Sicily April 13-May 10, 2022

LIPARI: After the tour, my friend’s husband joined us. We went from Catania to Lipari by taxi, train, another train, taxi, ferry, and taxi, which took about five hours. We checked into our airbnb in the small town of Canneto. The location was nice and very quiet. The airbnb had a fantastic water view on the patio that got morning sun, but the entire apartment needed a deep clean and there was only enough hot water for one shower each hour or so. I think we could find something better. We rented a small Fiat. We drove around the island in less than an hour, so two days is the maximum most people would need a car here. We had a nice meal at Ristorante Filipino in Lipari. The castle in Lipari is worth a visit. I enjoyed the cute church Chiesa Vecchia at Quattropani with great views. We took a 20-minute ferry ride to the nearby island of Salina. As we were walking through the town of Santa Marina, we started chatting with an American couple. They recommended the restaurant Il Delfino in Lingua, a 10-minute taxi ride away. It was the best meal we had in Sicily. I had the stuffed calamari, which was tender and to die for. Overall, Lipari was a relaxing, beautiful island. I loved the slow pace after the 10-day tour. I think it would be fantastic in the summertime. So we packed up and took the ferry, train, second train, and taxi to our airbnb in Siracusa (right above the market on Ortigia). The connection to the second train was short and we got on the train with about one minute to spare. This was the first train where we had assigned seats in car 2. We stowed our luggage and then realized that there were other people in our seats, so we showed them our tickets and they told us we were in the wrong car. We removed our luggage to the doorway, checked the car number on the side of the train, and sure enough there was a big “2” on it. We stowed our bags again and explained in terrible Italian and gestures that this must be our car. The conductor looked at our tickets and pointed to some empty seats, which we took, even though we were confused. After we were on the train for a while, we noticed that most of the cars on the other trains had a big “2” on them and a few had a big “1” on them. We finally realized that the “2” stands for second class, and there is a small number on the door that is the car number. The other passengers thought we were pretty stupid. We had a pretty good laugh when we figured out what we had done, and the other passengers must have thought we were also crazy.

SIRACUSA: Loved our airbnb here. It was spotless, had tons of hot water, comfy beds, well- stocked kitchen, and the market right downstairs. While here, we took a boat ride around the island and to the sea caves; we had to duck in the boat as we went under the bridge. We rented a car, and they told us that the public parking in Ortigia was in the ZTL zone. The signs were a little confusing, so to be on the safe side, we parked on the other side of the bridge (we found spots for free with not too much trouble). We enjoyed day trips to the Baroque towns of Ragusa, Modica (love their chocolate), and Noto. Someone told us to come back from Ragusa via Palazzolo Acreide because the drive is scenic. We decided to stop in Palazzolo Acreide to eat, but we did not find a single restaurant! The drive was scenic though. One day we drove to Marzamemi, which is a cute seaside town that would be fun in the summer. On the way we stopped at Villa Romana del Tellaro, which has mosaics that were under an old farmhouse; definitely worth a stop, but I wouldn’t go too far out of the way to visit. One of the highlights of our trip was a farm visit close to Noto. The couple that owned the farm are using little irrigation and traditional farming methods. They cooked a meal from things from the farm, including wild fennel patties, artichokes two ways, eggplant, olives, olive oil with toasted bread, orange salad and more. He served wine that his father had made and limoncello that he had made. It was really delightful. After a week, we took a van to Catania for an ITA Airways flight to Rome. We had to spend the night to catch an early flight home. We stayed at Un Passo dal Mare close to the Rome airport; the room was clean, modern, comfortable and a great value at 61 euros. Overall, a great trip!

Side notes: We were just in time for the end of the blood orange season. We thoroughly enjoyed the fresh squeezed blood orange juice and blood orange salad several times. We had to wear masks in the tour bus and inside shops and restaurants (Italy lifted the mask mandate on May 1, with a few exceptions like on public transportation). I started studying Italian on Duolingo about 3 months before our trip; that and Google Translate came in handy several times.

We also took the Sicily tour in April and loved the island. Thank you for this report!

Are you able to comment on the weather at that time of year? Thank you.

Suziee QQ, Our experience was that the weather was cooler than I expected. It poured rain one day and rained a bit a couple of other times. Highs were mostly in the 60's, although we had a couple days around 70. I don't know if this is typical for this time of year.

Lovely report, it makes me even more excited for our upcoming trip in October!

Donna, I have a couple of questions to ask: which boat tour company did you use in Ortigia? and Did you arrange the farm visit your self? Would love to know the details as it sounds like something we'd both enjoy.

Sicily has a way of getting under your skin :~). Are you planning a return trip yet?

Milgreen2, There are tons of kiosks selling boat tours in Siracusa, and they all look like they offer the same thing: a trip around the island, or a trip to the caves, or a combination of both. We took the combination one from the company on the Umbertino bridge (I don't know the name). The farm tour was reserved on the Airbnb site https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/207986 Their direct website is https://www.threefarmsisland.com/visit-our-farm/ He walks you around his farm and explains what he is doing. Then his wife cooks a fantastic meal. Their English is very good and they are just hard-working, nice people. They are just outside of Noto, which is a lovely town to visit. We are not planning a return trip yet....so many places, so little time....but you never know. Have a great trip in October.

Hello and what a fun and helpful trip report. Would you mind sharing the Siracusa AirBNB? Thank you.

Hi Lynn,
The Siracusa apartment was through Airbnb. Here is the link:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/28727484?source_impression_id=p3_1657500960_ckFsiOqTYa0ga163
We really liked the apartment. It was on the 1st floor (our second floor), and it was clean and comfortable. The beds were good, the kitchen was good, I liked the way it was modern and 100 years old at the same time. The only negatives were the living room is tiny, so we spent most of the time in the kitchen, and the market starts early (about 4:30am everyday but Sunday), so there is noise and you might want earplugs. I loved being by the market and close to the bridge to the mainland for easy access to our rental car.
I hope you have a great trip.

Hi Lynn,

We loved the apartment we rented in Ortigia a few years ago, so much so that we're returning in October when we take our 2nd vacation in Sicily.
Here's the link: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/plus/28553275?source_impression_id=p3_1657561044_6B7NuWOU2jJ5O9Gx.

We loved the location and the layout -- 2 bathrooms, a sunny kitchen with small terrace area, comfortable living room area and a second sleeping area as well. Very reasonably priced as well, we thought. It appears that the owners now have a minimum stay policy, but it might be worth asking if they would consider a stay shorter than 5 nights. The property manager, Enrico, was also very helpful, always available via WhatsApp, and helped us with the parking option we chose.

Thanks for the info! Doing this tour 2023.