The Final 10% Sicily Questions
 

We will spend ten days in Sicily early October for first time. We're fairly happy with our arrangements but have some specific questions:
(1) Arriving at Siracusa bus station, do we take cab to Hotel Roma which is in Ortygia 50 meters from Cathedral or is there a bus? If bus, how do we get tickets?
(2) We will only drive one day from Siracusa to Agrigento, hoping to visit Noto and Ragusa on the way. Will S115 be easy to spot and follow or should we buy a Michelin road map, and if so, which number? We drove in Ireland and Michelin was very useful but the trip was more expansive than Sicily.
(3) We found the parking lot in Ragusa in an Eyewitness book. Will getting to it involve one way streets the wrong way and dead ends as several friends have cheerfully warned us.
(4) In Noto is there a central public parking area? Couldn't find it in guide books.
(5) We have a 7 a.m. flight out of Palermo. We see no way to avoid exorbitant cab price to airport from the New City. Don't want to wait for bus at 4:30 a.m. Any alternatives to save $
Thank you for any advice. This site is always a gold mine.

To answer your questions in the order they were asked.

1. Take a cab to your hotel. If this is not what you want to do, then inquire at the bus station as to public transportation and tickets.

2. Do not, I repeat NOT, consider driving in Sicily without a good & detailed map. I'm sure you can google Michelin Maps and find out which one to buy.

3. Probably.

4. We did not find a public car park in Noto but you can park on the street and then purchase a parking thingie from a tabaggerie (or whatever the Italian is for tobacco shop) to put inside so it's visible to the meter maids.

5. No alternatives. Bite the bullet.

Well, I'll take a crack at your questions too!

1) Ask the Hotel Roma

2) Get a map, for heaven's sake!!!! (I tend to be an emphatic writer.)

3) Yes.

4) Yes. It's in the main square and along the most popular approach to the duomo. But the posted parking regulations are comically impossible to decipher, so you should copy down the advice given by the previous poster and have it with you.

5) Enjoy the cab ride. (I never say "bite the bullet" to anyone going to Sicily.)

1. There are free shuttle buses onto and around the island. I believe the closest stop to your hotel will be the Piazza Archimede, but you could certainly ask the hotel.

5. There's also supposed to be a train to the airport, the Trinacria Express, but I can't find a timetable.

The train schedules to the airport:

http://www.gesap.it/

Holly - that's where it should be, but when I click on the relevant link on that site, I get a blank page.

You're right. Maybe it's just down temporarily. I know I've looked at it a number of times in the past.

The train timetable comes up on the Italian version:

http://www.gesap.it/index2.php3?op=211&lang=it

Or on:
http://tinyurl.com/6qrnjy

First train from Palermo Centrale is 04.45
(- arr. Punta Raisi 05.28)

Hope this helps ...

Steve

BTW, gesap.it says the first bus from Palermo is at 4:00 not 4:30. Any particular reason you don't want to take the bus?

I have been having trouble logging in so my thank you is tardy.
(1) We have written Hotel Roma which gave us very precise directions.
(2) We purchased Michelin road map and Siracusa/Agrigento looks manageable.
(3) This one worries me mainly because DH is not happy when behind the wheel and his destination appears only in the rear view mirror. Definitely not "it'll all work out" kind of guy.
(4) I've seen this parking system before but never been responsible for a car in Europe. Thanks for tip about tobacco shop.
(5) I've developed a belief that this will be the trickiest trip we've done on our own. There seems to be much reference to crime throughout Sicily in many postings. We're in our mid-sixties and being out at 4 a.m. encumbered by one suitcase and one carry on seems one chance too many to take. But thank you for train info and links.
My questions probably are a bit too narrow but we've found that the more info before the trip, the better the trip. My thanks again.

Hi,

The references to crime are because we all like to titter about the mafia, which still has quite a grip on Sicilia but isn't interested in tourist luggage.

Driving in Sicilia is tricky. Actually, it's a bit of a relief to be trying to angle your way through a centro storico maze, as opposed to holding your breath on the major arteries, where the Sicilians take more chances passing around blind curves, trucks and buses than I have seen elsewhere in Italy. If your husband is the dedicated driver, I'll just pass along the advice that the recklessness is contagious, and after a few days driving in Sicilia, one has to inwardly resist the urge to imitate the local style.

As for number 3, when you see Ragusa, you'll see the problem. It's a very elongated town on a hill, so it's just not easy to plunge right toward the center.

However, traffic in the historic centro is pretty skimpy. Most people don't live there. They leave in the nearby 'burbs.

Have a great trip. The baroque towns are so marvelous, and the food is so great. I'd love to go back, just to eat!

gladtotravel - I'm a female who just turned 61, and I traveled in Sicily this spring partly on tour and partly (12 nights) on my own, and I felt quite safe. Given a choice of taxi prices or the 4:00 am bus I'd take the bus, but I hate paying taxi prices. BTW, my TR is at http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35133064.

I loved Sicily, and I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Steve: Thanks for clearing that up.

Glad: Definitely read thursdays' trip report. Lots of helpful information in there.

gladtotravel - We drove in Sicily in May and used an Italy map that we bought some years ago in Vienna. Even though the map probably wasn't up to date, it was adequate for driving the usual tourist routes. I would think that a current Michelin map would be a good one.
Just want to second the advice about the crazy, aggressive driving in Sicily. We've been driving in Europe for years, including Italy and the Amalfi coast, and never have we seen such idiocy on the highways. Be very alert at all times and take evasive action when a car comes over the center line or passes into oncoming traffic. Trust me -- it will happen.
Otherwise, you will love Sicily.

thursdaysd, I had read your thread and found many suggestions to copy for our Sicily itinerary. Weeks ago, you gave me a shot of confidence and again yesterday.
zeppole and crckwc1, at least we're on the "right" side of the road. We'll try to get much of our driving done early in the day. Another question however: We plan only to drive one day, from Siracusa to Agrigento via Noto and Ragusa on a Sunday. If we leave Siracusa about 8:30, will we have trouble finding an open restaurant around noontime on a Sunday in one of the towns? We can be in the middle of Manhattan at 10:30 a.m. when DH starts worrying that we won't find a place for lunch at noon. The more questions I get answers for now, the happier the trip. Thanks to all!

I am with DH on making sure I get lunch.

Going out for Sunday lunch is common in Italy, although Sicily can have its own ways. It's Sunday dinner one sometimes has to worry about.

However, I believe both Noto and Ragusa are popular Sunday outing lunch destinations for Sicilians. Leaving Siracusa at 8:30 am should get you to Ragusa or Noto easily by the lunch hour. If you have already picked restaurants, you can probably look them up on line for opening hours.

Because I will not drive without food, I always -- always, always -- have a copy of the Michelin Red Guide to Italia in my car. At 12:15, if I don't think I'm going to make my target destination for lunch, I look up the nearest town with a recommended restaurant and go to it. I've had great meals that way, and often seen marvelous historic sights I had no idea existed in these off-road places.

The Red Guide is in Italian, but it uses universal symbols.

PS: The roads between Noto and Ragusa and Modica are beautiful and you don't want to rush them. They are one of the highlights of a driving trip in Sicilia.

gladtotravel - glad to help! Hope you'll post a TR when you get back....