Mordecai's honeymoon thread - Page 8

I've bever been, but you may want to keep this in mind:

 

 

lefty

never been, but keep intending to go. i have friends who have been and loved it. if you do decide to go, check out at least a couple of Andrea Camilleri's detective books first. great series, and the main character is a true buona forchetta. i would go just on the descriptions of the dishes his housekeeper leaves him!

my wife has been, she loved it.

I absolutely love Sicily, Cefalu, Palermo, and Erice (maybe my favorite town in southern Italy), especially. Taormina is really crowded but the view from the Greek theater is incredible, it alone is worth the trip. Fairly easy to get around, roads are not as chaotic as Calabria's (no equal in my book for driving headaches). Food is ridiculously cheap for the most part as is pretty much anything in southern Italy and I've never had any problems safety-wise. Architecture is wonderful, most interesting mix in the country for me. There's a town just outside of Palermo, Monreale, that has an amazing cathedral. Absolute must-visit if you go.

ask anyone north of rome: sicilians don't speak italian either.

I love palermo - good food, nice people, while it doens't have the fantastic art that florence has, you walk around all day in little nieghborhoods with fountains and beautiful buildings, withouth seeing anybody else who doens't belong. highly recomended. if you go, stay at one of the old grand hotels

In the smaller towns, just about no one will know English. In the cities, between learning a little Italian and the mostly students working in restaurants and bars who know a little English, I think you'd be fine. My brother and his girlfriend were just in Calabria and Sicily recently and had no problems communicating. He knows very little Italian (knows the Calabrese dialect quite well but not many young people speak it anymore).

Yeah, Italians and foreign languages? Hell no. I'd venture to say that the majority of Italians only speaks Italian. But understanding each other will work out.

I went to Erice in I think 2003. It's a beautiful mountain top village. Just gotta know which places are on the OK list and which are on the Not OK list.

I saw two guys...er...taking care of someone in a parking lot, when they spotted me, they said he was sick and they were giving him medical attention. In their suits, of course.

I speak enough Italian to blend in somewhat, but the older generation is big on the Sicilian dialect which is actually so far removed from standardized Italian it might as well be a different language.

I touched a cloud for the first time sitting in an open air presentation.


Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture

The southern coast of Sicily is easily accessible too, lot of Greek architecture to see, some Arabized neighborhoods that date back to 10th century I think, and if you're up for it Tunisia is but a boat ride away though may no longer be a good idea..

PS Alitalia sucks

Motel One Alexanderplatz. Not expensive, kind of like staying inside an ikea showroom. Close to the bus which takes like 20-30 minutes to TXL.

http://www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/berlin/hotel-berlin-alexanderplatz/#t=hotelinfo