14 days in Sicily and the Amalfi Coast
Italy
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Oct 6 - Oct 19, 2024
We started our journey to Italy with a bump in the road, literally, when we had a flat tire driving from Catania to Taormina. But the staff at our hotel, especially Ranidu, Chiara Rozzi, who allowed us to park the car for free and drove us to our hotel and the Espiritu team saved the day. Thankfully we got rid of the rental car and we were glad we did. We drove in Europe before but the hillside roads and highways in both Sicily and around Sorrento were too much for us to handle. And the intense drivers in Palermo and Naples were more than I would’ve imagined, so.., it was easier to get around with private cars, taxis or buses.
After we settled in at Hotel Villa Greta with a late dinner and bottle of wine everything got better each and every day! Taormina was wonderful as we enjoyed the steps up and down twice a day to shop, eat and explore. We took an excursion to Mt. Etna that include a stop at Alcantara Gorges, so bring your water shoes for a great walk through the park. Our best dinner was at Osteria Rosso DiVino, a higher end restaurant owned by two sisters that served us the fresh catch of the day, sea bass served Sicilian-style.
Our stop in Palermo included a great walking tour with our guide, Rachele and lots of interesting sights on our own, like the Mercato del Capo. Then a quick flight to Naples brought us to Sorrento. Our room at the La Piazzeta Guest House was very comfortable, Catarina made sure we had everything we needed.
We highly recommend the sunset cruise, a guided tour of Pompeii with Alessio, make pizza with Chef Giulia Fusco, and the all day tour of Capri included the Blue Grotto, and the extra cost for the chair lift and funicular are worth it. Our guide, Luigi was a lot of fun and super helpful. We also visited an art exhibition of the works of Antonio Ligabue Villa Fiorentino.
After 5 days in Sorrento we were driven back to Naples for a couple of days to explore and eat. We had a little trouble finding the door to our hotel which was located in a building with no signage, but the Unico Realis was modern, comfortable and clean. Maria Chiara, our host was very attentive. She recommended a great place for our final dinner at L’Antica Trattoria before our flight home the next morning.
A few takeaways to share; we felt safe throughout our trip in very town and city along the way. Most everyone spoke English but we wish we practiced our Italian more!
The hillside towns have many stairs so leave your heels and sandals at home and wear comfortable walking shoes as we clocked well over 15,000 steps a day. One day when we got a bit lost in Taormina we clocked 59 flights of stairs, mama Mia! Pack as light as you can, hauling a large suitcase as we did was tough. The room was a bit small but the balcony view was incredible. The stairs were truly the challenge.
Google Maps was noticeably inconsistent throughout and if you are not good at reading maps spend time plotting out trips before venturing out to explore.
The Trip app provided by Espiritu was very helpful as was the support by our KimKim team led by Rita Pagano.
Hotel Reviews
The staff, especially Ranido, made our crazy start to our trip very pleasant.
Great location, this hotel was more of a typical hotel in any downtown location around the world.
Location was perfect, just off the main square
Activity Reviews
Rachele was very helpful in pointing out sights and places for us to visit the next day.
I suggest a bit less of historical details and add more about local culture and sights worth exploring.