My garden tour of Sicily and Malta began on Sept.18, 2022, in Palermo. It was our 29th tour, the eighth one to Italy. The tour was everything – and more – than I was hoping for. It fulfilled all my expectations and I came away very encouraged and positive about the future of international travel.
We got to see a great deal of Sicily – its beautiful coastal towns, magnificent, rugged, sweeping country landscapes with rolling hills and stunning vistas – and exquisite towns and villages, full of charm and good will.
We never encountered any menace or threats or fear, only graciousness, kindness and generous hospitality plus top class food and wine.
Many times I wished more people had come along for the marvellous time we were all having.
To recover from jet lag, Loraine and I flew first to Rome, where we spent five days reconnecting with many of our favourite places, including Piazza della Rotonda, where our hotel was located, and wonderful neighbouring attractions such as Piazza Navona and Piazza del Popolo.
We took the opportunity to do a few new things that we had always wanted to do in Rome, including climbing up to the top of St. Peter’s and walking along Via Appia, the ancient Roman road that extends all the way from Rome to Brindisi.
We also got to check out our favourite churches and Caravaggio paintings as well as visit Palazzo Barberini, a place we have always missed for some reason on previous trips.
From Rome, we took a fast train to Florence, where we spent four days doing things we had enjoyed so much on previous visits, such as visiting the Boboli and Bardini gardens. But we also took time to visit the Bargello Museum, a place we had always missed on previous visits. It turned out to be far more spectacular than we had anticipated and we were also treated to a stirring thunderstorm while inside the former prison which is now a splendid museum containing many exquisite art treasures.
On Sunday, Sept. 18, we took another fast train back to Rome and then hopped on the Leonardo Express to reach Fiumicino Airport for our short flight to Palermo and checked into our hotel, Eurostar Centrale Palace on Via Vittoria Emanuele which was very close to the famous and beautiful four corners, Quattro Canti. What follows is a brief account of what we did and saw, but it would be impossible to tell the story of the tour in total detail: it was just too packed with exciting and wonderful moments. But let me try to give you an overvie
Our first full day in Palermo was spent touring the city, seeing the gardens of Villa Giulia, the city’s botanical garden with its magnificent avenue of spiky Ceiba (kapok) trees and visiting the Norman palace and Palatine Chapel and the ultra-lively Ballaro market.
On our third day, we moved from Palermo and travelled to Monreale to visit the beautifully ornate 12th century cathedral there with its splendid Norman architecture.
Continuing on, we stopped at Segesta to see a Greek temple and archeological site and got a little education about the Elymians, one of the key indigenous groups of ancient Sicilians, before we moved on to the pretty seaside fishing town of Sciacca where we had a fun prosecco break and enjoyed the delightful panorama of the harbour front.
Some popular destinations in Italy, such as Cinque Terre and some parts of Amalfi, have been spruced up and, in some people’s opinion, “Disney-fied” with houses and buildings painted in bright, unrealistic colours to please tourists. But Sciacca is considered a genuine representation of the old Italian (Sicilian) style that is unspoiled and true to its past. (By the way, Sciacca was also the town where both Anthony Fauci, the U.S. medical chief, and rock star Jon Bon Jovi’s parents were born. (Little trivia my group liked.)
First thing on day four of the tour, we travelled to see the lovely white coastal escarpment, Scala dei Turchi, the Turk’s Staircase.
Here, we walked on the beach and paddled in the Mediterranean as we got as close as we could to the spectacular white cliffs, formed by the Zanclean Flood over five million years ago when the Mediterranean broke opened to the Atlantic and powerful waves came flooding in to form the staircase.
From the Turk’s Staircase, we moved to Agrigento to see the Valley of Temples, including a special time at the ancient irrigated citrus garden of Giardino della Kolymbrethra. Here, we walked among beautiful old groves of olive and citrus trees and saw ancient streams and irrigation channels and grottoes created by the Greeks over 2,000 years go.
Onwards, we moved to Catania but we stopped on the way at Favara to see how efforts had been made to rejuvenate this slowly dying town by introducing new and exciting art installations. It was a fun visit and we got a quiet and intimate experience of Sicily’s behind the tourist scenes world.
From Favara, we hopped down to Catania and checked into the Romano Palace Luxury Hotel, where again we had fun swimming in the lovely pool. Relaxing times with a cool G&T or glass of wine or prosecco by the pool is a key component of our tours.
The next morning, we started our day with a walking tour of historic Catania and we visited all the key squares and churches and monuments in the centre of the town including the Cathedral of St. Agatha where we saw the grave stone of composer Vincenzo Bellini.
Later, we happened to pass the place where Bellini was born. I played a little music from Norma.
