ekscrunchy

On another thread about Italy, I forget which one, I said that I would begin a new topic about an upcoming trip to Sicily in September.
We were there last May after an absence of at least ten years and we had a terrific time, even though my partner was almost unable to walk at that time.
We had terrible weather last May but it did not do all that much to dampen the joy of being on the island.
Due to the condition of the partner, and my reluctance to drive, we relied on hired drivers for the three weeks we were there, to get from place to place.
Last year's trip began in Trapani where we spent 3 lovely days, with me walking around a lot, and both of us loving the restaurants and the people.

From Trapani we hired a driver to take us to an excellent B&B near Porto Empedocle, with a stop for a thrilling (!!) lunch at Da Vittorio in PortoPalo di Menfi. (Highly recommend)

We spent a couple of days ago at the B&B and ate good meals there at night.

Next stop was Licata, with a stop at the Mandranova olive oil estate, to buy oils.

Licata was very interesting with no obvious tourists. We were there for an overnight so we could have lunch at LA MADIA, which was among the best meals of my life, and among the best overall restaurant experiences.

After a night in Licata we were driven to Ragusa Ibla, which I adored. I recommend not only Ibla (the old part of town) but the newer, "superiore" part of Ragusa which gets very few obvious tourists...there is a bakery there that required a ton of walking in hot weather but I will return this year, it was so great. We loved our B&B, SABINIRRICA.

We adored Ragusa Ibla where we spent about four nights. One day we had our driver take us to an olive oil estate, CUTRERA, where I bought lots of oil and foods. That day we also went to Marzamami, to the Campisi tuna shop (recommend!!) and to see the pretty piazza and the tonnara. Then what might have been the best lunch on the island, in Porto Palo di Capo Pessaro, Ristorante SCALA. No English, no written menu.....superb.
Last stop that day was Noto for a granita at CAFFE SICILIA, among the most famous bakeries on the island, revered for their use of local products to make gelato and pastries.

From Ibla, we spent two nights in Catania, which was an underrated city that has now come into its own. I LOVED it!!!

Then on to Salina for about a week, also fantabulous despite bad weather. We spent most of the time relaxing in the hotel since partner could not really walk much. The owner cooked dinner every night and there was no reason to try an outside restaurant. We did so on only one evening (Signum, Maria Caruso).

To have a buffer in case of hydrofoil cancellation, we drove from Milazzo to Taormina, where I'd been before. It's a culture shock after the rest of Sicily, made more evident by the "White Lotus" effect. Hotel prices are insane. Absolutely, incredibly insane. You have to be very careful about choosing restaurants, too. Daytimes are just mobbed with day trippers and bus tourers......stay in your hotel during the day, or go to the beach (we did not; weather killed that idea) and venture out after dark. There are some excellent restaurants but you have to choose carefully and you have to book ahead of time, which we almost always do.

And then we flew home, from Catania.


This September, this is the plan:


Fly JFK to Catania; one night in city to relax and have dinner.
Following day, return to airport to rent car; drive to B&B near Marina di Ragusa. Spend about 8 nights there, at SILVA SURI. Wander around to Marzamemi, PortoPalo, etc for lunches and/or dinners if sunset is late.

From SILVA SURI, back to Catania for overnight. Again, a buffer in case hydrofoil to Salina has trouble. Hope to visit the museum off the Scarce,, which was closed when we were there last year. Visit fish market in morning. Drop car at airport before heading into the city.

Next day, we use the same driver who we adored last year, DARIO CAFFISO. He will drive us to the pier in Milazzo.

SALINA. Hotel in Malfa. Dinners mostly at hotel. Friends plan to join us for three nights, and they will have a car so we can drive around during the days. Otherwise, take the bus to various beaches if we do not want to relax at the beautiful pool.

Then, another buffer in case of hydrofoil cancellation; I'm a little hesitant about this part, but I have booked 3 nights in MONACHE DELLE TERRE NERI on Etna's south slopes. Ii worry that the hotel is too fancy and too touristy and that, without a car, we will have trouble finding local places to eat. I would love to hear from anyone who knows this hotel.

