TDY Gouge - Italy

Aviano, Italy - Park Hotel, Pordennone, just a nice hotel, but location is awesome. Easy walk to lots of good places to eat and train station is a 3 minute walk away (Venice is a 1 hour train ride away) It would be a crime to not stay at the Due Leoni ("two lions") while at Aviano. In the town of Sacile, this place has the best cappucinos around. The hotel is nice with a restaraunt right behind it called the "cellini." If you are in a rush, right next door is a fast pizzeria. Closer to Venice than Pordennone and the Park Hotel - 5 minute walk to train station and 1 hour to Venice. Avoid the Hotel Minerva like the pague. Hotel recently recertified by Aviano billeting. Certification revoked last year because there was no air conditioning and general condition of beds and rooms. Our crew was the first crew put up there. When we checked at at 0600 it was 82 degrees in the lobby and the rooms we had on the 3rd floor were even hotter, with, you guessed it, no air conditioning. Additionally, we had a couple guys that had to sleep on the floor because there were springs poking through the mattresses. When I contacted billeting in the morning the billeting manager told me point blank that I was lying. ~The rooms and location of the Oliva (0434-666-111) hotel are okay (due to location mostly) and you must pay extra if you want room with air in it. Don't bother with the refrigerators though as they won't keep Jack S... cold. Great location for awesome food though with a place called Tussci's in between the hotel and the base. Tussci's is also a hotel and is much better than Oliva but is more remote. Oliva's staff is very helpful and can direct you out the front door and down the street to a place called Mario's with really great food. Stay away from BeFed's however as it's pretty cheesy with overpriced food and beer due to high numbers of USAF folks.

Never ever stay at the Hotel Doimo located on the main road through Aviano just past the train tracks to the left. This hotel has been certified by the billeting on Aviano and is absolutely a dump. The rooms where small and crappy and all the rooms smelled bad. I can't imagine why they certified that place. We went to billeting the next day and they seemed kind of pissed we even suggested the place was horrible. There is a new restaurant in Aviano on the main road past the turn for Olivia's and just to the left called Cassabianca. This had the best food around, it was excellent. The owner who we got to know very well over the several days was superb. We ate just about everywhere except for the place called Tsussie's I think that's how it's spelled, and Cassabianca was the best. I hadn't ever tasted food like this before, the best thing I thought was the fillet with green pepper sauce. The best steak fillet I had ever eaten anywhere and that's saying a lot.

Brindisi (San Vito AB), Italy - Hotel Minerva is located about 5M south of St. Vito AB and 15M North of Brindisi. Rooms are typical Italian fare (bring your own towels and wash cloths), but some are equiped with small ovens, stoves, refrigerators, and even dinner ware. The Windsurfer in Brindisi is a great place to manga on the seafood and pasta. Located port side, it offers tasty eats and a cozy atmosphere. Later, hang out at the Church Irish pub, a short 1M walk from the restraunt, for some live music (Fridays) and all the Kilkenny and Guiness you can handle. If you want to venture out. Drive down to Lecce!! It is well worth it. Great food at the Caledonia restaurant with Irish/American style cuisine. Then head over to Route 66, American Bar for an outstanding time!! If hot Italian university chicks don't appeal to you then stay away from this place! These places get BUSY, so show up early! Capadichino, Italy - If doing the Rome trip, bring pants if you want to get into the Vatican.

Naples NAS, Italy - The standard overnight downtown at the Grand Terminus is very nice and right smack dab in the middle of the action, although loud and close to the train station. . However, a little extra of drive down the coast to the Holiday Inn at Pina Timare is an absolute Godsend for the weary crewmember. It's got a huge pool and rooms that overlook the Med. If you've got the time and the energy, make the effort. Don't be fooled by Alisud. These guys always try to book you at the Terminus - the Santa Lucia is much nicer, under per diem or right at it. Right on the water and about 7 restaurants right across the street at the harbor. Other option is the Jolly Hotel. Not as nice but close to a great restaurant named the "7 Soldi" - Ask the front desk how to get there. Great hole in the wall. ~Santa Lucia Hotel was great. Close to the harbor and fine restaurants. ~Holiday Inn Centro Direzionale Esola 39-081-22-50-111 was nice. About a 15 minute ride from the Naval Station at Naples. Good room, nice bar, excellent restaurant with buffet. Handy to some other cafes, good for short stay, don't know about night life from here. ~Nesis hotel was barely decent. The hotel appears to be new and is nice, but its in the ghetto. There is no decent food within walking distance. A train track and station is next door. No one got a decent nights sleep.

