You know I adore you, SD!!

I'm another one who is reading every word! I understand completely about shipping stuff home. I did it last year for the first time. Took day trips from Spoleto, first to a couple of wineries where my friend and I each had a case shipped home, and second to, among other things, an olive farm, where we shipped olive oil, tapenades, etc. Worth every penny!😀

Sorry for your loss and for the ordeal with cancelled ferries, etc. Sounds as though it has been worth it to get to each stop. I feel for your partner, did a lot of traveling before my knee replacement! You're right, you can't let it stop you!

That sounds like a lot to deal with.


On the topic of ‘do it while you can’ I have been reconsidering my many itineraries on my long wishlist and you’ve helped me reassess Sicily as a ‘maybe’ with private drivers.

OMG eks!!!! I just discovered this by accident and what a blast to travel along with you! So sorry about your loss.

Your trip report has caused me to go down the rabbit hole searching for my posts from when we were in Sicily in 2002. First, because we had an amazing lunch at Da Vittorio's then! (see pic). And also because the reason we went to Sicily was partially to visit the beach at Pachino where Richard's father drove landing craft during Operation Husky (Pachino was the Canadian Forces Beach). Initially we planned to take Richard's dad as he wanted to see it, but his health didn't allow him to go. So we visited the beach and brought back sand for him.

Rereading my old posts, at one point I joked that people would think Vittorio was a relative because I was recommending it so often! I had it on a list from an old Gourmet issue and we had a helluva time finding it after visiting Selinute. Glad we persisted though!

I so admire your determination to travel with your current circumstances and bravo to you and partner. I don't know if you know Richard is now using a walker and has limited mobility - we're finding our new normal too. We were recently in Greece and Turkey and for the first time used private drivers instead of renting cars ourselves - that helped a lot.

Looking forward to the next installment and off to read about the fab restaurants you have enjoyed - nice to connect again!! xoxo Liz


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Elizabeth I am SO Happy that you are in touch here. Your trip reports were so many times a blueprint for my own trips!

It's getting a little scary and I of the wonder how many more trips I can take...so far I am going fine, but I foresee that partner will not have all that many more years to do this kind of travel but it's all right because it is me who has that travel bug and cannot foresee a life without travel, even if I have to bring an aide along!! But I', getting way, way ahead of myself here....

So we will now soon be resting our heads on the bed in Room #12 at the PRINCIPE DI SALINA, which is just dreamy. And for the third night, we opted to take dinner in the hotel. It is cooked, as I noted before, by the owner who was formerly a surgeon in Milano. Every night there is a 3 course meal, plus dessert, and every meal has been very, very good. Thursday night (tonight) is fresh pasta night so the chef will make her own fettucine and serve it with shrimp, mussels, clams, and squid. There will be just an antipasti of grilled vegetables from their garden, followed by the pasta and, for dessert, cannoli and one other item which I have now forgotten.

We don't go out for lunch and even though the hotel serves nice-sounding lunches (seemingly very fair prices) either at the pool or on the terrace depending on the weather, we have just been making our own little snacks from the meats and cheeses I bought in Ragusa: Two types of salami--one pork and one the donkey ("as-i-no,") and some fantastically great local Ragusa cheeses...there was a wonderful shop in Ibla (I think I mentioned it but if not, SALUMERIA BAROCCO--a must visit!) and I asked for their advice and bought about 200 grammes of some of their various DOP local chsses marked with the SlowFood snail....must jut down the names..

The big disappointment has been the weather. Some sun but mostly clouds and far too cool to even think about swimming although I did see a few American people who arrived today for a one-night stop on a walking tour (they all thad those hats and hiking poles) gamely enter the ravishing infinity pool--but each one got out pretty quickly! Does not bode too well for my laps! Maybe later or tomorrow I will "take the plunge!"

