Sicily trip report
 

Here is a detailed travelogue of our recent trip to Sicily:
http://www.molon.de/travelogues/Italy/2012-13/

Two weeks spent looping around the island, covering some of the major highlights. I still need to process the photos.

Amin,

I started to read your trip report, but wow. It's so negative I couldn't get through more than 3 sections. Sorry you didn't have a better time!

I'm going to Sicily for 3 weeks in mid-April and I just cannot wait!

Wow.. I appreciate the details, both the good and the bad. I look forward to reading it all!!
Thanks for the candidness and for taking the time to provide so much info.

We did have a good time, but ran into problems with the food, mainly due to the high prices of restaurants. What else is negative about the report?

This brings back memories of our trip some years ago. We did not have a car in Palermo, which was much better than having one there. But you really need one outside of the cities.

We had a great time. Sicily--particularly Palermo-- was very different from what we expected--no crime, friendly people, great food. Palermo is a city where I'd like to live.

The only problem we had with food was closing times: most restaurants in Palermo were closed on Sun. afternoon and almost all close for a few hours after lunch (a custom not confined to Sicily). As we are in the habit of eating late lunches and no dinners while traveling, this presented a problem the first few days. However, we dined almost entirely on seafood and felt the prices were reasonable.

Dayle--one meal tip we discovered after we'd left Sicily and moved on to Napoli was that many fish markets and fish dealers put out tables around noon to dispose of what had been caught that morning and not sold, and you can get really fresh fish lunches for relatively inexpensive prices.

Sorry you didn't like the food, I thought it was great. But have you visited other parts of Italy? The set up and prices are no different in Sicily. I handled it by eating panninis for lunch. (And I loved the cannoli!) I can't think where you got the idea that meat was cheap.... Maybe in the US, where the poor beasts are factory farmed.

Here in Munich 1 Kg of pig filet costs around 7 Euro. Same for chicken or turkey fillet. In the European countries where we've travelled to you can have a meat dish with rice or potatoes for 5-8 Euro, but in Sicily you have to shell out 10 Euro or more + 3 Euro for some potatoes. For some reason Sicilian seem to consider meat luxury.

The food in Sicily is not that bad, it's just too expensive most of the time. Eating sandwiches every day is not an option, not if you travel with kids. Cannolis are indeed very sweet and greasy (they are cooked in pig fat as I learned later).

@dwdvagamundo: we had the opposite problem in Palermo: could not find a restaurant open before 7pm (they open at 7:30pm) because Sicilians eat late. However we cannot let our kids eat at 8 or 9pm - it's too late for them.

amin - i don't have time to read all your blog now, but I did read the opening part about food.

firstly, I'm surprised that you are talking about eating two main meals a day - which at the prices you quote would indeed cost between €160 -€200 for a family of 4 for a day. Mostly i would expect to have a snack lunch [or dinner] - or perhaps just pizza for one of those meals, which should reduce the cost considerably.

secondly, I can't comment on the prices you found in Sicily, but i have just got back from Rome, and can say that not that far from the centro storico, we found restaurants offering pizzas for €5-8, pasta dishes for not that more, and reasonable 'menu turistico" for €13-15. [one in Trastevere was €13 for 4 courses and those in our party who had it found they got too much food; wine in the same place was €4 a litre.]

so if you want to go to Italy and want to eat cheaply, go to Rome! [and they open reasonably early, too].

Amin, I liked very much how you wrote the trip report. Very well organized, with a lot of details. I think that it is useful for somebody who want to visit the places, as it is easy to find info regarding different things (what to visit, parking, etc).

When we visited Sicily we had not a car, so we had not the problems that you had (regarding the traffic and parking).

