sicily
 

Hello,

I am planning a 10 day travel trhoght Sicily in september this year.
Please let me know your coments about the most interesting areas in the island. We are renting a car and we are landing in Catania.
I would like to know which coast is better, south or noth. Any itinerary?
Thanks

Without knowing your interests, it is difficult to suggest an itinerary.

Do you want to see the Greek temples, the Roman ruins, the Arabo-Norman architecture, the Baroque cities?

Or do you want to take it easy in a resort?

Type 'sicily' into the search box above and you will have lots of posts giving you some great ideas of sights, hotels and places to visit. Its a start!

We are sure we want to spend some days close to the sea, beach is a fix. That is the reason we are asking for the best coast area. Meanwhile we will visit the places we will be able to find inland. Having a car for those days makes it easy.
That you everybody for your coments.

I was just there in July, spent 11 days driving around the whole island. You have just about the perfect amount of time. Here was our itinerary:
Days 1 & 2: Palermo (half day trip to Cefalu. Then rented a car for rest of trip.
Day 3 - Segesta, Erice
Day 4 - Erice, Salt Road to Selinunte
Day 5 - Agrigento
Day 6 - Drove through the interior (Pollizo Generosa, etc), then on to Siracusa
Day 7 - Siracusa
Day 8 - Ragusa and Noto (as day trip from Siracusa)
Day 9 - Caltagirone on way to Taormina
Day 10 - Taormina
Day 11 - Taormina
Day 12 - flew out of Catania

We had a fabulous time, and I really would not have changed anything. I strongly suggest you see some of the interior, which many people skip.

My photos of the trip are at: pbase.com/annforcier

My trip report is at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34657352

If you have any questions I'd be happy to try to answer them. You will love Sicily.

For Isabel -

We are visiting Sicily in September and planned to visit Noto as a day trip from Siracusa. We have 4 nights in Siracusa. How long did it take to reach Noto and Ragusa? I would like to visit Ragusa as well as Noto but thought it would take too long. We won't have a car and planned to do the trip by bus.
Thanks for any help!
Kay

Kay: Unfortunately, as they say, "you can't get there from here" by bus. You can get from Siracusa to Noto easily enough, or from Siracusa to Ragusa, but to get from Noto to Ragusa you have to go all the way back to Catania airport to get a connection.

You can check it out at

www.interbus.it

Kay, we had a car so can't answer your bus question, but given the way public transportation in Sicily seems, I don't doubt that what Eloise said is true. By car it took about an hour for each leg of the trip.

Noto was our one disappointment, but it was our own fault. We got very lost, our only time in 11 days of being lost. Anyway, the duomo is under scaffolding until 2006.

But Ragusa on the other hand, was great. The duomo there is also under scaffolding, but the rest of the town was lovely. It's built up on two hills, has a lovely park, and has lots of palm trees which I though made a nice contrast with the architecture.

Thanks so much to Eloise and Isabel.

Now I don't know which one to pick - Noto or Ragusa. I don't think we'd have time to do both, especially with the public transport restrictions. Ragusa sounds interesting but everyone says how beautiful Noto is. Noto is also quite a bit closer to Siracusa. Who else has been to both and which did you prefer and why?

Does anyone know how easy it is to get between the old and new parts of Ragusa, is it a short walk or a bus ride?
Kay

Oliviera;

Perhaps my page on our trip to Sicily can help you...
http://www.travel.stv77.com/sicily/sicily.htm

I've only been to Noto and liked it quite well. As I recall, there were some palm trees in Noto as well. The Duomo is covered to hide the restoration work; there is a picture of the Duomo on the scrim or whatever one calls the plastic sheeting. There is another building that is under restoration: the Collegio or Seminario, one of the first buildings as you come in through the gate after walking through a small park from the bus stop.

There is one wildly entertaining palazzo, the Palazzo Villadorata on Via Nicolaci: six or eight balconies on the façade held up by a weird and wonderful assortment of grotesques. You can also visit the interior of the palazzo, which has one floor of splendid green, blue and yellow tiles from Vietri sul Mare on the Amalfi coast.

The best restaurant in Noto is the Trattoria del Carmine. I got there too late and had to eat elsewhere, but I sent French acquaintances whom I met in Siracusa there and they loved it. Not fancy; plain Sicilian cooking.

The Caffe Sicilia on the main drag and Corrado Costanzo (if he's still alive...) more or less behind Caffe Sicilia are noted for their superb gelati and granite.

Try to find Bobthenavigator's trip report on Sicily here or at www.slowtrav.com and go to www.zurer.com and look for Jim Zurer's report on his trip to Sicily in 2004. (Jim Zurer is a frequent poster on www.slowtrav.com.) I don't think either of them went to both Ragusa and Noto; if I recall correctly, Jim Zurer went to Ragusa and Modica.

I've long meant to go to Ragusa (I have spent time in and near Siracusa several times in the last few years), but I've never made it out of bed in time to catch the 6:15 a.m. bus...

Thanks so much Eloise. I will look up the websites you mention. I did have a look at train timetables and the train to Ragusa from Siracusa goes through Noto but I think it would be a really long day to do both by train. We are staying on Ortigia so we'd also have to first get to the train station in Siracusa which is a bit of a hike I think. I am leaning towards Noto because it's so much closer.
The Palazzo Villadorata sounds fantastic, just the sort of thing we love, especially the tiles. Thanks again for the suggestions.
Kay

Here is my photo gallery from our May trip to Sicily. We liked Noto best among the Baroque towns.
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/169372/index.html

You can see my trip report here or at slowtrav.com