Advantages: near city centre
Disadvantages: very dangerous area

...Catania is a rough city in Sicily and the Liberty Hotel is in a bad area of the city. I tried to stay there but was carjacked right outside the Liberty Hotel!!! A man blocked the road while his team of thieves opened my car doors and stole our bags. Because of this incident, I drove off and didn't stay at the hotel that night. My girlfriend was terrified. When I told the hotel about this incident, they would not refund my money for that night. The manager said it was not his fault that I was robbed and that I should have stopped at the hotel to "discuss what happened" even though the hotel was a few feet from where I was robbed!!! That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. Pathetic how bad their customer service is. Please do not stay at the Liberty Hotel. I don't like supporting people that profit on other's misfortunes... Read review

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Advantages: The Volcano, the food, the black beach
Disadvantages: the horse meat stall in the market (don't buy anything from a butchers with a cute photo of a horse outside!_

...Catania lies on the eastern coast of Sicily and is, historically and culturally a part of the 'Greek' part of the Island (as opposed to the arabic West of Sicily). The most striking thing about the city is the constantly puffing, and frequently erupting volcano which colours (sometimes quite literally) the city in a magical manner. Some people don't have the temperament for Sicily, the cities here don't have the manicured edges of Tuscany or the Emilian hills, but can provide far more beauty and exhiliration than any other part of Italy. So Catania itself takes a little getting used to. It doesn't have the beauty of Syracuse and Palermo probably has more immediate attractions in it. It has a fine Sicilian Baroque architectural style, best seen around the Piazza del Duomo with it's famous elephant statue - the symbol of the city... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Very comfortable beds
Disadvantages: Location, Poor room service

...deserted in the evening once everyone had come home from work. I think in hindsight I would have been better staying in Taormina as walking round Catania wasn't that pleasant, as it seems to spend most of the day gridlocked with traffic belching out fumes.... Read review

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Advantages: Very easy to learn; very different every time you play
Disadvantages: Board can be a little unstable

...Settlers of Catan is a boardgame, which originally came out in the 1990s. The versions I've been playing is the version from Mayfair games. The basic theme of Settlers is that the players are - er - settling a new island in the middle of the ocean. As the game progresses, you build more settlements and cities, and connect them together using roads. Your settlements collect resources, which you then use to expand further. The board is made up of a number of hexagonal tiles. The outermost ones are sea tiles, beyond which you can't build (well, unless you buy an - optional - expansion). There are then 19 land tiles that make up the island of Catan - these are arranged in a hexagon. There are five different types of land tile, each of which produces one resource; hills provide brick, pasture provides sheep, mountains produce ore, plains... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Easy to pick up. Great fun.
Disadvantages: None!

...Settlers of Catan is a classic German board game designed by Klaus Tuber. The game was released in Germany in the early nineties, winning the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (or game of the year) award in 1995. An English edition of the game soon followed, produced by Mayfair games. This was followed by various expansions and add-ons to the game. Meanwhile the game picked up quite a following, with tournaments springing up throughout the UK, US and Europe, including a European championship. Additionally various websites have been designed allowing the play of Settlers of Catan from home over the internet. In less than ten years since it was first published Settlers of Catan has already achieved great popularity. Settlers is played on the island of Catan which is made up of 19 hexagonal tiles, each producing one of the following... Read review

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Advantages: Always a different game every time you play. Colourful. Simple to learn, trickier to master.
Disadvantages: Abstract style of play may put some people off.

...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Beautifully presented, a great deal of fun. A real sense of progressing as you play.
Disadvantages: Definately more expensive than your average board game.

...Some games just feel a lot more satisfactory than others. If you ask anyone that knows a great deal about chess pieces and you'll often hear that how the pieces feel to hold can be as important as how they look. It can be the same with board games, monopoly wouldn't be quite the same without it's little metal pieces and games like Space Crusade and Heroquest would have been paler shadows of themselves without their excellent board, pieces and visuals. Starfarers of Catan, whilst certainly a fine game on it's own, really becomes something special thanks to the sheer innovative quality of it's pieces. Starfarers is the themic Sequel to a game called Settlers of Catan (Which you can find reviewed elsewhere on Ciao) and expands heavily on ideas generated in that game. At it's heart the game is a resource building game. Players... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful Culture and Scenery
Disadvantages: Mad Drivers in traffic choked streets!

...of getting about, but there are quite reasonable taxis, and buses to get around, and the cable car service between Taormina and the beach at Mazzaro is not to be missed. This cost us 2.60 euros return. We found a very good Trattoria "Al Giardino" just by our hotel in Via Bagnoli Croce, opposite the Public Gardens, which is well worth a visit also. On the downside of travelling here though, we found Air Italia's service very dissapointing indeed, especially when a group of our friends joining us were diverted the Palermo airport instead of Catania due to the baggage handlers goining on strike, subsequently causing them to drive from Palermo to Taormina - which they all described as a nightmare of a journey ! More direct flights also should be available, as we had to fly via Rome last time (never again). Next time we will be alot fussier about our... Read review

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Advantages: historicaly interesting, prety town, great views
Disadvantages: long train journet from Palermo

...from the main drag of shops and restaurants. Typically for Italy there is a vast range of prices. This can also be quite a touristy town so it worth picking your restaurant carefully as quality sometimes suffers as a result of the high demand. If you like shopping there is a good range of shops from clothes and leather shoes to a myriad of shops selling local ceramics with very distinctive patterns. Again there is a vast range of prices so it is worth shopping around as you could find the same items in several different shops. If you only have a short time in Sicily I would recommend visiting Taormina from Catania rather than Palermo, but if you have a little longer then it is well worth stopping in Taormina for a few days to take in the atmosphere. There are plenty of hotels centrally located to choose from. We found a charming B&B run... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to sett up and learn-fun to play
Disadvantages: None

...The Settlers of Catan- Card Game It's the follow-up of the classics for two players (only). Some might argue that settlers is only fun when played with many people but you will be surprised. This game survives without many tiles and a ny long preparation time and apart from two dice and two stones it's based on playing cards only. Contents/ General Information - for 2 Players - ages 10+ - playing time: 45-90 minutes - two dice (numbers and event dice) - two bonus point stones (trade and knights) - numerous playing cards consisting of: - action cards - expansion cards - terrain cards (timber, sheep, grain, stones, iron, gold) Instructions 1. Set-up ------------ Like the classic "The Settlers of Catan" you have build settlements, cities and obtain the necessary... Read review

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