By tomorrow we will ahve had 3 dinners here at the hotel and so we booked a dinner at the much-lauded SIGNUM RESTAURANT, in the hotel of the same name. Apparently, the owner/Mom used to do the cooking and my sister loved the food, and the hotel. But now the aughter had taken over the kitchen and received a few Michelin stars and it has become much more pricey...kind of seems out of place on this very relaxed island. But we did book for tomorrow night's dinner, so we will see...


https://www.hotelsignum.it/ristorant...na-caruso.html

Wading through this marvelous trip report -- and taking notes for my son and DiL, who are taking a long delayed honeymoon in Sicily this September. Thanks!

Just a small update. We've now spent 4 nights on Salina, just up the hill from the "town" of Marfa. It is a pretty walk downhill to the town center "everyone knows this as( "near the pink church.

) It took me about 15 minutes easy, pretty walk downhill from the hotel to the center, cutting through slim lanes squeezed between smooth whitewashed walls of private villas (looks very much like Santorini) and between some stone walls built without mortar, a building technique still practiced here and also in the countryside we drive through around Ragusa.

So you zig-zag downhill and, of course, I got turned around and had to stop passersby to ask directions for the "centro," which is sort of funny since the extent of the Malfa "centro" is a stretch of a few small food shops, 2 gelato shops (both had the telltale whipped gelato piled high in their metal containers under the counter, which I know to signal that this is noto the best quality gelato) a couple of trattorie, one "Irish bar," one clothing and ceramic boutique, and a small CONAD market where, again, I got lost and confused trying to find some capers.

Not only that, I had to return 3 times to the nice man manning the deli counter and ask him again and again where the capers were stocked. Finally a random man actually took my shipping cart and wheeled it up the steep ramps to another part of the store where they had the local "gourmet" items. Mind you, as I was looking closely at the capers and sun-dried tomatoes, another man approached, holding 2 cans of Angelo Parodi (one of my favorites, skinless and boneless and packed in olive oil) sardines that had, apparently, fell out of my cart. He was very kind but by that time, between getting all turned around, and my cart dropping sardine cans like the proverbial bread crumbs, I'm sure there were a few sighs and heads being scratched at the cluelessness of the foreigner.

And then the walk back was not so fun, as it was really steep and I was toting 2 bags filled with sardine cans, bags of capers , giant water bottles, and sun-dried tomatoes, etc etc..

But the whole excursion was really fun, even if for a few seconds I thought I might have a heart attack for all the effort!!!

Tomorrow we have a taxi arranged (very expensive on this island) to take us to the port of Santa Maria Salina, where the hydrofoil had docked and which is the biggest population and business center. The plan is for me to wander around and have partner sit on a bench until dinnertime (restaurant recommended by Anita, the delightful hotel owner). But we might change plan and I will take bus or walk along and then partner can take taxi close to dinner time. Taxis charge 25 euro from this hotel to t he main port--each way! And even if the drive took about 15 minutes, everyone says it is too far too walk on the curvy roads with no shoulder.

We can see Stromboli from our terrace but weather this week had not allowed any glimpses of the fire from the crater whicih I so badly want to see. We can also see Panarea from this terrace. Tomorrow the forecast is pretty dire, but although I am disppointed that I cannot use the beautiful infinity pool which we look down upon from our terrace, we are really, really happy to be relaxing with such a great view, and such good good at breakfast and, up tio now, at dinners as well.

We've already extended our stay for one more night, even though we have to change rooms.

Unfortunately the hotel in Taormina will likely make us pay for the cancellation since it will come too soon within the the week-long cut off, necessary for a refund....we will see if Anita can work some magic...

We have the transfer booked from MIlazzo Porto to Taormina; this hotel gave us the least expensive price for the trip--less than out Taormina hotel and less than the NCC transfer company whose driver ferried us from Ragusa to the Milazzo Porto. So make sure to get quotes from various transfer providers before you make a decision.

More soon!!

Love each update with your humor and details of
Your adventures!! Xx
you are right! Driver prices vary a lot!

If you don’t mind posting here, which hotel gave you best price for driver to get to Taormina hotel?
Thanks Erica!

I love your descriptions of the shopping adventure and sardines falling out of the cart.

You’ve organised quite a complex itinerary, had some hiccups and retained your good humour. Bravo!