We also toured the famous street of churches with the Monastery dei Benedettini and down to the colourful fish market with its stunning canopy formed by countless multi-coloured umbrellas. Catania is also the city of elephants, having once been the home to the mysterious miniature elephant.
From Catania we skipped quickly along the coastline to the lovely hilltop town of Taormina, one of Sicily’s most popular tourist destinations, simply because of its stunning views and outstanding Greek theatre and superb public garden build by Scottish immigrant Florence Treveleyn, who ran away to Sicily after a scandalous love affair with Edward VII when he was still the Prince of Wales. Florence married a doctor and spent her days in Taormina doing good works and building the charming garden.
While in Taormina, we got to visit Etna, and loved riding up the volcanic mountain to stand very close to the top where we found black beaches of crushed volcanic rocks in a moody, atmospheric, other-worldly, dark landscape smothered in eerie mist that sweeps in and out as the weather changed continually.
Taormina is also famous for its outstanding shopping street as well as its many fine restaurants, many of which offer panoramic views of the coastline and out into the Mediterranean.
From Taormina, we travelled back towards Catania, where we stopped in Lentini to first to visit two lovely unique garden estates, famous for their production of blood oranges – Il Giardino del Biviere, a place where both the Queen Mother and Mick Jagger had been special guests. This property was once a lake that had to be drained because of malaria mosquitos and turned (after great landscaping efforts) and turned into a beautiful garden, which is continues to be today.
From Lentini, we skipped down the road for lunch and then on to Giardino San Giuliano in Villasmundo, an exotic garden where we were told Prince Charles, now King Charles III, once visited.
The day was supposed to conclude with a puppet show in Siracusa (Syracuse) but we decided to re-arrange our visit to the puppet theatre and museum until another day because we were having so much fun in the gardens.
In Siracusa, we checked into Parco Delle Fontane, another hotel on our tour with a lovely pool set in a peaceful garden.
For our first evening in Siracusa, we nipped down to Ortigia, the historic island centre, with its beautiful white stone cathedral and mesmerizingly beautiful Diana fountain.
First thing the next day, we stopped at the Neapolis, the city’s ancient archeological site where we found another amazing Greek theatre with terrific views.
We also got to visit the unique Ear of Dionysus, a huge limestone cave, apparently given its descriptive named by Caravaggio, because of its shape and its astonishing acoustics.
My group were inspired by this acoustical wonder to burst into song and sang a splendid version of O Canada.
The following day, we shopped and wandered around Ortigia and then went to see the famous puppet show. Although the whole drama was entirely in Italian, we were wonderfully entertained by the drama and charm of the performance. Everyone came away enriched and enthralled by the stories of the little knight puppets and their quest to win the love of beautiful Angelica.
From Siracusa, we moved on to see three of Sicily’s most outstanding baroque towns, Noto, Ragusa and Modica.
In Noto, we toured the town, which had a number of baroque churches and other buildings, as well as stone-paved streets with plenty of inviting cafes and restaurants. From there we stopped to do some wine tasting at winery, Vigna di Pettineo in Cerasuolo di Vittori.
Having recently watched Andrew Graham-Dixon’s TV show, Sicily Unpacked, I had to have coffee and pastries and ice cream at Noto’s famous, Caffe Sicilia. Delicious. I had two of everything.
All three baroque towns were fascinating and picturesque. We took a train ride in Ragusa and went to see a town garden and then went to see a chocolate museum. But the fun party of being in these towns was finding and making use of a variety of delightful restaurants and cafes, all with interesting views of town scenes or the rolling landscape.
From Ragusa, we went to Pozzallo where we caught the ferry to Valletta, Malta.
Our first activity in Valletta was to go to the St. John’s Co-Cathedral to see the wildly decorated interior – the most sumptuous, gold-plated church interior we have ever seen, including St. Peter’s and other key churches – but the real highlight for me was to see Caravaggio’s paintings, St. Jerome and the Beheading of John the Baptist, two works he completed for the Knights of Malta after running for his life away from Rome after a fight went badly wrong and he was accused of murder.
We went to Gozo, calling at St. Paul’s Bay on the way, and took the ferry. In Gozo, we wandered around the magnificent Ggantija temples, said to be older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids and took a boat ride into the blue and red waters around Fungus Rock.
For our final day in Malta, we went to the Mosta Dome and then on to Mdina and Paul’s Grotto – where St. Paul lived for a while after being shipwrecked.
On the evening before we left Valletta, there was a massive street party, a celebration of all that makes Malta great, and we thoroughly enjoyed the street bands and rock concerts and all the lights and fireworks. What a way to end a fabulous trip.
swhysall@hotmail.com
A few more snaps from the tour. Please email me if you have questions or are interested in future tours. Our next one will be to Southern England and the Channel Islands in May, 2023.
swhysall@hotmail.com
