Author: Bill

We visited Sicily twice. We first came here in 2006 on a long road trip through Italy. We came across on a ferry from Italy and drove across the Northern coast to Palarmo (red line on map) where we took an overnight ferry back to Naples. The second trip, in November, 2007, (Green line on map) was dedicated to seeing and experiencing as much of Sicily as we had time for. We were living in Germany at the time so we flew on Ryanair from Frankfurt to Trapani, rented a car, and started our trip.

Some amateur background info on Sicily. Even though it nearly touches Italy, the landmass of Sicily actually broke off of Africa and floated North vice separating from Italy. Although Sicily is a part of the Italian country, if you ask any Sicilian if he or she is Italian, they will say “No, I am Sicilian!” The island is mostly rocky and hosts Mt Etna, one of the world’s more active Volcanos. Sicily was first the location of Summer homes and farmers from Greece around 1000 B.C. Later, Sicily was occupied by the Roman empire, and later by a number of different powers. Today, Sicily is a part of Italy. If you want more history, geography, or political background check a local library or check Google. Sicily’s history is quite interesting and worth the research.

Our first time there was the last leg of a trip we were on through Italy. We had driven through Italy and took a ferry from Villa San Giovani on the mainland of Italy to Messina in Sicily. It was a short ride but the straight was very chop and turbulent … but we made it. We the drove West to Palarmo where we took an overnight Ferry back Naples.

I don’t recall the names of all the little towns we stopped or went through along the coast. Each had a unique approach to it, usually up a winding road, each had it’s city center and it’s big old church. We spend two days along the Northern route and thoroughly enjoyed it. We got to Palermo, and found out way to the ferry, loaded up and sailed overnight to Naples. We had a cabin so we spent the night sleeping. Here are some night pictures from the ferry before it left Palermo.

That was our first time in Sicily. We enjoyed it and decided we would come back some day and see more of it.

Ryan Air is a point-to-point airline that flies all over Europe at very inexpensive rates. They frequently advertise special so we watched for them and when we wanted to go somewhere we would check where Ryan Air was having special fares to. When Sicily came up we booked a flight and went. Ryan Air Flies into smaller airports so they flew into Trapani which is a good sized city on the Northwest corner of Sicily. We rented a car and off we went.

We mostly visited ruins from the Greek Times, ruins from the Roman times, and enjoyed the villages that were along the way. These first ruins we saw were in a town called Selenus part of the way down the coast.

We continued on down along the coast to Agricola. One of the larger towns along the way. Interesting people and places. We followed the route depicted on the map I put at the front of this post. All around the coast there were Greek and Roman ruins that we explored. Some were being excavated, some being restored, some just piled up along the road waiting for someone to do something with them. I would guess that, like most other countries, Italy can budget just so much money for historical exploration and restoral and that is never enough to do it all … consequently all these artifacts wait and many of them are ruined by weather, people, animals, whatever while they wait. we did enjoy the majestic buildings, there was a hunting lodge with pictures of animals, castles, fortresses, and towns. Many of the small towns were located inside of a fortress located at the top of a steep hill. Very picturesque, great views and lovely people … and the wine was always good. Enjoy the pictures as we work our way across Sicily. The center of the Island is largely agricultural with crops and some animals. All in all the Island is quite rocky, hilly and, I would think, hard to live on. There are some photos of explanations along the way, usually in Italian and english so hopefully you can get something from them.

So ends the pictures. I apologies for not having put captions on all the photos but, to be honest, it is difficult to recall what and where all these places and things are. I take the photos because they attract my attention and I see something worth saving. It’s a visual thing.

We did enjoy Sicily and would be pleased to return someday. The people are warm and friendly, the wine is good, and the weather is fairly mild. We would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in Italy or the Greek and Roam influences around the Med go to Sicily … you will not be disappointed.

A brief word or two about the Sicilian cities that we past through or toured.  They all are old, they all have huge impressive Cathedrals and Churches, and they are friendly places to visit.  Some are around and atop a mountain … founded, most likely as a village around a castle on the top of the mountain, or around an inlet of the mediterranean sea where harbors are or were hosted.  Some are strung out along the sea and others climb steeply from the sea up a mountain.  Each is unique, each has its own interests, and each is worth a visit.  One would think that after seeing a couple of fishing villages or country villages around a mountain they would become redundant and consequently boring.  Not so … every time we stopped we found something unique and interesting.  Be it beverages, food, clothing, the layout of the streets … what ever.  As I mentioned earlier in this post, we landed in Tripani and drove South.  I have written briefly about going through where there were many Greek ruins … after all, if you go East from the East coast of Sicily you eventually come to Greece.  I recently read a couple books about two cousins that lived in Rhodes.  Each Summer they would load up a small sailing boat and cruise around the island and shores of the Med selling their wares and trading.  The era of the book was around 300 -400 B.C. and they mention several of the cities along the Eastern side of Sicily.  The books were written by Harry Turtledove if you want to check them out.  Quite interesting that so long ago, people were traveling.  
Syracuse is one of the cities mentioned in the books and it was quite the active port and trading center in that time.  Today it is mostly just old and filled with tourists.  Many of the old ports or harbors have filled in with sand and silt or cannot host the much larger freighters and cruise ships that prowl about.  When we went to Syracuse, there was a big sign next to the entrance to the city, written in Italian.  We figured it was information about solution control or parking and, as we were not spending the night there, we just motored on in, drove around.  Stopped briefly and visited a park next to the water, a very impressive Cathedral, and walked around a bit.  We then left town and headed North.  Some months later we received a letter from Italy and used Babble Fish to interpret it.  It turns out the sign said no one other than residents and hotel guests are allowed to drive into the old part of Syracuse.  They take pictures of all the cars and if they don’t fit into the two categories, they are fined 250 Euros.  The fine is then handed over to a collection agency which adds another 100 Euros to cover their fees and you get the ticket.  I called the agency and there was no excuse that was acceptable and if you did not pay, your name was turned over to the EU and the next time you used your passport you were detained until you paid … plus some other fees.  Pays to pay attention!
Driving North we came to Catania which backed up from the sea and holds Mt Etna in its background … very impressive.  We wanted to drive up to Mt Etna but it was marginally active and the local authorities would no allow anyone to approach it.  Consequently, because it was a cloudy day, we didn’t get to see much of the famous volcano.  We spent one night and had an interesting encounter in a small town North of Catania called Taormina.  Taormina is located right on the sea and rises up to a large mountain and has an old castle at the top.  We were staying near the sea but, being Saturday evening, we decided to see if we could find a church in which we could attend Mass.  We found one part way up the hill but were unable to decipher the schedule.  As we were walking back to the car we met a middle aged lady and stopped and asked her if she spoke English.  She was shocked and elated.  It turns out she and two of her friends (all three from Australia) had taken a large walkout to Europe touring all the old cities and what not.  This particular lady was love struck by a young Italian Gentleman whom she married and stayed with for the next number of years.  She never returned to Australia, had several children, and lived there with her husband and family.  She said she seldom got to speak english because so few english speaking people tour where she lives and was delighted to chat with us for some time about us and our families and her and her families.  She said her parents had visited her once over the years and she had never been back to Australia.

I invite you to look at the pictures and enjoy the beauty of Sicily.  If you are interested in a specific city or region I recommend you goggle that area and ask for pictures of that city.  The internet has millions of pictures …. but only my Blog has the interesting stories … Hmmm.