A return to Sicily

 

Sunday 28 August - Wednesday 7 September 2022

Nearly seven years, creakier joints and a pandemic later, I return to Sicily with fellow Italianophile (is there such a word?) Kim Goldsmith, in search of the sunshine that eluded Neil and I back in 2015 when we visited Taormina and left with webbed feet.

Well this time it didn't disappoint in terms of the weather - 30 degrees plus and brilliant blue skies most of the time, with only a touch of cloud every now and again. One of the great things about solo travel is that you have more time to devote to the blog, so I neglected to diary our activities every day. What I want to do before the mists of time makes my memories hazy is to note my impressions of Palermo and Siracusa, where we stayed for 4 and 6 nights respectively. 

We arrived in Palermo and caught a train from the airport to Centrale station, arriving early afternoon. 20 minutes' walk? we thought, we can do that. Was almost as bad as when I tried the same heroics to Prague station 7 years ago - cobbles then, broken pavements and no dropped kerbs to help the wheels this time. It was so very hot, and when we arrived at our apartment (avoiding potholes and dog poo), we then discovered that our charming apartment was up on the 3rd floor with no lift. That'll teach me that I should travel more lightly!! 

The large, airy apartment had quirky, arty features and was rather lovely - we never met our host but she kept in touch daily on WhatsApp and was very helpful. The image below was Kim's bathroom - mine was equally funky but had a spa bath where an incident occurred when I tried to take advantage of the whirlpool. Let's just say the switch got stuck and had we gone to Siracusa first (the birthplace of Archimedes), I would've remembered what happens when water is displaced. Thankfully the tiled floor didn't yield to the flooding which occurred....

After a trip to the supermarket, a lttle sleep and a near-drowning bathing experience on my part, we headed out to a recommended local restaurant Osteria Lo Bianco and had lovely cheap pasta (swordfish, aubergine and mint is a winning combo, and Kim's spaghetti norma was her standout dish of the holiday), very cheap wine and dessert for around 30 euros. Kim had a cannoli for dessert, which is like a crisp pastry canneloni tube stuffed with flavoured ricotta, delicious but I couldn't have eaten a whole one - later in the holiday we shared a deconstructed one which was a good compromise.

The next morning we went on a free guided walk around the old city (we were staying in the new) for 2 hours with a very entertaining and informed Palermitan called Marco Romeo - it was very helpful orientation and we learned a lot about local customs, culture and politics. Palermo has a reputation as the power centre of the Mafia, but apparently that's all a bit old hat now (the 1980s was the decade when they were at their height) - it also has a reputation for pickpockets and petty crime, but glad to say we saw no sign of it and felt safe at all times. 

And as for rice balls coated in breadcrumbs and with various stuffed fillings - in Palermo they are arancina and are round. In Catania they are pointy like Mount Etna and are arancino. In Siracusa they have both shapes and we saw both versions of the spelling...

We wandered around a bit after lunch and paid a visit to the Teatro Massimo, the big and beautiful opera house. Sadly (unlike the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona), we didn't get to hear anything that showed off the acoustics. 

The first gelato came from a recommendation down near the port in an unprepossessing spot but worth the walk. A wander along the boardwalk and home for the usual pattern of a shower and then apertivo on our lovely roof terrace as the sun went down.We discovered that Mondays can be a bit tricky finding museums and restaurants that are open, so in the evening we opted for Fud, one of Marco's recommendations, with a quirky food and drink menu with phonetic English spelling. The drinks were good, the food just passable and the service wasn't the best. 

On the Tuesday, we had arranged a visit to Palazzo Conte Federico, owned by a family whose ancestor was one of the illegitmate sons of an Emperor Frederick II. It's built on top of the old city wall and is still lived in - one of the sons of the present owner  (who's still racing cars at the age of 83, and the house is full of trophies) guided us around and was a charming and funny host. Lots of interesting and beautiful details, but it still felt lived in.

Lovely lunch in one of the many eateries on the Via Maqueda (we liked it so much we went back the following night as the service was very good too), a visit to a very disappointing and inpenetrable art exhibition and a lot of wandering about soaking up the atmosphere. Gelato from an award-winning gelateria this time. We had wanted to visit the English garden but it was a bit of a schlep even though apparently not far from our apartment, but our legs were finding it tough going, so we went home to rest up before venturing out again to another recommended restaurant Bisso Bistrot on Via Maqueda. Food and wine were delicious but it was cramped and pricy and not quite worthy of the queues to get in!

On Wednesday we visited Santa Maria dell'Ammirglio which was the usual strange mix of styles common in Sicily, having been invaded and occupied by so many different cultures. (Almost as strange as the Chiesa de San Cataldo next door with its red Islamic domes.) It's near the Fontana Pretoria, known as the Square of Shame, a fountain surrounded by lots of naked statues built by a mayor who wanted to emulate Rome, but heartily disapproved of by the nuns who lived nearby. 

