Sicily Trip Review

booksale

Sicily Trip Review

Date of the trip: 31st March – 7th April, 2013. This is a nice time to go as Sicily is not too packed with tourists yet there are a few early birds here so you get to talk with other tourists on your journey.

Places travelled: Siracusa, Palermo, Agrigento, Catania, Taormina and Mount Etna.

Trip type: Solo travel, a lot of walking, sight-seeing and exploring.

Weather: April is a perfect time to travel Sicily. It was not too hot and always sunny the eight days I stayed there. I was travelling from Dublin. A cardigan day time and a jacket night time were perfect for me. You might not even need the cardigan during the day. But Italians themselves wear much more than the tourists. The girl I met in the airport told me that she was cold (in a very thick jacket) while I was sweating a bit and had already had my jacket off!

Money issues: They use euro in Sicily. I spent around 650 (flight tickets not included) during my stay in Sicily which I think is an expenditure for a budget travel as an adult paying full price for the tickets and having own private rooms during the stay. Do check the changes they give back to you. I purchased twice in the airport and twice I did not get the accurate change (10 euro and 5 euro less) and it gave me quite a bad impression about Sicily at the start. Yet, people I met afterward were fantastic that the experience with them counterbalanced the bad impression I initially got from this first encounter.

Electricity: 220 volts, two round-prong socket. Remember to bring an adaptor. I forgot to bring mine and needed to buy in the Catania airport.

Safety: As a female solo traveller, I found Sicily a safe place to wander round day or night. Of course, common sense applied here, e.g. I walked only along the main bright streets night time, and always was cautious checking whether my bag was closed.

Traffic: The most disturbing and stressful experience I had in Sicily was times when I crossed the busy roads! Sicilian drivers, especially the bikers were very aggressive and they never stopped to let you cross the road, even in pedestrian crossing! Very rarely you might be lucky that the car stops and let you go first. Then you can count yourself having a lucky day and maybe go buy a lotto. I was told by a local in Palermo that the accident number that happened in the zebra crossing was very high. Even when the green man was on, I found cars turning from my right a lot of time. A few times I actually was nearly hit by the bikers. You can’t be polite and hesitated neither. Pedestrians have to be assertive too and just take a deep breath then step out onto the road with your hand signaling the drivers to stop. Otherwise you can have waited for the whole year to cross a road.

Transportation: The places I went are very well covered by bus routes. But be aware that some bus lines would be closed or buses would be infrequent on big holidays such as Christmas and Easter. I arrived on Easter Sunday and the bus to Catania city from Catania airport was cancelled in the afternoon suddenly. I was informed by an Italian girl who planned to take a bus to train station as well, even the staff in the information desk did not know about this. Turned out I shared a taxi to Siracusa with two people and paid E30 each. If you like a bit of walking, you can walk to most tourist places on foot if your accommodation is located in the town centre or around. If you are travelling within the town by local bus, do remember to buy bus tickets beforehand. You can buy bus tickets from the tobacco shops. If you are travelling nationally, you can always buy the tickets from the bus driver on the bus or from the ticket booth around.

Food: Food is yummy in Sicily. I had never tasted anything bad. Simple pasta dish is very yummy in any local restaurants. If you have an accommodation that you can cook in, I suggest you to buy the fresh jumping seafood from the market and cook for yourself. I tried the Sicilian oranges which is a bit dark inside. I thought the oranges were too ripped and threw them away the first time. Then I was told by a Sicilian that Sicilian oranges do like that! A lot of fresh fruits in the markets, mandarins, strawberries, apples, pears etc.. Walk a bit away from the tourist spots then you would be able to find nice food in a cheaper price in a local restaurant. I did not see many street food stalls, but if you popped into some small food shops, you can buy some traditional food such as the arancini (orange- like fried ball with rice outside and meat inside). The gelato is special in Sicily because it’s made with Arabic cream (so they said on the travel book), and usually costs around E1.5. Pistachio is one of the famous food products from Sicily and the pistachio gelato I had was just so delicious! The salad was fresh and with the best olive oil I had ever tasted, the salad I had in the restaurant was just amazing. Also, do try the swordfish and sardine. And very common pasta dish I tried was the spaghetti del norma. It was nice but since I had it in a bar / café that it was not microwaved warm enough for me.

