Sicily: Hills and Sea Biking

Ride the waves of green and blue.

Sicily’s strategic position, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between Europe and Africa, linking the eastern and western Mediterranean and the Latin World with the Greek resulted in it being not only the prized possession of foreign powers in its tumultuous history, but also a battleground between warring nations. Sicily’s long history of foreign domination has produced an incredible mix of traditions and cultures, leaving behind some of the most remarkable works of art and architecture found in the Mediterranean world. The overlapping of cultures, languages, and technological development can be seen not only in the towns and cities, but also in countryside, as the landscape has also been modified through time, with the acquiring of new irrigation and farming techniques and the introduction of new crops such as vines, olive and citrus trees, originating from other lands.

Western Sicily benefited from all the above, and as you travel through the least densely populated part of the island, you will be amazed by the many architectonic styles: imposing Elymian and Greek ruins in Segesta and Selinunte; narrow, winding medieval streets and exuberant Baroque churches in various towns and villages.

One of the most outstanding qualities of western Sicily is the juxtaposition of colors, constantly changing according to the season. The sea is a predominant feature. It’s many shades of green, turquoise and blue, contrast sharply with the intense whiteness of the salt mines, exulted by the warm sun that makes everything glow or shine. Inland, the greens, yellows and browns characterize the seemingly infinite succession of cultivated rolling hills, dotted with soft colored buildings, whites, creams, yellows and greys, depending on the material used and the period of construction.

The sun also helps give the excellent Sicilian food and wine it’s vivid color as many dishes make use of the wide selection of fresh vegetables found locally such, as tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, zucchini, olives, oranges and capers as well as many types of cow and sheep cheese and fresh fish. The enormous variety of almond based desserts is a wide topic you should definitely indulge in.

Cost: € 1265 (group) $
€ 1065 (self-guided) $
Duration: 8 days/7 nights
Start/End: Erice or Segesta/Cefalù
2010 Start Dates: April 24, May 15, May 29, September 25, October 9, October 23

Highlights of the tour

Discover the archeological sites of Segesta
Nature Reserves: Genuardo, Palazzo Adriano mountains, Madonie mountains
Nubia Salt marshes Reserve and wind mills
Optional visit to a local winery with wine tasting
Wonderful landscapes in the interior of the region along the trip
Stroll through the square of Palazzo Adriano made famous in the 1989 film “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso”
Cycle along quiet roads dotted with quaint, country villages
Cefalù: arab Norman town, famous for its duomo. An icon of the tourism in Sicily
Enjoy traditional Sicilian cuisine and wine

Itinerary
Photos
Maps
Notes
Pricing

Day 1 – Welcome to Sicily!

Transfer from Palermo Falcone–Borsellino Airport to a comfortable country hotel close to Trapani, in the salt marshes nature reserve of “Riserva naturale delle Saline di Trapani e Paceco”. Here you’ll receive the bikes and all the info about the tour.
According to your arrival time you could have time to get the medieval town of Erice, just on the top of the hill close to your accommodation and maybe you would take your dinner there.

Day 2 – Nubia to Segesta (27 miles/44 km)

Enjoy this first gentle rolling ride from Nubia to Segesta.
You’ll have time to spend at the archaeological site before to take your rest to another comfortable accommodation.

The Archaeological site of Segesta is one of the most important and representative in Sicily. The site is renowned for the temple, one of the most representative images of tourism in Sicily, and for the theatre that like a shell suspended in space looks towards the Gulf of Castellammare. Segesta, together with Erice and Entella, was a powerful city of the Elymians, population coming from Turkey, and was marked by several conflicts with Selinunte. During the first Punic War, under the rule of the Romans and the Greeks the town underwent periods of glory; then it was destroyed by the vandals and occupied by the Saracens and ceases to exist in the Early Middle Ages.

