We rented a car to be able to visit different parts of the island in a short time. The cost of carhire was 43 EUROs for interval from 4-DEC-2021 to 11-DEC-2021, plus 10 EUROs for payment on arrival. I guess this fee could be avoided but when I tried to pay online it was just not working. The company was called Centauro and even though it doesn’t have the best reviews we had a good experience with them. I don’t consider myself as an experienced driver but nevertheless I still have courage to rent a car abroad becuase it gives you freedom to discover a lot of places and especially in some countries where infrastructure is not so good or reliable it is just best option to get to more remote areas. I always get third party insurance because carhire full insurances in rental companies are usually double of the original price without insurance.
ITINERARY
The first day of our trip we headed south from Catania airport to Syracusse to have a stroll in the old city and to see Teatro Greco and Castello Maniace. Next day we hiked Etna vulcano due to good weather forecast and our choice was excellent because cloudy and rainy weather came following days. We started to walk to some craters near the parking lot continuing more up to the cable car station where we finished our hike as the weather in such altitude was not favorable anymore and there was practically zero visibility due to clouds. We also explored surroundings of Taormina city with Isola Bella, Ancient Greek Theatre and the castle. Then we continued more up North where the city of Savoca is situated – one of the places were the Godfather was filmed with famous Bar Vitelli and very pretty sceneries. On the way back we stopped in Forza d‘ Agró where are other film spots from the Godfather. We also tried to visit Alcantara Gorge but part of it was closed (unfortunately more interesting part – place with black lava walls up to 50 meters high, in the typical shape of a prism that the rocks have taken during the cooling process). After visiting those places of the eastern part of the island we started moving towards Agrigento via Enna, where we stayed overnight, we visited Castello d‘ Lombardia next day in the morning and we continued direction to the Valley of the temples in Agrigento.
A short story: While still in Enna we encountered little problem navigating through the city and kinda got stuck in the middle of very narrow historic streets of the city with many one way roads and as I mentioned before I don’t consider myself as an experienced driver therefore it was complicated to get out of those streets. Fortunately a Sicilian guy noticed my troubles to turn around and helped me getting out and navigating through the city. And this makes the experience of traveling memorable. You never know what will happen and what people you meet along the way. That’s the part of traveling I like the most. I was really desperate that moment and terrified I would scratch the rental (even though I had third party insurance it is still pain in the arse to do paperwork afterwards) and out of a sudden one guy comes and asks if we need help. I appreciate kindness of people and it is nice to see that people are willing to help you if you need.
After our little problem getting out of Enna we managed to arrive to Agrigento and visit Valley of the temples and nearby white marl cliffs called Scala dei Turchi. The position of the white cliffs was not clear but we went down to the beach and followed the coast until we found a little fence you can pass through and see the Scala dei Turchi. Our next destination was Corleone and Anti-Mafia museum (CIDMA). We tried to schedule a tour in English one day in advance, communication was not so clear but we managed it at the end. Within walking distance from the museum is Due Rocche waterfall. The guide from the museum called his colleague to let him know we are going to see the waterfalls and his colleague was there to open a gate for us to walk around. Then we continued to Cefalú, city in the northern coast of the island famous for its scenery with a big rock and Norman cathedral. As the weather was cloudy and rainy we were not in a mood to do any hikes and we mostly did „car hiking“ but we discovered perfect place for such a weather – abandon thermal spa spring in the mountains, place called Sclafani Bagni. This was just perfect ending to our short trip before Christmas.