Regarding the food, you know..de gustibus non disputandum! I never will go to a specific restaurant just because somebody tell me he liked the food there. I don't remember that we found the prices to be higher than in other places.

annhig: I know what you mean and when travelling alone, I do not need two meals a day and can live on snack. But with small children it's different. Cookies or junk food shouldn't replace a real meal, and kids cannot just live on breakfast and dinner or skip dinner and only have lunch. They do indeed need three meals a day.
In practice, while travelling in Sicily, we were not always able to give them these three meals (for instance that day in Palermo when restaurants would open after 7:30pm but we could not eat that late on that day, so we had some snack in a bar before 7pm).
It's a difference if you travel alone or with a family.

amin - i have travelled with my kids since they were small, but I'm not sure that I agree that they need 3 full meals a day; certainly mine would happily eat fruit [widely available in Italy] soups, sandwiches, cakes, as one of those meals which helped to make it less expensive. and they had good breakfasts and dinners too.

i'm not suggesting missing any meals, just being a bit more inventive.

certainly in Rome the food available at lunch-time was fun, AND nutritious. I think that you would find it a much easier destination for your family than you found Sicily.

I can't see why kids can't eat sandwiches for lunch, possibly with fruit. A ham and cheese pannini cost me 2 to 3 euro in Sicily. It also seems that you did zero research on places to eat. If you walk into a random restaurant in a tourist area anywhere you are very likely to wind up paying too much for inferior food. And I certainly wouldn't expect to get good Chinese at a random restaurant in Italy.

If you think Sicily is expensive you'd better stay out of Venice.

I don't think it's a good idea to replace a dinner with a piece of cake or skip lunch or dinner altogether.

This may not a problem for an adult, but a kid should have decent food and not live on cookies or junk food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner should not be considered a luxury.

Had soup been available in Sicily in inexpensive places, we would have ordered that, but it wasn't.

In one occasion we went to a mall in Acireale (hoping to find a food court) and we couldn't find any decent food. There were no restaurants in that mall, only bars. After some searching around we ended up giving the kids Nutella pancakes and icecream for dinner, which is certainly not healthy.

A ham and cheese sandwich with a piece of fruit is not junk food - and certainly more nutritious than a pancake and ice cream. There are alimentari all over Sicily where you can buy those cheaply. There are also excellent markets (not supermarkets) where you can pick up the fixings for picnics. Your problem seems to lie with an insistence on eating in sit down restaurants.

Your lack of research seems to extend to routes. It is always a mistake to rely exclusively on GPS rather than also consulting maps, and minimal reading of TRs here would have told you that driving in Catania and Palermo is a bad idea. And I haven't figured out why you would stay in Acireale.

I don't think it's a good idea to replace a dinner with a piece of cake or skip lunch or dinner altogether. >>

no-one is saying that, amin. Thursdaysd has put it well, i think. one meal a day which is fruit and a sandwich or soup is not going to be a disaster. OTOH trying to find somewhere to have a sit down meal twice a day which suits everybody and when you are on a strict budget can take up a lot of time, not to say money, as you found. and it's a shame if because of your insistence on that style of travel, you are ruling out further visits to Italy.

I read your trip review, my husband and I visited Sicily about 3 years ago. I guess I don't remember food being so expensive. What I really remember is the crazy driving (in Palermo especially!) We were using a GPS too which took us on a rather harrowing route through some alleyways and such. When we told the woman at our B&B about it, she said, No,no,no GPS - use a map!

For sure it's not a good idea to feed a kid with ham and cheese sandwiches. You can do it every now and then, but not every day. These things are neither healthy nor easy to digest. A dish of noodles or rice with vegetables is much better.

Regarding the issue of sitting down somewhere to eat something (with which you seem to have a problem), that makes sense if you have small kids who get tired quickly. It's a good way of breaking the day, and with small kids you can't rush around anyway. Sitting down in a restaurant has never been a problem in all other countries where we have travelled to, but Sicily seems to be special in this respect.

You need to understand that there is a difference between travelling as an individual, sightseeing from morning to late night, living on sandwiches and travelling with a family. In the latter case the pace of travel is much slower and you need to make sure that the kids get enough sleep and the right food.

We do not care about rushing around, optimising every minute of the day, seeing as much as possible. We are trying to move around at a slow and comfortable pace. And anyway, the most interesting things in a trip very often are not those which are listed in a guidebook. It's those unexpected little things which make a trip worthwhile and enjoyable.

