<i>I don't need to travel to Naples to know it's a gritty and unsophisticated place, just like I don't have to travel to Mogadishu to know it's a hellhole.
</i>

An armchair traveler? Is the same true of your comments on the outer <i>arrondissements</i> in Paris?

The ONLY way to judge another place is to go there and experience it yourself.

I'm curious. How does Palermo and Sicily in general compare to Naples? It's more southerly than Naples and also has its mafia issues. Is it as gritty and chaotic as Naples, or much more civilized? (For lack of a better word)

Have you been to Palermo? I have, and I loved it. However, I also found Naples a really great destination. There are, I suppose, some similarities, but in general I found Sicily quite different from all of mainland Italy. Not better, not worse, just different.

This is all very subjective. Florence leaves me cold, even though it has many artistic treasures and I'm a Renaissance art fiend; I like the sights, but the city itself--meh. And though it's mobbed with tourists, I love love LOVE Venice because it's so beautiful. I never tire of Rome.

Naples is a lot of fun, lively. Palermo is like another world.

These are merely my impressions.

Th old center of Palermo is as gritty as the Naples center.

From a comment on my trip report:


Coincidentally, I stayed at the Hotel Joli (where we stayed) in Palermo and liked it very much once I recovered my composure. A few minutes after arriving in Sicily, I was the victim of a knife-point robbery in the hotel lobby.

Other comments refer to the garbage.

Great, thanks, Michael.

I'm particularly pleased to have read that extract from your TR as we fly into Catania tomorrow.

luckily we are not going to Palermo for which i am now most grateful.

We've been to and loved both Naples and Palermo. Annhig, sorry you are not going to see beautiful Palermo. Sorry that Michael had a problem there. We had none in any part of Sicily, nor in any of our three stays in the Napoli area.

<i> Sorry that Michael had a problem there.</i>

I did not, it was a reply to my trip report.

We loved Palermo.
Now we don't live in mogadiscio but nevertheless in a hellhole according to Trump.
Atlanta looked a lot gritty and dirty to me. Yet i also liked it.
Some are obsessed with tidiness.

Whatthehello--We love big, old dirty cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Napoli, etc.

PS--If you think Atlanta is gritty and dirty. . . To me, living here, it is a very 21st Century City. The only dirt and grit are caused by all the demolition and reconstruction that goes on constantly.

I was surprised to find Palermo very clean--had read Michael's report, among others, prior to my visit. Maybe it was time of year, but there was no garbage problem when we visited.

I found Naples dirtier and more crowded in the old quarters (but I still liked it).

dwdvagamundo are you sure you've been to Istanbul? I thought it was very clean.

I visited Atlanta with a homeless and I don't think I saw the best places ;-)

Loacker--I was there decades ago. But it sure is old enough to appeal to me.

Leely--that was my reaction to Palermo. Palermo was one of the biggest pleasant surprises we've had in our travels.

Yes, I think I was prepared for Palermo to be this dangerous, dirty place and instead it was beautiful. I have said this before, but we were standing and admiring the baroque Quattro Canti, and amid all the busy traffic, tons of cars, etc., a little wooden cart being pulled by a mule and driven by two children crossed the intersection.

Count me in as another fan of Palermo and Naples (and Catania too).

I am going through our pictures of our time in Naples this past summer and realize that we must go back someday soon.

So much more to see and experience.