Sicily: Not your Godfather's Palermo

J looking out from our balcony

Before we got to Sicily, we heard a lot about driving there. To be careful, that drivers were a bit crazy... but for most of our trip, the driving was pretty sane and the roads mostly country.

Until we got to Palermo.

Palermo is what folks are talking about when they mention the insanity of driving.

We were headed from Cefalu to the Kalsa neighborhood of Palermo. It was a bit harrowing, to say the least. As is often the case when you go to a new big city, we didn't know the rules of the road that locals follow, so we basically just followed what the cars in front of us were doing.

Our AirB&B was a nice one -- a big one bedroom with a lovely balcony that with a view of the nearby church. The weather was nice, so once we arrived and parked, we relaxed. There is always a point on a long trip where I need a day to not be a tourist, not do anything...this was that day. We hung out and watched movies, drank some wine, and eventually got ourselves together to get out of the house.

The first thing you must eat while in Palermo is arancini. These things are huge, and delicious. They are usually filled -- with meats, cheeses, and sometimes both -- and a wonderful snack while walking around. And, in my opinion at least, walking is the best way to see Palermo. This is a big city, and as such, you should take the same precautions you would take in any big city. My understanding is that there has been a concerted effort to rid the city of the mafia, and other than the Godfather souveniers, I didn't see any overt evidence of it. So there is nothing to fear there. But while there, like in other cities, be smart.

Quattro Canti

We walked towards the Quattro Canti, an important corner with beautiful artwork on each side of the street. This was the first but not the last time we visited this area -- you can spend quite a bit of time wandering the streets, following a parade, and checking out the various churches and monuments...you can also pop into a bar when you need a drink or to hear some locals shout about their families.

Eventually we made our way towards the Teatro Massimo, which takes you through the main pedestrian area. These streets are lined with shops, people, and food vendors.

Stop by il Siciliano to have a few drinks. Arrive early enough that to get some seats...then sit and watch the local nightlife unfold around you. The drinks came with some appetizers -- enough to hold us over for quite some time.  Eventually stumble out and over to get some proper Sicilian food -- it'll be filling and delicious and just what you need before you go pass out!

We spent our last night in this neighborhood, surprised how busy the restaurants were on a Sunday night. We found ourselves at Ciccio Passami l'Olio. The bar here was particularly great -- and had several local, Sicilian beers; I'd highly recommend.

Palermo is ideal for wandering around, eating until you burst, and drinking granitas. I also loved that I didn't feel like I was running into too many other tourists, especially in the neighborhood where we were staying (that was what you would describe as "up and coming").



il Siciliano
Via Orologio, 37

Ciccio Passami l'Olio
via 90133, Via Castrofilippo, 4

Sicily: Seaside in Cefalu

Cefalu by Night

After a harrowing journey to get there, Cefalu was a very welcome sight!

It is a small resort town about thirty minutes from Palermo. Quite a bit of the town is off limits to cars -- though the rules are rather ignored, including by us! It was a bit easy to get lost, and ignore the signs, and no one seemed to care much...but be warned.

Cefalu was a darling beach town, and a nice change from the inland mountainous area where we'd spent the first few days. We parked the car, checked into the hotel, and meandered around town to grab a drink and decompress from the drive. We found ourselves in this lovely little town square at the base of a church, and since it was a Friday, there was a wedding going on. There was also a very happy happy hour, where we enjoyed prosecco and spritzes for a while, and maybe a bite or two.

There is a hike you can do that will take you above the town -- we chose not to do that. We chose instead to have a bit of vino on the roof of our hotel and watch the sunset, then to grab some food. Cefalu is small enough that you can walk from end to end during an evening passeggiata. 

The next morning we decided to take our time getting into Palermo, and to enjoy the Tyrrhenian Sea. There is a public beach, but your best bet is to spend a few Euro and rent a beach chair. We chose to stay right in the middle of Cefalu -- there are beaches a little further out, as well. We bought a towel in one of the shops (which came in handy later!), and rented chairs. Ours were probably about 10E a piece for a few hours of lounging. They have umbrellas should the sun get too intense, and most have a bar and some food, and will come to your chair and take/bring your order.

This was a fun, relaxing part of the trip -- it was interesting to watch all the beach goers from around the world. Like many places, there were "vendors" trying to sell their junk as we tried to relax; most of the time they were asked to leave by the beach chair company.

I'd highly recommend a day and night in Cefalu during your Sicily trip. Sicily is an overwhelming place -- the craziness of rural driving and the wildness of the cities really earn you a day or two of relaxation.