From there, back to Catania and fly home to NYC.

Airlines tickets or rental car to yet booked.

If anyone can offer some tips on how to make the most of these places, and comments on the last hotel and the surrounding area, I'd be very appreciative.

Let's begin a discussion of travels to Sicily!!!

ekscrunchy

Flights booked from JFK to Catania via Munich.
Wish we could spend a couple of days in Munich.

ekscrunchy

Are there no other travelers headed to Sicily this year?

Let's join up and ask questions and compare notes on what we've found for this upcoming trip, and places we loved in the past.

I am planning to depart USA last week of August, first to Catania.
Looking around for great places to eat, as this will be the first of two Catania overnight on this trip.....
Our target area is the SouthEast, plus a stretch on Salina followed by three nights at hotel on the southern slopes of Etna.

Please, if you have been to that hotel, let me know what you thought about y our stay there, as I remain a little conflicted.

ekscrunchy

Are there no explorers on Fodor's that are Sicily bound this spring/summer/fall???

HappyTrvlr

Sadly, , not heading back to Sicily this year. However when were there we spent a week on Ortigia and loved it there!
Thinking of its wonderful food market and our waterfront apartment.
We have been to Italy more than any other place and will continue visiting it. But I have a strong desire to return to Japan too.

ms_go

We are Sicily-bound next week but haven't been before, so ours is more of a first-timers' itinerary than yours: Palermo, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina, Modica and Ortigia (flying home from Catania but not spending time there). We understand that we'll just have to go back for more!

ekscrunchy

I am sure you will adore Sicily!!

HappyTrvlr

ms_go, enjoy Sicily! It is a treasure.

ekscrunchy

And please, write another of your excellent trip reports!!

Take notes!
Bring a good pen and little notebook.
We will be eagerly awaiting your comments!!

HappyTrvlr

ms_go, we spent a week in Ortigia and after your trip you’ll want to do that next time you visit Sicily!
Have a fabulous trip!

kja

I have no useful information to share, but wanted to take a moment to thank you for finally heeding the repeated request from various posters to cease using all caps in your titles. Internet shouting is so irritating and so unnecessary! Thank you, ekscrunchy.

ms_go

Thank you, ekscrunchy and HappyTrvlr! This trip has been on the radar for a long time and kept getting bumped by something else. I will do my best to report back in a thorough manner, and with lots of photos. I wish I wasn't in such a work frenzy right now and was leaving in a little more relaxed and prepared state of mind, but all will be well when we get on the plane later this week. And HappyTrvlr, I'm with you on Japan. I'm hoping to get to Hokkaido next year.

ekscrunchy

Wow, I'm surprised about the caps....never knew that using them in a title for a trip report was "shouting." Now that I know, hopefully I will refrain from annoying others on this forum....I never even realized that I titled my trip reports with caps!!!

But happily I did not use caps from my most recent report, which might be the longest in Fodors history!!!!!! And I had fun writing it, ow that I can add photos!!!

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/live-from-spain-cordoba-costa-de-da-luz-vejer-de-la-frontera-area-madrid-1720867/

And even the one before, from last September, does not "shout" at anyone!!

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/live-very-brief-report-on-a-few-southern-italian-destinations-1717484/


And here is from last May, no caps in the title, so now I am wondering even where that critique came from:



https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/sicily-three-weeks-in-may-with-temporarily-handicapped-partner-1714775/

I guess this is the sort of thing that annoys people: will do my best to avoid this type in future but still want to know why this is annoying..(??)


https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/three-autumn-weeks-fiumicino-norcia-senigallia-ascoli-sulmona-rome-1660347/




But please inform me (not being snarky here)..why do the caps on a title of a trip report annoy people?

Signed, a not very savvy internet user, always happy to hear comments from others.

kja

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps

ekscrunchy

Great, thanks.

I made my living as a writer in my early working years.
Before the internet. Before computers, even!!!!

My greatest gift from my parents was the pale green Hermes typewriter that I took to college and used for decades.

At my first "real" job?? Editorial Assistant at Hearst Magazines in Manhattan aka "gal Friday," as we might call my position looking back..
We used manual typewriters (Royal, of course!)


Once I wrote my own stores, I used caps in my titles (see Strunk and White, ELEMENTS OF STYLE..oh, no..caps again!!!).

Guess I picked up some bad habits back then....habits that are obviously offensive to act least one person here.

You have not yet told me what is annoying you about my use of capitals in my trip reports. Why make a case of it...don't read the reports, don't comment.....seems like a big to-do about nothing....sorry to offend you but please do not post me a link to Wikipedia. Let me know why YOU find it so annoying to use caps for trip reports... Do you think it is bragging????? Do you think it is a vehement call for attention?




Are you genuinely bothered or do you have a point to pick with me that you are not revealing here?
I think the latter might be closer to the truth....

I don't even "know" you on this forum; I've seen your name and think you have traveled in Italy but beyond that..no impression.......

Take it easy.....don't like my writing style, don't read my reports..

kja

I find it offensive because the use of all caps is the internet equivalent of screaming and it is hard to read. I know the issue has been mentioned to you before, and you've never done anything about it. Yes, I was bothered, but I took the time to thank you for changing your behavior -- not something I'd do if I had a bone to pick with you. I don't know if others have declined to read your threads because of your use of all caps, but the evidence shows that at least some people do read them and find them helpful, so I wouldn't worry if I were you.

ekscrunchy

I'm not worried, and in a million years I would not think that someone would decline to read a thread because 4 or 5 words were written in caps.
Do you really think that is the case? I always thought that many people find my reports too focused on food, and my tendency to veer way off topic and ramble on about something unrelated to the actual thread.......I do this in real life, too.....and believe me, I have a reputation as someone, let's just say, with some eccentric qualities. The word most often applied to me, I think, is "curious," but being curious often means going on on a tangent about something that immediately catches the eye or the interest...

Never mind because I've just done that..yet again....

Look, you seem like a good person and I do not want to be offensive. I will try to limit the caps but I cannot promise. Sometimes I just go with what I feel is right at the moment and do not give much thought to punctuation and all that stuff which I find a bore.......maybe the takeaway is in the content, not in the use of lower or upper case.....my partner always tells me that I am a person of which many say: "either you get her or you don't...." You know, you might catch a NYPOST or an HOLA! headline that grabs you..maybe it has misspellings...if the subject is of interest do you stop reading??? I guess I should do that but I don't!!

But as I said, I am of a different (yes, older) generation than many people here and am still not acquainted with all the ins and outs of internet behavior.

lrice

ekscrunchy, I love all caps! LOL I also am a writer and have worked with journalists for 40 years. I read lots of words written in all caps as enthusiasm. LIke "Go team!" ya know?

Anyway, I have been reading a lot about the Baroque towns of the Val di Noto. They seem to be gorgeous, bustling, authentic, livable towns. Frances Mayes and National Geographic put a picture of Scicli on the cover their book "Always Italy".

I can't wait to hear what you think!

danon

Eks, I admire the energy you put in writing extensive reports ( with photos) and the entertaining way you share food focused adventures with us.
From what I understand the caps are considered “ yelling” when it comes to personal exchanges, but like you, I am from a different generation. I enjoy your “chats “ with Maribel !
Looking forward for more reports from Spain !

SusanP

ek, I have to say that I didn't notice titles that were always all caps, maybe they were, but it never stopped me from reading your trip reports, because they are always full of so much information.
I think we're the same generation, I learned typing in high school on a manual typewriter! Then in college, I earned a lot of spending money typing term papers for guys who didn't type (yes, back then guys usually didn't type!) I had a deal with a good friend, I kept his Smith Corona portable electric typewriter (a really nice portable machine at the time) in my room to do all my typing in exchange for doing his typing for free! 😁
Keep doing your reports!