Just got back Sunday night from our 18 day trip to Sicily. I really miss it and can't wait to go back!!!!

A quick run down of our itinerary:

Landed in Palermo on Thursday June 28, and after some confusion found our luggage and met up with my in-laws who came to pick us up. We stayed for the most part in a little mountain town of about 4000 people called Alia in the Palermo province. My inlaws have a fruit/vegetable farm and we were happy to be back there again. My daughter would go out every morning and late afternoon with her e grandpa to pick cherries, figs, almonds, tomatoes, and plums. I am mesmerized by all the sounds and scents I hear and feel in a sicilian mountain town, like the sheep bells and bahhing, the sound of the crunchy earth under my feet, the squeekyness of my father-in-law's suzuki driving on Alia's streets, the distant aroma of something burning, the arid dryness of the grass this time of year and the heat of the golden sun, the friendliness of the sicilian people, the shouts and calls of vendors in the town streets, the horses neighing in the nearby stable, the cool breezy nights, the aroma of yummy sicilian food...Aside, from Alia, we spent a day in Palermo, took the train. It was very hot but alluring, and we found all of out destinations with the ease of a couple of maps. I was disappointed that the Regional Gallery was closed for infestation - whatever that meant...

more to come on this report later..

Welcome home!

Looking forward to your report. We will be in Sicily in September so hope to get some ideas from you.

How lucky you are to have Sicilian relatives! Are you looking to expand your family by any chance?

Did you drive in Palermo?

Samia, what an evocative start to a T.R. Looking forward to more!

Welcome back samia17! I was waiting for a trip report from you. As far as I can remember you would stay at Hotel Svizzera in Taormina? I would like to hear what your opinion is on this small Hotel we liked so much!

I also envy you relatives in Sicily!

Cannot wait for the rest of your report!

More on my trip report!

Day trip to Palermo:
We spent a pretty full day here, got to Palermo between 9:00 and 9:30 with the ease of the direct train from Roccapalumba-Alia station. The whole train ride is not too long, a little over an hour. I really love the feeling of being on the train in Sicily, it is just relaxing and you can just look out the window and view the beautiful countryside as you go. When we exited the train station, we just walked up Via Roma for quite a few blocks and I was quite impressed with the number of fashion boutiques that line this street! If we had more time for shopping we could have spent a few hours here but we had a lot to see in one day so we just moved on. We had trouble finding what looked like a short cut to the Palazzo Abatellis on a small map I had but ended up going down Vittorio Emanuelle and followed the street signs instead. The streets are really congested with cars and people but I liked the oldness and grimy feel of Palermo and the way the buildings are dark and old feeling. We had a little trouble crossing the street at times, lots of crosswalks and crazy drivers. When we got to the Palazzo we were disappointed to discover that it was closed and we couldn't visit the Regional Gallery, which was a high priority on my list. We decided to head over to the Marionette museum which was nearby and with a lot of help from our map and some street signs we found that too, hidden away on a little side street. It's a small museum but has a really nice collection of marionettes from Sicily and others from all over the world. We didn't bring our daughter with us to Palermo since we figured the streets would have been to much for her, she's only 5, but she would have liked it. It was really hot that day and we were happy to be able to buy refreshments in the museum lobby entrance and sat on the benches outside for a few minutes when we were done.

okay, more to come later....

The next distination in Palermo to see was the Catacombe dei Cappuccini, so we headed back up Vittorio Emanuele and walked up, passed the four corners and went to have a peek at the Piazza Pretoria. I can't remember the name of it but we also poppped into a chiesa (church) at this corner and thought it was very beautiful but the priest kicked everyone out just as we walked in because I'm guessing it was lunch time. So we continued our walk along Vittorio Emanuale all the way to the end through the arched portal and then decided we needed to have some lunch and stopped in at a quaint outdoor cafe right near the Palazzo Normanni and had prosciuto crudo sandwiches and a very refreshing te limone.

Hi samia,

How wonderful that you have family in Sicily. I loved your description of their farm.

I'm enjoying your report, Samia. Sicily is one of my favorite places in the world. Haven't been there in a while but it's calling me.....

Did I mention it was hot in Palermo that day? We began our walk to the Catacombs, not exactly sure of the right direction, but sure enough we were, although we had to take a mini gelato break to cool off in the hot mid-day sun. The catacombs were pretty creepy, just walls and walls of contorted faces...don't want to go into too much detail but it was something I wanted to see and now saw and don't have to see ever again. After this we headed back towards the Palazzo Normanni and to the Cappella Palatina. We already knew the Palazzo would be closed but I was still excited to see the the Cappella and the mezmerizing blue and gold ceiling that I've seen in my travel books. Well, unfortunately it was under partial renovations and we couldn't barely see the ceiling at all. We were completely wiped out from a day of hot sun, and non-stop walking for 6 hours and decided to head back home to the ruggedly beautiful mountain town of Alia. I really miss traveling around in Sicily, it's just so pleasurable to be able to go on a short day trip and visit these amazing places so unlike anything else. I don't know what it's like in other seasons in Sicily, but I really crave and love the arid dryness of the hot summer....more to come on my first visit to TOARMINA...