I think some light shopping may have occurred after that, but after lunch at the apartment we then ventured out on the bus to the beach at Mordello, about a half hour ride away (much of it through woodland), and spent a very pleasant few hours on the sands, apart from being ripped off by a man selling beer and me forgetting my book and headphones. Gelato was the inevitable end to the afternoon before boarding a very very crowded bus home and a short walk via the pawn shop district (yes, the gold/silver kind of shop). Back into the old town for the evening to go for cocktails at a recommended bar, and back to Osteria Villena on Via Marqueda for a lovely dinner to round off our trip to Palermo. 

The next day after a rather hairy start getting the local bus to the bus station (which side of the road? which way?) we took a bus to Catania and then a short walk to the station to catch the train to Siracusa. A short taxi ride to our apartment on Ortigia island, which while a funky design, was short on home comforts and an example of style over substance. We were shown around by a lovely lady who spoke very little English but was always helpful during our stay - just as well she ran the shop next door, producing all things crocheted. A quick trip to the supermarket for supplies, and a check on swimming possibilities (limited, and there were jellyfish warnings) before settling in proper and washing the dust off before heading out for the evening.

First stop was a Mezcal Negroni for Kim and an organic local wine for me. We wandered for a while and Kim was excited to find a branch of her favourite costume jewellery shop. We chanced upon the Duomo looking resplendent flooded by lights in the square, and then went to a small courtyard restaurant for dinner which was relatively cheap with good service though probably unexceptional food. On the way home we chanced upon gelato and Kim's adventurous choice was mulbery and lime & basil. A little digestif near the non-food market (which sold toot most of the day) rounded off the day.

Next day we visited the market and had a bit of recce as well as buying supplies for lunch. In the afternoon we took the little open air hop-on/off bus to orientate around the city. Having established that the Circumetnea railway trip just wasn't going to happen because the public transport links just wouldn't work (I was gutted), and it would take too long to get to Ragusa, we settled on getting a bus to Noto the following day run by the hop-on/off company, and booked a boat trip for the Sunday. We ate on the sea front near the Fontana Aretusa - pricey location but good food.

On the Saturday we caught the little private bus to Noto (20 euros each return was reasonable), a pretty Baroque town an hour from Siracusa. We wandered about, visited the cathedral, had pizza for lunch and were plagued by flies as we ate (they were everywhere). We happened upon an exhibition of female-foocused artists at Noto's little art museum which was lovely. Gelato inevitably followed, and we caught the bus back and then went in search of a Caravaggio at a little church some way from the centre of Siracusa. I wasn't convinced it was the original (it's been moved about a few times) and it looked like a copy - turns out it wasn't, but it was just bizarre to see such an enormous painting (showing the death of Santa Lucia) close up without any security being present and without even a rail around it!

Dinner was at the quirky 1984 near the Fontana Aretusa - I had delicious swordfish and it was a really good choice. We found a funky place for cocktails on the way home by walking a different route, and still found time for gelato.

We took things easy on the Sunday, visiting the cathedral and wandering around the shops. We had hoped to spend the afternoon at the rather swishy beach club but it was closed for a private party so we sat on the tiny, crowded beach next to it and had a bit of a dip. We went to a small bar specialising in local craft beer before wandering home. We found a friendly restaurant not far from the apartment and had a good dinner, found a cool courtyard restaurant for the next night, with the inevitable gelato on the way home via yet another different route

On the Monday, after more wandering we took a little  boat trip around a sea cave and Kim had the chance to swim properly (I had discovered that not having full movement in my shoulder made anything other than bobbing around on my back a bit tricky 😞), but it was a pleasant trip with an amusing "captain" 

We wandered back via the Archimedes statue and the harbour - always taking a different route home meant we got to see some charming nooks and crannies. 

We went to the very lovely place we'd found the night before for our dinner, which specialised in gin cocktails and very fancy cicchetti - it was a bit of a blow-out but we did enjoy it.

On the Tuesday we had all good intentions of visiting Catania - but we got to the station to discover big queues for tickets. The train we were set on getting was actually bound for Rome so the ticket machine wanted names and details for the ship's manifest for the ferry across to the mainland and we just ran out of time, and there were no more trains for a couple of hours - we were disappointed but it gave us a good excuse to return to Catania for an Etna-focused weekend in future, including the Circumetnea railway.

We walked back into Ortigia and went to the Archimedes exhibition which was immersive and interactive - really informative and quite the genius, so you can see why the guy is a local hero. Final bits of shopping and wandering, lunch at the local cafe and then packing for our departure next day. We went for a beer at the craft beer place we'd spotted just across the bridge in Siracusa, and then walked along the harbour in the lovely moonlight to a little pasta restaurant we'd spotted in a square. They prided themselves on their eco credentials so plates were paper and cutlery was wooden - food was ok but not the best we had, but it was nice to end our trip eating outside on a balmy evening. 

We caught the bus to the airport the following day, having waited ages as the schedule appeared to be rather haphazard - thankfully we'd left plenty of time. Catania airport was chaotic - who on earth designed an airport where you had to walk through the security queue to get to check-in? Queues for catering and passport control on the other side weren't much better, and we had a long wait for the plane having panicked that we would miss it! Experience now tells me that much as I love Italy, I sometimes need to lower my expectations of a smooth public transport experience. Ciao Sicilia!