Regarding the remark about the lack of research: we did research the entire trip very thoroughly, and had a detailed day-by-day plan, with accurate estimates how long it would take to get from A to B.
Driving in Catania itself was not a big problem (the streets in Catania city are not that bad), it was driving in Acireale and in the Etna region which proved to be more complicated than we had imagined. More research here wouldn't have helped (you can't plan every single km of the trip) and you can't get on top of Mt Etna with a train or bus. In addition, having your own car makes sense if you travel with kids and plan to be in rural areas where there poor public transportation.

For pete's sake nobody said give the kid a daily ham and cheese sandwich. You are really a big complainer.

"For sure it's not a good idea to feed a kid with ham and cheese sandwiches. You can do it every now and then, but not every day. These things are neither healthy nor easy to digest. A dish of noodles or rice with vegetables is much better. "

I couldn't disagree more. Unless the pasta (not noodles in Italy) is whole wheat and the rice is brown the kids are much better off with protein rather than bad carbs. If I had tried to feed my American step-kids on pasta or rice and veggies instead of a sandwich there would have been a riot. (No, they did not get overweight, and they had no trouble digesting sandwiches!)

You need to understand that there is a difference between travelling as an individual, sightseeing from morning to late night, living on sandwiches and travelling with a family. >>

we do understand, indeed many of us have done this sort of trip with our kids many times, but we've been able to go back because we were able to be adaptable. YOU are the one with the problem as you've said you won't go back to Italy with your kids because of the cost of having 2 proper sit-down meals a day.

sitting down, taking your time, feeding your kids healthily, does not have to mean having a full meal every time. soups, salads, pizza, fruit, and yes, sandwiches, can provide a satisfying and nutritious alternative for one meal a day. and we love to take our time on our trips too.

The first photos of the Sicily trip (Mt Etna):
http://www.molon.de/galleries/Italy/Sicily/Etna/

Pretty photos! Looks like the weather was good.

Yes, we were lucky because it was the day after the rains, and the rains had washed away all the haze in the sky. Only a few days later the sky was already far less clear than on that day.

Overall we have been quite lucky with the weather, since end of the year is supposed to be the rainy season in Sicily.

Amin, your trip report makes painful reading. I could say many things, but will just ask why you persisted with the GPS when it consistently misguided you and you were advised by the people at your first B&B not to use it?

How are mcdonalds and burger king healthier options than sandwiches?

nice photos amin.

did you have a guide or just go up in the cable car? were guides available there or would one have to book?

i ask because I'm trying to persuade DH that he wants to go to Sicily and he would love to go up Mount Etna.

@tarquin: GPS only failed a few times, but worked fine otherwise. The problem comes from maps which are not up to date, and deep inside the cities probably the GPS signal is not strong enough. I learned later that you have to avoid narrow alleys between tall buildings. But otherwise driving around with a GPS navigator is an excellent way of travelling. It makes things so much easier.

@annhig: you can just go up in the cable car. Once on top (i.e. at 2500m altitude) you can book an expensive 4WD trip to a place 150m higher (not worth it in my opinion). But there is nobody preventing you from walking on your own wherever you want to. The main problem for me was the lack of acclimatisation to the altitude (my legs felt heavy) and the strong and cold wind on that December day. I didn't get that far, but the views were outstanding. In one spot you could see the snow covered volcano summit on the left, and to the right there was the Mediterranean sea (see here: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Italy/...img.php?pic=21 )
Coming back to your question, guides should be available, it's just that we didn't use them.

amin - thank you very much. I'm sure this'll be helpful in persuading him that he really wants to go to Sicily!

@thursdaysd: ham is heavy on table salt and animal fats. It also contains nitrite salts, which are unhealthy (especially in combination with cheese). It's ok if you eat ham every now and then, but not every day. And in any case, fresh meat is always better.

@jamikins: a chicken sandwich (without mayo)in a fast food, is less unhealty than a cheese and ham sandwich.