We stayed at the very pleasant Pensione Svizzera in Taormina. I heard many great things about this place and all of them are true. I loved the location of it, right next to the bus station and the Funuvia!!! Not to mention a real spectacular view from our room of the sea, and a delicious european breakfast with a wonderful courtyard to have it in, I loved the huge automatic sliding door of the breakfast room. Everything was very clean and perfect. The antique touches going up the staircase were s really special touch. The only complaint would be the long ascent to our room up the stairs on the 3 floor. But we needed the exercise anyway.
Taormina was much more beautiful than I imagined and pictured in all the photos I saw of it. The medieval buildings on Corso Umburto were exquisite and I was bombarded with wonderful things to look at in every corner imaginable. We spent a fun 3 days here, went to see sites around town in the mornings and went to the beach in the afternoons. If you plan on going to the beach a lot like we did, I would definitly advise staying near the funuvia like we did, because it just made our trips so much easier, especially with our daughter, and she loved riding on the funuvia too (and so did we)! The Lido Mazzaro was the first beach we went to. It is smaller than the other surrounding ones, but it was nice and clean. On other days we went to La Isola Bella, which we had a lot of fun at, wading in the water to get to the little island. And on our last day we took a hike to the bay of the mermaids. This was nice, but I almost got stung by a jellyfish and was a little fearful of the water after that. As far as restaurants go, we loved the Granduca for the delicious food and incredible view, Bella Blue was nice we went there on our first evening there and were the only ones eating which was a little strange but I guess it was still early. The Anfora was also nice with a wonderful host who spoke perfect english and gave us free sparkling wine and an aperative and then showed us photo albums of all the guests he's had over the years, some famous people too. We also really enjoyed eating at Il Ciclope where I had a really yummy spagetti with clams. The last night here was the night of the World Cup Soccer when Italia won. That was a real treat to have been in Sicily fo that, I didn't even plan in. The piazzas were filled with people watching the game on big screens and the crowd erupted madly during the game. Afterward, the streets were filled with cars and scooters buzzing around with flags and balloons in italian flag colors. We left the next day, on a very long train ride back to Alia.

I took a cruise on a sailboat run by elderhostel in Sicily. I have traveled quite a bit in Europe but Sicily is drop dead gorgeous. I considered going to the Marionette Museum in Palermo, but on the way I was sidelined by a Sicilian puppet show and I did that instead. After the show they let us handle the puppets. They are very heavy

I would love it if the Smithsonian Folklife Festival would bring over Sicilian puppets one summer. Did I say I loved them?

The cruise went from Catania to Palermo, stopping at 5 Aeolan Islands. What a trip!

One thing that is great about elderhostel is they don't get overly concerned (so long as you let them know) if you take off by yourself for a few hours if there is something you want to see in place of what they are doing. I went solo one day because I wanted to take the train around Mt. Etna--which I did. The others told me the itinerary I missed wasn't much (I knew that--ha!) and said they wished they had come with me. I remember getting into Catania at the wrong train station and then having to figure out how to get back to the boat. I made it back.

The rest of our stay in Sicily went by pretty quickly. We took a day trip to Agrigento and went to San Leone Beach. Had a super great time at the beach, all sand, no rocks and the water was really amazing. It was like a swimming pool because there were rocks a hundred feet away from shore protecting from the sea and so we could just float and swim in this massive pool of water that stayed shallow until you got closer to the rocks. It was really easy to get to from the train station in Agrigento. You just get on the orange #2 bus and it takes you there and the bus driver was kind to let us off where he felt the best beach was, and he was right! After the beach we had some time to kill before our train and we discovered an old street up on the hill by the train station lined with boutiques and filled with people. It was kind of like a mini Taormina in a sense. And I had no idea it was there so it was a pleasant surprise!

I really love Sicily and if all goes well we should be back next year, maybe in August when all the cactus pears and grapes are ready. My husband and I have been toying with the idea of moving there one of these days. The thought of it just is so tempting, I would love to be immersed in the italian language enough to really start to understand and speak it.

I want to thank everyone on this site who responded to my requests for advise and helped me figure out my traveling questions!!! This is really a great website and you are all so helpful.

Ciao!
Samia