Travel Date: October 2017
Let's be completely honest. The first reason we looked at Sicily was that we wanted someplace that seemed a little exotic. Then, given that it was close-by, with multiple transportation options and had more than a few UNESCO heritage sites, our decision was made.
Sicily is perfect for a week's vacation with numerous historic and coastal towns spread over the breadth and width of the island. While Sicily does have a fair amount of child-friendly activities (rides, water adventure parks, zoos etc.), we didn't cover many of them on this trip, with a 3-yr-old and an infant.
When one embarks on a multi-stop, week-long road trip in Sicily with 2 kids, the in-laws and a whole load of luggage, one needs a large family vehicle.
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| 8 days, 1000 km |
When one embarks on a multi-stop, week-long road trip in Sicily with 2 kids, the in-laws and a whole load of luggage, one needs a large family vehicle.
In this case, we had this beast... the SEAT Alhambra.
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| SEAT Alhambra |
When traveling with kids, we try and slow down the pace of our sightseeing and ensure that we have enough kid-friendly activities interspersed in among all of the culture.
But with the additional backing provided by the travel-loving in-laws, we packed the schedule choc-a-bloc with Sicily's sights, hoping that the excitement of seeing the grandparents (and completely inappropriate amounts of sugar) would keep the kids going.
We spent the last 5 days of the trip based in Catania doing day trips (Catania is perfect for this), ensuring that we didn't have to lug the kids around with suitcases, and deciding which town to visit for the day based on the weather and when we awoke and got done with breakfast.
This ended up being our schedule:
Day 1: Evening flight into Palermo - check into Bedroom La Stazione (B&B)
Day 2: Exploring Palermo
Day 3: Get to Palermo airport, rent the Alhambra, drive to Agrigento and see the Valley of the Temples
Day 3: Visit the Turkish steps, stay at B&B Un Tuffo Scala dei Turchi
Day 4: Drive to Catania via Piazza Armerina and stay at Sicily Country House & Beach, Catania
Day 7: Day trip to Noto
Day 8: Fly out of Catania
I'll try and cover each of our stops in separate posts and with additional details from each day of our travel.
With the trip completed, it seems extremely brave or foolhardy to have had such an ambitious 8-day schedule with kids. There were a few near-meltdown moments, when the son refused to walk any further. However, a patient pep-talk and a little bit of gelato goes a long way.
No more walking
Summarizing, we thought Sicily was an absolute must-see.
In hindsight, I would probably spend an extra day in Palermo, just taking it all in a little more but the entire road-trip around Sicily, itself, was a tremendous idea. The food was perfect everywhere; we made plenty of stops for granita, gelato and cannoli and we didn't need another break to recover from this vacation.
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| "Leave the gun, take the Cannoli" - Clemenza in 'The Godfather' |
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