Rome, Pompeii and Sicily Report
 

Unbeknowst to Fodorites, I have been picking brains and reviewing comments and reports on this site for some time. I used this information to plan our recent trip (with husband) to Rome, Pompeii and Sicily.
I wanted to return the favor by offering trip information that might help others have a more enjoyable travel experience.
Because travel is a very personal experience and one man's treasured experience is anothers frustration, I think it helps to know something about the person giving advice. So here is a brief autobiography.
Husband and I are early 60's, healthy, pretty active, budget-conscious and love the flexibility and privacy of independent travel. This is our third trip to Italy and we have some (meaning minimal with help of hands and phrase book we get by) ability to communicate in Italian.
I do all the research and make arrangements and he is happy with whatever I choose (a perfect travelling companion)and he does the driving. I enjoy photography and that is a factor in my travel choices. Because I am a morning person (and husband is not), it is important to me to have something wonderful to look at in the morning from my room as I wait for him to wake. I am more interested in view than amenities in housing. We also want to experience the culture and towns we visit so it is important to spend a morning and evening in selected towns. This often means we do not see as many sites but we are willing to make that sacrifice.
All this said, I offer these observations, recommendations and warnings.

Our Itinerary
2/20/07 Fly out of Dulles via Munich to Rome
2/21/07 Arrive Rome
2/22/07 Vatican Tour
2/23/07 Depart Rome by train to Naples to
Pompeii
2/24/07 Depart Naples (Air One) to Palermo
2/25/07 Sidetrip to Monreale
2/26/07 Rent car and drive to Agrigento-
with stop at Selinunte
2/27/07 Visit to Valley of the Temples
2/28/07 Drive to Modica with sidetrip to
Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza
Armerina
3/2/07 Drive to Taormina
3/3/07 Drive back to Palermo through
mountains to northern coast.
3/4/07 Fly out of Palermo to Rome to
Frankfurt to Dulles.

1. Sicilians do not believe in signage-not on roads, not in towns, not anywhere. We were lost ALOT. We had several road maps. The best we purchased at a tabacchi in Rome. I had seen them on the internet but the shipping cost and wait time convinced me to wait until I got to Italy. Also found a guidebook "Sicily" from the Touring Club of Italy to have helpful maps of travel routes and towns (purchased thru U.S. bookstore-I had to order it thru Barnes and Noble). All this done and much pre-planning still didn't save us. However, I will say that some of this was of our own making-but that's another story. The best approach is to know the name of the towns you want to head toward and follow signs. In hindsight, I think using the train instead of a car would have lowered the stress and been almost as scenic and flexible. Once we arrived at a town for the night, we walked and did not use the car-afraid we might never find our way back home.
2. We encountered fewer people who spoke English. All accomodations had English speaking hosts but some restaurants (we prefer local restaurants) did not. AND the many citizens on the street we stopped for directions did not speak English.
3. We had no real problem with "crime
ridden" streets. We had several "taxi" drivers approach us at the train station in Naples-who clearly were trying to get physically close enough to pick our pockets. BUT we recognized the behavior, offered a firm "No" and kept walking. We kept all valuables in neck pouches or tucked in pockets attached to belts and tucked into pants waistbands. We kept nothing of value in any pockets-ever. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible with camers or bags or clothing that might identify us as "tourists" as we walked the cities. And we felt perfectly comfortable and safe.
4. Taxis are very expensive and they seem to make up prices as they go. Try to set a price before you get in-including the luggage and appropriate number of people travelling because all that can be added at the destination. We found walking to be very workable almost everywhere.
5. We found the people to be extremely helpful and kind. The ruins were awe inspiring and walking the streets of the cities and towns was wonderful.

Will try to get more specific information about towns, accomodations, etc. a little later

Looking forward to more. Thanks!

Yes, looking forward to more. And welcome home.

I love trip reports about Italy!

