My friend G and I planned 5 days in Sicily and once again we were trying to cram in as much as possible in a short time. G offered to drive, so after much debate we decided on spending one night in Palermo, the second night in Enna, then Taormina and the last night in Agrigento. I was very sad to leave out Syracuse and Noto, but it is impossible to see all Sicily in 5 days and we did not even consider the W section of the island.
Palermo
My flight from Geneva to Palermo only landed after 3pm on Monday, but luckily G and I arrived at our B&B at the same time. It was characterful and charming, situated in the old part of town near the Quattro Canti and Pretoria fountain, very convenient for sight-seeing. After dumping our bags we dashed out to visit the neighbouring Santa Caterina monastery. We saw the church which I cannot remember much about except that it was large and very baroque, admired the cloister with its pretty garden and sampled the sweets for sale. It was too late to visit any other sights but we had a good walk trying to decide what to have for supper. We settled for street food of arancini and very large cannoli downed with bottles Aperol.
We were up early the next morning trying to cram in as much as possible before picking up the car at lunchtime. Fortunately the centre of Palermo is quite small and we found it easy to visit most of what we had cherry picked to see. We started with St Cataldo, an Arab- Norman church built in 1160. It is bare inside except for a mosaic floor and one is better able to enjoy the beauty of the arches. It is right next to La Martorana. Built around the same time this church is embellished with the most beautiful mosaics done by Greek craftsmen at the time. The floor is also lovely. Later baroque additions have resulted in a rather schizoid church, but overall it was a very beautiful space. I read that mass is still celebrated in ancient Greek here.
We then headed up past the large cathedral (which we popped into and wandered around) to the gardens below the Norman Palace. We hoped to visit the chapel there, also renown for its mosaics, but the queue looked impossibly long so we gave up and headed back to Santa Zita. This church with its tranquil courtyard is situated down a narrow street. It is one of the churches decorated with stucco work by the Sicilian master Serpotta. Stucco might not be to everyone’s taste, but I found the churches delightful, especially the many plump putti.
Palermo’s Teatro Massimo is the largest opera house in Italy. We passed it and the post office designed in the time of Mussolini on our morning rush about. We also popped into the Vucciria market and bought some fruit including wild strawberries and had a snack for lunch. The market was smaller than I had expected. It would have been fun to explore the centre of Palermo a bit more, but we were pleased to have seen as much as we did. It was a more gritty and grubby than Switzerland, but full of wonderful sights lurking around each corner.
Monreale
At lunchtime we took a bus back to the airport to pick up our hire car. Guided by The Google lady we reached Monreale, close to Palermo, rather stressed out by the narrowness of the streets and Sicilian drivers. One soon realizes that indicating is a waste of time and he who hesitates gets hooted at. We spent a few hours admiring the cathedral, with its amazing mosaics. It was crowded, as were the cloisters, but they are both worth a visit and I wish we had had more time. At 5pm we set off for Enna, which is about 160 kms SE of Palermo, hoping to get there by 7pm.
Enna
Once we were free of the city we made good progress along the freeway which runs along the coast and took the exit onto the freeway running inland which should have taken us near to Enna. However, the Google Lady (GL) soon took us off the freeway and along endless country roads, through little towns and muddy puddles. Trustingly we followed, assuming there must be massive roadworks and deviations. Eventually after 8pm, very weary and fraught, we reached our destination down a tiny lane in Enna. G and I felt we deserved a bottle of wine with the excellent supper at the restaurant on the corner. One of the dishes was carpaccio of artichokes which was interesting.
Enna is situated on a hill and from the city walls one has a fabulous view across the countryside and to the town of Calascibetta on the hill across the valley. We had time for a quick walk to enjoy the view and saw the ruins of a castle on Wednesday morning before setting off for Piazza Armerina and the mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale. Enna looks to be a lovely old town and worth exploring a bit more.
Piazza Armerina and Villa Romana del Casale
From Enna we rapidly descended the hill and set off to the south. Piazza Amerina, about 30mins away, also looks to be an interesting town with a large church and a ruined monastery with a graveyard with mausoleums on the outskirts. We didn’t stop to explore.
Tour busses greeted us at the villa and it was crowded, but as the ruins are extensive it was possible to view the mosaics from the walkways constructed above them. There is some debate about which powerful functionary owned the villa, but it is generally agreed that the mosaic floors date from the 4th century AD. The most famous are the “bikini girls” which are female athletes. I particularly liked the long walkway depicting the capture of wild beasts and the loading of them onto boats, probably to take to Rome. The ostrich, elephant and rhino all feature. The children’s bedrooms also had charming images of children and farmyard animals. Extensive restoration is taking place at this UNESCO world heritage site. It is well worth a visit if you like mosaics, but they are not as bright as I imagined they would be.
