Heyho!
I will be in Trapani, Sicily for 5 days end of the month. I have checked the places section but loos it its not really up to date, some places closed, some without information.
So I hope someone who recently visited or maybe someone local can help me out.
I am looking for bars for a drink in the evening and especially for shops carrying local beers.
And if someone has some more travel advise, I am glad to hear about it. For example a good winerey to visit and try some marsala.
Cheers and thanks! |
Of course you should go to the top of Erice. You have the place to yourself since you’re so far outside the tourist season. |
It’s been many years since I visited Sicily and there wasn’t any worthwhile beer at the time (that could be said for Italy as a whole back then).
Don’t know about speciic wineries to visit or recommend but bear in mind that there’s a lot more white than red produced & a lot of it is very bland. Marsala is obviously worth exploring. As far as whites go, look out for wines made with the Grillo grape variety (although most of them go into Marsala). There’s more interest in the reds, especially those made with indigenous varities. Look out for wines made with the Nero d’Avola variety.
As far as tourist stuff goes, I recall Enna being quite spectacular. The ancient Greek ruins to the South at Selinunte & around Agrigento were rather impressive. I guess you’d need a car to get to these. |
and if you do explore the island a bit, and have a car, and like Roman ruins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Romana_del_Casale
Palermo is an interesting city too. I drove two American friends around the city once, driving like the Sicilians do - never stopping for red lights or stop signs, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving on the sidewalk - we stopped to admire a view and they were behind the car puking. lots of fun |
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Try to
Contact Dorotea and Fabio of mosaic pub in Catania ..they know very well their island and they are very beer passionate.. I think you can talk with them by their website.. I suggest you to add Catania to your trip .. |
Thanks for the input. We are 4 persons and will rent a car probably. Erice is definitely on the list aswell as Segesta.
@jorge76 I will try to get in contact with them. Visiting Catania is not planned as its quite a longer trip and given we are there for only 5 days we want to spent it in the west of the island. |
Originally posted by Travlr
and if you do explore the island a bit, and have a car, and like Roman ruins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Romana_del_Casale
Palermo is an interesting city too. I drove two American friends around the city once, driving like the Sicilians do - never stopping for red lights or stop signs, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving on the sidewalk - we stopped to admire a view and they were behind the car puking. lots of fun
Hard to imagine, but it sounds like the Italians drive worse than the Koreans do. |
Originally posted by Travlr
I drove two American friends around the city once, driving like the Sicilians do - never stopping for red lights or stop signs, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving on the sidewalk - we stopped to admire a view and they were behind the car puking. lots of fun
We rented a car and within an hour our guy driving got too close to one of old those three-wheeled truck things, which just happened to have a bit of metal sticking out about 18 inches at the side. It opened the side of our car like a tin opener & we could only use the passenger side door for the rest of the trip. The chap in the truck didn’t even bother to stop. We thought we’d better report it to the hire company so, being almost enirely devoid of Italian language, we used an English-Italian dictionary and phoned them to report "mia carrozzeria è danneggiata". I have no idea what the car hire man said back to us. When we returned the car he started ranting and raving. It turned out he thought we’d lost / stolen the spare wheel because he wasn’t aware it was stowed under the car. Once he’d realised that he was all smiles. The two inch wide gouge running the whole length of one side of the car didn’t bother him at all. |
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I was there 3 years ago, not much beer in the area, hopefully there is more now.
In Palermo, Luppolo L’Ottavo Nano was the best place; Spillo also had some good beer, I just updated the links.
This website is usually more up to date than RB: http://www.microbirrifici.org/Sicilia_birrifici_regione.aspx
But they only have breweries, no bars.
They also have maps, and there seem to be some brewery in your area; I didn’t check if they are open to visits though: http://www.microbirrifici.org/beer_italy_maps.aspx
If there is no specialized beer shop in town, your second best bet in Italy are wine shops (enoteca): they usually carry a few craft beers.
Random Google search; "birra artigianale near marsala, tp" -> "Birrificio Principe di Guarrato"
"birra artigianale near palermo" -> "Birra e Basta" seems interesting, and more...
Re. wineries, I tried to visit some known winery and I gave up after a couple: they are usually not organized to welcome visitors, even more so if they are outside populated areas; I guess they wouldn’t get enough traffic to justify a permanent tasting room.
So do your homework to find who has a tasting room; in most cases they may still welcome you on appointment, but I guess you would feel more pressure to buy, then.
Instead, in Marsala, we found a co-op, I think it was "Associazione Strada del Vino Marsala - Terre d’Occidente" (be careful, their website says "via XI Maggio 132/A", but their maps point to the street address 32); it’s an association of Marsala wine producers; they designed discovery "paths" (strade), but they also have a tasting room gathering wines from most of the producers, and a shop; so it’s something you shouldn’t miss. On their website they also recommend some restaurant and inn.
I just hope I got the right name... |
In Trapani, in the historical center, you can find ’Fat Freddy’s Hops’ in Via Roma 14. They have good selection of craft beers. Otherwise you can always come in my own Beershop near Messina, along the Tirreno Coast in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto :) I will offer you some beer, even though I know it’s a long trip from Trapani...Enjoy my land! |
Segesta is impressive, but, of all the treasures on the island, Agrigento (valle dei templi) is probably the richest; it’s not as far as other cities, and unless you plan to go back, you shouldn’t miss it.
On your way, just outside Palermo, don’t forget the "Duomo di Monreale"
Just for the record (because they are too far for you), the other places that we liked the most have been Taormina (teatro greco) and the Baroque center of Noto.
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Foodwise, too much to mention because Sicily is one of my two favorite regions in Italy, but...
classics: pasta alla norma (aubergine and ricotta); pasta con le sarde; sarde a beccafico; pasta with swordfish sauce (sometimes called alla garibaldina); grilled swordfish; in Palermo eat streetfood inside the mercato (apparently the fried spleen sandwich is a hit); other streefood include ’arancini’ (risotto balls with a filling); desserts made with ricotta, such as ’cassata’ and the real ’cannoli’; and most of all, the best ’granita’ (think of sorbet slush, but made with natural flavors; a couple of times we found places that made ~75ml taster trays... lemon, prickly pear, blackberry, true almond milk...); almond milk is also a common drink that you can get in bars, I once spotted an unlabeled bottle, I was told that they make it themselves, with the almonds from their land, that was the best one. |