I will have to do this report in bits and pieces as time allows.
First destination-Rome. We had been to Rome several years ago but missed the Sistine Chapel. I decided that a detour to Rome on this trip would be workable.
Arrived at the airport and caught the train to Rome Termini. I am not the most knowledgeable "Italian train" traveller but found the travel to Termini on the Leonardo Express a piece of cake. There are clearly visible signs at the airport to the attached train station. Tickets were available at several locations there (it is a small-can't get lost-area)and the trains ran frequently- directly, non-stop Termini. Tickets were E11 each. Another local train (with a number of stops within Rome) was cheaper. If you are more adventurous or knowledgeable, the other train can save some money. Taxis are controlled at E40 to your hotel in Rome-not sure how many passengers or bags are included in this price. We caught a cab from Termini to our apartment for another E10. Cabs are a very expensive alternative and we used them sparingly.
We had rented an apartment through b&b planet (good website with a number of reasonable accomodations). As a budget minded traveller-this appeared to be a good deal. For E60 a night (off season) we had a very small, slightly worn but clean apartment in a fabulous location on via san teodoro. The ruins of the palatine hill were right in front of our window. Also there was a fairly well travelled little road which provided a fair amount of noise. Because we didn't open the windows and there were wooden shutters, we were fine. The apartment provided a futon and kitchen table with 2 chairs and a storage armoire in the living area (and that was all that fit). A small open staircase led to a low ceiling sleeping loft with 2 single beds (mismatched but clean, decent linens). Extra pillows, blankets, etc.-helpful for a third person on futon.
Off the living area was a hall to a private bath (tiny shower). In the hall was a stove, sink and refrigerator. We were met by our host on arrival (he lives in the building and speaks English well) and he gave us information on local restaurants (we had not had food for hours) and we headed off to the nearest one on a small square nearby (Osteria del Campidogli ?-water, good pasta, bread E26). Weather was cool-probably mid 40's and some drizzle and showers. I had purchased 24 hour tickets in advance for the Hop on-Hop off tour bus and we headed to the circus maximus stop. I could not get a clear picture of the location of this stop from the tour website-so we wandered awhile (a vision of things to come)and finally located a large stop on the south side of the circus maximus where a number of tour buses pick up and drop off. In spite of the chill and rain, I parked (with camera) on the opened top seats and snaked through Rome snapping away. I was satisfied with the tour but did not get off the bus. I had planned this first day as a slow day and just wanted to relax and get an overview of Rome.
Exited back at the circus maximus and headed home. We were tired and hungry and passed a bakery at the end of our street. We actually didn't PASS it, we went in. The friendly, talkative owner was happy to have us and he had a young american working at the ovens who helped us choose some pastries (and bottled drinks). That became dinner and breakfast.
I had packed some one cup coffee bags to get us through the first few days and we had them with our breakfast and the caffeine helped get us moving. There was a coffee bar attached to the restaurant nearby for those who might want to start the day with high octane expresso.
Our only full day in Rome had been set aside for our Vatican tour (with Sistine Chapel). Reserved on the internet before heading from the U.S.-Through Eternity Tours-E36 each (included 10% internet discount).
Fabulous, wonderful, worth every cent tour.
We walked from the apartment to Vatican City in about 30 minutes-a beautiful day (sunny, 40s) and a beautiful walk along the Tiber. We met our guide at 10:00 a.m., and headed for the end of the entry line. Rob, our guide, talked the entire 1 1/2 hours we stood in line (Vatican does not allow any prebooking of tours of the museums-everyone stands in line). Background information and "stories" made the tour much more meaningful. The tour ended at 4:00 p.m. (had 20 minute break for lunch in vatican cafeteria). There were more people than I had anticipated for a Thursday morning in February. Summer crowds and heat must be a real trial.
Left the tour and headed for Trastevere to find food. Walked the streets there for awhile and ate at a small restaurant (Cornicopia-I think-not memorable). Walked home and crashed. Almost forgot-we did stop at the bakery again for the following day's breakfast...we were hooked.
On Friday morning, we hopped into a cab (which our host, Luca, had arranged for us), headed back to Termini and caught the train for Naples.

