To celebrate my older grandson’s last high school winter break (and the last time we could guarantee his and his brother’s holiday schedules align), we headed to ATL at 3PM on Friday as soon as school was out - he and his 16yo brother, their parents, my husband and I - our destination, Sicily! Other daughter took one for the team and stayed home with the dogs (but she also couldn’t take another week of vacation two weeks after her last one.) I’m the one who makes ALL the plans, and my family is that family who shows up at the airport and asks, “Now, where are we going?” As long as there are no death marches, not too many art museums, and plenty of good food on the agenda, everybody’s happy. I started taking my grandsons to Europe when they were ten, and they’re two of my favorite travelers. (And now they can carry MY backpack.)
I had been to Sicily once before, a girlfriends trip almost 20 years ago, when I drove coast to coast for almost three weeks. This trip was my family’s first visit. In a week you can’t see it all, so we split it between lively, gritty Palermo and a peaceful agriturismo near Taormina, overlooking Mt. Etna. Sicily in February has ideal weather, sunny and cool, like October in Atlanta. It would be nice to be here a little later in spring for the water activities, but summer’s heat and humidity are a hard no for me.
Palermo
Delta’s not flying direct to Palermo in winter, so we flew overnight to Rome, caught a connecting flight on ITA, landed in Palermo at 2:30, and met the van driver arranged by our hotel. Stayed at a lovely small hotel/B&B I found on Sawday’s - Il Giardino di Ballarò, in the heart of old Palermo. The massive wood hotel doors opened directly onto a tiny street a few blocks walk from both the Four Corners and the Cathedral. Very comfortable rooms, with TWO bathrooms! Breakfast was unusually good, and the front desk always helpful. Highly recommend, and it has AC. https://www.sawdays.co.uk/italy/sicily/palermo/il-giardino-di-ballaro/?term=Sicily.
I planned one tour for each of the next three days, and had a pocket list of other possibilities, but that’s as structured as it got. We walked a lot but never had a problem getting an Uber that fit six. First day, Sunday morning, we were at the Capuchin Catacombs soon after it opened. Weirdly fascinating.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g187886-d21069699-Capuchin_Catacombs_of_Palermo-Sicily.html
Heard there was a Sunday antiques market near the harbor, which always piques our interest. This one skewed more to fleas, and we brought home no treasures, but it was a pretty day to be out. The outdoor Ballarò street market was next. Colorful, and loud, with vendors yelling out their wares. Most exciting part was a street fight when a vendor wielding a giant soup ladle took out a guy who must have lifted something from him. Our organized tour was two hours with a private guide organized by Francesca Lombardo from the RS Sicily book. She covered the territory from the Opera House to the Four Corners to the Cathedral, where we stayed an extended time to escape the late afternoon downpour. Helped us get the lay of the land and a better understanding of Palermo’s history.
Started off Monday morning with an excellent No Mafia Tour with Claudio guiding.
https://www.addiopizzotravel.it/default.asp?p=vacanza&tour=17&hl=en. In the afternoon we took an Uber up to Monreale to see the Byzantine mosaic filled cathedral. There was also a small, high quality contemporary mosaic exhibit off the courtyard. Easy to get a taxi back to the city, passing again through modern Palermo, so different from the old city where we are staying.