Sigonella NAS, Sicily (Catania), Italy - A bit of a drive to the coast but the Catania Sheraton is a primo overnight. Slightly on the outskirts of town, but taxis or a pleasant walk along the Med are more than acceptable to find the action. Treat the Sig Inn as if it has the Plague, stay away!!! Navy ATOC can hook you up nicely on your inbound call. Hotel Baja Verde is right on the rocks of Sicily, near the Sheraton. Resturant hours are Italian. Nice rooms especially if you cna get one overlooking the pool. Happy Place (yes-thats the name) is a little bit different in that its fully furnished apartments/condos. Good pizza place right next door, but quite a ways from Catania--good for a min turn night. The New Year's Eve celebration in Cattania is outstanding. I've never seen anything like it and will not forget it. Hands down, the best New Year's I've ever had. If you have the opportunity to be TDY at Sig over New Year's, you are very much in luck. Long drive from NAS Sig to Hotel Albergo Airone PH:095 7081819 in Zafferana Etnea, but the view was killer! Hotel is located on the side of Etnea. Rooms are a little sparse and 1st floor is noisy, but hotel food was killer!! Great coffees!! One meal comes with the room per day. More of a B&B than a hotel. Not much English spoken here. Cost about $50.00 US a night. About an hour's drive from Sigonella NAS, Excelsior Palace Terme is located in the community of Acireale (awchee-ray-ah-lay). This place IS a Palace. Truly fabulous bar/lounge and lobby areas. Rooms only have Italian stations but who cares. Nearby community has local family-owned pizzarias and gelato stands. Take a local bus to the community of Taormina (tow-or-meena) for a cultural experience of Greek and Roman ruins. ~The Central Palace (decent) is fine for those who are stuck in the 1970's. This place is the hotel that time forgot. They took care of the vintage decor though... looks good for its age. Phone was rotary.. not good for calling cards sometimes. Had nice storm shutters for those mid-day crew rests - no light getting through them suckers. The front desk people genuinely did not seem to care so much as long as they got your Gvmt Travel Card. Sig Inn (nice resort) is not bad because of its location to NAS 1 - NEX, Subway, etc. Local bars are close (currently 0100 curfew) and also a decent continental type breakfast. Excelsior Grande (A PALACE) was excellent. Had a computer with internet in the lobby for email, etc. Very nice altogether. Restaurant was very nice! The marble encrusted rooms were excellent!

~I have to take exception to your reference to the Sig Inn as the plague. Sure they have towels that compare well with paper, and the place is no where near down town. But if you are on a short ground time, or everybody has been there before, or you just want to lounge out at the pool and drink, the Sig Inn is great. They are (by far) the closest to the base which takes a lot of stress off the pre-departure SOE. Also they are right across the street from a base with class six, BX, gym, etc, and right next door to several nice (and reasonably priced) Italian restaraunts. The folks at the Sig Inn - at least my last two times there - opened up the bar for us at 1:30 am until 4 am (We were a C-5 crew of 20). They have a great pool with swim up bar and have many local bikinis present in the summer, and if you are lucky to have a room on the back side of the hotel you have a spectacular view of Etna. They also offer a free breakfast with Cappucino on request. Also for Sig - I like the Excelsior as my second choice, or if you are going to be there a while and want to go down town, and they have free breakfast as well. The Central Palace has pluses and minuses. It is a little noisy because it is right down town. On the other hand it is right down town where all the shops, bars and restaurants are. It is a little hike to the beach. But no free breakfast. ~Excelsior Grand Hotel 39 095 74 76 111(voice) / 39 095 53 70 15 was fantastic! This is the place all the "Enduring (Buswait)Freedom" crews wanted to be sent if they were to go downtown. In the heart of Catania, the Excelsior Grand is very luxurious. The rooms are spacious, Quiet (despite being streetside) and the bar/restaurant are great. ~Galatea Sea Palace (095 7116902 / 095 277320) was nice. If they send your crew up the coast, this is the place to stay! The view is incredible! The rooms are clean and quiet. They also include a refridgerator (not a mini-bar)and a kitchenette with stove! The restaurants (2) are really good and the front desk has beer available after hours! This is a local resort hotel, and we saw 2 weddings booked there during our crew rest. ~If you stay downtown Catania, avoid the Jolly Hotel Catania! (There are 2 Jolly hotels, one on the coast and one downtown)I'm not sure how the one on the coast is, but this one had the smallest rooms and elevators I've ever seen in Europe! The 3 elevators are rated to hold 4 people, but it's cramped with 2 (I'm not joking). My room had a bad mildew smell because the minibar had been defrosting and leaking water on the rug for months. Forget sleep. The rooms have metal "roll shades", but it's very noisy even with ear plugs. The breakfast was good though. ~The serenade of jack hammers and drills at the Sig Inn provided all the charm and ambiance of a root canal at the dentist’s office. What the jack hammers and drills were actually doing is a mystery. The place hasn’t had an improvement in 10 years. I won’t call the place a dump though, that would be an insult to dumps. The heating system was not working. Luckily, it was only 40 F outside and I suppose it could have been worse. There were several crew members who awoke to Italian Workers (Oxymoron if there ever was one) with lit cigarettes dangling from their lips trying to fix the heaters in there rooms. Just walked in, while we slept. I am still waiting for my onions to reappear from my lower intestines.

