What to do in Sicily
One of the many places I traveled to in my world tour was Sicily. Now, I had never been nor knew much about Sicily, but traveling there with some type of Italian speaking ability is a must. I traveled to Sicily as part of the Marist College abroad attachment program, where I took a class on Sicilian cinema for the semester, so I was with an entire group of people who spoke Italian.
Now, the important question: What was on the Itinerary for my week and a half in Sicily?
Day 1: We started our adventure in Palermo for 3 days, where we became accustom to the Sicilian culture. I would compare Palermo to New York City in that the main activities are shopping along the streets and going to restaurants for great food. When arriving in Palermo, we started with a food and wine tour (which Marist unknowingly sponsored lol). We tasted some of the local wines and beers in Sicily, as well as their world famous pizza and the weirdest dessert combo: Gelato in bread!
Day 2: Day 2 was a tour of all around the city. This tour included the local farmers markets that are along the stripes of side streets where they have the most fresh fruits and vegetables I’ve ever had! We stopped for a quick lunch where I, of course, indulged in the Italians greatest gift (pasta). We also saw a few churches and Palermo’s famous “FUCK” sign, which I think is supposed to be making fun of the Philadelphia “LOVE” sign.
Day 3: We took a day trip from Palermo and moved to Cefalu which was about an hour bus ride. Cefalu was one of the most gorgeous places in Sicily and I highly recommend going there if you ever visit Sicily. In the morning, we toured the Villa Patagonia, which has been a film site to a few major Sicilian films. The Villa itself was gorgeous, but the tour was way too long (I personally did not find the tour to be interesting). After the tour was over we went to the beaches in Cefalu and they were absolutely stunning. The ocean was so clear you could see the bottom and the views were immaculate. However, the beach does get very crowded, so just get there early and DO NOT FORGET SUNSCREEN. In the summers, the heat in Sicily is brutal.
Day 4: On day 4, we packed our luggages from Palermo to Taormina, which was about a 3 hour bus ride. We checked into Hotel Splendid, which is a 5 star hotel with the most insane views of the island. The rest of the day was free to settle in, swim at the hotel pool and go shopping before dinner. Taormina definitely has some of the best fashion sense and shopping on the island. The small boutiques have adorable summer clothes that are priced a lot less than they would be in the United States, but are made with high quality fabric.
Day 5: From Day 5 to Day 9, the morning consisted of Italian class in the morning from 9:30 am to 1 pm at the school of Babolonia. I was able to pick up on Italian pretty fast, as well as even being able to order myself food in Italian by day 2! As mentioned before, having a basic skillset of Italian (or Google Translate) is really needed in Sicily because most of them do not speak English since Sicily is not as popular of a tourist destination as other spots in Italy are. My one best friend is fluent in Italian, so she was very helpful in navigating our way through Sicily when we were not with the class!
Day 6: After class in the morning, we took a bus to hike mount Etna! Mount Etna is one of many active Volcanos in Sicily. Hiking in that area and learning about the Volcanos was one of the most interesting tours we did. What I found most interesting was how there are so many people in a village who live so close in proximity to the volcano. The Tour guide said that people in Sicily are afraid of a natural disaster that could occur in the near future from Mount Etna, which could cause major earthquakes or even a tsunami. Here are some of the amazing views from the top of Mount Etna.
Day 7: After class in the morning, we had a free afternoon, so my friends and I decided to go to the beach in Taormina. The Hotel drove us to this gorgeous beach called Lido Playa Sole Luna which was a private beach that the hotel partners with for guests staying there. It was about a 15-20 minute taxi to the beach and the views were amazing (but the water was freezing!) At night, there was this bar in Castelmola called Bar Turrisi that we went to. This bar is definitely not a family friendly bar and was one of the weirdest concepts, but it was too funny to pass up!
Day 8: After class in the morning we went to a small town called Forza D’agro for some of the famous Godfather scenes. When we got there, we went to the famous Godfather restaurant Bar Vitelli where we got some of the best Granita (italian ice)! Then we walked around the area for longer before going back on the bus to take us to the hotel.
Day 9: After class, we had a free afternoon of about 3 hours that we spent at the hotel pool before dinner. Our activity for the day happened to be one of my absolute favorite activities. We got to go on a boat ride and go swimming in the Ionian Sea! We took these cable cars (similar to a ski lift) from the inland part of the island to the coastal areas, which was fun but scary for anyone who is afraid of heights! This two hour boat ride was one of the most fun activities where we saw the Sicilian sunset, a lot of dolphins, a double rainbow and toasted the night with a few bottles of champagne and dancing before jumping off the boat and going swimming!
Day 10: This was our last day in Sicily and we went for a day trip to Ace Trezza where we spent the afternoon at the beach! That night, we packed our bags and I headed back to Paris with my friend for three more days!
