Which town have you picked ? From where we were it was around a 2.5-3 hr drive to etna. It’s a very big island .,
The train it the italiarail ( normal service) . Buy a ticket at the machine , make sure you validate it at the next machine and off you go . They do have conductors on board who check.
You will be hard pushed to find anyone who speaks English it even the kids , google translate is your friend .
We used Alamo/enterprise for a car . Watch the excess it is normal to be around €2000 , we found one at €600 and took out an axa excess policy . The nearer to etna the more up you will pay . Car hire at Palermo is easy and the desk was inside the airport ( east mids size ) but frantic but ok but the car pick is outside , quite an eye opener lol. Just don’t hire a huge car . The towns have tiny roads. The motorway ring is toll as well , you pay in exit and chose wisely for your town as you may find yourself driving back on yourself on the normal roads .
In August Rome and Venice holiday in Sicily so it becomes very busy. Beaches you pay for the lidos but there is some free beAch but not a lot in some places . It’s not extortionate though. mist beaches are shingle or rock.
You will have to drive to get to a larger supermarket but they are nothing like here so don’t expect huge , it’s easier to shop local like bakery , butchers M tiny supermarket etc . We had 3 separate days queing with locals for fresh milk on delivery .
everything is seasonal as well. When you weigh apples etc there is a glove normal in a drawer under the scale use it and put the code on the produce ( handwritten one) and weigh it , took us a while to figure that one Out lol , they do use chip and pin but you may find you are the only one using it lol .they also shut everything midday so check you timings ( mostly 12-4)
Food is Really cheap. restaurants and street food which is a must imo. If you think it looks touristy it will still be cheap . Gelato is a must do and the fresh bakers , see my food bit. a meal is a family affair so expect the village to turn up at the restaurant lol and allow lit of time . The savour food so it’s a full evenings job. Limoncello at the supermarket is about €4 , beer dirt cheap and wine a And Prosecco around the same . Our pizza bill which was amazing was €78 for the 7 of us including all drinks . Crazy .
It’s an amazing place though , think pre commercialised. We loved it . The locals called our villa the big house , made me think who actually owned it
it cost just shy of €5000 that villa for a week 😱😱 my sis booked it as a family treat.
I might start looking again .
obvs for something a lot cheaper lol.
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