When I first wrote a blog posting about car rental, I wasn’t sure it was useful. However, the amount of email it and follow-up postings generated convinced me otherwise (So formal! You can just add comments to the postings rather than emailing). This article is a consolidation of those different postings to summarize everything in one place.

Only rent a car if you need it

In many European cities, it is better not to have a car: parking is difficult and expensive, “one way systems” are confusing to navigate, and a car can be slower than public transport at busy times. Unlike the US, many Italian hotels do not have their own parking. Don’t rent a car if you intend to just sightsee in the city itself, and if you need to get out to visit another town or city, consider a train or bus. Services in Europe can be fast, frequent and reasonably priced. But they can also be slow and inconvenient, so when does it make sense to rent?

When to rent a car

For a larger geographical area like Tuscany or the Dordogne, you are going to need transport and a car is the most efficient way to do so. In these times of eco responsibility, when it seems the only thing stopping eco miltants from burning car drivers at the stake is concern over the CO₂ that would generate, I feel obliged to defend this statement. It is possible to get around by bus and train within areas like Tuscany, but boy is it a logistical challenge. Fundamentally you will get to spend far less time enjoying the area. When you have limited time to vacation, spending it twiddling thumbs on a bus is truly a waste of opportunity. Buy carbon offset to cover the CO₂ emissions of the car (and your plane ride, while you are at it) if you feel bad.

Rent a small car (no, really)

Resist the urge to rent a larger car, even if it is appealing because you have a large family or group on the trip. Get a couple of smaller cars instead. Larger cars are rarer in Europe because running them is more expensive, and also many European towns and cities were not designed for cars at all. As well as being expensive to fuel, large cars are hard to maneuver in narrow streets designed for nothing wider than a few pigs and maybe a horse or two.

On one trip, we stayed a few nights in Florence and then headed out to Villa Vignamaggio. We were to stay at Hotel Brunelleschi, squeezed into the centre of the ancient city of Florence. The hotel is built around a Byzantine tower with Roman remains in the basement - it even has its own museum. The roads leading to it are really, really narrow: even the taxi driver had a hard time getting his small Fiat around the final bend. Some kindly locals stopped to guide him back-and-forth as he edged the car around the corner. With even a small SUV or Minivan you’d be wedged between two buildings several turns back.

Incidentally, we’ll probably never stay at the Brunelleschi again. Not because it was bad - quite the reverse: it is a truly historic hotel with charm, good rooms, friendly staff and a fantastic location. No, I blame Dan Brown: it’s where his characters Langdon and Sophie plan to stay at the end of The Da Vinci Code for a night of passion. I could be wrong about the last bit, but it doesn’t seem like they’re going to sip tea and discuss semiotics. At any rate, ever since then prices have gone up, up, up and you practically have to be Dan Brown to get in.

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You’d be forgiven for wondering why there’s a need to write an article about renting a car. After all, millions of people do so every year - but there are enough differences when in Europe for it to be worth a few tips.

Tip One: Only rent a car if you need it

In many European capitals and major cities, it is often advantageous not to have a car - parking is difficult to find and expensive, and moving around by car can be slower than public transport at busy times. Unlike the US, many hotels do not have their own parking. So when in Rome, Paris, London, Florence etc. don’t rent a car if you intend to just sightsee in the city itself. If you need to get out to visit another town or city, consider taking the train or even a bus. Services in Europe can be fast, frequent and reasonably priced.

When it comes to a larger geographical area like Tuscany or the Dordogne, then you are going to need transport to get about, and a car is the most efficient way to do so. I say this as someone who really likes to take good public transport, and often takes not-so-good public transport. It is possible to get around by bus in areas like Tuscany, but boy is it a logistical challenge and fundamentally you will get to spend far less time enjoying the area. When you have limited time to vacation, spending it on a bus is not good. Buy carbon offset to cover the CO₂ emissions of the car (and your plane ride, while you are at it) if you feel bad about that aspect.