Sicily: Navigating the Island

Driving around Sicily is not for the faint of heart...especially when you do not have the option of the autostrade.

The day after our great wine adventure, we decided that we would head to Cefalu, a resort town outside of Palermo. It would be fun, we thought, to cut through the middle of the island. The truth is...there is no easy way to get to Cefalu/Palermo from the Etna region. To take the autostrade would require going back towards Taormina, then skirting the edge of the island -- quite a bit out of the way.

See those little squiggles? Those are all twists and turns. This may not be our exact route...I think we went further west

Off we set on what we thought would just be a few hour drive. We expected to see a few small towns, find a nice restaurant and have a good meal, and soon enough be relaxing in Cefalu.

These asses were blocking our way

What we did not expect was hairpin turns, a harrowing, suck-in-your-stomach trip down a very narrow street on a very high hill, and a bunch of asses in the middle of the road. There were also some crazy drivers that rode our tails for a good part of the way. We found out that what you hear about the drivers in Sicily was true -- they are kind of crazy drivers!

We also ran into quite a bit of construction. They are working on some roads to better connect where
we were to the main autostrade. I am sure everyone who lives in those areas will very much welcome these new roads!

Once we got to the autostrade, we flew to Cefalu (look at that, it rhymes!). The autostrade allows you to go very fast. It is a toll road, so there is a cost, but if you don't want to pay there are other options through the parallel roads. Both J & I were amazed by all these infrastructure projects -- the tunnels were new and efficient, and rather empty.

After our rather insane drive, we were very, very happy when we saw the exit for Cefalu!

Sicily: Wine Sippin' Around Etna

One of the main purposes of our trip was to discover the world of Sicilian wine -- specifically around the Etna area. The morning after we arrived, we were excited to get going on our adventures...but Mother Nature had other plans.


The rain we had encountered upon our arrival had not left us yet -- we had a slight reprieve on our first evening, but it came back with a roar our first morning. Luckily the scenery was worth staring at for a while.

After the torrential downpour in Taormina that confined us to our hotel, it was time to head out to the Sicilian countryside to sip some vino and watch the volcano. After a harrowing journey back down Taormina's windy roads, we were soon en route!

Unlike most places in the wine country here in northern California, most of the wineries in Sicily require reservations. Unfortunately, thanks to the storms, we were running terribly behind. We decided to swing by one place, any way, in hopes that they still might entertain our visit.

Outside of our room -- vines creeping over the wall

Tenuta delle Terre Nere produces one of the wines J really likes, and just happened to be pretty much across the street from our agriturismo (which actually sat amidst their vineyards, which was gorgeous!). We hunted around the grounds a bit, then finally a very surprised winemaker popped out -- he wasn't still expecting us. But, we got lucky, and had one of the best wine tours we could imagine. He gave us a tour of their vineyards, which included going off roading into the hills to see some of the unique, volcano-side terrain. Once we got back, we got to taste their wines, and walked off with several bottles as well as some olive oil.

On our second day, we awoke with a mission...get to Mount Etna, and drink more wine! While it was a beautiful day at the base of the mountain, as we got higher up, it got decidedly chillier. We climbed up as far as we could by car, to an area that in the winter serves as a ski resort. That particular day it was too foggy to go any further, so we climbed around a bit on the volcanic rock, then figured we'd had enough of that type of nature.

Food and wine pairing -- YUM!

Soon enough we were experiencing another type of nature, the red, white, and juicy kind. We arrived Gambino Winery, where we'd had reservations the day before but had missed due to the rain. They were pretty forgiving about it -- they told us that there had been flooding in the area and they couldn't blame us for not wanting to drive up there.

This was quite a different experience than the day before -- this tasting room is much more of a destination and polished. The view was amazing -- Gambino is set on the side of the hill, so you can gaze at the valley below while sipping on their wines. It had a good deal of charm, largely thanks to everyone who worked there. We did the food and wine pairing, thankfully because we were pretty hungry! This is a big place, and we were invited to take a tour of their grounds and production facility. The winery was rather crowded, as was the tour; people from all over the world, it seemed!

Mountain View from Patria

Once we were done there, we were left with the tough decision of where to go next?! With no reservations anywhere, we decided to take our chances and stop by places that we might encounter on our way back to the agriturismo. We soon found ourselves at Patria, where they were surprised when we knocked on the door of the office and asked if we could taste. They were very accommodating, even though they weren't expecting us. As we wandered over to the tasting room, we were greeted by the winery dog, an older lady who made sure to guard the door as we drank. At Patria they had bubbles, which of course I loved! They offered us probably six more varieties, as our pourer talked about her love of California. We were lucky to be the only ones there tasting; we got lots of personal attention and learned quite a bit about their wines.