Toilet!: Yes, toilet location is very important for your journey. Basically, you can find toilet quite easily in the café. Do buy a cup of coffee (and it’s not expensive, maybe one Euro or two) just to show your courtesy. You need to pay for toilets in the train station (at least in the train stations I have been to: Siracusa, Catania and Palermo, it’s around E1).

Post office: I was trying to post a postcard and three times I went to the post office, three times I had no luck. The queue was so long and slow moving. People were doing banking there also. And once when I was waiting, the staff announced the post office would be closed for lunch. So, basically, if you simply want to just post a letter, don’t go to the post office. Buy a stamp from the tobacco shop and post it in the post box where you can find one nearby with ease in the city.

Souvenirs: I personally really like the ceramics handicrafts. Do compare prices among shops. Some shops would do discount on some products then you might get a nice deal. Shops in the tourist spots such as Ortygia or Taormina would ask for a bit more than a small shops. I saw a shop in Taormina priced the handicrafts at least 10 euros more than a shop in the airport! Some shops sell you products from other countries claiming they are Sicilian made. So be careful. Sicilian made ceramics would not be too expensive for small items. I found one in Catania city centre which the shop owners are a couple and they can tell you about the ceramics. I was looking for Christmas balls (for Christmas tree decoration) and I found they were a euro or two cheaper in their shop. I can see that they really like the art and they are happy to share what they like and what they know. They told me that now a lot of ceramic handicrafts are from a town Caltagirone nowadays. The two popular ceramic masters are Mario Di Liberto (http://www.ceramichediliberto.com/shop/cms.php?id_cms=4&id_lang=1) and Ripullo (http://www.ceramicheripullo.com/). You can see their products around quite often. The shop is called ‘Katane’ (Katane Artigiani Siciliani). It is located in very closed to the lava elephant. The address is: Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 200.
Other than the ceramic handicrafts, the papyrus paper in Siracusa caught my attention as well. Papyrus paper is one of the oldest forms of paper from Egypt.

Language: You MUST know a few Italian words to travel Sicily!!!!!! Most of the people do not speak English and it is a bit of a hassle when you need to get information or buy some little things in small shops. And be brave to speak their language, they would appreciate your effort even though it is completely incorrect!  The words that I used most were: grazie, ciao, uno, quanta costa, dove, and quando. It is better you know the numbers from 1-100 (which is not that difficult but it is too late for me now!) as it helps you to buy things in the small shops and markets as a lot of them do not have the price tags on. Also, knowing a few of Italians build a bit of connection with the local and make your trip more fun.

People: Having said that about the Italian language, Sicilians are very helpful, very hospitable and welcoming to tourists. Even though they do not know English, they try their best to show you directions with gestures. Some even offer a lift (well, not just to female travellers, I met a male solo traveller and he had the same experience) to the place you want to go when you ask them for directions. But of course, be cautious yourself and again use your common sense to judge. There were a few times people offered me help and showed me directions while I was just looking up on the map and did not ask them for help. Sicilian people are just very friendly. Once I was wandering around in Taormina and appreciating the sky line of this beautiful town, I accidently stepped into a private garage. I stepped back immediately but the Sicilian just invited me in to take photos of the sky line. He had a very old Fiat in this garage and he even asked me to sit in the Fiat and took a picture of me sitting in his old Fiat! And I heard similar stories from other solo travellers. Sicilians make Sicily a very touching place, especially for solo travellers.

