It was our first trip according to our decision, now that the kids are of age 9 and 11, to travel abroad during the 2 weeks October holidays for a more cultural trip, while staying at home or at the mountain chalet during the summer vacation.
So Sicily it was. I organized everything in April and May; airplane, car rental and b&b / hotels.
Sicily is maybe not a big island, but you don’t travel as fast as you would expect, or as you would do on the mainland. We chose 3 home bases; Syracuse, Agrigento and somewhere west of Palermo nearby Castellamare del Golfo. The 2 first bases were a cultural choice, the third base was both cultural and ‘beach’ choice.

We flew Alitalia, Geneva – Milan Malpensa – Catania on Oct 13th. Due to some alarming posts on lost luggage with Alitalia, we took 2 cabin luggages with clothes of the 4 of us, and 2 bigger luggages. Unnecessary precaution; our entire luggage arrived well in Catania, and we left the airport smiling at the hostess on duty at the luggage claim desk…

Car rental through Avis, an Opel Astra Break Diesel. A ‘no problem’ car. Diesel consumption of about 5,5 l/100km, airco, cd,… Sufficient for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 weeks of luggage.

We left Catania airport for a 1 hour drive to Siracusa. We stayed for 5 nights at the B&B Approdo delle Sirene (www.apprododellesirene.com ). It is just situated on Ortygia, the island forming the old city and containing most of Siracusa’s historical landmarks. The B&B is top class in quality; spacy rooms and bathrooms, a generous buffet breakfast, very friendly and helpful staff. We parked the car in Talete-parking; 3 euros from 17.00 till 09.00, free during daytime.
Ortygia is a wonderful spot, with a bit of an ‘end of the world’ atmosphere. We visited it extensively; the city as well as its monuments. In Siracusa, we also visited the Greek theatre, the Roman amphitheatre, the catacombs and the archeological museum and had daytrips to Ragusa, Noto, the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina and to Taormina. Our plan to spend a day on Mount Etna couldn’t be done because of bad weather. In fact, we hardly ever had a glimpse of Mount Etna because of the clouds and the fog.
The weather was rough in Siracusa; some occasional rains, a continuously cloudy sky and a very fierce wind during our entire stay.

Agrigento was the next stop, for 3 nights. We stayed at the B&B Terrazze di Montelusa (www.terrazzedimontelusa.it), in the very centre of Agrigento. It is easy to get there if you follow the instructions on the web site, which we didn’t… Even the police didn’t quite know how to get there at first, but they helped us and TomTom a lot by giving a street address nearby.
Also here: top class in quality; spacy rooms and bathrooms, and a most friendly and helpful proprietor, M. Francesco Foti, who knows a lot of the history of his town and was very helpful in suggesting some ‘kids’ programs’. Two terraces; one for the sunset, one for breakfast with a lovely view on the Temple Valley. We visited the Temple Valley, the Turkish steps, Eraclea Minoa and had extensive walks in the upper part of town amongst the old palaces.
The weather was nicer in Agrigento. We even spent a morning at the seaside in Eraclea Village, swimming and playing in the sea for about 2 hours. The weather was not hot, but just permitted to do so.

Alcamo Marina at last, for 6 nights at Hotel La Battigia (www.labattigia.it). You should have a look at the website and see the pictures of the swimming pool, the sea and the sunset, really gorgeous!!! Well, we had this with pouring rain, stormy winds, and waves coming really close to the hotel… What added to some kind of strangeness of the site was the fact that Alcamo Marina, during this season, is entirely empty, not a cat in town, just some 20 people in the hotel. Maybe it was because of the weather…
Visits here: Monreale, Palermo, Segeste temple, Trapani, Marsala, the Salt route, Erice and San Vito lo Capo.
The Friday before we left, the weather was ok. So we passed the entire afternoon in the sea, together with an english family also staying in the hotel. There weren’t many Sicilians around...

On Oct 27th, we left Alcamo in the morning for the flight back, Palermo - Milano Malpensa – Geneva. ‘No problem’ flights with Alitalia… all of our luggage arrived well in Geneva. We didn’t want to file a complaint because the clothes weren’t washed and ironed…

Some reflexions.
- I didn’t say anything on the food, which is of main interest to my wife and me, with the desserts being of interest for the kids. We ate generally speaking extremely well, on average and regarding cost and quality better than in Italy mainland. In most restaurants, from ‘ristorante’ to ‘osteria’, we discovered a real concern of the owner to prepare food ‘as grand mother has always done it’.
- We didn’t have any luck with the weather, but we turned it the other way round; we have never been transpiring excessively whilst visiting all the archeological sites and haven’t risked any skin cancer due to excessive exposure… We even had a hail storm in Palermo!!! Seriously, we feel we lack some sun you would normally expect on the ‘imagery’ from Sicily. This was just bad luck; the same period last year was very mild according to someone we met.
- We found the Sicilian people we met quite different than Italian people. We found them very courteous and reserved, always extremely helpful, and opening up when one speaks some italian. We were also surprised by the huge amount of people who did speak another language, mainly french, people not only in the tourist areas.
The kids were a bit disappointed by the bad weather, but were in general very happy to stroll and climb on the archeological sites. Their most vivid memories 10 days later: the desserts they had and the two days which allowed us to swim in the Med…

So, that’s it…

Baldrick, that was a delightful posting! Thanks very much for sharing your experiences. Years ago, when I visited Italy several times in the 1970's, I did not go to Sicily as it was the era of the kidnappings, knee-cappings, Red Brigades etc. Perhaps in my dotage I might be able to swing a visit. Once again, thanks.

Thanks for the report. Can you tell a little bit about your visit to Erice? I always wanted to visit there. Also Palermo. Thanks.

Well, Erice, according to our guide, can be seen under 2 conditions; sunstruck or foggy... We had it the foggy way, very much as the foggiest pictures on this website http://www.pbase.com/avenirex/erice , which is not my website.

Erice is on top of a huge rock, at some 750 m above sea level. While touring the region of Trapani, we already noticed Erice and its huge cloud. It seems that, when there is one cloud around, it gets stuck on Erice.

You can go up by car and by cable lift. We went up by car. You park the car in front of the town, and then you walk.
Erice is a very homogeneous town in its architecture. Its buildings and roads are all of stone; very narrow streets with cobblestone patterns, houses of 2 floors mainly. It really gives a unspoiled medieval feeling. There are also some remarkable churches, and the cathedral, its clock tower and the Castello Normanno to visit. There a also quite some tourist shops; ceramics, olive oils, local pasta and meat products.

Thank you!