Az-zahar Bed and Breakfast

Speaking Italian!

by Propermark

If you are going to Italy maybe you might be interested in learning some basic words in Italian..

English is studied in every school in Italy but usually if you try to address somebody in this language you will be understood by the young people only... unfortunately at school English is not taught in a proper way!

I've learned English by myself listening to music and reading lyrics and watching movies... and as you probably know I've always got in touch with foreigners and I also worked for Alitalia International Customer Care... so I spoke English everyday on the phone with the American and Canadian customers...

Some words in Italian:

I NUMERI NUMBERS
uno 1 one
due 2 two
tre 3 three
quattro 4 four
cinque 5 five
sei 6 six
sette 7 seven
otto 8 eight
nove 9 nine
dieci 10 ten
undici 11 eleven
dodici 12 twelve
tredici 13 thirteen
quattordici 14 fourteen
quindici 15 fifteen
sedici 16 sixteen
diciassette 17 seventeen
diciotto 18 eighteen
diciannove 19 nineteen
venti 20 twenty

Si = Yes No = No

Come ti chiami? = What's your name?
Quanti anni hai? = How old are you?
Come stai? = How are you?
Parlo poco Italiano = I speak a little Italian
Non parlo Italiano = I don't speak Italian
Parla Inglese/Tedesco/Francese? = Do you speak English/German/French?
Mi dispiace = I am sorry
Mi scusi.. = Excuse me..
Grazie = Thank you
Prego = You are welcome
Mi piace l'Italia = I like Italy

Quanto costa?= How much does it cost?
Sei gentile = You are kind
Sei bella (to a girl)= You are beautiful
Sei bello (to a boy)= You are handsome

Mangiare = To eat
Bere = To drink
vino = wine
pane = bread
acqua = water
carne = meat
pesce = fish

More than 140 different pizzas

by Propermark about L'Antica Borgata

I went here once cause it's close to La Casetta del Poeta restaurant and I may say that the quality of this restaurant is good, service is rather quick and its dishes are ok. Pizzas might be tastier.

Porta Nuova

by toonsarah

This massive gate is at the south end of the Corsa Vittorio Emanuele. It was built in 1583 to replace an earlier existing 15th century gate which commemorated the entrance of Charles V into the city, upon his return in 1535 from his victory in Tunis. The lower section of the outer front was badly damaged and was rebuilt in 1669.

I read that the enormous statues (on my second photo) represent four Muslims with their hands cut off – which apparently was the usual horrific practice of the Normans when they conquered Palermo in the eleventh century. But they mostly seem to have their hands intact, apart from one that looks more as if it was damaged over time rather than sculpted that way, so I don't know if that's really true - if you're reading this and know the answer I'd love to hear from you!

By the way, do take care when visiting the gate as the traffic hurtles through and there’s no pavement.

Palermo

by toonsarah

Following Newcastle United in Europe has led us to places we might never otherwise have visited, including Palermo. We holidayed in Sicily many years ago, in Taormina (which we loved) but never got across to the western side of the island and to its perhaps somewhat infamous capital city. Our recent weekend there was a chance to find out just what we'd missed!

" Highlights "

We only had a couple of days to explore but this was time enough to walk through the main part of the city, see some of the most interesting sights, including the striking cathedral, sample some local delicacies (I’d forgotten how good Sicilian ice-cream can be, and the excellent red wine!) and even to get outside the city to nearby Erice and the amazing hill-top town of Monreale.