Sicily in March or April?

[Pauline]

The map would be cooler if it worked on an iPad.

 

[Colleen]

You can't create it on an iPad?
Because I'm looking at it on one!

 

[Pauline]

I don't see it on my iPad. You do? I will do some testing.

 

[Heidi]

Hmmm, I'm working on my iPad because I'm out of town. The map comes up clearly for me but maybe it's supposed to do something?

I know I can't cut & paste well with my iPad, so I can't put your quote up Pauline, but you asked if Taoromina or Syracuse would be good bases for a week. I've stayed in both and much prefer Syracuse ~ Taoromina is, IMO, too touristy. By all means go there, maybe as a day trip from Syracuse? It is lovely. The views of Mt Etna through the ruins of the Greek theatre is spectacular. A book I enjoyed : A House in Sicily
http://www.amazon.com/House-Sicily-Denis-Mack-Smith/dp/0786707941 by Daphne Phelps is set in Taoromina. Her house, Casa Cuseni, is now a beautiful small hotel above Taoromina.
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/bb-and-beyond-casa-cuseni-taormina-sicily-8478280.html
(Forgive my long URL. I'm certain there is a way to hid it behind a highlighted word or two? I'm sort of playing here....)

It is sounding like you do need two separate holidays to Sicily or one two week adventure. It is one of the most evocative places I've traveled to in Italia. Don't miss Noto, Modica, Ragusa Ibla, Agrigento, Roman Villa at Piazza Amerina, Cefalu ... Etc. But Diva is right, do miss Easter ~ April 20th

David Lebowitz was just there and wrote three wonderful blog posts http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2013/11/sicily-italy-travel/

Also don't miss Giuseppe Di Lampedusa's The Leopard, the book & the movie, if you want a classic view of Sicily's old aristocratic class crumbling under the new unification.

 

[Pauline]

I am not a big fan of the Inspector Montalbano TV series but I have watched several of them (I got tired of them after watching about 5 shows). You can stay at the B&B in Punta Secca that is used to film his residence - La Casa de Montalbano. Read more in this article from June 2013 - Guardian - Tourist Trail for Montalbano.

I looking at an apartment in the small town of Scicli - Ville in Italia - Carrubo. The current plan is to go the first two weeks of April, before Easter. But I wonder if that is too early? In Bob the Navigator's trip report, he went in May and thought that a good time. One thing good about April is that maybe some of the more tourist crowded places will be less crowded.

I read Lebowitz's blog post (thanks Heidi!) and he stayed in west Sicily, between Palermo and Trapani, which looks like a nice area too.

 

[Heidi]

Pauline, your apartment Carrubo looks wonderful! And Scicli seems like a perfect location to explore South Eastern Sicily. In David Lebovitz's last post, he had dashed across Sicily to stay in Modica, which is very close to Scicli. A visit to Antica Dolceria Bonajuto is worth it, (Lebovitz loved it!) if you like chocolate. I didn't particularly care for their grainy product, made by following old world methods, but the shop and chocolate tasting was well worth a visit anyway.

I also bookmarked the rental Palazzo Ortigia from your above mentioned Your Sicily rentals. Perfect location in Syracuse. I've been looking for an appealing rental in town, as my last rental was an agriturismo outside of Syracuse. It was rather rustic and too remote for me...

 

[Pauline]

Trip planning takes so much time! I want to book in the next few days because British Airways is having a Business Class seat sale and there are flights available in early April. I ordered my Sicily map and the Rough Guide from Amazon - the Eyewitness guide that I am using shows the Lire for currency (but really, how much has changed since 2000?). And ordered Midnight in Sicily to read.

I am back and forth on staying in Syracuse or a smaller town. I looked at a few rural places and I think they might be great in summer, but not as good off season. My concern about Syracuse is that it will be hard to get in and out of by car. It has a population of 120,000. But, on the other hand, it would be nice to spend several days just wandering around the town.

I hadn't read that last post from David Lebovitz, but found it now - http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2013/11/modica-sicily-italy/.

 

[Heidi]

Yes, I remember parking restrictions in Syracuse. The island of Ortigia is small ~ very village-like. Loved it!

 

[Pauline]

Flights are booked! We decided to make this a short first trip, partly because of the difficulty of booking near Easter and partly because we have tickets to see David Sedaris on April 2 in Cheltenham (close to where we live) and I really want to see him.

We fly Friday April 4, direct BA flight from Gatwick, arriving in Catania around 3pm. Pick up a car and spend one night in Syracuse. Explore some of Syracuse the next morning before leaving.

Then to Scicli, one of the 8 towns in the Val di Noto all assigned UNESCO World Heritage status. The apartment is not booked yet, but I think we are going with Carrubo from Ville in Italia. The owner lives in the building and has two vacation rental apartments. The town is a nice size - 25,000 - and we can explore this area, plus Villa Romana del Casale which isn't too far away.