I had purchased tickets from Rome to Naples on the trenitalia website before we left home. There is a drop down box which asks the type of fare you will be using. After some research, I found the fastest train from Rome to Naples and Rome to Milan has a two-for-one fare on those routes. Bought 2 second class seats for E33 and made a printout receipt which I took with me to show the conductor. After a taxi ride to termini, we hopped the train to Naples and had a very comfortable, easy ride (departed Rome 9:25-arrive Naples 10:52). Because train tickets must be validated before boarding, I folded the paper and put it into the validation box on the platform to be stamped. I am not sure that was necessary but it seemed an easy enough precaution to avert any problems on the train.
At the Naples train station,we had our only experience with "crime". Several "taxi drivers" approached us on the platform and were very obviously trying to get close enough to check our pockets. We gave a firm "NO" and kept walking-we never kept anything of value in our pockets. We stored our luggage and followed the signs to the circumvesuviana (local train to pompeii). We purchased combo tickets there for roundtrip train and entry to pompeii (E17/person). We were directed to the the platform and given time of departure. Somehow we ended up on the wrong train which does not go to pompeii. We were on the train for quite awhile before we realized the stops we were passing didn't match the list in the Rick Steve's material. Several young women (none spoke English) "explained" to us that we could get off, take a connecting train and get back on the train for pompeii. Another young woman who spoke English very well came to help. What lovely young people-I love Italians. A middle -aged woman with children in tow also heard the conversation and led us off the train at the appropriate stop, checked with the station master and then directed us to the train we needed to get back on track (literally). We lost at least 90 minutes but we were now on our way. When we got to pompeii, we were not at the scavi station and had to walk about 1/2 mile to park entry-so we stopped for some quick pizza and coffee on the way. The day was beautiful-sunny and at least in the 60's. Pompeii was all I thought it would be. There were very few people so we really had the sense of a once thriving city stopped in time. The ruts in the stone roads for some reason really impressed me. Here was the evidence of the bustle of life now silenced. We walked for several hours. We purchased a small guide book before entering the archeological site. The ticket booth didn't have any maps on hand (probably because it was early in the season??). It certainly is necessary to have a map and some explanation of the ruins to experience the "city".
We had no trouble finding our way back to Naples on the circumvesuviana. Once at the train station we grabbed a taxi to the Archeological Museum in Naples. I had read that the best finds in Pompeii were there and it should not be missed. I was very disappointed. A sign indicated that much of the museum was closed for an event-so we saw very little and left. The cab stand is across the street in front of the museum but we could not get a cab to stop. It was a Friday night, traffic was unbelieveable and taxis were either taken or wouldn't pull out of the maze of traffic to pick us up. Finally, a taxi stopped and took us out into the river of cars. The driver was wonderful. A native of Naples, he spent our time together extolling th beauty of Naples, explaining that what we were seeing wasn't the real city. We should have paid tour guide prices for the ride. Our destination in Naples was Pizza at Michelle's. Naples is the place where pizza originated and there are a few purist pizza places left and Michelle's is one. We loved it-the pizza, the tiled walls, the locals eating and talking.
We walked from Michelle's down the main street in Naples back to the train station. It was about 8:30 but we felt safe on the main street and at the train station-we had heard so much about the dangerous streets here and were a little concerned.
We picked up our bags (E18 storage fee) , caught yet another taxi and drove to our hotel for the night. Because we were flying out of Naples early the next morning (6:55 a.m. !) we staying at the Hotel Charming near the airport. A very nice hotel. Lovely room and bath, good service (E90). They scheduled a cab to pick us up at 5:30 the next morning. When the call came that the cab had arrived-we were still sleeping. Panic-I had set the clock for 4:30 p.m.(not a.m.). We threw our stuff together-rescheduled the cab for 5:45 and ran to the lobby. The cab didn't return at 5:45. After a call from the desk-a taxi arrived at 6:05 and we were headed to the airport. When we arrived the desk wasn't even open yet for check-in. The pace of life is so different in Italy. Things were running a little slow-but they didn't care. We relaxed and waited. We flew Air One from Naples to Palermo. I had purchased the tickets on line (E55/each). I had considered the other alternatives to travel from Naples to Palermo but opted for flying. The overnite ferry was sometimes delayed because of weather conditions (I get seasick and am not a fan of choppy water). The overnight train sounded exciting and adventurous but I read a trip report about the problems sleeping because of noise and movement of the train. I only have 13 days in Italy and didn't want to lose a single minute because I was too tired to see and do everything.
In no time we were at the airport in Palermo.