Tip Two: Rent a small car, or several, rather than a giant car

Resist the urge to rent a larger car, even if it is appealing because you have a large family or group on the trip. Get a couple of smaller cars instead. Larger cars are rarer in Europe because running them is more expensive, and also European towns and cities were not designed for cars at all. As well as being expensive to fuel, large cars are hard to maneuver in narrow streets designed for nothing wider than a few pigs and maybe a horse or two.

On one trip, we were staying a few nights in Florence and then heading out to Villa Vignamaggio. We were to stay at Hotel Brunelleschi, squeezed into the centre of the ancient city of Florence. The area is so old, the hotel is built around a Byzantine tower with Roman remains in the basement - it even has its own museum. The roads leading to it are really, really narrow: even the taxi driver had a hard time getting his small Fiat around the final bend. Some kindly Italians stopped to guide him back-and-forth as he edged the car around the corner. With even a small SUV or Minivan you’d be wedged between two buildings several turns back.

Incidentally, we’ll probably never stay at the Brunelleschi again. Not because it was bad - quite the reverse: it is a truly historic hotel with charm, good rooms, friendly staff and a fantastic location. No, I blame Dan Brown: it’s where his characters Langdon and Sophie plan to stay at the end of The Da Vinci Code - presumably for a night of passion. I could be wrong about the last bit, but it doesn’t seem like they’re going to sip tea and discuss iconography. At any rate, ever since then prices have gone up, up, up and you practically have to be Dan Brown to get in.

Tip three: Use your credit card rental car insurance to save money

Many credit cards offer extensions to basic rental car insurance to cover accidental damage and/or theft - far more cheaply than the rental car company. You are already paying for this in your annual card fee and/or interest, so make use of it. Check the website of your card supplier to find out what they offer, and read all the small print so you know exactly which insurance to accept, and which to decline.

I like American Express’ coverage in this area, and so use that card for car rental charges. Our rental car was vandalized in Toulouse, France (not badly, but bad enough for a hefty charge from the rental company) and we claimed through Amex. After sending in the paper work they did their investigation and then paid up. Insurance is getting simpler in places like Italy where there are a lot of claims - all rental car companies now mandate you buy comprehensive cover.

The insurance cover you probably don’t need is for personal possessions. Most people’s belongings are covered by their household insurance policy, but there are exceptions for expensive stuff like cameras and lenses and jewelry. Read your policy to see what is covered and don’t buy coverage twice. In general, the best policy is to take anything remotely valuable out of the car as any kind of car trouble tends to ruin your day.

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Exterior of Temple Church, London

(c) Copyright 2006-2008 Mathew Lodge / www.lodgephoto.com

Temple Church is a remarkable building because it has survived intact in pretty much its original form in the centre of a major city for 800 years, and because it has been the scene of key events in British history. Its role in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and subsequent surge of popularity is merely the most recent chapter in a long and distinguished history.

Temple Church has survived the crushing of the Knights Templar by the Pope in 1307, the disbanding of the Knights Hospitallier (its subsequent owners) by Henry VIII during the reformation of 1540, the Great Fire Of London in 1666, unwarranted “restoration” by the architect Wren in the aftermath of the fire, Victorian remodeling in 1841, and a 1941 incendiary bomb attack during World War II. It is one of the oldest buildings in London (only Westminster Abbey and the White Tower at the Tower Of London are older), and is the only remaining example of Romanesque architecture left in the city.

The building’s architecture is the most striking feature when you first approach the church, which is found by navigating a series of narrow alleyways between Fleet Street and the Embankment alongside the river Thames. Suddenly, you find yourself in an open square right next to a round crenulated building of honey-colored sandstone, attached to a larger rectangular structure.

The round section of Temple Church was built first and is based on the church on the temple mount in Jerusalem. In keeping with the The Da Vinci Code’s plotline, Dan Brown attaches some significance to the fact that the design doesn’t follow the typical cross-shaped plan of nearly every Christian church, implying that it was a deliberately pagan design. This ignores the fact that the design is a copy of a Roman building in Jerusalem, later converted to the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre in what was (at that time) the Christian Holy Land, and the site where the Templar order was founded. Temple Church in London was consecrated in 1185 by none less than the Patriarch of Jerusalem and in the presence of King Henry II.

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