Sicily

Flight - check. Passports - check. Luggage - check. Car hire - check. First 2 nights' accommodation - check. The rest of the schedule was down to us. Eight days in Sicily, home of the mafia.

For the record, Ryanair were virtually on time there and back - amazing in itself! AND....we went to the right airport this time! :-)

Our starting position was the capital of Palermo. Bustling, manic, noisy. You have never seen driving and parking like it unless you have been to places like Cairo and Bangkok. There are tow away signs everywhere but no-one gives a damn; if there's a space you get in it. Even if there's only room for half a car, they park it with the bonnet facing the pavement! Every corner is occupied too. We soon learned that zebra crossings are not for pedestrians because cars just don't stop - it really is scary and you fear for your life.

The accommodation here was cheap and basic but that doesn't bother me as long as there's a bed, somewhere to wash and it's clean. Something else we quickly learned as well, is that breakfast in Sicily is nothing like ours - certainly at 2-3 star hotels anyway. It's pretty much a croissant or roll with jam, and a cup of tea or coffee. I was gagging for some cereal and fruit.

The city of Palermo has plenty of interesting sites but you'd have problems finding them unless you were equipped with a guide book as we were. I never go away without my Eyewitness Guide to wherever - they really are a travel bible. One place that did beat us though (because the guide book didn't give the number in the street) was the Cripta dei Cappuccini which contain catacombs with embalmed bodies and skeletons. The catacombs we visited in Paris were fantastic and full of bones so I was eager to see if this one was any good. Am I weird or what?

Half way through day two, we had travelled along the northern coast to Cefalu. This was an old town with a beach - not a great one but enough to relax on for an hour or so. We picked a large beach front hotel which cost 140 Euro for the night which was by far our biggest single expense of the trip. John got into an argument with one of the staff because the air-con wasn't working and the temperature in the room was 26 degrees. He was trying to come up with a long winded story but ultimately the air-con was broken in the hotel which he did eventually admit to. If they'd just apologised and told the truth you could accept it, so why try and lie? John attempted to get a discount on the room price but they said it wasn't their problem, it was ours and maybe we should find a hotel where the air-con was working!! Nice huh? John wanted to speak to the manager who conveniently wasn't there and was given a number to call. It was answered by someone who didn't understand John and so they hung up! I just opened the windows really wide and the room did cool down after a couple of hours so it was okay but it was the principle of the matter that annoyed us.

After wandering around Cefalu for a while, the storm clouds started to gather and it got very dark. We took coverage in an archway which led to the sea and just sat and watched the lightning. A bit of a mistake really because if we'd left to return to the hotel BEFORE it started raining, we wouldn't have been sitting there for quite the length of time we did! Boy, did it pee down! You don't go to Sicily in October without an umbrella that's for sure - I took mine and we also bought another smaller one in the market in Palermo.

Day three was spent driving to various spots, still on the northern coastline. We always like to take the scenic route wherever we are but I think it was a mistake in this case because the road we ended up on was so windy and hilly, I was feeling really sick. Motorways in future! By the end of it, we had arrived in Taomina which lies on the north east coast. What a beautiful place it was too! So this is where all the tourists are hiding. It's set very high up on the side of a large peak with the beach down below, and stunning views all around. We arrived after dark but you could still see how lovely it was. The hotel which we found in the guide book was full up so they redirected us to one almost opposite which was fine and only 100 Euro per night. We decided to stay two because there seemed to be quite a bit to see and do. Again, a very basic room but very clean and comfortable and it even had a large balcony. This was my favourite hotel as it felt homely, and the staff were so so nice and all spoke fluent English. John even went and bought a bottle of wine for the older guy there as he couldn't have been more helpful.

The Greek amphitheatre in Taomina has a great backdrop: Mount Etna. On a clear day (which we had) it was a great view. The following day however was very overcast and ruined our drive up Etna. It started raining as we were actually in the cloud, and it was freezing. We took a few snaps anyway as a memento of being there and took a few bits of lava rock as well. On the way down, we spotted a house which has been covered in lava up to the roof so we investigated that and again, took a few pics. Our next point of call was Siracusa on the south-east coast. Driving into it, it was like a building site or somewhere that had been involved in the Blitz. There were a few things to do according to the guide book so we did stick around and I'm glad we did, because when we eventually started looking for a hotel late afternoon, we found ourselves in a much better part of the town called Ortygia. Later when we went walkabout before dinner, we discovered some delightful piazzas with gorgeous buildings and fountains. Goes to show you can never judge a book by its cover - there are always treasures hidden away.

