Catania Travel Forum

Hi!

I hope you can help me answer a few questions. I will be visiting Sicily for a week now in June and will start in Palermo. From there I plan to go by car to Corleone, Agrigento, Enna, Syracus, Catania and Taormina. Palermo and Catania will probably see the most of me.

I'm particularily interested in seeing the greatest sights, experiencing the most delicious foods and wine and meeting local people during the evenings where there's music and some life.

Can you help me find the best, though not necessarily fancy, restaurants in these cities, recommend some good wine I shouldn't miss out on and mention the most fun places to go out during the evenings?

I have read several of the VT member pages, but would still appreciate some input on where the gems are hidden :)

Best Regards

Chris

My best memories of Sicily are of the atmosphere at the Temple of Segesta and the little hilltop town of Erice (and the almond cakes from there...) not far from Trapani (which I also liked). As for where to go in the evenings, I don't remember, and anyway it was too long ago for recommendations to be worth anything.
I presume you are including Monreale in Palermo?

Yeah - the cathedral - I saw some pics - and it looks great! I've seen some awesome churches - but the mighty force of the churches around the world and the incredible wealth they could showpiece to let the uttermost geniouses produce art is pretty unique. I plan to see this one - yes...

Any good tips on restaurants or places to go?

Regards

Chris

I will really like to give you some good advice but about the side of Sicily you have in mind to visit I can only advice you to see my tips as I saw the east of Sicily in 2006.
On the other hand if you didn’t book yet I advice you to take a look at these pages:
http://www.valledorata.it/GB/places_of_interest.html
It’s page that belongs to a B&B in Balestrate and they have quite some info about the west side of Sicily.
So if you change your mind and decide to spend some time in this area I’ll be more then happy to help you.

Have a nice holiday,
Laura

Hi!It's nice to hear that somebody from Norway want to visit my hometown. I live in Palermo, and will go to Norway for the first time at the end of july.
First of all, you have a very big schedule for only a week! You'll be always driving! I suggest you to skip Corleone (not much to see there- historically was only a village of poor farmers)you could add a short visit to Cefalù instead.
Agrigento: the temples are unmissable, but you can visit them in a morning. From Palermo is a little more than an hour driving, but is not autostrada (4 lanes highway)
Enna: is easy to visit being right on the autostrada. Fine medieval and baroque center, no tourist at all...
Siracusa: unmissable by all means, both the old medieval and baroque center of Ortigia and the Greek and romans temples and ruins!try to spend at least 2 nights there.
Taormina: beautiful, the town and the setting, but spoiled by the mass-tourism and far more expensive than the rest of the island, but maybe cheaper than Norway. the place is fitted for tourists, no local life there, but is the only place in sicily where English is widely spoken (Do you know some words in basic Italian?You could need them here).I suggest a visit of a single morning or afternoon.
Palermo and Catania: Two big italian/mediterranean cities with the good and the bad of it.very little tourism,especially in Catania, despite is increasing in recent years.In terms of classic art, Catania is all about baroque, being destroyed for a big earthquake and rebuilt in the 17th century. Palermo have the arabian-norman art, but also plenty of baroque churches and buildings.I think you'll find lot of information about Palermo on the web. If you especially like baroque style, don't miss the Giacomo Serpotta itinerary, serch for it on google, the home page is in English.
Reataurants and nightlife:Palermo have hundreds of restaurants, everybody have is favourites and the individual tastes are so different, so I find it hard to decide what to suggest. Do you have something that you love/hate in food?In which area of the city will you stay?The prices ranges from 10-15 euros up to 50-60 in some expensive places. Don't forget the street food (typical and cheaper)
Also for nightlife the night bars are a lot, but the majority is similiar in terms of music, prices and so forth. The two main areas in the old center are piazza Olivella, a square close to Teatro Massimo, very easy to find, and Via Candelai, a long alley with more than 30 pubs and food spots. Both the areas are nearly empty till 11 pm, the peak time for the big crowds is between midnight and 3 am.Most of the places are very small, hole in the wall type,so the people basically drink in the street. I suggest you 3 of my favourite places:
The Rocket bar - piazza San Francesco di Paola (punk rock bar, funny young atmosphere)
I Candelai - the first pub opened in Candelai alley in 1996, and probably still the best there. Good live music, but expensive drinks (more than 5 euros!I know Norway can be worse, I'm going to verify this very soon...)
Kursaal Khalesa - foro Italico Umberto I, no music there but good selection of wines and beautiful historical setting.Information on the website.
hope this help. but you can make me more specific questions. Another warning:
Driving in Palermo can be Bad, with the capitol B, I have to do it every day!. heavy traffic, no lanes, disregard for the rules of some drivers, and so forth. Use the car only to leave the city, better in the early morning and in the siesta/closing time in the afternoon, between 1,30 pm and 3,30 more or less.

Hi there,
I'm from Ragusa, so should you plan visiting here too please have a look at my pages and write me for more.

Cheers,
Lorenzo

Hi!

Thank you for your input everybody! I have now been in Sicily. I asked the questions somewhat late as compared to when I was going - bur I picked up on several of your tips! :)

I visited Palermo, Corleone, Agrigento, Enna, Ragusa, Medico, Noto, Siracusa, Catania and Taormina. Catania was the place I enjoyed the most, I think, though the other places were nice as well. I missed visiting Cefalu though.

(I had already visited Ragusa when your posting came up on VT, amigo.)

Driving a car in Sicily was slightly unfamiliar to begin with - but I soon fell into the groove of how things work and really enjoyed the action :) I have to try Naples one day - I hear it's the worst :)

My soso spanish worked well with most sicilians - some locals I met even spoke german, but trying to speak english wasn't that popular.

If any of you visit Norway or any of the places I'm been and need some info, please contact me and I'll be happy to assist.

Regards
Chris