Going through the many photos we took at Sicily makes me want to go on another holiday. The wine, the blue skies with ginormous fluffy cloud. The pasta, the tiramisu, the landscape. The big grin on the 3-year old’s face as she devoured the gelato (and the tantrums that followed on when I attempted to lick the melting gelato off). Where should I start? A good holiday is always worth sharing 🙂
Before we go into the pretty stuff, let’s talk about the important bits :
- How we got to Sicily : Flew with Fly Dubai to Catania Airport- was about 1800AED return per person, 6 hours flight.
- The good : Cheap, flight was half empty eventhough we went during school holidays which means kids could sleep on 2-3 seats each!.
- The bad : Just make sure you get to the check-in counter 60 minutes before departure. You’ll be denied boarding if you were 1 minute late.
- Where we stayed : Booked an apartment that we found through Airbnb. Residence Schuler in Taormina was perfect for us. We stayed there for 5 nights and just did short day trips from there.
- The good : So much space for 3 adults, 2 kids. Amazing views. Location. Parking.
- The bad : You gotta be a pretty pro driver to manoevre through the narrow roads to get there!
Click here for our detailed review on the place!
- How we got around : Rented a car through Rentalcars.com – which was then through Sicily by Car.
- The good : Pick up place was a 3 minute walk from Catania Airport.
- The bad : The queues were so long for Sicily by Car, whereas all the other Car Rental companies had no lines at all (Avis, Hertz!). Click here for what you need to watch out for if you are renting a car.
And now, the highlights of our trip with the two little ones, which will hopefully give you an idea of what to do if you were based in Taormina :
- Walking through Corso Umberto, the main pedestrian zone in Taormina. So much space for the toddler to scoot around, and so many little shops to see. Make sure you get to Piazza IX Aprille at the middle, perfect for people watching…
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- Cost : Free
- How we got there from our place : It’s a 5 minutes walk from our Airbnb
2. Eat lots of pizza, pasta, beer and wine… – Life is good when a glass of wine is 4 euros. And you have it anywhere.
3. Getting to the Greek theatre in Taormina – A bit of history, and a lot of trekking. When we there the entrance at the same level of the Greek theatre (via Teatro Greco) was closed off for renovations, so we had to walk from the road leading to Villa Communale Park. I am hoping the renovation works are done when you go because it is a long and painful walk up (if you had kids)!
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- Cost : 10 Euros.
- Tip : It’s free on the first Sunday of the month!
- How we got there from our place : It’s a 20 minutes walk from our Airbnb. You could drive, but it’s really difficult to find parking outside Villa Communale Di Taormina where the entrance was when we went
4. Spending the afternoon at Villa Comunale Di Taormina – The view from this park is breathtaking. To be honest the view from anywhere at Taormina towards the sea is amazing, which was probably why we took so many photos when we were there. There’s a playground at the park, fish pond, lots of benches for you to sit around and rest. We spent an entire afternoon here with the kids.
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- Cost : Free
- How we got there from our place : It’s a 20 minutes walk from our Airbnb.
More to come in Part 2… 🙂
Shout out to the ladies who gave me tips on where to go, what to do, and where to stay 🙂
*Disclaimer : This is not a sponsored post. We paid for our holiday. In fact, we were actually denied boarding on the Friday that we were meant to fly out so we paid an extra 4000AED for a one way ticket for 3 adults, a toddler and baby. *Insert sad face* Post to come on ‘Lessons Learnt…’ 😀
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