Have You Ever Heard of Sicily?
It is the largest Italian island, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, and boasts a unique cultural and natural richness. Places like Taormina, Cefalù, Syracuse, the Valley of the Temples, and San Vito Lo Capo are probably familiar to you. These highly visited locations are often overrun by tourists. Mass tourism is one of the least addressed and debated issues, but it is having evident effects with serious consequences for both the territory and its inhabitants. We want to talk to you about this to make your future vacations and travels more responsible: we all share the same planet, and it is our responsibility to take care of it!
Traveling sustainably is crucial: the availability of time and money limits choices, but we cannot ignore the environmental impact of our decisions.
Here are some tips to start moving towards a greener lifestyle together.
You can also read:
What is The Best Season for a Vacation?
We know, “not everyone can have vacations whenever they want”: a flawed system doesn’t justify our choices. The best time to travel would always be and not just concentrated in 2 weeks a year. Those two weeks bring huge profits to tourism businesses, but put a strain on the systems of entire cities not suited to the number of people present in the area. We could try to choose random dates not associated with holidays and tourist locations and distribute ourselves better throughout the territories throughout the year.
Where Can We go on Holidays?
We can go wherever we want, but we can also check how tourism has shaped the territory. We can decide if the most touristy destination will only be a stopover in our trip rather than the main attraction. We can look for alternative, less known countries and locations where we can savor the local culture uncontaminated by tourism and avoid being the cause of the degradation of those territories.
Traveling to Sicily? After all these premises, we want to tell you about our trip to Sicily and how we decided to go there slowly, avoiding planes, to meet a friend and spend a few weeks together.
How Did We Reach Sicily?
In the past, we took many flights, partly out of necessity (living in the Netherlands), partly because we were unaware of the pollution that this means of transportation entails and the increasingly restrictive limitations on travelers’ freedoms. This year, having a lot of time available, we decided to travel by other means and very slowly. We decided to bring our bikes with us and for this reason, we did not travel by bus. From the Milan area, we traveled to Genoa by train, precisely 3 trains. The situation of the trains in our area is terrible, with delays, breakdowns, lack of safety, space, and services both on the trains and in the stations. It was not easy to transport the loaded bikes, and the stress of the first day was felt. Once in Genoa, we prepared for the 22-hour ferry ride.
We spent the night “bivouacking” on the floor of a corridor and were surprised at how well we had slept. We arrived at the port of Palermo at 7 pm the next day and immediately went to the last-minute booked room near the port. Everything went well, we even managed to fit the bikes standing in the elevator to put them on the balcony to sleep. We spent the evening and the next morning discovering the culinary culture of Palermo and its historic center. Always with our bikes, we went back to a station to take the last two trains that took us to Ragusa Ibla, to Cosmin’s house, our friend.
After 3 days of travel, we finally arrived at our destination. It was not an easy or relaxing journey. We had the opportunity to travel economically during the holidays and enjoy new experiences.
But Why Sicily?
Actually, somewhat by chance: we are here to find Cosmin, who has been on the island for a few months for an environmental guide course. We like to spend New Year’s Eve together and change the routine. We didn’t come alone, but with other friends who will return home much earlier than us. We will stay longer in Sicily because we are here to train on our bikes for our next big project, which is still taking shape. We are a bit weak at the moment, but we will improve gradually.
Now we have realized how long this article has become, so don’t miss the second part, in which we will tell you about our first days of exploration in Sicily. Spoiler: Stairs!
