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Sicily trip report #2

Night 6 After Ragusa we drove to Caltigirone for the ceramic tiled stairs (thought this town was overrated) and Villa Romana. We stopped for wine tasting in between at Gigliotto which typically allows "walk ins" but they were having a busy day. We hadn't made an appointment because we weren't sure we'd have enough time. At the villa it was actually was fairly warm (for Minnesotans) and stuffy. There were many tour groups, and I'm sorry, but most are just rude. They block areas, talk loud and totally disregard everyone else. To me, this is particularly problematic in the tight spaces at Villa Romana. Still, we enjoyed the amazing Villa.

From the Villa we TRIED to get to our agritourismo in Agrigento. Ugg. Ugg! We drove for about a 1/2 hour where we were supposed to pick up the autostrata. Except the entrance ramp was closed. We tried many different routes hoping to get on somewhere. (Note to self, always have a paper road map!) It was Sunday and the streets of whatever town we were in were empty. Finally I saw a man at a gas station. He spoke no English, and I basically speak no Italian. I said Agrigento and pointed the direction we were "supposed" to go. He shook his head and talked and gestured. He was kind, and I understood nothing. Finally I picked up on "semaforo" and I remembered there was a traffic light well down the main street. I repeated "semaforo" and we both gestured and I had a general idea. We followed his directions as best we could and finally navigation rerouted us. Then we drove past what was supposed to be our entrance ramp and it looked like the whole highway had collapsed. When we finally got to Fattorie Mose' (60E) and I told our charming and energetic hostess, Chiara, what happened she offered wine. Fattorie Mose's grounds full of grapes and fruit, nut and olive trees were stunning. Our room was large and breakfast was extensive and served on a lovely balcony. We ate dinner both nights with Chiara and found it really fun to talk to Chiara's family and other guests. The food was good "home cooking" Italian. I consider this place a must, unless you are "posh". Chiara says she doesn't get posh people.

Night 7. We visited the Valley of the Temples and of course it was a sunny, warm day. I actually wore sandals. Although my knee was pretty much recovered, I used the cane because of the rough, uneven paths. There is no shade, I can't imagine this in the summer. Still, we found the valley (actually not a valley) extremely worthwhile and returned to Fattorie Mose' where we were offered fresh lemonade and wine. We purchased some of Chiara's wonderful olive oil.

Night 8. We left Agrigento (sadly) and drove to Trapani via Selinunte and Segesta. Both lovely. Was really frustrated at Segesta. I asked at the ticket counter about the shuttle times and told them I needed to return a rental car. He assured us we'd be fine on time. We visited the temple and then walked to the bus for the theatre. There were about 10 people ahead of us. But, a large tour group arrived and the bus driver decided to take the tour group and a few of the people in line. He drove up the hill, dropped the people off, came down and refused to take everyone else. We weren't going to have enough time to wait a half hour so I went to admissions and asked for our money back. We turned in our car in Trapani and walked to Hotel Moderno, 55 euro, huge, impeccably clean room. The hotel felt extremely devoid of other guests so it felt a bit creepy. The man at the front desk was helpful. We didn't find Trapani very interesting, but we found excellent restaurants and did a day trip to Erice and another to Mazara and Marsala. I felt like Erice was missing a "spark". Few people live there so there are no flowers and its mostly all tourists. We did stop at Pasticceria Maria for some yummy pastries. Mazara was so interesting, I highly recommend. Our first stop was the visitor center right by the water to pick up a couple walking tour maps.

Posted by
4616 posts

Thanks for sharing these reports!

Posted by
65 posts

thanks so much for taking the time to report back on your trip. we're heading to Sicily in October and would love to hear your restaurant reccos for Trapani. we'll be there for 2 nights, using it as a base to explore.

Posted by
5508 posts

OK, I'll continue since some are interested. I have difficulty being concise and we were in Sicily almost a month.I'm not sure why I choose to do separate posts for Sicily. I will continue by using the comments.

