Day 4: Agrigento

We tried to divide our trip into manageable driving distances since Anja was mostly driving all the time herself. So the drive on day 4, from Ragusa to Agrigento, was so far the longest in our trip – 2h and 16 minutes (Google Maps). Again we managed to come to the city hungry, during siesta hours and again rain followed us. We tried going to a steakhouse but off-season opening hours differ from the ones available on google, so we ended up doing lunch at the most touristic place off the main street possible, but desperate times call for desperate measures. There are a few options for paid parking here because most of the tourists come here with organized bus tours to see Vale dei Templi. That and our off-season timing is also why Agrigento itself was pretty empty when we got there.

What we missed at lunch we compensated for at dinner. We walked in the closes restaurant to our hostel – literally, it was in front of it, as we were both tired af. We did a three-course type of romantic dinner at Sal8, where everything tasted heavenly and it is a must-try if you are ever here. I tried “Seppia gratinata con erbe profumate e pistacchio” and it was to die for.

Also – don’t be surprised if you can drink a lot while you are here.

I think the atmosphere is a bit different in Sicily, so have a bottle instead of a glass, it will make your life easier.

Day 5: Agrigento, Corleone, Palermo

Next day we checked out Valle dei Templi, where we got stuck parking in mud, took some must-have pictures with Icarus and headed to beautiful Scale dei Turchi.

We decided to look at it from afar because there was quite a lot of people and we had a long drive ahead of us. At the last minute, we decided to drive-through Corleone, which is only 92 km away, but if your stomach doesn’t handle road curves well come equipped with Dramina pills.

We made quite an effort to take a photo with the road sign marking the entry to Corleone city, but decided to skip the Mafia museum at the last minute.

We rather headed on to our last destination – Palermo. Driving through Palermo is an experience by itself, especially if you’ve never been to Albania or Greece. As parking is almost impossible, try booking accommodation which has parking included, even if you have to pay extra for it. After we parked and settled at Hotel: B&B Essenze, we headed into the city for our last night. Some streets of Palermo give away a bit of a dodgy vibe, but don’t be scared for your kidneys too much. We decided to have some last-night fun, got dressed up in basically the only nice clothes we had and headed to Enoteca Picone. If you are ever there find Lorenzo – he will gladly take you on a trip through Sicilian wines. I almost cannot remember how we managed to get home.

Day 6: Palermo

We had a couple of hours to kill before heading to the airport, so we walked the around the Sicilian capital, where the sun finally decided to show-up full – time.

We soaked it in, checked out the historic sights and expensive Italian shoes. After some last-minute shopping, we headed to Mondello beach, where locals do siesta, lunch and everything else – we even noticed some windsurfers in the distance. After that, it was time to say goodbye to this awesome destination, full of great food and charming people.

The airport of Palermo is quite far away from the city and one of the rare airports I’ve been to with an amazing view of the hills on one side and seaside on the other.

We managed to return our car without a scratch, which seemed to surprise the guys at the rent-a-car shop (self-high-five). PS: You can get frozen cannoli to-go at the airport, for your hungry loved ones at home.

You can look at more photos of our trip on Instagram, #meuctrip.