On the morning of day six, we went and photographed the places we'd seen last night. Oh and I must say, the hotel we stayed in was an amazing building: 'Palazza something or other' - basically a former palace converted into accommodation, and the lobby area and ground floor looked like a museum. On the road again, we had to head back the way we came for the quickest route on the motorway down to the south of the island. This route took us back towards Mount Etna and as the day was glorious with cloudless skies, the view of it was so incredibly clear. I said John that we have to go back as this would be our only chance (bearing in mind we rarely go return to the same destination). So we did and it paid off as we saw Etna bellowing out smoke. You can drive the car up so far and then there is an option to take the cable car up to the next level, where you can get a tour guide to take you to the summit in a jeep. Unfortunately, this wasn't really an option for me as I didn't have appropriate clothing for the temperature. However, I would have loved to have experienced it as I'm fascinated with volcanoes. One day I hope to see one erupting and maybe fly over it - don't suppose it'll happen though.

Onwards then to one of the other biggest sites of Sicily: Valle dei Templi. This is a line of Greek monuments in ruins, but probably some of the most complete looking ruins I've ever seen. It was a lovely walk as the sun was still beaming down and we were happy snapping away on our cameras.

Day seven was the least enjoyable. We visited some more ruins in the morning which were okay but not a patch on Valle dei Templi. There's not an awful lot to do in the North West of the island so it was a bit uneventful, and we ended up in the largest city there called Trapani. Gawd, what a dump. It's mainly a large shipping port with little tourist attraction and despite wandering around for a couple of hours, couldn't find anything worth looking at. We ended up back at the hotel room at 5-ish and had a bit of a snooze and a read. Three hours later, my tummy said it was time to eat so we set off in search of a restaurant. This was an impossible task as the streets were almost deserted and although we found one place fairly nearby, we couldn't understand anything on the menu and so walked on by. We actually ended up back at the hotel asking reception where we could eat! He pointed us in the direction of the road running alongside the port and we found a strange place that I can't even describe. Again, we couldn't read the menu (I forgot the phrase book) but a kind lady on the next table stepped in and helped.

We were glad to get out of the city the next morning (our last day). A few miles up the road was a small town called Erice. It was set high up on a mountain side and the roads were very windy.
Oh my, what a little gem of a place this was though. Absolutely breathtaking! The castle sat around panoramic views of the coast and also Trapani, which looked so much better from a distance! You could see they took pride in the place; it was spotless not like most of the places we'd visited. Erice has tiny little cobbled streets, cute piazzas and souvenir shops. We sat down for elevenses and with the crumbs I had left I fed the white doves out of my hand; one brave one kept flying up onto my hand which I was thrilled about - well, you know me and animals!

Another few miles around the coast was Golgo di Castellammare and there was a great view point over the harbour and beach in the distance. When we got down to it, it was a fairly nice fishing village and I particularly love taking pictures of boats. We moved on to the beach which was one of the biggest and nicest we'd seen all week, however, they are all spoiled by the litter which is left on them. The Italians really don't give a monkeys about rubbish; it's everywhere. Cigarette butts, plastic bottles and other crap - we even witnessed a driver chucking several bits of rubbish out of his car. It's not even my country but it wound me up big time. It wouldn't take any time at all to clear it up; in fact I said to John that I would volunteer to do it! Anyway we spent a couple of hours on the beach chilling out, reading, having a paddle, listening to music before the sun got hazy and it cooled down. We only had approximately three more hours until we needed to be at the airport so we ended up driving around aimlessly trying to find another suitable town to have something to eat. We didn't want to go right the way back into Palermo so stayed around the airport area; we tried a town called Carini but when we got out of the car and walked around a bit, we discovered it was bustling with locals and there were absolutely no tourists about - we felt very isolated and foreign! I guess that was why it wasn't mentioned in the guide book! We ended up stopping an an New York pizza place which is a bit ironic when you consider pizza is Italian but nevertheless it was clean and somewhere just to fill our faces before leaving for home.

We arrived at Stansted to crisp clear weather but a bit of a shock when you've been lying on a beach a few hours earlier. We got home just after 1am.

All in all, it was a nice break and Sicily had plenty of variety. The weather was mostly warm and sunny (70-75 degrees). However, I can't see me ever going back when there are so many more places to discover.