Recounting Palermo

The first day we arrived at ‘Sicily House 4.0’ around 2-3 p.m., got adjusted and left after 4 p.m. hell-bent on salvaging and making the most of the day. We walked back down the long bustling road we had passed by with the markets and street food eateries with our cases not long ago and, driven by hunger, had a panineria panelle croche each – only for 3 euros. This consisted of a thick bread bun with potato croquettes and chickpea flour flat discs in there which were perfectly salted. No spread or sauce was in here but the triple carbs did the job. We were confused whether the women wanted us to pay or not because they seemed to be laughing or annoyed when we asked — after they had brought the sandwiches to us.

After this, we turned to Piazza Bellini and got some golden hour pictures by the cathedral and explored the streets to Piazza Marina en route to Palazzo Butera. We got there around 6.30 but managed to scour the palace in an hour mixed in with its beautiful contemporary and ancient art and the high, detailed ceilings and outdoor terrace with the green and white tiled floor that matched my outfit. Later on, we stopped for food and luckily found a Lidl which was perfect for the vegano-labelled area. Some of the best hazelnut chocolate I’ve had came from here. One packet of nuggets — the gourmet ones — were the bomb, then the other was green and healthy inside and tasted like wholemeal, but we used humous for the dip.

On Thursday, we ate our big blueberry yoghurt pots from Lidl, from small glasses with spoons. After using the rooftop terrace, we went in search for the local markets nearby and found more (really cheap and authentic) Sicilian souvenirs and even €3 aeperol spritz. Getting freshly squeezed orange juice in Sicily is such a hack. We walked through the streets some more and found beautiful wine bars in the sun, along the cobbled streets and traced back to Quattro Canti up the steps for a photo op. We got a 3-way ticket for €5 each (€10 except if aged 18-25 you get half price) to see Palazzo Mart, Palazzo Abettelis and ‘Circe’ where there were old carriages. Afterwards, we went back to the cool antique and vintage but pop art style wine and cocktail place — I ordered a Bellini. Later into the evening, we took an Uber after changing and going to the pre-booked Sky Garden Rooftop, which had an old-style lift with a cagey door to close. The view at night was magical, the DJ was playing 90s-00s night bar-esque music and I felt like I was in Gossip Girl. After a Campri Spritz and two-course, we went to search for the street parties Palermo is known for — luckily we found some music amidst the quiet and with it, two Sicilian (Palermo local, born and bred) men. Francesco spoke to us in the first doors open, tightly-packed bar and got us a tequila shot for my ‘birthday’ after the bartender gave us one for free, too. The police shortly walked in because I’m guessing the bar didn’t have the license to do this like a club (Palermo has no clubs) so it’s most likely illegal like Angelo said. There was a smiley black woman with an afro here working the till as the bartender would ring a cowbell sporadically.

Due to this and the DJ going quiet, everybody headed out and Francesco showed us ‘Botanico’. We danced so freely here in front of the DJ and their decks in a box room where Francesco introduced us to his friend, a bongo musician, Angelo. Both aged 31-32, when Angelo went off, Francesco introduced another friend in there to me who was a bit too touchy-feely on the arms so I kept it moving. Francesco was like, ‘Is he not your type?’, my guy, let us enjoy our night and keep it cute — he had started being our friend to begin with because we stood out as not being from there. After, we tried an afrobeats Nigerian place because Angelo had said he knew a bar that offered this music but then there was one person on that dance floor and men just stood on the outside and the guy at the door still wanted to make us pay 3 euros or 10 each to enter a barren place — even with the doors open so we could hear the music outside on the streets, where people were dancing further up to Eminem and a mash of something else.

Cefalù day trip

On Friday, we took the train to Cefalù. We got there around 5 p.m. and had three hours to make do and again, managed to salvage the day with it being one of the most beautiful. We learnt that the trains were unpredictable with the times changing on the day and them running every 2-3 hours (which is how our day trips turned into afternoon – evening trips) and the platforms changing too. But on the bright side, they were so spacious, air-conditioned and cool, and clean with beautiful views of the mountain tops, sea and Sicilian countryside. The sea is one of the cleanest I’ve seen with the sand bed being undisturbed and neat with wave patterns, and the water being so shallow — we could go in halfway and it would still be up to our knees.