ADDING:

Nights 9 and 10, were also spent in Trapani. I wanted to add that we were glad that we went to Erice. The cathedral looks drab on the outside and stunning on the inside. The views around Erice by the castle were stunning. We also felt it was fun to meet other travelers doing the day trip and working together to find the bus stops, etc. I like any opportunity to chat with locals and any fellow travelers.

Like I said, we enjoyed the restaurants in Trapani. Ristorante Le Vele was a great value and the food quite good. Pizza, traditional Italian, and seafood. We had pasta and a wonderful grilled Swordfish. Pizzeria Calvino, looked nothing like its former self (bordello) which was a little disappointing. Pizza was excellent and a great value, my only comment would be that unless it is specifically listed in the extensive menu, it won't be on your pizza. So for mine, it was tomatoes, mushroom and cheese. There isn't a sauce that has spices. I think my husband ordered diavolo (spicy). I sandwiched a few of my husband's pieces (it is cut in small squares) with mine and, YUM. I think I'm one to something! The last night we ate at Ai Lumi. It's a lovely venue with lots of wine choices. We had fish.

It was quite cool in Trapani (at this point, Minnesota was 20 degrees warmer than Sicily) and the weather was even crummier the day we traveled from Trapani to Palermo. We had hired a driver to show us sights along the coast. We had looked forward to the day and it cost us a chunk of the travel budget (though the driver was a decent value compared to other drivers and options) The driver took us to San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, Golfo di Castellmare, which would have been a lot nicer with clear skies. He also decided to take us to the salt pans which we had skipped due to lack of transportation and they were lovely and we saw flamingos! Before he dropped us at our Palermo BnB, he took us to Mondello, which was interesting to at least see in spite of the weather. I had really wanted to see the Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia, but it was closed because a movie was being filmed. So frustrating and we didn't have time to see it while in Palermo (which was why we had asked him to take us)

EDITED to add: We loved Mazara and it appeared there were many interesting restaurants. Though we ate well in Trapani, we would have enjoyed dinner in Mazara.

We didn't expect to love Palermo. It's a very large city. There were a few sights we wanted to see and it felt obligatory. We LOVED it. We LOVED where we stayed and its fantastic terrace. The restaurants were good. We enjoyed the sights we visited and loved the energy and vibe of the city. The people were so friendly and kind.

More later as time permits. . .

Posted by
672 posts

I am so glad you enjoyed Mazara del Vallo. I was very impressed with that town. I loved the narrow alleyways/streets with their tile murals all over. Did you go in to see the Dancing Satyr?

Posted by
3812 posts

Pizzeria Calvino, looked nothing like its former self (bordello) which was a little disappointing.

Something must have been lost in translation. I mean, were you actually disappointed because the restaurant where you ate did not look like a brothel? Would you like eating under a purple ceiling with related, explicit frescoes?

Anyway, most Italians and all Sicilians would send back a pizza with toppings not mentioned on the menu. Especially when spices are involved.

Posted by
5508 posts

Dario, no I wasn't looking to see or experience something seedy. My point was RS described it as a former WWII bordello. All I meant was, we were curious as to what it was going to look like. We've never been to one so we didn't have any preconceived notions as to what it would look like. The fact that it was a former bordello is not what drew us to the place.

Bottom line, we enjoyed their pizza. However, many Americans are used to sauce on pizza. If people are looking for some spice, they should make sure its specifically stated in the menu or a part of a specific ingredient, like sausage or salami. We've had pizza in Naples and we have a family friend from southern Italy that is in the U.S. for grad school that makes pizza for us.

I don't send back food, especially in Europe where we feel we are guests, but we had some horrible pizza in Sicily. Many of them were soggy and actually fell apart into a soggy mess on the plate. We had decided we were not going to order pizza again except for places locals could tell us had good pizza. Then we ended up ordering it again in Aci Castello at the only place open that we could walk to on a Monday night. Except for the rim of crust, the pizza was a soggy pool on the plate.

We did notice that Ristorante Le Vele did appear to have excellent pizza. Our pasta was good, but the pizzas that went past us looked fabulous.