Sandro & J

We weren't quite ready to head back to our agriturismo, but we were ready to eat something. As we Cave Ox, which would end up being one of my favorite experiences! The kitchen sadly wasn't open yet, but our new friend Sandro kept us plied with wine as we waited. He brought J into the wine cave, and talked us through his inventory. We got to taste more local wine, and we sat there for a few hours enjoying the company, and eventually the pizza. As we carefully made our way back to our place, we were grateful that Cave Ox was just two turns down the road.
were driving back, we arrived to

Our trunk was full of a few newly-acquired bottles -- I'd say it was a very successful day!


Tenuta delle Terre Nere
Contrada Calderara
95036 Randazzo CT

Gambino Winery
Contrada Petto Dragone
95015 Linguaglossa CT

Patria
s.s.120, Km 194.500 |Solicchiata
95012 -Castiglione di Sicilia (CT)

Cave Ox
Via Nazionale Solicchiata, 159
95012 Solicchiata (CT)

Sicily: Taormina Vistas

To say J & I are ambitious travelers is an understatement. Our time off together is precious and we like to fit as much in as possible (and yes, we do relax, too...kind of!). Our honeymoon was no exception. Over the span of three weeks -- a work trip was tacked on at the very end -- we hit twelve airports.

Enjoying Maine!

We started on a Thursday, heading down to Los Angeles to attend the wedding of our friends. We left
that wedding, and LA, on Friday evening to head to Maine (via Boston) to attend the wedding of another of our friends on a small island off the coast. Two days later, it was time to head and start our time overseas.

Getting there was not without incident. The day we were set to leave was the day the Lufthansa pilots went on strike. What airline were we on? Lufthansa! It was a very trying several hours -- but with the help of an awesome United rep in Boston Logan, Aaron, our adventures were only delayed by a few hours.

• Protip #1: When you book on a codeshare flight, call your originating carrier. Their lines are going to be much shorter and they'll have more time to dedicate to you. (We eventually walked over to United's customer service)
• Protip #2: If there are two of you, split the efforts...get in line, make calls, tweet. We did this until we got an answer. 
• Protip #3: Try not to get stuck in Boston Logan. It has a terrible international terminal.

But soon enough, we did arrive. We had chosen to fly into Catania, the airport on the eastern coast, and spend the evening in Taormina, a beautiful hill town that overlooks the coast as well as Mt. Etna, even booking an awesome hotel. Our delay meant that we didn't get to spend much time enjoying the amenities of the hotel, and also meant that we arrived in the middle of some torrential rains!

Getting to Taormina is not for the feint of heart, even when the weather is dry. It requires a slow trek up a very steep mountainside road. With the rain, there were a few washouts, so the going was even slower. I had a data plan on my phone (this has become a must -- one of us gets the data plan, usually me since I'm the navigator, and we turn it on in moments like these when we aren't 100% sure where we are going). 

If you find yourself staying at the Hotel Monte Tauro, be prepared to wind around this little town, then, when you think you can go no more, look to your right. You'll see a sign and a very steep driveway. This is your spot. Be careful! We had a wonderful room at this wonderful hotel, overlooking the pool. It was closed due to the storm, but it offered a view of the ocean and lower-lying towns.

View from our room

Taormina captures the romantic idealism of Italy. As you walk around the small town, you will not find many cars, allowing you to move freely to the shops, caffes, and restaurants. Wander around and you will find all sorts of restaurants, places to stop for a espresso or Etna Rosso, and plenty of gelato!

Though we were tired, we stopped for dinner -- sharing a bottle of local wine and indulging on panelle (Sicilian fried chickpeas). The restauranteur had a love for California, so we talked for him with quite some time about that! We then meandered through town, which was simply magical in the post-rain evening. Not ready to go home yet, we stopped at the Caffe Wunderbar to sit and enjoy the music and people watching. 

It was in Taormina where we noticed all the pine cones -- La Pigna. These ceramics come in all sorts of sizes and colors, and we saw them everywhere we went in Sicily! 

The other image you will not escape in Sicily is that of "The Godfather." I had heard most Sicilians try to distance themselves, you will see Godfather paraphernalia everywhere you go. There is always a t-shirt snuck in there, or a small wallet, or something. This has some significance -- many of the "Corleone" scenes were shot in/around Taormina.  

I wish I had one full day to enjoy Taormina -- if you find yourself there, it is small enough to see a lot in that amount of time. If you have time to enjoy a second day, you will truly enjoy la dolce vita!