Sicily Travels

The best way to get to sicily is by ferry. Or you can fly. Palermo was known as one of the most cultured city in Europe. The old quarter is where you can get all your fresh ingredients for typical italian and sicilian cooking. Downtown Palermo and the only way to get around is by scooter but be warned that the drivers are mad. Renting a scooter could cost about forty dollars a day. The catacombs in the convent are open and you can go alone if you have the stomach for it. There are dead bodies and since the sixteenth century the aristocrats are embalmed down here. If you like ghoulish entertainments then this is the place for you.

The Sicilian gelato is the best gelato in the world. You can also get ice cream in a bun. At night, everyone likes to get on the street for the procession of the black angels for the festival of saint rosalia who saved palermo from the black plague in the dark ages. The procession takes three hours to go from the town to the port. There are suspended dancers and inflated balloons and angels galore. And stilt walkers of course.

Two hours south of palermo is the most historical places in Italy. The Valle dei Templi near Agrigento has a greek temple that still has lots of columns standing. The Valley of the the Temples has the largest collection of ancient greek ruins in the world. The site is important because there are no towns built on top of it. The best temples are the ones built to honour the greek gods Juno and Concord. The temple of Concord still has thirteen columns eroded by wind still standing today. No body built anything on these ruins. Tyndaris at cape Tindari was founded by Dionysius the Elder around about 400 BC and was later sacked by marauding conquerors who flattened the site. The greek theater at Taormina has a view of Mount Etna in the background and was carved out of the rock on the side of Mount Tauro. The Arabs destroyed much of it in the tenth Century.

Five hours from Palermo is the island of Stromboli which is packed during the tourist season. Nine hundred meters of throbbing volcano is what you get when you climb mount etna. It is better to stay one night to see the dramatic lava flows and explosions against the night sky. The climb is easy and only takes three hours.

Taormina is Sicily's most famous resort town. Taormina has winding medieval streets with secret restaurants, bars, and gelati shops. You can see the lava flow from mount etna on the neighbouring island of stromboli at night time. Taormina is two hundred meters above sea level so the town is quite cool in the summer heat. The Greek Amphitheater was constructed in the third century BC and in summer times you will able to see a play being performed in the original settings.

To get to Sicily by train you can get a train from the mainland of Italy and the trains are loaded onto ferries for the crossing of the sea. To get to Sicily by air is quite easy to fly into Palermo international airport or the Catania-Fontanarossa Airport from most Eropean cities. There is a daily ferry between malta and Sicily which stops are Pozzallo or Catania.

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