We arrived at the Palermo airport about 7:45 a.m.on Saturday, grabbed our bags, easily found the bus to town (ran every 30 minutes-E5 each)and began our only full day in Palermo. I had checked carefully the times that attractions were open (most are closed midday for lunch)and planned accordingly for a whirlwind tour of Palermo. We taxied to the Grand Hotel et des Palmes and stored our bags. Took another taxi to the Palazzo Reale. We had a difficult time finding the entrance which is small and a little secluded from the street. But we finally entered and enjoyed a quick tour. Guides gave information in a number of languages and that added to the enjoyment of the tour. The Palatina Capella is undergoing major renovation and much of the ceiling and walls are covered. A disappointment but still worth the stop.
After these attractions, we settled into a slower pace and explored Palermo on foot. We were very lucky to have a beautiful day. We loved Palermo-and we hadn't expected that. The city is very walkable (one of the few level spots we visited in Sicily)and we enjoyed the range of architectural styles and the energy of the city. While walking we passed the gorgeous cathedral and stopped for a few minutes to get an upclose view of the architectural detail-amazing. We walked through a market and stopped by the piazza pretoria (went back after dark to get some photos when the lights softly lit the bodies surrounding the fountain).
We stopped for lunch at a cafeteria on Vittorio Emanuele (Kaleido-Vitt. Em., 446). Lunch was fast, tasty and very reasonable-would go back there again. I think some of our favorite moments in Palermo were inside the Church of San Cataldo and the Martorana. We were almost alone in these 2 churches and you felt that things had changed very little inside these buildings during the centuries. The beautiful and ornate Martorana and the stark San Cataldo were more moving and impressive than the Palazzo Reale to me.
We walked back to our Hotel and decided to embrace the Italian custom of the noontime nap. Rejuvenated we walked the streets until dark. The concierge had recommended Il Mirta e la Rosa (very near the hotel) for dinner. We arrived for dinner at 7:30. The place was empty-but about 8:45, the locals arrived and the restaurant came alive. The food and service were excellent. The staff spoke very little (if any) English and menus were in Italian only but we managed and were very happy to be amongst locals who were laughing, eating, drinking and just being Italian.
The following day was Sunday and most attractions were closed or open a few hours in the morning. I had scheduled this day to visit Monreale. We walked to the bus (30 minute walk), purchased our tickets at the Piazza Independenza and stood at the street to catch the bus. We didn't see people lining up to board the busses so we asked one of the drivers sitting nearby. With hands and rudimentary Italian, we learned that the stop was not at the ticket booth. We walked back to Vittorio Emanuele turned left and saw the stop about 50' from the corner. We caught bus #389 and all was well. Tickets are validated in boxes on the bus. We arrived at Monreale about 9:40-walked the cloisters (which was lovely) and the cathedral. Nothing is able to capture the power of the mosaics. As we admired the interior, mass began. The choir was singing, incense burning, huge altar candles were lit. I wish we had been able to stay for the service. We left Monreale on the bus about 11:00.
Back in Palermo, we walked again. Another sunny day. We came upon an outdoor antique, sidewalk market and found the Palazzo Mirta open as we walked by. We jumped at the chance to see one of the few Palermo palazzos open to the public. Fabulous. The opulence was mind boggling. The detail, the embellishments, the fabrics and the materials gave a glimpse of the wealth of old Palermo. See this is you can. We ate lunch at a non-descript pizzeria and walked to the harbor, did some window shopping and ate gelato. We ate dinner at Trattoria a Cuccagna(also near the hotel). Despite the many awards on their window, the meal was at best mediocre and couldn't compare in quality of food or atmosphere to our previous night. The menu was english, wait staff formally dressed and atmosphere very "high-end", but it was full of tourists in large groups and expensive. Fortunately it was certainly the exception to the rest of our eating experiences in sicily.
The following day we rented a car and started our circuit of the island of Sicily.

More, please...

Palermo is my favorite city in Italy.

I just got back from a driving vacation in France--can't wait to read your next installment. I may be getting ready to tackle Sicily behind the wheel.