After our week, we will drive along the coast probably to Sciacca, stopping at Agrigento on the way to see the Valley of Temples. Only 2 nights on the coast mostly to see Selinunte and maybe Segesta. On the Monday, we drive back to Catania airport for an evening flight back to Gatwick.

All S's - Syracuse, Scicli and Sciacca - the last two I cannot pronounce.

This will be a good intro to Sicily for us and lets me see those Greek temples.

For restaurants, we are a bit limited, but less in Italy than in France. I am vegetarian; Steve eats fish but not much dairy.

Thanks for all your suggestions. Thanks Kelly for your notes - I used them while planning. I think you sent me your restaurant list too - will use that. Keep the suggestions coming!

 

[jonathan]

All S's - Syracuse, Scicli and Sciacca - the last two I cannot pronounce.

I'll ask Philippa to give you some intensive coaching tomorrow

Sounds like a great trip! A musician friend had a great stay in an apartment in Scicli last Autumn - I'll see if I can find what he wrote (I think it was on Tr********r!)

 

[Pauline]

I started searching through TripAdvisor for reviews of holiday rentals in Scicli by someone from Stroud, when I realized that your friend may not even be from England. If you find his review, can you post a link? I have not done my booking yet.

 

[jonathan]

Actually, I'd slightly misremembered, and he was staying at a B&B. I don't know whether this link will work, because he's a facebook friend of mine, but not yours - but here's a link to his Scicli reviews.

Once again, we're coordinating our holiday times! P and I fly off from Gatwick just 3 days before you - to Bari, for a week in Ostuni.

 

[kcalnyc]

I found the Blue Guide to be the best for information on the Greek sites. They are very in depth. But I also used Rough Guide - I like their writing style.

Siracusa wasn't that hard to get in and out of. In Sicily the town populations include everyone in the surrounding area. It would be like NYC including everyone in lower Westchester county and the NJ towns close to the Hudson river.

I really enjoyed Agrigento but was really blown away by Segesta. I think it was the setting up on the top of the hill and the vista from up there. You could just picture the history of the place that the guide listed. But that's just me and everyone has their preference. I have heard great things about Selinute.

In Siracusa, Marian and I have both stayed at http://www.apprododellesirene.com - it's a terrific b&b and there is a lot very nearby to park in as well as some street parking - check with them and they will advise.

In Trapani, I really liked the efficiency apartment at http://www.ailumi.it/en/

For Agrigento, we stayed at an agriturismo (http://www.sillitti.it ) near Caltanissetta. It's on an organic farm.

 

[italian excursion]

Pauline,
Wanted to remind you about Civita Castellana, as I know you were slated to visit there some time ago and had to cancel. There are some very cool things to see in the surrounds there and Alison knows tons of things about all of it as she has lived there 10 years, knows the residents, is involved in community planning, etc. It's easy to get there (though a 2 hour train ride) from Rome airport or train station.
Ciao,
Cheryl
www.italianexcursion.com

 

[Pauline]

I booked a different apartment in Scicli - Castellana from Ville in Italia. After looking at all the photos about 100 times, I figured out that this one is in the front of the building and looks out over the street. It has two levels and a balcony on each level, plus steps up to a rooftop balcony shared with the other apartment, which I think is at the back of the building. Either one would be fine I am sure.

Thanks for the reminder Cheryl. We were scheduled to go there in January 2011 but we both got horribly ill the day before the trip. I have been thinking about a trip to Rome and combining it with Civita Castellana would be a good idea.

 

[Pauline]

Now I am searching to see if I can get the Young Montalbano series that showed on BBC4 last fall. It was filmed in the area we are staying in. So was the original series, so I may look for that too.

>> Found it on Lovefilm (the UK version of Netflix) and ordered the DVD.

 

[DonnaF]

We were in Sicily for the first (and only, so far) time in Sept. 2010. I particularly loved Noto, Syracusa and Ortygia, and Taormina, and if I were to spend a week in one place, I'd chose somewhere on that side of Sicily. Taormina IS touristy but there's a reason people want to visit! It's beautiful. We stayed 2 nights not too far away in Stazzo (north of Catania and Acireale) at Palazzo Giovanni (a B&B), which was wonderful. Breakfast on the rooftop terrace was a highlight of the trip (views of Mt. Etna, no extra charge!) One thing about driving in Sicily: Signage can be very lacking and we got lost several times (and we're used to driving in Italy!). Get the best road map you can find!

 

[Pauline]

I found a good article in The Telegraph about the film locations used in both Montalbano TV series - Montalbano's Island.

Thanks for the driving advice. We will bring our GPS. I have the Michelin map. If that is not good enough, I will get another map there.

 

[kcalnyc]

Not sure what GPS you have but I took a TomTom to Sicily and found out the hard way that it's not so great there. The woman that ran the agriturismo we stayed in said that the Garmin maps are much better for Sicily.

 

[Pauline]

We have a Garmin. I will check to be sure we have maps for Sicily. Thanks for the reminder.