@amln I wonder in which European countries you have eaten a meat dish with rice or potatoes for 5-8 euro. The only countries that come to mind are Portugal and (some areas of) Spain. Apparently you have never been to Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, ...
In fact I was very happy to read that a meal for four cost only 80-100 euros! That is what we usually pay for two in Belgium, Netherlands, France, etc.
I will now continue reading your report because your itinerary is very much what we have in mind for our September holidays. Thanks for the extensive report.

In Munich for instance (perhaps the most expensive city in Germany to live in) you can have a meat dish with rice or potatoes for 5-8 Euro. Also in Spain, France, Switzerland etc.

I've been to Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, but not with the family (in an earlier life when I was a single man). You are right that restaurants in the Scandinavian countries can be quite expensive.

By the way, you must be quite wealthy if you think that 80-100 Euro for a meal for four is not much. I wish we had your travel budget ;-)

I tend to agree with Myriam - it is difficult to find places where you can feed 4 people well for less than €80 including drinks while you are on holiday. I also agree that it is easier to do it in Germany, and possibly in Holland. but IME France and particularly Switzerland are more expensive, especially in areas where there are a lot of tourists.

Having just spent a week in Rome eating very reasonably, i would venture to say that touring is one of the most difficult holidays to do cheaply, especially with a family - you have the imperative to feed them but no time to get to know places and where the best and most reasonable restaurants are. in our week, OTOH, we had plenty of chance to find the best places at the right price.

We are not wealthy at all. Prices here in Belgium have just risen skyhigh since the euro. :-( My sister, who lives in Germany too and doesn't visit us very often, is always surprised at how much more expensive eating out has become since she was here last time ... Eating out where she lives (Nordrhein Westfalen) is much more affordable. Running errands in general is much more expensive here in Belgium.

<i>In fact I was very happy to read that a meal for four cost only 80-100 euros! That is what we usually pay for two in Belgium, Netherlands, France, </i>

In the French provinces that is expensive. From one of my trip reports:

"We drove along the Dordogne to Sarlat and had lunch at the Auberge de Mirandol (http://restaurant-auberge-mirandol-sarlat.fr/ ), still a good value when choosing the<b> 13€ or 19€ menu</b> with traditional dishes such as pâté, confit and cassoulet--the steak can be semelloïde as reported by another poster or decent as experienced by a previous guest--but rather than eating in the room at ground level with its low ceilings and wooden beams, we were directed upstairs which is a large room that from its remaining decoration appeared to have been an 18th cent. salon. From the language spoken, I would say that they were mainly French out for the Sunday meal rather than the larger proportion of foreign tourists at the rez-de-chaussée."

and the local bistrot in Excideuil is rated as costing less than 15€--I believe that the <i>formule</i> at noon is less than 10€.

Michael - once you add in drinks, you'll have hit or exceeded €20 pp for dinner.

i agree that you can eat more cheaply at lunch - it was the OP who was saying that he and his family couldn't find anywhere to do that in Sicily.

Wow, I thought restaurant prices in Sicily were in line with elsewhere in Italy, often a little less. Just my experience.

Yes, they eat late. It is Southern Europe. We never made a reservation before 9pm.

@ Michael
Yes, one can eat at affordable prices in France, depending from where you are, but probably you fancy other places than we do. We prefer restaurants that have been awarded a 'bib gourmand' from Michelin for their excellent price/quality ratio. The price for a 3-course lunch is usually around 25-30 euro, for a 3-course dinner 30-35 euro. Add an aperitif and a bottle of wine,and your final bill will easily be 80-100 euro.

<i>once you add in drinks, you'll have hit or exceeded €20 pp for dinner. </i>

Which would come out to 40€-45€ for two (wine is not expensive in these establishments), half the price claimed in the posting to which I responded. And the "formule" includes wine and sometimes coffee, as it did in the Landes for 8€.

@Myriam: not wonder if you spend such amounts if you go to Michelin guide restaurants.

We usually go for much cheaper places when travelling. Part of the reason is that we do three trips per year (total of seven weeks of travelling), usually to far away destinations. This year for instance we are travelling to Taiwan, Malaysia and either the USA or Ethiopia. If we spent 80-100 Euro per meal twice a day, we'd exceed the travel budget.