Thanks for your encouragement. I know I tend to be wordy but I learned alot and had so many wonderful moments in sicily I want to share.
Our goal on leaving Palermo was to drive south through the interior to Agrigento with a stop at Selinunte.
We actually arrived at Selinunte with very little trouble (not par for our experiences on this trip).
Selinunte was absolutely breath taking. The day was sunny,windy and temperate with a blue sky photographers dream of. Once again we were alone for most of the time and could really enjoy the scale and beauty of the restored temple and the surrounding site. We found the road to Agrigento without trouble and motored our way east. Our good fortune ended quickly. We had booked a bed and breakfast in Agrigento and attempted to call our hostess to report our arrival time. For some unknown reason our phone wouldn't connect us. We had purchased a cell phone which operated outside the U.S. It worked fine for other calls within Italy and to the U.S. but alas not this time. Then we entered Agrigento. Could not find our way (even with mapquest maps, etc.). We decided to follow the signs for the Ospedale, since the mapquest map showed our b & b to be near the hospital. Who knew there was an old and new hospital of the same name, on a street with very similar names in the area. We spent hours wandering all over the outskirts of Agrigento. I add that we were hungry and there was nowhere to eat-not good. We found our way back into the city proper, asked directions from people on the street and eventually found our "home". After we found our destination and looked at the mapquest map it was perfectly clear that the map was accurate but there were no signs visible to denote streets-which was a real problem for us. We rented a room at Il giardino della rupe (www.ilgiardinodellarupe.it). Our hostess was wonderful, hearing our tale she immediately brought us some hot tea and cookies. The room was spacious and clean and private. The owners live upstairs from the rented rooms. I had "discovered" this b & b on the tripadvisor site. Starving and determined not to get back into the car that day, we walked into town (quite an incline)in the pouring rain. It was monday and most restaurants were closed. The walk was not a long one. The b&b is in a quiet location at the high point of Agrigento. The best feature was a small balcony which provided a view of the Valley of the Temples and the Mediterranean. I watched the sun rise over this amazing scene as the quiet of the country was broken only by crowing roosters. I would recommended this place to anyone who wants quiet and a view. Breakfast was toast, cappucino, homemade fig jam (from the garden) and almonds and oranges (from the trees outside our window). It was very simple but served in the family kitchen with Sal (our host-a poet and artist) pouring coffee and keeping us company. His english isn't the best but Nerella (our hostess-who had to leave us each morning for her job in the city)spoke english very well and was happy to do whatever she could to make us comfortable.
Woke up Tuesday to a beautiful, warm day. Perfect for our planned trip to the Valley of the Temples. We intended to walk into town and catch the bus to the temples in front of the train station. There was, however, a lot of construction in front of the station and the bus stop had been relocated (to where we never quite knew). We took a cab. After arriving at the Temples we rented audio guides and started our walk back in time. At the entrace there seemed to be quite a few people but since the area is large we saw very few people as we walked to the temples. It was so warm we had to shed our light jackets. Another perfect day. Fabulous, must see. We spent several leisurely hours there.The photo ops were everywhere. (I will try to post some photos, if I can figure out how to do it). The bus back to Agrigento came on time and in a few minutes we were back in town. We treated ourselves to lunch at Trattoria di Giovanni. Very lovely, good wine selection, good food, a little pricey but a great way to rest and relax after our hours of walking.
Later,we walked around town and went back to the sports bar where we had eaten the night before. It was a simple place and the locals were camped out in front of the big screen excitedly cheering for some sports team and we sat back and ate our sandwiches (which we good) and were happy. We stopped at a coffee bar and bought some sandwiches and desserts to carry on our car trip the following day. We were not going to get caught without food again. The following morning, Sal spend a great deal of time showing us how to get out of Agrigento and onto our next stop. It was wasted breath.I used to think I was a pretty decent navigator but not here. We were spending the next few days in modica but planned a stop at the Roman villa of Casale to see the mosaic floors.
We had little trouble finding the villa, as there were amazingly many signs pointing the way.
This sight was absolutely spectacular. The intricacy and scope of the mosaics is beyond words. So glad we took this detour. It was one of the highlights of the trip. From there things went down hill. We obviously made a wrong turn when leaving and found ourselves passing through small towns (very tricky) and on roads through rural countryside. We didn't panic but relaxed and rolled with it. We had planty of gas and were on an island-eventually we had to find something familiar. We saw signs to Gela and followed them to the southern coast and picked up the main road and drove toward modica.

