We also loved Selinunte the best, of the three temple sites we visited. As we will be heading to Agrigento from Piazza Armerina, do you have a suggestion for a more picturesque route than the 640?

Still following and enjoying your report. Love the details your providing - very helpful for planning.

I guess what I was looking for in a non-touristy town was one with lots of everyday life and activity and non-souvenir shops. As I said, perhaps it was our timing, but other than the couple main streets we did not find much of that. In a European town I want to be able to easily walk to a neighborhood bakery and a small grocer. A lot of the time we were there everything was shuttered, but even when things weren't we still couldn't find places like this.

The temple at Selinute had orange mesh fencing around it. We didn't know if that was to prevent people from walking up into it or what.

There is another route that drops down from Piazza Armerina through Gela and then along the sea. We just followed our host's advice, and I had read that Gela is really ugly, so we didn't try that route out. Don't get me wrong. Scenery on the route we took wasn't bad; it just didn't compare to some of the other spectacular scenery we'd seen previously.

I do intend to try to finish this in the next couple days, but I just wanted to make a quick comment about eating out in Sicily and how affordable we found it.

Last night we went out for dinner to a good-quality, bistro-like, small neighborhood Italian restaurant in Minneapolis. We split a salad, had two primis, and had a mid-week special $25 bottle of wine. Then, of course, here in the US (unlike Sicily) we need to add in tax and tip. We figured last night's dinner was double what we were paying for the equivalent meal in Sicily.

still following and enjoying your trip report very much; isn't the non-touristy but interesting town the holy grail of every tourist? perhaps that's why they are so difficult to find!

BTW, we could say the same about the meal we had in Sofia [Bulgaria] on Sunday night - 2 courses and an excellent bottle of wine for less than half what it would cost here in the UK.

Really interesting, I had only viewed a few online photos of mazara dv, which of course, give no idea of the "feel" of a place. But the architecture and setting by the sea did appeal. It's more complicated to get to by public transport than other Sicilian towns so your reaction to it very helpful.

ERICE

After our departure from Mazara del Vallo we had two unaccounted for nights prior to our four night reservation in Palermo, and I had lots of different ideas on how to spend them. Unfortunately most of the things I wanted to do were predicated on having nice weather. And, the forecasts all called for rain, and probably lots of it too. So, we had to make a decision on what to do since it sounded as though hiking in the Zingaro Reserve (one of the biggies on my list) wasn’t going to be doable.

Finally we decided to spend one night in Erice and go into Palermo a day early, figuring a big city was a better place to be in the event of bad weather. We were lucky that our Palermo apartment had one day open between the previous guests’ departure and our arrival, so we made arrangements to arrive a day earlier than reserved. When originally making my plans I had thought about reserving a room in Scopello for a couple nights as the last location before Palermo but decided against it when I contemplated the vagaries of potential weather at this time of year. We definitely would not have been happy in Scopello for a few days of continuous rain. Another example of why we were glad to be winging it!

Our last night in Mazara del Vallo I used booking.com to secure the last available room at Erice Pietre Antiche, a lodging (a lovely sitting room with kitchenette compartment, bedroom and bath, and outdoor seating for nice weather) I’d highly recommend. Once again, in the back of my head I’d thought that if we really liked the town we could add an additional night there, but I did not want to commit to two nights until I had a feel for the place. I know that we were not the only tourists in Sicily who were winging it and making last minute itinerary decisions. While we were checking into our apartment there, the owner had a phone call from someone looking for a room here the same night; we had taken that last one.

Rather than taking the coastal route up from Mazara del Vallo, we cut inland thinking perhaps we’d get at least a roadside glimpse of Segeste. Unfortunately we made a wrong turn and missed it. The weather wasn’t the best so it was no big deal, and we continued on to Erice. There are apparently numerous wine domains in the lowlands around Erice, so we drove through many deserted areas full of vineyards. There had been quite a bit of rain and we found that many of the roads in these valley floors had been completely covered with mud from the fields’ erosion, making it very slippery driving in places. In fact, we had been quite concerned that perhaps the winding road up to Eriche would be treacherous due to the mud. Our fears were unfounded because on this road there was rock rather than dirt and there were plants to hold what soil there was. Actually the road we took up from Valderiche (supposedly the one with the fewest switchbacks and tricky driving) was much better than the mud-covered roads we had driven through. And, despite the warnings we had read about reaching Erice by road, it was nothing at all compared to other mountainous roads we have driven around the world.

By this time the weather had cleared up so we had some pretty good vistas as we drove up the winding road to this hilltop town, and we pulled over several times for photo ops. It was a good thing we got these views because by the time we reached the top the clouds were starting to roll in again. And, the next morning the place was rained in so there were no walks at all on the day of our departure.

