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Don't care for the country but it has arguably one of the best collection of cities of every size there is with Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia.
Even small towns like Benidorm are stellar. I don't even want to get into the whole Ibiza thing, it speaks for itself.
I've been to Italy but not Milan. I would like to see Milan, Turin, and Naples. Perhaps one day, they aren't exactly all too high on my bucketlist, whereas Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia are all towards the top.
I was not impressed with Rome, actually didn't like the place at all. I have a pretty low opinion of the place to be honest.
Pretty much how I feel. Madrid and Barcelona are two of my favorite cities on earth. Valencia is one of my favorites in the under-2m category. What a fantastic place. Seville, Bilbao, San Sebastian are also wonderful cities. I love almost everything about Spain - the culture, the people, the late night lifestyle... The Spaniards definitely have an eye for great urban design and for combining modern technology and infrastructure with history and tradition. They just get it right (much like the Japanese).
I have never been a big fan of the big Italian cities. There are some lovely medium-size and small cities in Italy - Bologna, Verona, Perugia to name just a few - but I am a big city kind of guy and Spain's big cities are far more attractive and dynamic IMO.
The one area where Italy enjoys a clear advantage is food. I haven't had a great culinary experience in Spain while I have had some of the best food of my life in Italy. Just need to stay away from the tourist traps.
He's got a point. I wouldn't say people hate it, but nobody would say it's nice. It's a monstrosity of tall buildings next to the sea, you only go there if you want to go the beach and you live somewhere inland, although it's mostly flocked by tourists.
Spain has more areas with good weather than Italy, so more choices of places to live. Spain has a lower cost of living. Spanish people are warmer and friendlier to non-Spaniards than Italians. Italy somehow feels like a more closed society. Frankly, the entire Amanda Knox affair has put me off of the Italian justice system--and the fact that this could happen to an innocent person scares me. Tried three times for the same crime? A corrupt prosecutor who also accused American author Douglas Preston of being the Monster of Florence? Not meaning to be political, but the whole idea of one very powerful prosecutor (who has been indicted for obstruction) terrorizing people leaves a bad taste. Guilty until proven innocent really is disconcerting. And Berlusconi--what's up with that? Spain just seem more mellow.
The Spanish are not warmer to non Spaniards than Italians are to non italians (the opposite is true). And I speak Spanish and have lived in Spain.
Last edited by Rozenn; 10-28-2013 at 12:37 PM..
Reason: Unnecessary
I think it's funny though, people who haven't been to either of those countries saying they would choose one or the other for this or that reason, it's like me saying I rather live in Malaysia than in the Philippines because one day I ate at a Malaysian restaurant, or something like that. But I guess that's a lot of threads in CD for you.
Many CD threads are indeed like that: (mostly) Americans who have never been to Country X or Country Y, discuss and compare them, coming up with lots of myths, misconceptions and stereotypes.
It's funny then when some person who actually lives in the discussed country X or Y, shows up here and dispels all those myths...
Many CD threads are indeed like that: (mostly) Americans who have never been to Country X or Country Y, discuss and compare them, coming up with lots of myths, misconceptions and stereotypes.
It's funny then when some person who actually lives in the discussed country X or Y, shows up here and dispels all those myths...
Yes, I find these boards 50% informative and fun and 50% extremely frustrating. Like when people start pulling out random statistics from wikipedia to express an opinion on a place they have never set their foot on. Ugh.
I guess that, like with everything else on the internet, you just have to filter through a lot of crap.
Have respect for both countries, but certainly Spain.
The Spaniards seems more friendly, genuine, easy-going, open-minded and have a more live and let live -attitude. Not much bad experiences of Italians either, but I'm not very fond of the bella figura attitude and the fact that everything is about appearance, code, social norms, plus that it's more important how it looks than how it is. It's like Italy is a carefully coreographed ballet that you should know exactly, or otherwise you won't get any respect.
I've also heard that the Italians seem to be a bit of the backstabbing sort, which I loathe.
So that's why Spain, and I think the mentality is closer what I'm used to, being more down to earth, live the life as it is, and the important thing being what you are instead of pretending to be something that you aren't.
Spain. I like the big cities, it seems to have more sensible governance and less corruption (although still pretty dysfunctional in these regards), and frankly I've had more bad experiences with boorish Italians than I have with literally any other nationality so I think Spain must be a nicer place to live. When I went to Italy, I found the Italians went out of their way to make us tourists feel like unwelcome trash, it was very unpleasant, and while there is some of this in every country, the amount of rude interactions in every other country was much less. My experiences in Italy have really turned me off of that particular country, as have my ma interactions with poorly behaved Italian tourists abroad. Oddly enough, diaspora Italians have been quite different, retaining that energy but turning it to much more pleasant interaction.
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