italy 2021

Awesome photos! And no people. Very well done.

Thanks for sharing the link.

thank you!
haha! no people indeed! very early morning visits combined with the pandemic caused it, i am sure.

Wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing.

"Wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing."

That’s making me excited for our trip, thanks for posting. Did you use a regular camera or a cellphone? I’m considering taking a regular camera on this trip. Everyone else will have their phones. I just find all my indoor pics are so much better with a regular phone.

@lulu348: thank you! yes, all the photos were taken on a samsung a51 mobile phone. the cameras in these have gotten so good that they rival fully sized cameras in image quality. however, a regular camera is still superior if you are a photo enthusiast who likes to manipulate pictures after the fact. sounds like you are well-covered with both types being available during your trip. good luck and enjoy!

“@lulu348: thank you! yes, all the photos were taken on a samsung a51 mobile phone. the cameras in these have gotten so good that they rival fully sized cameras in image quality. however, a regular camera is still superior if you are a photo enthusiast who likes to manipulate pictures after the fact. sounds like you are well-covered with both types being available during your trip”

Great advice, alomaker! For our upcoming trip to Italy in April, I am taking my cell phone and my dslr with a “normal” lens.

Your photos are beautiful! They make me excited to visit Italy.

Those are great...thanks for sharing!

I enjoyed your photos a lot. They brought back many happy memories.

I can't believe you took them all on a phone. I guess I'll try to use mine next month in Italy. I usually use an SLR-type digital camera (especially helpful outdoors because of the viewfinder). I'll use both and see how the photos compare. Of course, the most important element is a good eye. I'm a little jealous of yours :-)

thank you all for your comments!
@chani: as you know pictures from phone cameras look great but within narrow parameters. the key difference between these and dedicated cameras is the sensor size. when displayed on a small screen both would look pretty much the same. a large sensor shows its superiority when you manipulate the image later, especially cropping and blowing up. higher pixel count, higher bit depth, raw also helps when 'photoshopping'. since you have both types it would be interesting for you to shoot similar photos and see how much 'post-processing' you can apply to each before they fall apart. good luck and enjoy your trip!

Thanks. Every trip to Italy is a joy.

WOW ! Beautiful photos ! Are you a professional photographer? You took amazing photos.

@raeller: thank you for the kind words! while i am not a professional photographer, i am a professional cinematographer. the two jobs are very closely related. these days i teach filmmaking so the kids keep me on my toes!

Your photos are awesome! Sicily was one of my favorite trips.

We will be in Sicily soon. I really appreciate seeing the photos! Did you have a favorite place in Sicily?

Thank you all!
@jules m: the following is a distillation of my postings on several people's threads about my experience.

what can i say, i loved sicily! i was there for 28 days in june july of last year. sicily is italy but not quite. the influence of a couple of thousand years of disparate groups of people is palpable. you see and feel it, from the food and the architecture to the faces of sicilians. my main bases were:
-palermo: i am particularly fascinated by norman architecture and palermo and its surrounding has some of the finest examples. san cataldo, cappella palatina, la cuba and castello ziza to name just four in the city. Then there is monreale and the duomo in cefafu. both must-see in my opinion. agrigento is easy to get to from palermo by bus, train or car and lives up to its renown. not to be missed is the street food at the ballaro market! if you like art, antonello da messina's 'virgin annunciate' at the palazzo abatellis is not to be missed.
-trapani: personally i didn't find trapani particularly interesting. good base for visiting segesta and erice though. segesta is less extensive than agrigento but the landscape is more picturesque. erice is a must-see with its serpentine cobblestoned streets which instantly take you back hundreds of years. a day trip to mazara del vallo was a wonderful surprise, especially the district called the kasbah with its whimsical wall decorations.
-enna: hill town in the middle of the island. main reason to go there was to make a day trip to piazza armarina and the villa romana del casale. the mosaics at the villa are breathtaking. the center of piazza armarina was a gorgeous surprise.
syracusa/ortigia: ortiga is lovely with plenty to see. siracusa proper is less interesting but the ears of dionysius cave and caravaggio's 'the burial of saint lucy' are worth seeing. siracusa makes a great base for visiting the sicilian baroque towns. noto is my favorite but ragusa, scicli and modica are all beautiful, especially if you enjoy not just baroque, but sicilian baroque!
-catania: great base for etna. acireale and randazzo are wonderful day trip destinations. especially randazzo with its unique black lave stone churches. did a day trip to caltagirone but like trapani wasn't impressed. i was there only for a few hours though.
-messina: the main reason to go there was the two caravaggio's located at the museo regionale. i also did a day trip to vulcano, one of the aeolian islands. walked up to the rim of the crater. stunning views, off-worldly landscape.

i could go on and on. i love art, architecture and history so sicily was a dream destination. what i didn't expect was the experience of meeting the people of the island. i have to say they are some of the warmest and kindest i have met on my travels. they went out of the way to point me in the right direction when i could barely articulate my question. from my airbnb hosts in enna who insisted i have lunch with them every day to the teenagers in acireale who walked me to the bus stop, sicilians disproved over and over again every stereotype they are subjected to.

in my zeal for sicily i forgot to answer your question! it's hard to pick one but i would say erice, randazzo and piazza armarina are my fondest memory. palermo certainly has the richest offering of everthing! you will not be disappointed. enjoy your trip!

