Un Viaggio in Sicilia
Mom Diana and daughters Kaitlyn and Alexandra were set on traveling to Sicily. Little did we know that embarking on our very first Rick Steves tour would be a 3+ year saga. We booked our trip to Sicily in May 2019 for March 2020. On February 29, 2020—happy leap day!—we learned that our trip was canceled. In May 2021, we rebooked for March 2022, and then postponed to June 2022. By the time we made it to our destination, we were flying out of a different airport (our parents moved in 2021, so rather than New York’s JFK Airport, we left from DC’s Dulles) on a different airline (our 2020 flights had been on Alitalia, which no longer exists!)—and of course, these were just a few tiny changes compared with all that had transpired since we first decided on Sicily for a family trip. But this past June, we finally made it, and it was well worth the wait.
Ti amo, Sicilia.
Fast Facts
Tour: Rick Steves’ Best of Sicily in 11 Days
Dates: June 19-29, 2022
Guide: Virginia Agostinelli
Tour catchphrase: Amuninni! (Let’s go!)
Best souvenir: spices
The names may sound innocuous (“bruschetta mix,” “pasta blend”), but nothing sold stateside comes close. The spices you buy from any of Sicily’s many markets will powerfully amplify the flavor of basically anything you add them to. Stock up, and get a taste of Sicily every time you cook!
Best gelato: Meno Tredici (-13) in Trapani
Favorite gelato flavors: pistachio, dark chocolate and orange, Modica chocolate
Must-try drinks: seltz, almond milk
Especially if you’re visiting Sicily in the summer, a nice cold seltz, available from sidewalk kiosks, is a hydration essential. Bubbly water, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and salt never tasted so good. Almond milk in Sicily makes what is called “almond milk” stateside look weak as water—the Sicilian version is oh-so-sweet nut nectar. Hope you have a sweet tooth!
Why Rick Steves? Curation.
You could visit dozens of examples of Arab-Norman architecture or lose yourself amidst acres of ruins at various levels of scenic dilapidation that all eventually start to blur together—or, you can take a Rick Steves tour and see just the very best examples of the special features that make a place worth visiting. And, as a family that consistently has a hard time deciding where to eat, we especially appreciated the locations chosen for the group meals. We had many spectacular feasts that we never would have experienced on a trip we’d planned ourselves.
Navigating this website
You’ll see a list of all destinations visited on the left side of each page (or at the top, if on a phone). Location pages all have the same layout:
- a sketch of an especially memorable scene from that location;
- a brief statement about that place’s highlights;
- photographs; and
- a longer written recap below.
This website was an all-hands-on-deck Hay family endeavor: all sketches and paintings are by Kaitlyn; photographs are by Kaitlyn (mostly) and a few from Alexandra; Alexandra’s handwritten travel journal was transcribed by Diana; WordPress wizardry to get this online by Alexandra.
On to our first stop in Sicily: Palermo!
Hays in Sicily 