what are some must sees in Palermo and Siracusa
 

Traveling in Feb for one week only. We are renting a car and will stay 4 days in the Palermo area and 3 days in Siracusa. What are some must sees in both of these areas. We are not staying directly in Palermo but on a bus/train line west of the city.

Also what type of weather can we expect?

Thanks!

In Siracusa, we really enjoyed our time in Ortegia, a part of the city that has been lost in time. There ia alos a Roman amphitheatre well worth visitng. IF you have time to take a day trip, check out Noto (which is one of Bob the Naivgators favourite towns, so he will have mentioned it...just in case you needed a seconder!)

Difficult question to answer without knowing your preferences. I presume you mean any must sees in Sicily rather than just in the two cities, but you don't have that much time.

For me it would probably be the following:

Siracusa. Cathedral (Converted Greek temple - the original columns form part of the walls), the Greek theatre and Roman amphitheatre complex, the Paolo Orsi Archaelogical museum, Daytrip to Either Taormina or Noto/Ragusa.

Between Siracusa and Palermo: The Roman mosaics at Piazza Armerina.

Palermo: Monreale cathedral, Mercato della Vucciria (I like markets), possible daytrips to Segeste or Selinunte or Agrigento (Greek temple sites). Possibly Cefalú.

Thanks to all of you.

Oh I forgot to ask any local restaurants that can be recommended for Palermo, Siracusa and maybe Noto? We like to frequent local not touristy places!

I wrote up a diary of sort about our October 2005 trip to Sicily. It may help.

www.microbes.plus.com/sicily2005.htm

I enjoyed most of our meals in Siracusa, particulary at Osteria da Mariano and Trattoria Kalliope. The former was somewhat chaotic, but the food was excellent.

We found Neas in Noto to be very good...excellent use of local fish and produce, interesting cave style dining room with artist's rendering of local sites on the walls.

Thank you both so much. Willit I really enjoyed your posts from your blog and we will be visiting some of the same areas so it is very helpful, especially the driving info. I look forward to our upcoming visit but not the driving part! I hope we get good weather.

Thanks for the link willit! I appreciate the restaurant info, and you have reinforced my belief that I would be crazy to try driving there (I will be traveling solo).

In Siracusa, you should stay on Ortigia. See Ortigia extensively, it has in some parts kind of a nostalgic 'end of the world' atmosphere. We visited in october and stayed in B&B www.apprododellesirene.com
One of the good and affordable restaurants was Darsena, just next to the B&B.
You should also visit the roman and greek ruins, the archeological museums and the huge catacombs.

In Palermo, you shouldn't miss a visit of the main theatre. For the rest, we visited the 'normal' things figuring in the guidebooks. We were in Palermo just for a daytrip. It is worth 2 or 3 days, and you shouldn't be afraid to stroll out to the tourist beaten path.
You should also see Monreale, which is close to Palermo.

We spent 5 days (or was it a week ?) in Palermo and never made it to Monreale because there was so much to see in the city - it is a fascinating place. I can't remember which guidebook we used but it had very interesting walks of each of the four quarters stretching out from the Quattro Canti, so I suggest you look for info on that as a starting point. We saw very ancient churches (many quite Eastern in appearance), restored and ruined palaces (many still with WW2 damage), markets, fascist architecture - lots ! What was particularly interesting was the way that different types of people live cheek by jowl - decaying aristocracy, quite poor people and young professionals who are re-gentifrying the old quarters. We also went to an opera performance at Teatro Massimo & enjoyed it - cheap, everyone very welcoming & the programme had an English synopsis.

On each of my 2 visits to Siracusa I've spent a whole day at the archaeological park, which is where the Greek & Roman amphitheatres are plus lots of other things - I found the Ear of Dionysus particularly interesting. It is on the edge of town so you could drive there. The catacombs - about halfway between the archaeological park & the centre - are very good too, although less exciting on my 2nd visit when a guided tour was compulsory as opposed to wandering round getting lost on your own :-)

Ortygia is nice just to wander round in the evening, eating & drinking in the squares & alongside the sea (although maybe not in February). The Fountain of Aretusa and the cathedral (based on a Roman temple) are there & are interesting. Are you staying on Ortygia ?

>> the cathedral (based on a Roman temple)<<

It's a Greek temple from the 5th c. BC.

No we are not staying in Ortigia. We were going to until we found out that parking would be difficult. We will have a rental car. So we are staying on the sea within walking distance (20 minutes) to Ortigia. We figure that the walk will do us good since we plan on eating lots of wonderful Sicilian food on the trip!

We stayed at the Grand Hotel on Ortygia and it has a car park.

We enjoyed Cin-Cin in Palermo. Some of the best food on our Italy Trip. www.ristorantecincin.com
Vince, the owner is a wonderful host and a wonderful source of things to see and do.

We stayed on Ortigia and parked the car at a huge parking called Talete at 5 minutes from the B&B. We payed 3 euro per night, and no charge during daytime.
Very easy and convenient.

During my time living in Sicily, I found the public transportation to be excellent. If you aren't stuck on renting a car I would consider taking a bus from Palermo to Siracusa and anywhere else you might want to see. That way you don't have to hassle with parking.

The weather in February is cool but not cold, I would plan on layering, long sleeve shirt with sweater, jacket a must in the evenings.

Compared to other Sicilian cities, I was not a huge fan of Palermo. Siracusa is wonderful, don't miss the archaeological park, the duomo, the lungomare around fonte aretusa and the morning market.

I agree with SicilianSailor. The Palermo-Siracusa bus (www.interbus.it) and the Siracusa-Noto bus (same place) are fast, comfortable and inexpensive.