~Excelsior Grand Hotel was awesome! Headed down to LICZ on an OST turned Rescue Bird/MRT. Stayed at the Excelsior Grand after a hair-raising ride in an Italian- driven van from Base-Ops at Sig. I agree with the other reviews of the Excelsior posted here.. I'd mainly like to add my 2 cents about a fantastic place we found to eat there... a Tratoria (spelling is off.. someone who knows Italian, please correct me) just about 3 blocks from the hotel. Directions: From the front of the hotel, walk straight out past the fountain to the street. Turn right and walk down that street about 2 city blocks, looking for a red/pink neon sign on your right (this is a bar we hit after dinner for a short time, and it's a good landmark from down the street). Continue to the NEXT cross street and turn right. Walk about a block, looking up, for a red and white sign for the restaurant. Impressions: This is definitely a locals' establishment. The service is outstanding, and the food is almost twice as good as that! For the meager price of 25 Euro per person, you get a huge appetizer buffet (brought to your table by a team of waiters), a second course (pasta course), a main course (I had the grilled fish.. excellent), a dessert course (ours was something like tira misu with some fresh fruit), a bottle of table wine, a bottle of water (with or without gas), and a sampling of after-dinner liquors (ours were a cinnamon and a lemon). I have never walked away from a TDY meal feeling so completely satisfied and somewhat intoxicated. Hope this'll help the other crew dogs out there. I have a few things to add in regard to our many a stays at the Excelsior Grande over the last few months. The customer service sucks. There are no ironing boards or irons in the rooms. They charge 10 euros for the service. There are no washing machines or dryers. I brought this to all the management staff and got a repeated condescending attitude of "this is not like the states, we do not carry such things in the rooms". This is just for starters. Next, The hotel restaurant is overpriced, overcooked and understaffed and as rude as hell. All food and drinks in the bar area are overpriced and the service is slow. Do not spend the time in these areas. I do believe the Americans have worn out there welcome with the staff at the hotel. The chinese resturant out the door and to the left is great. It took 10 minutes to eat and the ladies are very nice. Food was good and 5 euros. Also, for eating hit the following cafes, it is cheap. 2 euros. Go out the door and walk past the fountain. Take a left at the street and walk 200 meters. The cafe is on the right on the corner. The next one is down the same street another 200 meters. This street runs left to right and it is the main market area. Tons of people walking. The cafe is on the left corner of this street. A lot of people to watch here. Hope this helps, try the Sheraton and see if they will be more appreciative of US.

~Saw previous comments on NAS Sig's billeting...must have been the old quarters. The newer Q's on NAS II were all ranks and were a very nice suite. You got a nice kitchenette, couch, TV w/DVD player and a separate bedroom. Some of the best I've seen in 10+ years. NAS II is the ops base and NAS I is 10 minute drive with the community stuff (NEX, Commissary, etc.) Both are pretty close to some great local eateries. Don't go right out the gate at NAS I...an Irish pub in Sicily?!! Go up towards Mt Etna (20 minute drive) to Motta, some good small restaurants. Taormina is a great destination about 1 hour away and has a lot to see and do.

Vicenza, Italy -If you go on this TDY, make sure TMO puts you on business class on the way over. The JFTR authorizes higher than coach for travel days over 14 hrs with departure/arrival point OCONUS. They won't tell you this!