Finally we arrived at Modica to once again be confused and entagled in the streets of these small towns. Modica, however, is much larger than we had anticipated. We had visited several hilltowns in tuscany and umbria and expected something similar in modica-but modica was much larger.
We did manage to call our hostess at the b&b (Al cotiletto www.alcortiletto.com )and gave her our ETA. She gave some advice for locating the address. Her advice with that of a number of non-english speaking people on the street got us there.
I mentioned early on in this report that I was working to maintain a budget. Because we splurged on a hotel in Palermo, I hoped to use budget housing here to even out expenses. Al cortiletto offers 2 options, a studio and an apartment. We rented the studio at E40/night. Our expectations-in spite of nice website pictures-were not high. Upon arrival, Rita, our hostess, explained she had been able to rent the studio to a single traveller for the second night of our stay and offered the apartment for E40. We jumped at it after seeing the 2 spaces. The apartment is 2 levels. A private entry with small, cute kitchen, bath, and spacious, lovely sitting/dining area were on the first floor. A large bedroom was upstairs and off the bedroom was a private roof top deck with table and chairs and a view of the town. This place was amazing. Exceptionally clean with simple but very nice furnishings. Free parking was no problem in front of the house and since it is located on the main street of Modica, it really is convenient to everything on foot (be aware that everything requires walking up and down steps as the city is built on the side of a hill (as was Agrigento).
Rita simply couldn't do enough for us. The room price also included breakfast. The breakfast was coffee, breads, fruit, meats, cheeses and sweets-more food than we needed-so we put some aside to serve as lunch later that day on the roof deck. Tell me I am crazy but when we left we paid Rita E60/night (the actually price)for the accomodations. It was such an outstanding place and wonderful service and food, I felt this was only fair. Rita indicated she charges E90 for 3 people in high season for the apartment. Rita and our apartment were 2 of the wonderful experiences we had in sicily.
We spent our days in modica walking. We visited all the major tourist sites and just enjoyed a leisurely few days of no driving. There is a very inexpensive restaurant in the lower level of the b&b. We ate there both nights. The pastas were very good as were the vegetables. The house wine was not good and the dessert we had wasn't great. So order a better wine(there are many there) and get gelato down the street for dessert.
Our time is Modica was some of the best we had in sicily. We felt a part of the normal rhythm of sicilian life-slower, less rushed, enjoying the beauty of the architecture, the people and the joy of walking everywhere. We reluctantly left modica. Next stop Toarmina with a detour to cava d"ispica.

More please! We'll be in Sicily in October and I can't wait!

