Rome & Sicily

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Stephen G

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Heading to Italy in late Spring (hopefully before the full tourist rush..)

First, Rome for a little over a week.
Then staying outside of Palermo in Sicily for a few days.

My wife and I love urban environments/living.. we live in NYC.
With that in mind, we don't like to do the really touristy things (and honestly we skip most museums as well..).
To summarize our travel style in 2 words, it is- walking & eating.
We don't rent a car, we just take public transport, and taxi as needed.
We walk walk walk (same as at home - was beautiful here Saturday so we walked about 5 miles).

Any neighborhoods to check out, from a photographic perspective?
Any side trips from Rome for someone staying a full week (no car)?
Any must-sees in Palermo area?
Any markets we should stop by?

thanks!
 
In Palermo don't bother with the Vucciria market, it's not what it used to be. The Mercato Ballaro is much larger, livelier and colourful.

Scenes from Ballaro:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3591/3522606685_ab06b45e6f_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3383/3526232816_df21f47aae_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3364/3524478211_869db18216_o.jpg

The Khalsa neighbourhood is also interesting to walk around. The Monreale cathedral outside Palermo is quite magnificent. Also visit the Palazzo Normanni in Palermo.
 
Don't miss the Trastevere neighborhood in Rome. A real old world feeling. Windy old cobblestone streets so narrow that you can almost reach out and touch the buildings on both sides at the same time. Check out the cool statue in the Church of Santa Maria de Trastevere - people pin euros to it to make their wishes come true. Tons of restaurants and shops, and people out walking at all hours. Just watch out for the guys/gals on the scooters, though; they blast around the corners or jump the curbs to make a right turn and beat the traffic lights.

Oh, and walking distance (for you) to the Tiber, Vatican City and the Forum (maybe).
 
I'd do it the other way round, a couple of days in Rome and most of the time in Sicily! Rome is very touristy ofcourse, (especially restaurants). Hope you have a great trip.
 
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If you like walking and eating, consider Tuscany instead of Rome. Chianti, Florence, Pisa, Sienna, etc. And add a day trip to Rome.

Just what I would do (and did).

Enjoy, of course !

Roland.
 
Both for shots, walking and eating, I enjoyed Venice, Florence and Palermo a lot more than Rome... I would say two days in Rome are enough to see it and feel it... Italy is a charming land!

Cheers,

Juan
 
I found an interesting phenomenon when I was in Rome, many years ago now. On the famous wide streets in central Rome were tourists and the magnificent Romans dressed so beautifully, but by walking close to the buildings I would find an aperture, perhaps shoulder width, and taking that dark route between buildings would lead into a more ordinary square with housewives getting their groceries and others collecting items from the repairman and locals sitting quietly away from what, for them, must sometimes have been the noise of the unceasing pulse of the eternal city.
 
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