Customer Reviews

City Walks: Rome: 50 Adventures on Foot

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We recently spent 4 days in Rome, staying in a wonderful apartment we found on the internet. While we had a number of tour books and information we downloaded from the internet, we mostly used our City Walks: Rome cards to organize and follow a daily walking tour. Rome is quite compact and you can walk to most sites, or take a quick cab ride if pressed for time. We often did two or even three walking tour cards in one day. They are clear and useful while walking from one point to another, and if you work it well, you can start one where another ends. We stayed near Piazza Navona, which we found very convenient for The Villa Borghese, The Vatican, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, The Spanish Steps and some of our favorite restaurants. We have now given these cards to several of our friends that where going to Rome, and they loved them as well.

A splendid concept: Fifty 6.5 x 3.75 hard cards, each with a little map on one side, and on the other descriptions of the area's sites, even with dining suggestions. Most guides lack adequate maps; this one provides mapping with a vengeance.

Why then only four stars? The Porta Maggiore, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, San Paolo fuori le Mura, The Borghese Gallery, the Villa Giulia, and The Vatican (Museums and San Pietro) are omitted. Well, I suppose something had to be left out, but why the Vatican? Every schoolboy knows the two poles between which Rome revolves are the Forum and the Vatican. If there's a card for those born to shop (#4, The Via Condotti), then why not one for Christians? I had suspected at first Cultural Marxist PC crime, yet the author's laudatory use of B.C. and A.D. suggests otherwise. Yet A.D. comes before the year, thank you, not after.

There are factual errors that a good editor should have caught; e.g., The Aurelian Walls were built after A.D. 270, not 270 B.C. The site descriptions are very brief, needing as they do to fit on the back of a card. So pilgrims (religious, historical, aesthetic, gustatory) would need another guide for the detail. _The Blue Guide Rome_ in its latest edition, _The Oxford Archeological Guide to Rome_, and _The Companion Guide to Rome_ (A.D. 2003 ed.) would serve all purposes except for shopping, eating, and sleeping.

For those who wish not to lug a book, a commendable job.

I didn't find the cards too useful for information. They do provide a simple route to follow though which is good. Rome has so much to see and these cards provide some info but not enough for a repeat visitor looking for more to discover. The cards would be easy to carry and also you can combine more than one card to allow a longer walking tour of an area.

This is a fun deck of cards. Having been to Rome a couple of times, I know that a first time visiter will also need a more detailed street map to go with this set. I look forward to using them on my next trip.

This was for my trip to Rome last Christmas. Great product, the individual cards were easy to use and carry around.

I have used the Paris version of this product. The pages are easy to use, handy and so informative. You don't have to heed every suggestion, but the information is literally at your fingertips. Can't wait to walk around Rome!

A truly great help when you don't want to look too much like a tourist. Very discreet and truly helpful. Have tried some of their other "walk" products and they are very helpful before you go, while you're there, and after you get home!

I bought these before I went to Rome because I knew I was going to spend a lot of time walking around the city. After I got there I realized that they just weren't very practical. I never ended up using them and just left them at the hotel when I left for other travelers.

The deck is made of heave paper board. We will not be taking it with us. I did enjoy the recommended paths. Have made a choice of several routes that I scanned on #24 paper to take with us.