My itinerary:
Day one and two: Siracusa and Ortygia
I arrived at the airport at noon. Then I headed to Siracusa by a shared taxi. The taxi stopped at somewhere I did not know but the Sicilian who shared the taxi with me asked her husband to give me a lift to the B&B I booked.

I got an impression that Sicily is yellow in colour from the first two days I stayed in Siracusa. A very obvious building in Siracusa town centre was Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime (Church of the Weeping Madonna). I used that as a landmark for me to look for directions from everywhere. The park was just a short walking distance from the church. I walked to Ortygia also from the park. It was about 40-50 minutes walk for me but I supposed it could take less time as I got lost a bit. Ortygia is an old centre of Sircusa across the two bridges near the train station. It was a tourist place with beautiful and interesting shops along the streets leading to the plaza. I went back in the afternoon for a few hours break in the B&B and walked back to Ortygia night time. The atmosphere was lively and relaxing in the plaza with people dining, drinking, strolling around, and children playing on their skateboards along the paths laughing.

B&B: La Terra di Archmede (Average E30 per night)
La Terra di Archmede is an excellent B&B. The location is great. It's just 10 to 20 minutes walk from the train station and the bus terminal, and even closer to a bus stop (maybe 5-10 minute walk). I walked to every tourist spots. Teresa gave me a lot of help even before I arrived. She gave me clear directions and was very accommodating about my arrival time and leaving time. It was better than a hotel with an attractive price. Breakfast is fresh croissant and you can have your favourite flavour. There was also fruit, cheese and ham and break as well. You can make your own coffee. There is supply of snack in case you want more. Indeed, you can find anything you need: wifi connection, hair-dryer, maps, printer in case you need to print some information etc. My bathroom was not in the room and was upstairs but it was just a few steps away and both the room and the bathroom were spotless.

Teresa is so warm and inspiring telling me her story of setting up the B&B. We chatted about dreams, language, and life. Teresa was a big plus for her own B&B and she made you feel like home.

Restaurant: Ristorante Pizzeria Giove di Giovanni Grienti in Ortygia
I would like to recommend this restaurants to tourists. The restaurant is run by the Grienti family. It is located at the back street, the address is Ronco dei Cassari, 4, 96100, Ortygia, Siracusa. I had salad and spaghetti with swordfish. I was served with crispy bread first. The salad was very fresh. And the spaghetti was delicious and in big portion which could really fill you up. The 16-year-old daughter helped me to do the translation and we chatted about school life in Sicily, the course she wanted to do in university, teens' love and even recession in Sicily! I had a very enjoyable dinner there.

Day three and four: Palermo
I took an early bus (Interbus, http://www.interbus.it/ ) from Siracusa to Palermo. The bus terminal was not just a minute walk the train station and was within walking distance from the B&B. There were three buses that day to Palermo: 8am, 2pm and 5pm. The early bus got me to Palermo around noon time.

I was so glad I did not give up Palermo because of the 3-hour bus journey. Palermo is amazing! Siracusa gave me a little taste about the mixture of culture in Sicily. Palermo further elaborated the beauty of mixture by its buildings and city structure. I liked seeing historic buildings and Palermo is a great place for you to read the history of a city through its buildings. Yes, it is dirty, chaotic, with narrow roads and annoying traffic, but the surprise I had when I turned into the Quattro Canti (Four Corners) from a dusty street was unforgettable. When I stood in front of the Quattro Canti, I felt I was connected with the history of the city and the people from the past. A local told me that the each corner indeed represents a song dedicated to the four seasons. The Quattro Canti is used as a landmark for me when I was walking around Palermo. I was always amazed by the mixture of culture in the buildings, such as a red Arabic dome on top of an Egyptian temple. A baroque dome with Arabic tiles etc etc. A must go of course would be the Norman Palace which is a perfect example to show the mixture of Norman, Roman/Greek and Arab. The ticket includes a visit to the Chapel and the Palace. But the palace was used as a government administrative place on certain day and I did not get to go in. Better check carefully if you want to see both.

