Our month long stay in Sicily has come to an end, and Day and I are currently in Florence for the month of February.

Not every place, can make the top of your list of places to see, and Sicily, was never high on my list of places to visit. For no other reason than; there are way too many places to go, things to see, and people to meet on this planet, and there’s just not enough time or money to do it all. Not everything can be at the top of the list. Wow, I was wrong. I don’t know what I was expecting, but Sicily, blew me away!

Day and I were in Sicily for a month, and almost three weeks of that, was spent in the capital city of Palermo. We wanted to rent an apartment, unpack our clothes, settle in and slow down, which we did. We got friendly with Augostina, the owner of a local coffee shop we stopped at everyday. She’d chat with Day every morning, a chance for Day to practice her Italian. I stick with saying, “Io non capisco l’italiano.” Augostina was incredibly kind and friendly, I thought Day was gonna cry when we had to say goodbye to Augostina.

Then there’s Gaetano, the baker and owner of a bakery, who is so proud of his baked goods, he gave us a bag full of his bread after seeing Day peeking in his bakery window one morning. His olive bread was awesome! Of course we continued to go back after that.

There was also a barber on our block, so I was able to stay looking pretty for the month we were there.

We were able to enjoy ourselves, the city and the people in a much different way than if we were there for just a week. Of course there is a trade-off, we didn’t get to see as much of Sicily as we would have liked. We did rent a car for a week and do a quick loop around the island though.

We spent two nights in Taormina, a beautiful little seaside town on the northeast corner of Sicily, and a great place to stay if you’re interested in visiting Mt. Etna.

We were there in January though, so our guided tour of Etna was canceled due to snow (we were still able to take the cable car up) and Taormina, being one of Sicily’s most popular summer destinations, means it’s a little sleepy in January.

We like traveling off-season, and Taormina and Mt. Etna were absolutely beautiful, so having to search for restaurants that were open, was just a minor inconvenience.

From Taormina, we were off to the city of Ragusa, more specifically, Ragusa Ibla, in southern Sicily for two nights. Ragusa and Ragusa Ibla are absolutely stunning, picture perfect ancient hilltop towns. The origins of Ragusa can be traced back to the 2nd millennium BC, so, very, very cool town. Again, we were there in January, lots of stuff was closed but, no crowds!

Lastly, Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, well, we were supposed to be in Agrigento. Villa Athena, the hotel we were supposed to stay at, canceled our reservations last minute (they said it was Covid-19 related) so we had to scramble to find a decent place that could take us last minute. We found the Alba Palace Hotel in the town of Favara, 15 minutes away from the Valley of the Temples, perfect! Also perfect, our visit to the temples.

We absolutely lucked out with the weather the day we were there. It was relatively warm for it being January, and mostly sunny skies in the morning, with clouds rolling in towards the end of our visit. The best part, there could not have been more than a dozen people in the entire park. We had the Valley of the Temples to ourselves!

I absolutely loved our week long tour of Sicily. Renting a car was easy, driving was a blast, Google Maps at one point, had us on some roads nobody should ever take a car on! Seriously, we were out in the middle of nowhere, four-wheeling. If we had gotten a flat tire or a rock had gone through the oil pan, we would have been screwed. Along the way, we saw snow capped mountain, the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea, rolling hills covered with citrus trees, grape vines, cactus, and sheep. Absolutely breathtaking scenery.

We saw Scala dei Turchi, the Stair of the Turks, a wonderful cliff overlooking the Strait of Sicily.

And, of course, The Villa Romana del Casale, which was amazing. Originally the property of a powerful Roman family, it dates back to the 4th Century A.D. The villa and it’s mosaics, are considered the most beautiful and best-preserved of their kind. 

After our two nights in Favara and the Valley of the Temples, we headed back to Palermo, for our 4th and final week of our Sicily trip.

As excited as Day and I were to continue our adventures in Florence, I was disappointed to leave. Sicily and Palermo exceeded all of my expectations. Sicily was never high on my list, but I can tell you now, I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Sicily and Palermo were very affordable. Our AirBnB in Palermo was in a great location, and just $900.00 for the month. Dinners were just as affordable, and the food is awesome. Palermo and all of Sicily is rich in culture and history, and just a ton of stuff to see and do. The island and itself is so diverse, you can climb a volcano, swim in the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and at the end of the day, take a tour of a beautiful vineyard.

Most importantly, Day and I loved the people. Sicily seems like an island full of hard-working, down to earth people who are nothing but friendly and incredibly kind!

Sicily and the capital city of Palermo belongs on the top of everyone’s “must see” list. For sure, it’s on my “must go back to” list!

Explore. Dream. Discover. Travel to Sicily.
Luv ya,
Curly