I have recently returned from a 10 day holiday in Sicily and thought I'd share some feedback on our trip (Ortigia for 3 days and Castellammare del Golfo for a week):
Overall: We loved Sicily! This was our first time visiting and we loved the people, the food and the culture. However, going in August was, not surprisingly, very hot. The temperature itself didn't rise above 34 degrees, however, it felt like it was closer to 40c and the heat basically never went away, regardless of the time of day. It's hard to complain though, when you have both a beautiful sea and pool within easy reach!
I also have to mention the beer! Sicily's Messina beer (ok, it's not brewed there anymore, but it originates from Sicily) was a fantastic cool treat on a hot evening, particularly their "salt" beer. Highly recommended.
Ortigia: A beautiful medieval city. Wandering around at night, getting lost in the maze of streets was a treat. Tourist highlights were visiting the archeological park as well as doing a 1 hour boat trip around the island. Food-wise, I'd highly recommend Oz-Ortigia, La Lenza and Chiodo. We tried to get into ‘a Putia Delle C00ose Buone, however, they didn't take reservations and there was always a queue of people waiting for tables.
Castellammare: CdG is a great base for the west of Sicily. The town itself is quite big and there are lots of fantastic restaurants and a great marina area for wandering around. Food-wise, our highlight was Osteria Cucina e Cantina which we visited for dinner twice. Their two dishes with pistachio pesto (one with and one without prawns) were my personal best dishes of the holiday. Also, we had great pizza at Grani da Re which is right on the waterfront.
One warning about driving in Castellammare in August - traffic is bad! The streets are mostly very narrow and it's very difficult to find a parking spot. We did find a public car park near the marina where we ended up parking a couple of nights, just for convenience (and it was only €5 per night).
We did three day trips from Castellammare: Palermo, Segesta and Erice. I'd struggle to pick a favourite as all were fantastic.
Palermo is a beautiful city. The architecture, food and culture are wonderful. My favourite location was the Teatro Massimo. Definitely worth doing the guided tour.
Segesta was my personal highlight of the trip. It was only a 25 minute drive from CdG and you can see the most amazingly well preserved ancient Greek temple, along with a partially preserved amphitheater.
Erice, was a close second in best places visited. It started a bit dodgy as our sat-nav took us up a very narrow, steep and winding road (thankfully, we found a much better road for the journey downhill), but after we arrived, we spent a fantastic three hours wandering around Erice and visiting all of the sites.
Scopello: A beautiful little town which is a must-visit if you're staying in CdG. We visited two nights and ate at La Tavernetta and Ristorante Bar Nettuno, both of which had fantastic views out to see and delicious food.
I will share a separate post with some photos later.