I loved reading your trip report on Sicily. We were planning to go there in 2020 and we all knew what happened to those plans. Well here we are again. Hoping for September 2022. We are looking at about 2-3 weeks to travel the whole island, but we are not comfortable driving. Is it doable by trains and busses and if need be a driver to the less traveled places? Also, any Airbnb recommendations?

Diane

@diane: i did my trip entirely by public transport. Unlike what many people say, the roads were great and the busses and trains were pretty much on time. i had no issue navigating the railways in sicily but the bus services were a little more difficult. mind you these were entirely due to my lack of decent italian language skills:
-when on a bus knowing where to get off was not always easy. sometimes the final stop was much further away from the 'centro' and i had to walk back. big cities have multiple stops, even for long-distance busses and you can save time and energy by getting off at the nearest stop to your destination rather than at the terminus. i am sure the driver would have told me where to get off if i had asked in semi-intelligible italian!
-knowing the schedule, especially for the return trip was also not easy. all the bus lines have websites but navigating those were difficult sometimes.
-some hill towns like enna have two sections (in enna's case, alta and bassa) with stops at both. you need to know which one is the most convenient for you.
-sometimes the bus stops are not clearly marked and it's best to ask a local. I found sicilians extremely helpful and kind in this regard.
-on most busses, you have to pay in cash. the bus lines have ticket offices but sometimes you have to hunt for them. You can buy tickets online but I had difficulty. more on that below.
-some of the smaller towns have limited service and you need to plan the return trip to your home base in advance.

-i am an early riser so i always took the first bus or train out, enjoy a site in the cooler morning hours and got back knowing that in case i missed my ride there was another one, even if an hour or two later. tourists don’t get up early! helped with the kind of pictures i like to take. The downside is that many sites don’t open until 9 or later. walking to the train or bus station at dawn may not be the safest. Access the risk and call a cab.
-The issue with online payment for tickets was due to a combination of my credit card and the italian sim card i got for my phone. my boa travel rewards card sends a text verification code to my normal american number. however, with the local sim on my phone, i couldn't figure out a way to access that text message. i should have set up with boa before leaving to send emails instead. i could have done it from italy but the hassle didn't seem worth it.
-as far as your schedule vs. the whole island i think you will have to be very selective as to the sites you want to see, especially via public transportation. For example, i spent 5 days in siracusa and on 4 of those days i visited one each of the baroque towns of noto, sicli, modica and ragusa. i spend 6 days in palermo and was again able to see everything i wanted to without rushing, even allowing for afternoon naps! i think you will need to have a car to crisscross the island in 2-3 weeks. i based myself in palermo, trapani, enna, siracusa, catania and messina. you may have to choose 2, at the most 3. my suggestion would be palermo and siracusa. you should definitely create a thread and ask the same questions. you will get a variety of very useful and different opinions than mine! no matter where you go and for how long sicily will not disappoint! i will post about airbnb's in another reply.

@diane: as mentioned in the previous reply i slept in palermo, trapani, enna, siracusa, catania and messina. all airbnb's. had no issues whatsoever with the hosts or the lodgings themselves. this was my first experience using airbnb. in palermo, enna, catania and messina i shared homes with the hosts. wonderful people one and all! a big part of my admiration for sicily and sicilians. in trapani and siracusa the places were more like a business venture for the hosts. the only thing i would say is to do research about the location and the distances to things like sites, train/bus stations, supermarkets and places to eat. google maps is a lifesaver!
these are the places i stayed in and would recommend them all with caveats listed for each:
palermo: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/34016966?source_impression_id=p3_1646015332_8S6%2Fa05Isfy9hPCM. perfect location in the old center. walking distance to the train/bus station and most of the main sights. does involve four flights of stairs to get to the apartment. shared bathroom. sweet dog!
trapani: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5543246?source_impression_id=p3_1646015549_uZMGrj84EuDm%2BamW
more like a guest house. shared bathroom. a bit far (20 minutes walk) to the old center and bus/train station.
enna: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/20706332?source_impression_id=p3_1646015779_LzfwawwywBOdC6vL
a lovely family of 4. the friendliest of people! they picked me up and dropped me off at the bus station, breakfast every morning, and offered lunch if i was around! a bit of walk to the old parts. enna is a hill town so some inclines. friendly dog!
siracusa: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/33394013?source_impression_id=p3_1646016153_xnmdA63H%2Fuf8NuWf
great location. literally, a couple of hundred feet from the bridge crossing into ortiga. never saw the host but was always available via phone/text. train/bus station about 20 minutes walk.
catania: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/29675602?source_impression_id=p3_1646016412_cQ01BaLOonv6c7zG
lovely couple and two cats! very helpful. shared bathroom. about 30 minutes walk to the center but a subway station is close by.
messina: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/42010252?source_impression_id=p3_1646016665_OQChSDTmNmgGsgvA
beautiful home. own bathroom. close to the duomo.
hope this helps.

Your photos are fabulous. I recognize many of the Sicily locales from my first trip abroad in 2015. Thanks for the memories!

I just bought an iPhone 13 Pro and hoping I can do half as well. Of course, it is obvious you have a good eye! Even TWO!!!

Thanks for sharing the details of your stays.

Hello alomaker, I would love to see your photos. I clicked on the link but is says that you are no longer a member. Do you have them posted elsewhere?
Thank you,
mltm

@mltm: i closed my flickr account because their pricing was not worth it for me. i am looking at other means of displaying my photos online.

@mltm: I have posted my travel photos on an Adobe app. The link is in my profile. regards!