TDudette

Sure hope you got to Monreale!

TrendGirl2

Nice trip report.
I will be leaving for SICILY Next week, and enjoyed reading your experiences.
We will be arriving in Palermo too. I also heard that the restaurant Lo Scuderia, HAS SEEN BETTER DAYS. Too Bad your dinner there was a disappointment.
We will definitey plan on visiting Monreale, as it is close and easy to get to from Palermo.
Can't wait to read more about your trip!
Trend Girl

Ian

Day 17 Palermo – Our Last Day in Sicily

This was it. The swan song of our Sicilian vacation. The last day.

We had breakfast as usual & debated what to do. We hadn’t really seen Palermo except by taxi with Carmelo & a couple of short precision hops by car. But we didn’t care.

We hadn’t visited any of the necessary cathedrals - particularly the local biggie: the Duomo of Monreale with its exquisite mosaics, the world’s best example of Norman church architecture & the much-lauded cloisters. But we didn’t care.

We had seen enough. We had done enough. We wanted to do nothing but lie in the sun & read our books & work on the tan so it looked like we actually went on vacation.

We have never been the type of travelers that have to see it all. You should see what you enjoy seeing. If you miss some, who cares? Buy a postcard or tour it through someone else’s eyes online. Or plan to see it next time. A holiday should never become a marathon of site visits. There shouldn’t be some checklist that has to be completed. I have seen countless itineraries posted here & my main critique of most is the lack of free time. You need to ensure that there are mornings or afternoons or even full days to stare at the sea or to walk in a field or down a wandering alley – completely without purpose.

Since we were staying in a hotel that felt like a Caribbean resort, we surrendered & let the day flow. Morning in the sun. We walked to that restaurant mentioned above & got some paninis for lunch. Then we lay in the sun some more. We didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt for our touristic omissions. We had an early dinner/late lunch at the hotel & went to bed at 9:30 pm to prepare for our 6:50 am flight to Roma the next morning.

More Igiea pictures;

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...mo/igliea6.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...mo/igliea5.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...mo/igliea3.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...mo/igliea8.jpg

And a stitched panoramic view of Palermo from the Igiea.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...lermo/pano.jpg

The Hilton Villa Igiea was a superb hotel. Its site. The view. The beauty of the building. The impeccable service. The fact that it was free for us. The big letdown was the food. I can’t say that it was on par with the rest of the hotel. The prices were but not the variety or the quality. The location – like the Cavalieri in Roma does make it tough – and more expensive - to get in & out for touring. Recommended but with those cautions.

Day 19 Travel Home

We taxied to Palermo’s airport. Sure there were cheaper options but the taxi waiting outside the hotel’s door at 5:30 am was painless (albeit 70€) & this day was going to be painful enough. At FCO we rescued our bags & checked in for our Air Canada flight to YYZ. I relaxed in the premium airline lounge with my book (I had finished McCollough’s ‘The First Man in Rome’ since leaving home & was now ½ way through ‘The Grass Crown – my 3rd read of this great series that I figured would put me nicely in context for viewing ruins). My wife gave some euros away to the airport shops for the requisite last-minute gifts for people at home. I know, I know . . . I keep telling her but she keeps doing it.

Goodbye to Europe until the next trip.

Coming up . . . Conclusion & Our Trips Greatest Hits & Misses

Ian

Conclusion & Our Trip's Greatest Hits & Misses

We disliked Roma. Again. ‘Nuf said except that I am glad we gave it a 2nd chance & that we had the opportunity to see the Borghese & the Scavi tour & some misc things that we missed on the 1st go.

We really enjoyed Sicily. The island is stunningly beautiful. It was easy to get around. The food was great. The people we met along the way were friendly & helpful. I would say they are a notch above continental Italy & Spain on the International Friendliness Scale. My wife would pipe in at this point with a caveat about the roads & driving which was not an issue for me but for some travelers it might prove daunting. She is a nervous driver/passenger to begin with so that colors her opinion imho but there it is.