SD, As I had mentioned earlier, prices for transfers vary quite a bit. We found the best price from Milazzo Porto to the hotel in Taormina to be offered by the PRINCIPE DI SALINA, in Malfa town on Salina, where we are staying. They will charge 140 euro from Milazzo port to Villa Belvedere in Taormina. But we have to aadd 25 euro for the taxi from the hotel to the Salina port, at Sta Maria di Salina. It just pays to look around.

In case I did not mention this earlier, THE PRINCIPE DI SALINA, just a few steps from Malfa hamlet, is a dream-come-true, including the accommodations, the family who oversees the rest of the staff and the hotel itself, the views, and everything else I can think of. It seems as if you are staying in a family home, not a hotel and certainly not a "resort!" I was not surprised when a Google search turned up a few long color spreads about the hotel in Conde Nast and other travel sites.

With food this good, it is a lurch thinking of having to get dressed and taking taxi to another of the islands other reportedly good restaurants. Later on I will give a few comments about our dinner last night at the much lauded and Michelin recognized RISTORANTE DEL HOTEL SIGNUM, quite close to here.

Enjoy your last evening in Salina!
We too have found great price differences and just wanted others to have name of your final one in case it helped
we found our transfer person was less than hotel recommended one as well.
good info for fellow travelers who do need drivers rather than drive themselves
thanks Ek!

Thanks, SD! We extended our stay here, by one night so we now have 2 more nights here before hopefullly, taking ferry back to Milazzo. Weather has been really poor the entire time we have been here but you know, we are still having fun, eating well, etc. Wind now (Saturday night) is howling outside!! It's all ok....will try to see more of the island tomorrow, and report back...

Ah yes . . . the howling wind. More than once we have 'built' a wind break on a balcony so we could sit out at night sipping cocktails . . .

Enjoy!

great report

I didn't see your reviews for Vittorio's until we were back from our trip in 2009. We visited Selinute and then drove aimlessly around looking for a lunch spot. Vittorio's had the biggest signs and we just followed them down to the beach. Somehow, we all end up there . . .

I was in Sicily (a Rick Steves tour) in March for the first time. I came to this forum today looking for news about the Mt Etna eruption, and found your fabulous trip report. I absolutely fell in love with Sicily; the food, the people, just everything. Your love for the area is shining through along with your great attitude. When I saw the title of this report, my first thought was that you would have difficulty traveling with a partner temporarily handicapped. I am impressed by how you both coped. I would have loved to have tried the arancini you had, and half the other food. (I'm a picky eater, but I'm getting better the more I travel).

I hope everyone affected by the Mt Etna eruption is OK. We had a talk by a volcanologist whose career has been monitoring Mt Etna. It was the most fascinating talk, I had no idea about this career. Isn't travel grand?

Barbrn: Yes, travel is grand! I fall is love with almost everyplace I visit...some are passing crushes and others stay with me...


Not sure I mentioned that we are loving Salina so much that we added one more night here and taken away one in Taormina.

Still no glimmer of sun and...every night I leave my bed about once an hour and stumble out to the terrace, hoping (in vain) for a view of Stromboli. No luck so far!

BUT just learned that Catania airport has been closed due to ash from Etna.

We have plan to leave tomorrow from Salina for 3 nights in Taormina followed by flight back to US from Catania. But since that airport is closed!?!?!

If I were alone, I could care less about being "stuck" in Taormina until flights resume. But what to do with partner; he has pre-surgical testing scheduled for next Monday, a week from today. He has no idea that Etna is forcing closures..cannot upset him now..just have to see what unfolds! (must inform my hotel staff friends to keep mum so as not to upset right now...)

Did any of you know that the nearby islands of Filicudi and Alicudi are considered to be among the most remote places on the European continent?
I would have guessed that the some of the islands off Scotland would be remote, but maybe not so remote as these two nearby specks in the sea?
We can see Panarea from our terrace, along with Stromboli, but the "remote" pair are just out of our viewpoint from the terrace...don't you just want to go there and see what they are like?????

Oh , my, ekscrunchy!

Could you change your flights to Palermo if Catania remains closed? Or take a ferry out of Sicily? Hoping there are no complications for your trip back to NYC! I am enjoying your trip report so much!