Sicily Trip Report
 

Hello --

Traveled to Sicily in September. Suggestions:

- See the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo. Not for those easily creeped-out
- Visit the bizarre Villa Palagonia (Villa of Monsters) in Bagheria, a short train ride from Palermo
- Stay at the Atelier Sul Mare Art Hotel in Castel di Tusa (between Palermo and Messina)
- Check out Cefalu for a half-day: climb La Rocca (it's worth the effort)
- Book a room at the Hotel Soggiorno in Taormina, but ONLY if it's a balcony room
- Be on your guard in Taormina at night
- Don't forget Castelmola when you're in Taormina. I did, and regret it
- Do NOT miss Ortygia, the island off of Siracusa
- Check-into the L'Approdo delle Sirene in Ortygia
- Drop by the Ortygia fish market
- Take a side trip from Ortygia/Siracusa to Ragusa

Full travelogue, photos at: http://shallowmusings.typepad.com/tr...s/sicily-2009/

I enjoyed reading your full travelogue on shallowmusings but was sorry you hated Palermo. It's one of those places that feels on the edge - I loved it but can understand why you didn't, especially travelling on your own.

We stayed in the Hotel Orientale on via Maqueda not far from the train station, very cheap and characterful, but not at all scary. The food all over Sicily was very very good.

>>>I finally locate the clock. The time is 12:45 p.m. I slept nearly 15 hours. I am a bad traveler. Bad.<<<

I hate when I do that.

Hope things are better on the job front for you and am sorry you didn't rate Sicily higher. We based in Palermo and Siracusa for our trip. I was blown away by the mosaics in Monreale and was truly surprised by your lack of reaction to it.

Neither DH or I have driven in Italy but agree with you that Sicily is the height of Italian driving madness.

It was interesting to read your report, I could learn about places which we did not visit. Thank you for this.

We were in Sicily in May this year, stayed in Palermo, Taormina and Siracusa. From these points, we visited also Erice, Cefalu, Monreale, Castelmola, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina and Noto.

We loved Sicily. The mosaics in Monreale and P. Armerina, the buildings in Noto, the Greek Theatre in Taormina, Castelmola, Palermo..
I am sorry that you did not like Sicily so much as we do!

Hi mitzyli, Enjoy your report. You right very well, from the heart I would say.
Tks. Hope things go the right way in the job front. They will.
Happy New Year

well it is me who doesn't write very well, sorry for the mistake.

Mitzyli, love, love, love your writing style and your very dry sense of humor. I also read your Croatia blog and LOL more than a few times. (My cat looked at me with one of those have you lost your mind looks and quickly removed herself from the room!) Thank you for posting the link to your blog. You've given me laughter on an other wise dismal night contemplating a return to dreaded work tomorrow.

mitzyli

Very similar to our experiences in Sicily - some very good ones and some very bad ones. Would prefer to avoid very bad experiences when paying lots of money to travel so will think very hard about visiting Sicily again.

We too loved Siracusa.

I *did* like Sicily, the further and further I got from Palermo. I feel a definite insider/outsider mentality exists there (unfortunately).

That being said...Ortygia is one of the most charming cities I've ever encountered.

p.s. Dee_Dee: my cats give me the same looks.