Palermo’s old buildings gave me a bizarre yet very adorable feeling about the city. I met a local who was working as social worker for immigrants and homeless people. He himself was an immigrant 13 years ago. He showed me around some very poor region in Palermo, such as places around Albergheria. He treated me the best latte in the city in a local café near the Teatro Massimo. He also took me to a public space by the seaside around the Orto Botanico. Here you can see the children playing football, young couples flirting and old people relaxing.

The Ballaro market was huge and don’t miss it as you got to feel the local atmosphere there.

Another activity I recommend would be watching a puppet show. There are a lot of puppet theatres around the Teatro Massimo. But the one that I went was in a little lane just opposite the Cathedral. I saw the master on a BBC TV programme (Sicily Unpacked). He looked very very serious but when he talked with the children and smiled, he had the kindest smile I saw on a man’s face (except my dad of course!). It costs E12 for an hour. I had a very enjoyable evening watching the story about the hero Orlando. It was easy to understand, hilarious and a bit violent with the puppets being cut into half, the head being cut off etc during the wars. I walked to the puppet museum in La Kalsa area near the Piazze Mariana. There are more than 4000 puppet collections around the world. Young children might find it scary as a lot of puppets are with evil faces. The ticket is E5.

Hotel: Verdi Hotel (E47 per night)
The room that I had was quite small but it's enough for me. It has a very good location and is closed to the Four Corners. The hotel is about 10-15 minutes walk from the train station. Some people complain that it is very noisy at night but I personally did not find it noisy. It may be because the room I had was facing the back instead of the main street. It was very very clean with perfect wifi connection. The breakfast was quite filling included two croissants, yoghurt, fruit and coffee/tea. The price was very attractive for its location and its cleaniness. The staff was very friendly and honest. I left my mobile in the eating counter and they immediately gave it back to me when they found out.

Day five: Agrigento
In the morning, I took the Cuffaro bus at 1030 to Agrigento (http://www.cuffaro.info/ ). The bus costs around E9 for one way. The stop was not exactly outside the train station. It was at the back of the train station near a Chinese shop, ask any bus drivers and they would show you the way. The bus takes you to the Agrigento bus terminal and from there you need to take a local bus to the Valley of Temple. The highlights would be the Temple of Concord and the Gigante in the Temple of Olympian Zeus. They were very closed to each other. But I stupidly missed the Temple of Olympian Zeus and could not see the Gigante. Do check out for a map. I could not get one from the staff who sold the ticket but I saw some tourists were holding a map, I am not quite sure how they get the map. If you have time, walk to the Museum (walking downhill from the car park with a very clear sign). You can then appreciate the Temple of Concord from a far distance which is great.

In Alexander Hardcastle's House, the Valley of Temples, Agrigento. I met a group of artists. Alexander was a British army officer. He put a lot of effort into the Valley of Temples, to protect and maintain the historic ruins. I was thinking to see a lovely garden, some photos of the officer etc. But when I went in, a man with a hat was smoking at the stair. And he said 'Welcome'. I replied with a 'grazie' and went inside. It turned out that they are artists ‘Laboratiorio Saccardi.’ I knew them from BBC programme ‘Sicily Unpacked’ and I now saw them in person. They will have an exhibition from 12 April 2013 in this beautiful house of the Valley of Temples. If you happen to be around, do go in and have a look.

More info about them: http://www.boxartgallery.com/saccardi.php?lang=en

After visiting the Valley of Temple, I took a SAIS bus (http://www.saistrasporti.it/) from Agrigento Bus terminal to Catania. You can see the Mount Etna emitting a lot of smoke into the sky on the way to the Catania airport then to Catania. The bus does not stop at the train station and you need to walk for about three to five minutes from the stop to the train station. Then you can take a bus to the Catania city town ((http://www.amt.ct.it/PercorsieOrari.php). Or you can simply walk to town but I would not recommend it as it has a bit of distance and the traffic is extremely busy and chaotic around the train station.