Before leaving modica, we enjoyed another wonderful breakfast and packed some leftovers to serve as lunch.
Let me begin by saying we had no problems finding cava d'ispica or taormina !!
The stop at cava d'ispica was a nice diversion. It was a chance to walk in a natural setting that was quite lovely. We were the only people there. We walked along the lower path and then up into the caves. It was a nice, sunny day and we enjoyed it. It was not a must see but we were happy we had visited this site.
After this short detour, we were back on the road toward taormina. We pulled off the road at Nature Reserve dei Simone and ate a quick lunch in the car. Not very gourmet but we are easy to feed.
We arrived at the hotel condor in taormina about 3:00 (E98/night). Many of the hotels were not open this time of year (we had tried several recommended on the fodor's site). The hotel condor had just opened that week and we were the only guests-so we got a premier parking spot right at the door (parking is E10/night and is usually at a lot up the road). I had reserved a superior room which included a small balcony with waterview. The room was not fancy but clean and well-maintained and indeed did afford the waterview. We were satisfied. We used their internet to check e-mail (at no cost). The manager was very helpful and spoke exception English.
We dropped our baggage and walked into the main part of town. We had only 1 day to enjoy taormina. What a lovely place...spotlessly clean and well maintained streets and houses, lovely squares, high-end shopping ( and more touristy, souvenir options too), and fabulous views. This is a town you could really relax in. I wish we had stayed another day, I would like to have seen some of the sights we missed. And it was just so lovely, I was smitten. We (of course) took in the greek theatre, shopped and just explored. We experienced a breath taking sunset with Mt. Etna in view. We spoke at length to a local shop owner (American) who recommended Restaurante Tiramisu Pizzeria (near the town gate) as a place the local shopkeepers eat. We had a very good dinner there for about (E70).
We walked until the evening was gone and returned to our hotel.
Saturday morning we enjoyed a decent breakfast at the hotel and walked into town again. The manager suggested we stop at gole alcantara (a geological site where volcanic rock formations are visible). We enjoyed the short tour but in hindsight, would have skipped it to have more time to see more mountain and seaside views.
We drove from taormina through the countryside, past navarro and to the coast. This drive was wonderful. We again were alone on the twisty, mountain roads. Etna was almost always in view and you could see the steam drifting out of its vent. Livestock roamed free in some spots and sheep dotted the hills. There appeared to be a lot of abandoned homes-not sure why but assume there isn't much to provide income or wells may have gone dry?? The tiny "living" towns we saw looked like fairyland villages hung on the sides of mountains. We left the mountains to drive along the northern sicilian coast to our hotel near the palermo airport. Because we were running behind schedule we opted to leave the slower moving, seaside highway and get onto the autostrada. The decision was a sad one because the views along the coast were beautiful.
We drove around the town of palermo and toward the town of cinisi. I had booked a nice, water front room for our last night in Italy.
We had navigational "issues" again and ended up at the Azzolini Hotel in cinisi-carini. Wrong hotel !! Our hotel was the Azzolini hotel in cinisi. Very confusing but eventually we made our way to the correct hotel and settled in. The room was very nice and we had our own patio right on the water. We asked the concierge to recommend a restaurant and he did. He included the hotel restaurant in the list and we checked the others out. One smelled of cat litterbox and another looked like a local bar so we opted for the hotel. The meal was awful-and we aren't picky. The pasta had no taste, the vegetables were frozen green beans and carrots, the fresh fruit we ordered for dessert was just a couple pieces of overripe fruit in a bowl. The hotel was hosting a right to life group (a rally was scheduled in town for the next day) and the dining room was extremely busy and hectic (many very young, tired, hungry children stuck in a formal dining room). Not sure if the kitchen wasn't able to handle the load or they are just normally a bad choice but we actually complained to the manager (a first for us). However, we returned to our nice room and lovely terrace and just watched the moon over the water and it was good.
The next morning we had a very nice breakfast at the hotel and drove to the palermo airport-without incident-dropped off our rental car and boarded our Alitalia flight to rome. I had attempted to avoid using Alitalia because of horror stories about frequent strikes and stranded passengers but we were lucky and made it unscathed to rome. From rome, we flew to frankfurt, then to the Dulles airport. I long day but all went smoothly and we touched American soil late that evening.
I am already planning my next trip to Italy. I am not sure how fiscally responsible it is but I am hoping the dollar gets stronger and the euro weaker so I can get back sooner.
I have some photos on http://www.kodakgallery.com/mary-maryland/travel.
My thanks to all who have shared their travel ups and downs on this website-it has been the main source of information that I trust when I am planning a trip.

Your pictures are fantastic! You are obviously a talented photographer. I loved your report, especially since you sound so much like my husband and me. Similar in age, being budget-minded, and even alike in that I'm an early riser and have to wait for him to wake up! We always stay in apartments that have a separate sleeping area so that I can get up and read without disturbing him. You have really whetted my appetite to see Sicily - we have friends who are totally addicted to it. Thank you for such a great report.

Great report and beautiful pictures.
dabodin - Great way to describe Sicily - addictive. If one is on a cruise and takes the launch to Taormina then heads back to the ship for the evening buffet, they would never find this out. But the more you see of Sicily the more you find there is to see. I can't count how many times I've been and I'm still finding new things and place. Of course I also have to REenjoy all the other places I have found there. Palermo is a fantastic city.