‘Acqua naturale o gassata?‘ The waiter asked us with a smile. Our request for tap water was met with another smile, followed by a firm ‘no’. Too thirsty to pass, we gave in and were quickly served a one litter bottle of Italian mineral water.
Ten meals later, and a few more tries along the way, we have learned to no longer bother. We have adopted the Italian custom of drinking bottled water at every meal.
In The Netherlands they also insist to serve you bottled water. I always thought it’s purely to make a profit on the bottle. I think it would be much better if they at least give you an option to pay a little for tap water, but I think no-one dares to charge for tap water. One may expect it would be included in the service.
American restaurants are much different, especially with their free refill policy. I think American restaurant owners see drinks as part of the fixed costs, while Dutch and Italian restaurant owners see it as yet another product, of which they need to sell as much as they can.
How is the situation in France?
Beautiful pictures by the way. They give a nice feel to your blog.
To my humble knowledge, if you ask tap water in France, there is no problem, you get.
But once again, it is based on my own experience.
I am puzzled to see that in Italy you don’t get what you would like. Perhaps the water there isn’t good enough to be drunk…
The tap water is fine. But they don’t consider it classy. If it’s prepackaged it’s good, if it’s just from a tap it’s too common.
Interesting. I guess the Europeans are not always greener than though.
What would happen if you brought your own water?
my nephew was on a class trip to Italy (from Bulgaria) and had a coke with his lunch at a restaurant. The waiter ask him if he would like a refill, he had 2. When the bill arrived he was charged 12euro for each coke! Being a 14 year old he did not protest. Beware of the cost of drinks when you travel, be on the safe side and ask.
why no to tapped water, besides being able to charge for bottled ? Just curious. I enjoy your ponderings of this trip and remember being with you last year too
Meryn, in France, you can get tap water if you ask. Otherwise you get bottled water. . .