Hat’s off to rkkwan, Bob the Navigator, Franco, ekscrunchy & many, many others for their trip reports of Sicily and/or Roma. I read them all & stole ideas, restaurants suggestions, tips etc etc. I hope that this amazingly long diatribe will be of use to others too.

Roma

Best Site visited this trip: Borghese Gallery
Site we should have missed: Spanish Steps
Best Restaurant: Armando al Pantheon
Runner-up: Ambasciata D’Abruzzo
Worst restaurant choice of Roma: Sora Lella

Sicily

Best site visited: Segesta for the views
Site we could have missed: Parco Archeologico - Siracusa
Best restaurant: Torre d’Oriente (Modica)
Runner-up: Too tough to decide
Best dish: A tie. The pasta/meatball soup (called Pasta Bruordu) @ Osteria dei Sapori Perduti (Modica) & the ravioli primi @ Torre d’Oriente (Modica)
Worst meal choice: That gas station/eatery around Montallegro
Best road for driving: A toughie. S124 out of Caltagirone if I could only pick one
Best road for view: Another toughie because there were so many. S194 between Modica & Ragusa
Favorite town: Modica with Siracusa the runner-up

Thanks for reading this much longer than expected trip report . . .

Ian

To reach me: cab87 (at) rogers.com

My Travel Site: http://members.rennlist.com/imcarthur/travels.htm

thursdaysd

You skipped Monreale? Well, I guess you now have a reason to go back! (Along with Trapani, Erice, and the islands!)

Dayle

Ian,

Mille Grazie for such a great, detailed trip report. It's so valuable to have all variety of opinions. I'll keep your report for when I get down to serious planning for my Sicilian trip.

Ian

Glad you enjoyed it. I have learned that everyone enjoys travel in their own unique way. Trip reports can be a great resource but 'your results may vary'.

Ian

Ian

As an addendum to this post, I finally completed & have added our Sicily adventure to my travel site. The pictures are thumb nailed & this makes it an easier read.

http://members.rennlist.org/imcarthur/sicily.htm

Note: I will still be doing some editing etc over the next couple of days . . .

Ian

Zerlina

That Baroque palace on Piazza Duomo in Siracusa (you also have a photo of its courtyard) is the Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco.

Horatio Nelson once stayed with the family, and the current owner still has a bread-and-butter letter from him.

Ian

Thank you, Zerlina. I labelled it now.

The trip is already dimming as real life rears its ugly head. Time to start thinking about the next one . . .

Ian

VickyO

Hi Ian, jsut want to let you know how much we have enjoyed your report. We are going to Sicily for the first time in May 2010, and your "n-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase" reporting is just what my husband has enjoyed reading! It is a great resource, thanks so much.

TexasAggie

Wow, what a superb trip report! I love the organization and all of the photo links!! We are deliberating between returning to Greece this May or going to Sicily for the first time. Your trip report has been most helpful.
Was the GPS device you used one you bought here in the States?

barefootbeach

Ian, just read your old report to help with my planning...better late than never! Appreciate all the time you spent with detail.

BTW, if you haven't made it to Africa yet, I have a recom. I also hate tours, but Africa is a little challenging. Best compromise was one I put together with Africa Adventure Co. in Kenya and Tanzania where they flew us between camps, but we traveled independently. It was amazing to be in the middle of no where and a little plane buzzes down to pick us up and take us to the next camp...no glitches...planes were always on time and there was someone to transport us from camp to airfield, etc. We stayed in "luxury" type tents and loved the whole experience. You can check out my old trip report from 2008 if interested.

Ian

Thanks, barefootbeach. I will read your report for the future. We decided on Turkey for our next trip. We leave in 2 weeks.

My trusty GPS is a US bought TomTom. I now use the Antiguan voice which sounds like an angry Rasta . . .

Ian

alison

bookmarking for upcoming sicily trip