Hanging out in Italy, I’m always learning new gestures and fun ways to communicate. Here are a few tips for bickering couples from tour guide Alfio Di Mauro.
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This is Day 13 of my “100 Days in Europe” series. As I travel with Rick Steves’ Europe Tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences in Italy, Portugal, France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and more. Thanks for joining me here on my blog and via Facebook.
Planning a trip to Sicily? If you like Naples, you’ll love Palermo. Here are a few highlights from my visit.
Palermo reminds visitors of the once-upon-a-time importance of Sicily. A thousand years ago, with a population of 100,000, it was second only to Córdoba in Europe.
The cathedral at Monreale (just outside of Palermo) is slathered in gold leaf — two tons of it, they claim…another powerful testimony to the affluence and importance of Sicilian culture in the 12th century.
I visited Palermo on a Best of Sicily tour. Our guide, Alfio Di Mauro, provided a constant parade of experiences…like meeting a charming contessa (countess) and touring her elegant world inside the Palazzo Conte Federico.
A local guide, Jackie, took us on a side-trip into the spooky yet thought-provoking Capuchin Crypt. Until the 19th century, the Capuchin monks provided a remarkably public final resting place for Palermo’s leading citizens. Today, tourists are welcome to explore the vast underground collection of still-clothed skeletons and encouraged to ponder their own mortality.
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This is Day 12 of my “100 Days in Europe” series. As I travel with Rick Steves’ Europe Tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences in Italy, Portugal, France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and more. Thanks for joining me here on my blog and via Facebook.
While we toured the Carthaginian ruins of the historic island of Mozia, our hosts set up a “food truck” lunch that was absolutely indimenticabile. (That’s my new favorite Italian word — necessary for this Best of Sicily Tour — meaning “unforgettable.”) In this clip, our guide, Alfio, stokes our appetite with a quick review of our lunch. Being here — with a great local guide, fine weather (May is perfect here), and this “zero kilometer” (everything perfectly local) lunch — we all felt very fortunate. We’re only a third of the way through our Sicily tour…and each day is even better than the last.
(This is Day 11 of my “100 Days in Europe” series. As I travel with Rick Steves’ Europe Tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences in Italy, Portugal, France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and more. Thanks for joining me here on my blog and via Facebook.)
Our Best of Sicily Tour group sails through salt flats and across a lagoon. Our destination: the fabled island of Mozia, 2,500 years ago a Carthaginian stronghold. Before this visit, I knew nothing about the impact of Carthage in Europe (in part because losers don’t get to write history). Mozia — a name I had never heard of — is a fine example of how many surprising charms and treasures Europe hides…even for a guy who’s supposed to know this continent.
This is Day 10 of my A Hundred Days in Europe series. As I travel with Rick Steves’ Europe Tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences in Sicily, Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Portugal, Paris, Ireland, the heart of England, Scotland, Germany’s Black Forest, Alsace, the great cities of Switzerland, and more. I never know exactly what’s next…but it’s always fascinating and inspiring. Thanks for joining me here on my blog and via Facebook.
At the western tip of Sicily, Erice’s church is stony on the outside, lacy on the inside. While the Romantic, uber-Gothic interior only dates from the late 1800s, the church itself is clearly much older. Exploring the church, I find a plaque listing the handful of times in the last 500 years when impending disasters merited taking the town’s top relic down from the altar and parading it through town to gain God’s favor and be spared the ravages of drought, pestilence, and war.
This is Day 9 of my A Hundred Days in Europe series. As I lead tours, research my guidebooks, and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences in Sicily, Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Portugal, Paris, Ireland, the heart of England, Scotland, Germany’s Black Forest, Alsace, the great cities of Switzerland, and more. I never know exactly what’s next…but it’s always fascinating and inspiring. Thanks for joining me here on my blog and via Facebook.