We had the best dough pizza bread (a Russa) ever in the streets of Cefalù. When I ate this whilst walking I went; ‘I get it now, they (Italians) put love into their food’. Heaven is unique and something you can’t replicate, if that’s true then Cefalù is heaven. A hot waiter from a seafront restaurant there also got off the train in Palermo later on and spoke to us in Google Translate to give recommendations. Another beautiful moment in Cefalù was when we saw groomsmen lift a groom on the beach and it was like a glimpse of a movie scene. We topped off our last night in Palermo with putting the hot tub and neon lights on the terrace to use and popped off a bottle of Prosecco as fireworks went off in the distance. Retrograde tried us but we persevered with the hot tub settings and making it a lit send off.

Recounting Catania

Our last morning in Palermo was even more glorious as we finally found some limoncello — and got buzzed — whilst being served by an another hot Italian waiter/ We got on our train to Catania and arrived around 5 p.m. then took a bus to the centre so we could walk closer to our next lodgings. We passed through the beautiful Piazza del Duomo, but also noted that the building exteriors are a lot darker and grey in Catania in comparison to Palermo and Cefalù, including the cobbled stone streets — it made it seem more like Edinburgh, which is cold but beautiful, so it was less sunny and joyous.

When we got to ‘B&B Garibaldi’, the owner let us in and immediately asked for passports as we brought our luggage and handbags in then threw them onto the bed, telling us to go out again so he can watch us lock the room, main door and outside door. What he didn’t mention, is he was taking us somewhere for coffee.

“Mocha?” He asked me, like we were going to have it in the kitchen — and then we only had our low-battery phones with us when out in a new place and without having a second to put our stuff down properly. It was a nice gesture though, we thought, as he got our drinks he made us get so we had ‘soya latte’ (soy milk) with tea at what seemed to be his local. Afterwards, to save time, we thought to go on a walk and grab dinner before heading back to change for drinks in the night.

On return to the ‘B&B’, a guy outside said, “Oh beautiful girls living here,” so like the others, we ignored him. We made sure the door from the main road was closed and then heard it open behind us — we kept on walking to go up the steps to the ‘B&B’ inside the building, and again, he followed. Maya was unlocking the main door inside when he stood behind me and said, “Don’t be scared, I live here too…”. This just seemed more creepy, but we laughed in relief. He proceeded to engage in conversation in the kitchen telling us his name and that he was from Germany and travelling with his mum. Not wanting to discriminate against his teardrop tattoo and other face and neck tats, we heard him out. But he would say something reassuring — like the mum part — and then something creepy again like getting drinks or asking what room we’re staying in when it’s so small in there. After this second encounter, it pretty much set the tone for this hotel with the lack of windows, light in Catania, dark and wooden interiors, loud men as neighbours who woke us up every early morning yelling in Italian and the teeny shared bathroom.

Luckily, we salvaged the night again and has the best time even finding this big, spacious club by the docks, Porto di Catania, after getting cheap cocktails of around 3.50 euros with free crisps at this bar where it was like a teens hotspot with girls dressed in the all-black chic and hoodie look hanging around teen boys craving that ‘bad boy’ image, revving on their motorbikes. There was one after the other where we sat — it was like being in a classic European film.

Later, a group of guys in the club were trying to have Maya say happy birthday to their shy, more wholesome-looking friend — it was giving their first night out. She granted their wish nicely then they wanted us to stay around them by currency of drinks. We were so free in the club, running around dancing and eventually it got more full. The lights were the proper club, blinding lights type where it went white and black with every blink that I just had to close my eyes and dance.

