Firenze. Fantastic family run traditional Tuscan trattoria. Food excellent, as is the value for money, highly recommended. Try the Via Michelin website for restaurants they recommend.

Well if you do happen to find the Egyptian kebab shop from my rediculously vague intructions they some good cheap veggie options. My DH & I are both veggie and that's part of why we love Italy and got married there. So easy to be veggie in Italy. Unfortunately DH has just discovered he is gluten intolerant so future trips may be tricky.

omg veggie mummy, you live my life! my DH has been coeliac for 11 years now. One of our hold luggage bags will be full of GF bread!

We certainly will go on a mission for the Egyptian kebab shop!

Ta cilit

(saying that Florence etc is a bit expensive being rather akin to saying that the Arctic circle gets a "bit" nippy.....)

My credit card has still never recovered...and I was last there in 92.

T'is lovely though. Enjoy!

The icecream shop at the end of the ponte vecchio (sorry spelling) - well most of the ice cream shops really - fabulous, the children will love them!

The biboli gardens (again hideous spelling) beautiful, but a bit steep perhaps for a wheelchair.

have a fab time, been there twice, would live there is i could!

OOOO. Mind you, probably won't be saying oooo once I've changed some £ to Euro.

There's an ice cream shop opposite our apartment too DS isn't a wheelchair user but does need to rest. I've sussed out the bus routes!

We had no kids last time we went to Florence - have just heard about the hundreds of pounds my mate spent on food on her last holiday to Rome. Eek.

Well, its been about 4 years since i was there last, and as long as you dont eat in the main piazzas but chose restaurants in the side roads, it was pretty reasonable I thought. Especially if you stick to local dishes and wine. Beer is expensive.

last time in italy was rome with 3 children and it really wasnt too expensive = they did get fed up with the walking though so we got cabs a lot - very very cheap and easy to get one. Not too sure how florence cabs are though.

When i went with my ds 7yrs stayed at the seaside Viareggio, - a traditional Italian seaside with a beautiful promenade and restaurants full of children.
I took a day trip to Pisa - about 1/2 on the train - really easy
We went into the beautiful town of Lucca for the day on the train - about 20 mins
The train to florence was about 1 1/2
It was lovely for my son to have a few days at the seaside