Day six: Mount Etna, Catania
The next morning, with the help from the staff in the B&B, I got the last place in a day tour to Mount Etna. The tour was organised by Etna Experience (Escursioni di Natura) (www.etnaexperience.com). The tour guide Danilo was excellent. And his trainee was also a very nice guy. Danilo is an expert and he gave us a lot of information about Mount Etna, from the volcanic activities to the lava habitat to the different types of stones. For the questions he was not sure about the questions, he would check it up on his smart-phone and answer you quickly. We went there by a jeep. We got to see the lava desert, trekked around the craters, visited the lava crave (was indeed a lava tube), saw the Bove Valley. Danilo speaks very good English and was the translator between the Italian tourists and two other tourists (including me). He was very considerate that he made sure every one was in the conversation during our lunch in a restaurant. He is just so great and I highly recommend him if you consider a tour to Mount Etna. And I higly recommend a day tour instead of going there by bus or train because what you get from the day tour is huge that you cannot really get it yourself unless you are an expert yourself. The price for the trip is E59 for an adult and E49 for students under 24.

Day seven: Taormina and Catania town
The last day in Sicily, I started my day at around half nine. Firstly I had a stroll in the Catania market. It is huge and lively, very similar with the Ballaro market. You can hear people selling their products loudly like singing a simple tune. When you look at them and smile, they laugh themselves. You can smell the fish and the vegetable. The colours of the food and the stocks are beautiful. Occasionally you can see the stalls displaying their items in an amusing way. The egg stalls have a decoration of chicken behind the eggs, or a smiley face on the eggs. A fish stall has the red tomatoes and yellow lemons randomly placed on the dark fish. The vegetable and fruit stalls win the attention with the natural colours of the fruits. A stall which sells oranges only cut a few oranges into half and placed beautifully in between.

Then I travelled to Taormina at around 11. It is very convenient to go to Taormina from Catania. You can take the interbus (http://www.interbus.it/) in the bus terminal near the train station directly to the Taormina bus terminal. A bus is schedule to Taormina for every hour. At the Taomina bus terminal, you walk uphill for about five minutes then you would arrive in the Taormina town. Inside the Greek Theatre, you can capture a nice view of the Taormina skyline with the Mount Etna. I was suggested to go to the highest point of Taormina, Castelmola, by a local bus then you can see the panoramic view of this medieval town who has been hosted visitors since 1800. And there you can taste the almond wine in a shop for free. Almond is a local product of Sicily. There is a cable car which takes you downhill from Taormina town to the beach. It costs E3 for one way. I did not do both (to go to the top nor to the bottom) as I was a bit tired at that point and preferred to see a bit of the Catania town.

When I got back to Catania, it was around five. I walked from the train station through the Via Vittorio Emanuele II to the lava elephant. I visited the Cathedral (Duomo) in which lay Bellini. Bellini was and still is a famous opera composer who was from Catania. It was Saturday evening and there seemed to be an evening mass as I heard a beautiful voice practising hymns and preparing for the mass. I saw a crowd gathering at the Plaza. They were preparing a music evening for fund-raising for an organisation for children with Autism. Catania in Saturday evening was very animated. People were light-hearted and cheerful. The streets were full of people but not too crowded. Traffic was very busy with traffic jams on the roads. I finished a dinner, post a letter then headed back to the B&B.

Day eight: Airport
There is a direct bus from the bus terminal to the airport. But the bus 457 ((http://www.amt.ct.it/PercorsieOrari.php) goes around the Catania town, so you don’t need to get that far to the bus terminal. I hopped onto the bus at the bus stop at Via Etnea and in half hour I was in the Catania airport.

