[Closed] Sicily - please tell me about it

The driving is suicidal and the food is shit unless you like fish and tomatoes.

Went for a long weekend with Mrs FD early last May.

Flew to Catania, 2 nights in Castelmola, 1 night in Syracuse.

Castelmola is a small ish village above Taormina, great scenery, less tourists. Didnt like Taormina, touristy horrible place, although the amphitheatre is well worth a visit.

Mt Etna, well worth a visit. Get up early as it tends to cloud over in the afternoon. Its an expensive ride up there, but we walked back down the lava flows in a snow storm.

Syracuse was beautiful, and we could have spent more time there.

When Jnr FD is older we intend to hire a car for 2 weeks and drive around the whole island.

Oh and the driving is great fun, no messing driving, and very narrow streets.

I refer the right honourable member to my previous answers:

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sicily ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sicily[/url]

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sicily-where-to-go-what-to-do-etc ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sicily-where-to-go-what-to-do-etc[/url]

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/things-to-do-in-sicily ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/things-to-do-in-sicily[/url]

The driving was very relaxed, and didn't hear a single horn

Food was absolutely brilliant and was the stoundout. Reasonably priced as was the wine - and decent house stuff

Locals very friendly. Stayed in Chefalu which was more 'local' and less touristy. Well recommended

Went last Easter and had a great time. Flew into Catania and stayed just outside Taormina.

We hired a car. Driving was lively, but if you drive defensively it is ok.

I preferred the slightly cheap and tacky Giardini Naxos over the polished tourist honeypot of Taormina.

Syracuse was beautiful and was my favourite town/city.

I prefer it a bit wild and not too busy. As a result although I enjoyed swimming in the mountains at the Alcantara Gorge it was very busy and touristy. Conversely the half hour steep hike down and back up into the deep gorge Laghetti di Avola which is in the Riserva Naturale Orientata Cavagrande del Cassibile just south west of Syracuse. It is absolutely stunning and worth spending a day there lounging on hot rocks and swimming.

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Went down there for 3 weeks in the camper over December-January...

Covered pretty much all of the island other than the north east corner. Stayed away from the big towns after negotiating Naples and then Catania.... LWB T5 with bike rack on the back. Gets your adrenaline going, does that.

Food was spectacular. I've no idea as to how the Sicilians are so thin. Great food, loads of patisseries....

The driving is interesting. Just go with the flow, ignore the signs and relax.

Went biking on Etna and up in the north east corner. Some shaped lines on Etna cutting between forests and lava flows, but generally a surprisingly few trails on the island.

Visited a few amphitheatres and temple ruins. While impressive it did get a bit samey. The island is full of history.

Don't think I'd fancy it in summer due to the heat and tourists.

Didn't have a problem parking up wherever we liked.

Would go back, but too few trails to ride. Drove past plenty of other mountains on the way there....

Can post some pics later....

Thanks folks, some useful info here. Sounds pretty good to me.

Find a bakery that is busy with builders and men overalls and pay peanuts for the delicious lunch of arancini and anything else they sell - small loaf like sandwiches of cheese salami and salad.
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Amen to that....

Went into a patisserie like a kid in a sweet shop. Pointed at just about everything saying "Due, due, quattro, due....". Ended up with a bag of goodies that cost me 8€.
So sweet and sickly I was still picking at the bag a week later.

We went twenty two years apart, and what a difference. Sciliy is one of the jewels on the western Europe but the battle between the old had new remains.The mafia built concrete housing had been replaced by unremitting tourist growth and flytipping, and general disrespect for the island and the history BUT it was interesting in seeing how some people were trying to rectify it.

Sicily is unbelievable ... Last time we went to the Aeolian islands, stayed on stromboli the active volcano, sea kayaked out and walked up and it was brilliant, we used it as a base to go to some of the other islands such as vulcano ....An inactive crater but God it smells. Then onto Lipari a mix of touristy and great beauty, go to the musuem really fascinating, some great coves and surprisingly good walks

Palermo is okay, we stayed in a great b and b who recommended some places, highlight for me was The Palatine Chapel, Norman kings chapel which links to Monreale cathedral and Cefalu church. Really stunning. Palermo is noisy busy maniacal.

Trapani was a good base for us, a good base town good train link to Palermo and more clam but so e of the best pizza and ice cream we have ever eaten. Great to base yourself and wander up and down the coast ...We had a hire car parked on a secured cove and got a ticket for illegal parking ....No other car for 10 Kms....Paid at post office bizzarely.

So many temples and so much history, Syracuse is a great city and a good base, avoid Catania a pit, Taomina have a stroll but very touristy. Etna was good.

We have been to the interior a few times and some greaterand , Enna was not great but saw a massive festival which was incredible.

Well worth going just be clear what you want to see.

Went last year and enjoyed some of it. We hired a car and stayed in three different place in the south and the east. The driving was horrendously scary not helped by the crap car we hired.
The south was very local touristy apart from Agrigento. Syracusa was great but very busy . Our last stay was near the Alcantara Gorge which was v. nice.
All in all not our best trip, we have enjoyed places in mainland Italy more.

Bit of a hijack.

FOG where would you recommend on the mainland?

If you go, go to Ragusa.... Visit the Restaurant where Montebalno is filmed. Ended up there by chance and had one of the best feeds ever.