Taormina
After a picnic lunch we set off for Taormina. What should have taken us about 90 mins along 2 freeways turned into a nightmare excursion as GL took us through all the little villages up the East coast. As we drove we kept trying to see Mt Etna but it was wrapped in cloud. Eventually we arrived at our hotel high up in Taormina and were very grateful to abandon our little car. Bemoaning our experience with the Google maps to the guy on reception, he suggested he check the filters and found that no toll roads had been set as a default. What a learning experience !
G was particularly keen to see the Roman Amphitheatre. So after checking in, we rushed along the main street to see it as we read that it closed at 7pm. We arrived at 6pm to find them closing early for the day! Fortunately the public garden, which was once Florence Trevelyan’s garden, was still open and we spent a happy time wandering around admiring the garden and the follies she built as well as the view over the bay. We then found a restaurant for supper and decided on 2 different pizzas and a bottle of wine- to drown the memory of the nightmare drive.
The next morning we were rewarded by a stunning view of Mt Etna with its snow cap and a little puff of smoke from our bedroom window. We enjoyed breakfast (which included a large slice of cheesecake) on the terrace enjoying the view of Mt Etna and the bay. Thereafter we once more rushed along to visit the amphitheatre. I was surprised to find it built of brick. I am not sure how much of it is original and how much restored. It is still used today for performances. There is no doubt it has a stunning outlook facing the bay and Mt Etna. Taormina has a bustling pedestrianized main street full of shops geared to tourists. It was pleasantly busy and not too crowded being early in the season. We found a vendor selling fruit and stocked up for lunch. He had some of the biggest loquats I have ever seen. Taormina has a stunning site overlooking the sea and one can see why it is so popular.
Agrigento
At 11am we set off for Agrigento, on the south coast about half way along the island. Fortunately we made good progress speeding along the freeways and going through the tolls which were moderately priced. However we needed petrol and once again our Google lady left us somewhat confused. We decided to pull into an enormous shopping mall in the middle of nowhere. Surely we thought with so many shoppers there must be petrol, but although it featured all the top brands, this centre had no petrol. We enjoyed a coffee and enquired about benzina and were directed to a garage further along the freeway where we filled up.
At Agrigento we wanted to visit the Valley of the Temples, another UNESCO world heritage site. Arriving on a hot afternoon, G organized a taxi ride to the start of the walk several kms from the parking area. These Greek temples built of sandstone which stretch along the hillside are most impressive. Some only have a few columns standing and the ground round about is littered with the ruins. Beside the temples are fields of very old olive trees with gnarled stems and almond trees. Halfway along is Villa Aurea built by Sir Alexander Hardcastle, an Englishman, who fascinated by the site and did a much to protect it. He also excavated underground cisterns to water his garden. Sadly he lost all his money in the crash of 1929 and ended his days in an asylum. The site also has a camp of goats indigenous to Sicily with long twisted horns. I believe there is also a cave like passage which can be explored with guides.
After spending about 2-3 hours exploring the site we headed off to find our Agritourismo B & B for the night. This was a bit of a challenge as they had advised us not to use google maps, however we arrived in time to admire their vineyards (Nero d’Avola) before having the best meal of our stay in Sicily. This featured wine from the farm and we enjoyed an antipasta, pasta, secondi of grilled meats and gorgeous pistachio ice cream dessert. Breakfast the next morning was equally lavish and included a cake with pistachio filling- yum.
Back to Palermo
This was our final morning in Sicily and we needed to get back to Palermo airport to catch flights and return the car by 1:30pm. Our first stop was a carwash. The Google lady had led us through many muddy puddles and our hire contract said no dirt roads. It was 6 euros well spent for a pristine car.
We had to make our way back from the S coast to Palermo on the N coast and decided to go west first and visit the white seaside cliffs of Scala dei Turchi. We didn’t realise that this was in a developed area and having made our way down to the beach and along the rocks to view the cliffs, we felt a little underwhelmed. I think we were expecting a nature reserve.
After this we headed straight for Palermo, making good time and marvelling at all the viaducts which span the valleys. Being spring the countryside was lush and green.
Just before the airport we pulled into a service station to fill the car and there I had the one unpleasant experience of my trip to Sicily. The attendant wanted me to put my credit card into a weird machine and enter my pin before he pumped the petrol. Fortunately I asked for a slip because he tried to put through a much higher payment on my card. The bank reduced the payment to the correct amount when I sent them a photo of the slip.
Setting aside this one scam, we had a great time and it would be good to go back for a more leisurely visit one day and to eat more of the delicious Sicilian food.
May 2022: Sicily gallery