The owner of Erice Pietre Antiche had been extremely responsive and had been in contact as soon as I made my reservation. He told us to give him a call about 15 minutes prior to our arrival (once again we were happy to have our T-Mobile plan for overseas) so he could help us find a free place to park. Sure enough, when we arrived in early afternoon he met us in the main parking lot, transferred our luggage to his car, had us follow him around to an area where we could park for free, and then drove us and our luggage right to the door of our lodging. We never would have found this free parking area on our own (and he told us that parking rules are strictly enforced in the pay lots with tickets being issued all of the time). Of all of the places we visited in Sicily, Erice had the narrowest streets of all, so narrow that even with side mirrors folded in, there was perhaps only an inch to spare on either side of the car. If we would have been on our own, we would have walked with our luggage the blocks (maybe six) to our room, so it was fabulous that the owner met us and delivered us. Our car remained parked until our departure the next day when he drove us and our luggage to our car.

As soon as we saw the cute town and our lovely rooms, I though perhaps I erred and should have booked for two nights. However, after a couple hours walking around, we realized that we had scheduled the perfect amount of time for us. For us, a good three or four hours walking around was sufficient. Being kind of churched out, we did not go inside any churches. There is one main street with many tourist shops on it, but we aren’t shoppers, so that did not take any time from our visit. We were intrigued by the fact that there was a filming going on for an Italian movie set in WWII, and some places had been staged to what they would have been like in the 1940s, so that made for an interesting extra aspect to our visit.

The town itself had tourists but wasn’t by any means packed, and it was easy to just wander around through areas that were quite deserted. The fact that we were there on a Tuesday night, not in peak season, also meant that we ended up having the worst meal of our entire trip. The owner of our apartment had given us the names of three or four different possibilities for dinner. We spent around half hour wandering around checking them out. The one we had been most interested in was closed that day. The place we had thought about just getting a pizza wasn’t making pizza that night. So, it was a toss up between the two others, and we finally chose the one that had the best reviews on TA. Wrong choice! The meal we had at Monte San Guiliano was the worst we had in our entire trip, and it was the only meal we had anywhere in Sicily where we did not eat every morsel on our plates.

When we awakened the next morning, as predicted we were socked in with rain and clouds, so we were really glad we had only decided on a one night stay in Erice.

This is a marvelous trip report! Can't wait to read about Palermo.

So sorry you had bad weather for Erice. As you know, I just loved the views. Can't say I ate especially well, there, though.

Interesting. Really looking forward to Palermo, that city is near the top of my bucket list.

yes, me too - when I've been thinking about going to Sicily it's mainly the west I've concentrated on so I'm looking forward to seeing what you think about Palermo.

julies,

Glad you did end up in Erice at least for 1 nt at the Erice Pietre Antiche apts. Charming and very comfortable place. Erice was one of my favorites from my own trip. I too had a first night and day of absolutely pouring rain (April). Great excuse to sleep in since that was my arrival day.

I never understand why people freak out over a few tight turns on a mountain road. It's not a bad road at all!

Did you get to try the fabulous almond pastries at Maria Grammatica's? Best i found on Sicily!

We liked Palermo, and I will try to wrap this trip report up soon.

We were lucky that we did get some views while in Erice. While it was not crystal clear and had some cloud cover, we did get some nice vistas on our first day there. Morning number two we didn't even try walking around in the cool, rainy, cloudy weather but that is okay since we really felt that we had seen and done it all the previous afternoon. Yes, I had a nice little treat at Maria Grammatica's that I brought back to our apartment. Our only regret about the apartment is that it was not nice enough to sit outside while we were at there.

Julies, thanks for your continuing detailed and very useful report. Sorry about the rain at Erice though. Looking back, do you feel you would have missed something unique by not going to Erice? I'm still debating whether to arrange our trip to include a stop there.

Looking forward to reading about Palermo.

Am also enjoying this report. Thank you for keeping it going! Erice may make our final cut after all. I was worried about the road, but like you, we have been on several doozies. It is nice to hear a few more voices in the wilderness saying it isn't a biggie. Thanks again, Julies!

-Annie

Don't miss Erice. The road is definitely no big deal. We did some lovely walks/hikes with some stunning scenery.

shellio--I am of mixed feelings about Erice and whether it is a must-do, and I think part of it depends on your previous travel experiences. We've done a lot of European travel and have seen many cute villages/towns from this era. The setting is unique with the views, but as I said a couple hours seemed sufficient for us.

yestravel--I am curious as to where you walked around Erice since that is normally something we would do too.

I do have Erice as a planned stop, although we'll be there toward the end of May, when the weather should be good. I'd love to know more about the walks/hikes, too!

julies, looking forward to your time in Palermo. I find your report fascinating and the details very helpful in planning my own upcoming trip.

I hope to get back to this and finish it off this weekend.

If anyone is interested, someone over at TA sent me these links to photos of Sicily on SlowTravel. You can find sections dedicated to Erice, Zingaro, Segesta, Selinute etc.

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...name=dragonpat

Soon, please julies! I do hope to read that you got to Monreale. Great TR.