Hotel Joli - Palermo, Italy     

The super positive reviews of this site confound me. This is a two-star hotel at best. Some of the front desk staff were nice and others were very gruff. The elevator is so small you can fit one person with one suitcase. Since I checked in with a group, this led to long delays. The bedroom is OK and I will admit that my small room opened onto a balcony from which I could see the park off the side street. Some rooms for other members of our group were huge. My shower was extremely small, and the only U.S. satellite channel was Fox, not one of my faves. Breakfast was decent, with fresh cornetti from the bar across the street. I will say the breakfast room staff were efficient and aimed to please. There were some decent restaurants within a short walk, but the rest of the neighborhood was nondescript. We were also there on a Sunday and a national holiday, so Palermo seemed dead. Thankfully, we took a day trip to Cefalu, which was beautiful and where I had one of the best meals during our two week trip. We all thought we were staying at the Hotel Jolley. To be honest, so did our travel agent. So, driving up to this place was quite a shock. We survived and hotels chosen for us in Agrigento and Taormina made up for this place. Nearby is the hill town Monreale, which I recommend for the Cathedral.