B&B/ Hotel: I was staying in Four Rooms B&B for those three nights in Catania. It was about 20-30 minutes to the lava Elephant where most tourist spots clustered. It located in Via Monserrato, very closed to the Piazza Cavour. Via Etnea is just on your right and a few seconds away from the B&B. There are a few buses bring you to and from the bus terminal to the Piazza Cavour including 1-4, 448 and 432 (http://www.amt.ct.it/PercorsieOrari.php) . There is a big supermarket nearby and a lot of small food shops selling cheap food and delicious food.

The big plus of this B&B was the staff. Sophie was very helpful. She helped me to call the Mount Etna tours. She showed me the tourist spots in Catania city and gave me a lot of tips. She reminded me there was no market on Sunday. She was just so friendly and easy to get know to. The room was spacious. I had a room with bathroom outside but it was not a bother as it was just kind of opposite my room and I had the bathroom myself. The wifi connection was great, very beautiful dining and common areas, and very rich breakfast with cereal, bread, salami, yoghurt and cheese and ham. You can take as many as you need, and a cup of coffee/tea. They have a lift too so it is handy if you have heavy luggage. Four Rooms is a very good choice with a very reasonable price.

They have a silence policy which ask the travellers to be quiet night time from 9 to 9 in the morning which I think is a very considerate policy. Yet, my room was quite nosiy on a Saturday night with the motorists racing and beeping all the times. But since it is in a very convenient location just next to the main street to the tourist spot, you can’t really complain about the noise. Check whether you have the right key to your room when you check in as I got mine mixed up but lucikly Sophie got it sorted. The room was clean but could be a bit better.

My Sicily trip was with so much fun and so many pleasurable memories. The people I met during the trip (on the web, Vagabonda from Sicily forum on Tripadvisor web site and all the staff in the B&B or hotel I stayed in, and all the kind people who offered help with big smiles) made this journey unique and memorable. There are still places I want to explore in Sicily. Maybe next time!

Clareboy

Excellent travel review, well done. It has got me thinking about making a trip to Sicily. Many thanks.

booksale

THANKS, Clareboy, glad that the review entices you to travel Sicily!

Degringola

Dear Booksale,
Thank you so much for the report, I have been wanting to go to Sicily for a while, and might have to do it solo so this was very informative and the recommendations are so useful!
Was it too cold for swimming at that time of year would you say?
If I go I would also like to follow a bit of Montalbano's trail or at least see the town where the police station was and where he lived by the sea.
I researched it a while back and I think one of the locations was in Ragusa, and also that his house is now a B+B!

Great to see that you were able to get to all these places by public transport/tour. That was one of my concerns as I would not want to hire a car.
Thanks again for the info and the links.

LynnGrace

Great stuff. Somewhere I've always wanted to visit. Thanks for this.

booksale

Hi, Degringola, I did not swim the time I went to Sicily. But I asked my friend whose family's from Sicily and he said that usually it is best to swim from June. April or May might be a bit cold (well, he's an Italian so maybe it's different for people from a colder place. I was sweating and was in summer T-shirt the first day I arrived Sicily while the Italian gal I met that day still had her coat on and said I was strong).

I don't really know about the Montalbano's trail. But I am quite sure there are buses to Ragusa. I saw it at the Catania airport. But I forgot which bus company it is. Most bus companies in Sicily are privately run. They are indeed better than the public ones and price is very reasonable. People recommend to take the bus instead of trains in Sicily if you are not hiring a car. I think it's better not to hire a car if you are not locals. It's very difficult to find parking in Palermo and Catania city. And, um, I really feel Italian drivers are a bit crazy.

Anyway, my friend told me that small towns should also be covered by buses in Sicily. And if you don't mind a bit of walking, it might be nice to just walk and use mass transport.

Hope you have a nice trip there! Ciao ciao!

old hippy

I found taking the buses between the towns worked best in terms of comfort (air conditioning) and cost. The one time we took a train was hot, cramped and uncomfortable.

The only problem we had with the intercity buses were the habit some drivers had of chatting to (usually) women who would stand up front, near the driver. Or chatting on their phones whilst navigating twisty roads :eek: