Catania, Taormina, Siracusa, Palermo & Cefalú (Sicily, Italy): A foodie paradise and the Sicilian breathtaking coastline
We take a flight to Catania in Sicily our base to explore this region. We then take a bus just outside the airport to go to Catania central train station, which is very close to our accommodation. We arrive late and there’s a bit of confusion with the self check-in as we don’t have the key to enter the building. A neighbour lets us in as she’s taking the rubbish out and a Canadian tourist, yeah we know they are nice, lets us in to the place. We are tired and bothered after travelling all day but as we go down to get some water and a bottle of wine, we start picking up on the vibe of this amazing city. Little did we know that Catania would be our favourite place so far in this region. The room is nice and comfortable (Casa di Carlo e Vale, 41 euros) and the apartment is in a very run down, authentic building, reminiscent of an episode of the excellent series L'amica Geniale. The apartment has been very nicely renovated and decorated. The location couldn’t be better. Very close to the central train station, walking distance to the historic centre and surrounded by nice, cool places to eat. Private bath and a communal well stocked kitchen. Next morning we catch the train (TrenItalia is amazing btw) to go to the pretty town of Taormina. We decide to walk all the way up from the train station and it almost ends in divorce. It’s very hot and an extremely steep and tortuous path up to the town centre. Finally we get there, cool down in a park and start exploring together with hordes of other tourists and a couple of very large cruise ship tour groups. Sorry, no patience for over-tourism, hence our prefernce for travelling off season. The town is very nice but the crowds spoil the experience. We walk around Taormina’s pretty streets, lovely piazzas and check out the imposing palaces and churches. We wander around for a while then walk back down like goats to take the train back to Catania. There’s a restaurant (A Putia do Calabrisi) we want to try and which is rated number one in this city. We walk through very non touristy suburbs and we have the most fantastic time in town. Communal tables and a four course meal for 10 euros, with 1.5 litres of wine for 2.5 euros a litre and no tourists in sight. After waiting for almost 2 hours we finally get seated and enjoy our meal chatting with 3 nice Italian guys we shared a table with. What a great experience and we amazingly enough find our way back home and fold for the evening. Next morning we are back on the train, this time the destination is Siracusa. Another crowded place, pretty but very sanitised for tourists. We walk around till we reach Ortigia, the old historical town and there are nice, small beach coves, where people are still sunbathing (did I mention the weather has been absolutely perfect?), the Greek Theatre, the very impressive food market and some lovely, quaint streets. We wander around for a while but can’t wait to go back to Catania. We feel like Catania is the real thing, very authentic, old world charm, run down, lived in Italy. Cosmopolitan, exuberant, eclectic, the architecture of the palaces and churches is impressive. Behind the cathedral, a tunnel created in the city walls built by Charles V, houses the fish market. The market is partly covered and partly in the open air. A place where every day, under the big red tents and on the white marble stalls, the ritual of selling fish, meat and fruit has continued since ancient times. The shouts of the vendors and the colourful stalls make it one of the city’s most emblematic landmarks, the ideal place in which to immerse yourself in Sicilian street food. We go for pizza and beer, wander around the old town for a long time and then go back to the room as once again, were leaving early tomorrow.
We get up early and catch a 3.5 hour train ride to Palermo. We arrive at lunch time and check in at the (Normanni Central House, 57 euros). The apartment is big and the hosts are very friendly. The bathroom could use a bit of TLC but the location is absolutely perfect. 50 metres to one of the best pizza places in town and a 5 minute walk to the start of the historical centre. Here we are in Sicily’s capital city, and we can already feel the authentic atmosphere that wins the hearts of everyone who visits. The Cathedral is second to none and the "Four Corners" (Quattro Canti) are not to be missed but the best way to explore this city is really just to walk around and enjoy the vibe. For dinner we go to the pizza place nearby and order a family size pizza as we think the piccola won’t be enough after walking around all day. The pizza is massive and we can’t stop laughing. We make our way through half of it and put the rest in the fridge for dinner tomorrow. We wake up the next morning and get ready to wander around this gorgeous town again. We are not really into sweets but we had to try the -best ever- gelato, which of course was invented here, my choice was dark chocolate and it was just perfect. We walk around for hours, ticking off what needs to be seen and checking out the amazing side streets. We visit the crazy and chaotic Mercato Ballaro food market and see some of the best food produce available in Europe, you really can’t miss this market if you visit this city, it’s an assault on your senses, literally. This market is one of the biggest and best we’ve ever seen and we’ve seen quite a few. Please keep in mind that the market is only open in the mornings. We have pasta for lunch at a very local restaurant, off the touristy route in the new side of town. Pasta at 4 euros each and half a litre of wine for 3, gotta love this city. Palermo is so majestic, it's hard to capture in pics. Vibrant, it feels like a university town. Cool as it has a good mix of tourists and locals and it’s a serious foodie paradise. We eat awesome hot chips at Solo Patate and the most perfect portion of potato croquettes ever (a city that treats potatoes with so much love has all my respect). We also try the delicious arancini balls, another must try if you are in this region. Everything is being cooked on the spot as you wait. We head back to our simple but nice apartment and chill for the day, having the other half of last night’s pizza for dinner.
We wake up the next morning, walk to the train station (grazie again TrainItalia) and head to the lovely seaside town of Cefalú. After a 50 minute ride we arrive and check in at our apartment (Dolce Vacanza, 46 euros) highly recommended. Very well equipped, excellent location, if a bit noisy but it’s very clean. We drop off our bags and go for a walk around the town. It's small and gorgeous, dramatically situated against the background of a rocky mountain, the architecture is fantastic and the beach is one of the best we’ve seen in this trip. It’s a Sunday and we notice that 90% of the tourists seem to be Italian, another win for this place. We walk around for hours till our feet hurt, grab a slice of sfincione, a local open pizza, then walk some more along the cobble-stoned streets to check out the harbour and the historical, beautifully located cathedral. We go to the supermarket and buy some stuff to make a mixed grill and an insalata caprese and go back to chill as it's almost time to say ciao Sicily. What an amazing time we’ve had in this region.
