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- Sheila's 7 Favorite Countries to Hike, Bike, Walk in Europe
- Mt. Etna, Sicily - Italy
- Taormina, Sicily - Italy
- The Cookies and Biscotti of Palermo, Sicily - Italy
- Agrigento, Sicily and Its Temples - Italy
- Villa Imperial, Casale, Sicily - Italy
- Noto, Ragusa and Piazza Armerina, Sicily - Italy
- Arriving in Syracusa, Sicily - Italy
- Planning "Classical Sicily" - Italy
- Sicily Italy - Land of The "Godfather"
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A million lifetimes isn't enough to explore Europe on foot, bicycle or just sightsee. Each time we visit and choose a different country area to explore, it's love at first sight. In Europe, you can begin the day in one destination, hike/bike or walk around lakes, up and over mountains, visit charming towns on the way and return at night on the fast and efficient train and bus systems. Public transportation and chairlifts are bicycle/children/people friendly, there is always a refuge or mountain hut to stop for lunch and every region, without exception is gorgeous.
Here are seven of my favorite areas along with personal favorite towns. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Switzerland is #1 followed by Austria #2 because they are "no brainers" thanks to wonderful signage on almost all routes. France is a close #3:
Continue reading "Sheila's 7 Favorite Countries to Hike, Bike, Walk in Europe" »
On Saturday morning (last day of tour), the Explore group went to visit Mt. Etna.
Mt. Etna is the largest volcano in Europe, very active and erupts frequently. It's 10,962' high but tourists are only allowed to go as high as 8,000' because it is too dangerous. There are sensors buried all over the mountain for monitoring purposes. Usually, the volcano smoke changes from white to black when an eruption is in the offing.
On that day, "ex-Marine" and I walked up a trail picking up different color rocks between still hot lava fields from an earlier eruption a few months ago. Mt. Etna was just puffing white smoke. I casually mentioned, "Wouldn't it be fantastic to actually be here and witness an eruption?"
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From Palermo, we drove to Cefalu and then to Castelbuono exploring these two towns before continuing on to Taormina.
Cefalu was possibly begun as a fortified Greek outpost and has a Lavatolo Medievale (old loutside aundry), ... View image... a Duomo, and the remains of Temple of Diana. Very small and charming to walk around and it appeared to be a nice-sized resort
Taormina is Sicily's most famous resort on the slopes of Monte Tauro. In ancient times, Taormina was protected by walls and gates, and traces of the walls and two entrances, Porta Messina and Porta Catania, still remain.
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Palermo has a reputation as a noisy, dirty, polluted city albeit with a long history as Sicily's capital. It is all that but Palermo had exceptional food.
Let's talk cookies and biscotti. Wandering around one of the two main squares, we happened to buy Biscotti at a small bakery, and then walked around the corner into a famous bakery that I can't remember the name of! However, if you want to fly me back to Palermo, I'll find that exact spot without any problem...we'll eat Biscotti and cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Bakery sold very expensive cookies prepackaged in cellophane. Because of the cost, I didn't open the package to taste until the end of the trip. Too late to run back to Palermo and buy a year's supply so I had to make do by rationing and hoarding them, refusing to share. I even ended up keeping the "crumbs" in the bag and ate them mixed in with ice cream at home! They were so good....
The shops were also in this general vicinity of Palermo:
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We continued on to Agrigento to visit the Valley of the Temples. Agrigento was founded as a Greek colony in 6th century BC, and became a leading city in the Mediterranean. Most of the ancient town still lies buried under the fields and orchards.
The Valley is an archaeological park and some temples, named after Greek gods, were almost in a straight line.
There is the Temple of Zeus with its U-shaped cuts, used for ropes to lift and set the stones. The Temple of Concorde which is the only temple still intact in its entirity, built in 430 BC.
The Temple of Hercules is the oldest in the complex.
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The Villa Romana del Casale is located about 5km outside Piazza Armerina. It is the richest, largest and most complex collection of late Roman mosaics in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. By far, the most beautiful and impressive mosaics I've ever seen. When talking to friends about places we've traveled, I always recommend going to the Villa Imperial.
One reason these mosaics made such an impact was that they were cleaning a floor with running water. There is no comparison between dry mosaics and wet mosaics. The intense and brilliant colors were amazing. Yes, they were magnificent dry but wet....incredible!
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Left Syracusa on our little tour bus heading to Piazza Armerina, today's eventual destination. The first stop was Noto, a little town from the 9th century set among olive groves and almond trees. Noto had been occupied by the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Aragoneses, and Spanish cultures. But it was destroyed in 1692 by an earthquake. Sicily has worked hard to rebuild Noto which is primarily built of lovely tufa stone, a golden brown color, and we just ambled around for a while.
Ragusa was not a "must see" place for us - just a lunch spot. A word about lunches: the group would typically spread out and either find a small restaurant/fast lunch spot for pasta, pizza or sandwiches; or go into a little shop and buy whatever looked good. Freshly-baked bread, fresh tomatoes that actually tasted like a ripe tomato, fruit, olives, lunch meats, Buffalo Mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes in oil - made a wonderful lunch. My mouth is watering just remembering!
Ragusa is two towns combined into one in 1926. Lower Ragusa, the ancient city, was rebuilt after suffering heavy damages during an earthquake. (Sicily has had its share of earthquakes.)
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We flew into the Catania Airport to join the tour in Syracusa. While still in the air, Mt. Etna was visible, puffing out white smoke (everyone has read about famous Mt. Etna). The airport is approximately one hour away by taxi or bus and it's easy to get to by taking public transportation. The Park Hotel, Syracusa was around a mile (within walking distance) from the major sites and Ortygia Island.
Syracusa/Siracusa was built on an ancient Greek settlement founded in 734 BC. For a time it even rivaled Athens as the most important city of the Greek world.
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Air? We flew Chicago-Milan and then to Catania, the closest airport to Syracusa where the group would meet. flyCheapo shows many different airlines from all over Europe. Check Alitalia, Meridiana and Air Europe who all fly from Italy.
Trains? Catania is a 10-hour train ride from Rome (there are about eight a day), and once in Sicily, you can easily train to Palermo, Agrigento, Messina and Taormina. Most transport is very inexpensive.
Ferry? Ferries and hydrofoils cross the Straits of Messina from either Villa San Giovanni or Reggio di Calabria on the Mainland. The hydrofoil only takes about 25 minutes to arrive in Messina.
Continue reading "Planning "Classical Sicily" - Italy" »
Sicily plays a major role in every gangster movie I've ever seen but few people know that it is the place to see some of the best preserved Greco-Roman sights in the Mediterranean. And people also rave about the excellent food and wine (including my daughter's Venetian father-in-law).
It takes a little searching to find a tour that:
- Is relatively inexpensive; and
- Includes more walking and hiking than just sitting on a bus
With that in mind, I went looking in my favorite "Explore" catalog to see what they had in Sicily. There it was....an offer we couldn't refuse. A 10-day trip called "Classical Sicily" starting in Syracusa (no, not Syracuse, NY) and ending in Taormina with a stop at Corleone (there really is such a place), the center of the "Godfather Region." It included day-hiking, and was just long enough to hit the major sites...this was for me!
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