Without water at the club and a day trip ahead, we left at 2 a.m. super waved and then when taking videos running in the street, we ended up making friends with three Tunisian guys who photobombed us in Piazza del Duomo. Ahmed and Abdul were innocent, wholesome people. We visited another bar, with another drink I didn’t;t need and then we played the funniest games in the park using Google Translate. It was funny because we switched between Italian and French — but they also spoke Arabic and one of them knew more English than the other and even only just. We left eventually as it was 4 a.m., then as we were walking into our place I noticed Maya didn’t have her jacket/blazer anymore so we sprinted back to find it — with no Google Maps, just intention. That’s when we ended up back there somehow so quickly, but the benches were all clear. When we were like wait it’s not here — we turned around to face a random man who appeared in front of us wearing the jacket! That’s when M said, “I think that’s my mom’s blazer”, and he didn’t say anything but had his hands clasped together with his head lowered down as if offering himself forward to us — then took it off without saying anything like he knew we were back for it. It was the funniest, strangest moment of the trip.

Taormina day trip

This day was greatly reserved for Taormina. The White Lotus season two setting and we grabbed the last, full sunny day. We arrived at 4.30 p.m. and discovered Taormina really is a cliffside town. To put into perspective, alongside the running around from midnight to 4 a.m. in Catania to climbing around Taormina, we did 30k steps in all of Sunday. The view is what can sum up this area. It was breathtaking and worth the climb up to the Villa Commune (really clean and polished park) with a view of the seafront and coastline. We took photos from this princess-like tower with my hair flowing down like Rapunzel, romanticizing our lives for real. Then my itinerary had said the Teatro Antico di Taormina (ancient theatre) would be a 4-minute walk. We went past this gran hotel on the winding road, which gave hints of the White Lotus HB show, and then saw that the ancient theatre was up way further up the cliff so more slanted walking up in our platform sandals (me) and flip flops (M) combo. We walked through the inner streets to see the town and got gelato. I had coconut and strawberry on a cone a la vegan. There was even an entourage for a newly-engaged couple at the top of the hill and a saxophone playing in the background from the boujie hotel as we took panoramic videos; it just made everything. After realising we have less time to make it all the way down for the beach so we went back to the ancient theatre and the climb up wasn’t so bad at all. The ticket guy even let us in for free and the place stayed open until close to 8 p.m. rather than 7, so we had more time to bask in it all. Luckily, we found a restaurant with a vegan menu so we were able to have pesto for a change with the pasta and some protein with lentil soup, and chickpea soup.

On the way down, we saw the night, lit-up landscape going down the rocky, sandy steps with nothing but our phone torches with the pitch black on the cliff.

Syracuse day trip

On Monday, we went to Syracuse (Siracusa). We had 3 hours and a dream with the last train back for 7.30. It was raining this day from Catania and Syracuse so we had to firm the beach day and the islands trip. We managed to get a few of the sights in and walk to Ortiga island — just over a bridge, where we passed a long line of school kids ranging from 7 ish to 16 years old with their teachers in raincoats and umbrellas. We saw some key landmarks and Madonna churches/basillicas, including St Lucia, en route too and walked through some markets by the Temple of Apollo.

We had our first pizza dinner here, luckily they served just tomato and spice on top as an option. Before we left Syracuse, we passed by the Piazzale San Marziano which was beautifully depicted in a cream stone colour. To avoid returning to our hotel too early, we walked around, once off the train — and due to not settling and persevering, we found a nicer part of Catania and the vibiest street and bar. The lady first set us down in the outside part then we asked for the bar again — with neon lights around the mirror like in Tabu, London. The waiter, another with hoop earrings, made us a Sicily Spritz which tasted bomb. This and the Limoncello were the best cocktails we had. I got a tequila shot to catch me up to Maya’s buzz and he poured her a free one after she said she didn’t want one, in actual cups and we took it together with the bartender and a girl sat with us. We went from Catania -> Palermo -> Trapani, next to the airport, near Marsala with Gianni, the same taxi man we used when we first arrived in Trapani and had to get to Palermo. I also want to note that Trapani city centre is also a very pretty and paved over destination we would have liked to explore a little more, but of course had to venture out to be next to the airport in the most rural place (Marsala) without any shops for food in the near distance, the whole house/apartment was worth it though.