Day 3 – Segesta to Contessa Entellina (31 miles/50 km)

This ride will take you inland, in the heart of the Sicily, where we feel the more authentic soul of the island.
The accommodation we use here for this night is a “bio house” where everything is done according to the nature and its own rhythm.

Contessa Entellina is one of the few towns in Sicily where you’ll find the road signs in double lunguage: Italian and Albanians. This because Contessa Entellina is one of the less Greek-Albanians communities we have in Sicily after the Albanians immigrations between century XV and XVIII.

Day 4 – Contessa Entellina to Palazzo Adriano (22 miles/35 km)

Today you’ll continue to ride inland, along gentle rolling hills, towards East.

Palazzo Adriano grew as a town in its own right when a colony from Albania settled there sometimes around 1400s. The town retains much of its ancient charm, that has been able to capture celebrated filmmakers like Tornatore who here filmed scenes of his Oscar’s Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. It is dotted with interesting cultural and architectonic sites. It has two major churches, both standing on Piazza Umberto I, used by Greek and Roman Catholics.

Day 5 – Palazzo Adriano to Alia (28 miles/46 km)

This ride is another opportunity to enjoy the heart of the island: large open views on the countryside and the simple life of the small towns you’ll pass through. Today we offer you two different lengths to get your accommodation.

Alia is a small town of the Palermo province, standing 734m a.s.l. and counting some 4,200 inhabitants. It is surrounded by a number of peaks with sites of naturalistic interest, namely Monte San Calogero, Monte Cammarata, Rocca Busambra and the neighboring Madonie Mountains. Farming and, more recently, naturalistic tourism are the town’s main industries. The area has been inhabited since the Roman Age, as reveal various amphoras, coins and material discovered hereabouts. Historical records also refer to a number of Arab settlements in the area that would soon grow to hamlets.
Especially renowned is the Grotte della Gurfa site, of uncertain origin, their name deriving from Arab term for cave. The grottoes were carved out of the mainly limestone cliff and are divided into two levels with several rooms. At the entrance is the stable with a manger and a tholos, meaning a round room. It is certain that they were used as a burial place by the christians of the 4th century. Some rooms on the upper level are only accessible from outside.

Day 6 – Alia to (31 miles/50 km)

The ride of today will start with a gentle climb. More and more openviews will allow you to have an overlooking to the sea and the hilly area around. If you have a clear day, towards East, you’ll see the cone of mount Etna. A comfortable agriturismo, a piece of Sicilian history and very close to the Madonie Park will be the accommodation for this day.

The story of Susafa is really the story of a whole area, with all its events and deeds involving local people and places – a microcosm that talks with us and testifies to an older Sicily, which, nonetheless, still exists today.
It is a story about men, and work, about lives lived according to the slow rhythms of nature, and according to the seasons, where the day began in the last hour of dark before dawn, and ended at the first sign of sundown.

Day 7 – Masseria Susafa to Cefalù (49 miles/79 km)

It is no exaggeration to qualify the madonita area as a botanical garden in the heart of the Mediterranean. It is also interestingly referred to as a crossroads between three continents. In fact, over millions of years, this area has been favourable to the development of hundreds of native and exclusive species, as well as a survival ground for species native to other areas, as distant as Central and Northern Europe. The Madonie is home to over half of Sicily’s species; a figure topping 2600. The geological structure of the Madonie is also heterogeneous in many ways: structure, breadth, height, hydrological structure, exposure and climate. Its landscapes are varied and stunning, going from the snow caps on the Carbonara, second only to the Etna in Sicily, to the wonderful coastline of Cefalù
Cefalu has a beach, winding, narrow, medieval streets, and delightful restaurants overlooking a rocky coast. All under the everpresent gaze of the Norman-Arab-Byzantine cathedral, one of the greatest churches of southern Europe. Nestled between the Madonie Mountains and the sea, Cefalù’s mountain boasts the ruins of a large fortress and an ancient Sicanian-Greek temple.

Day 8 – Departure Day

End of the tour. Transfer to Palermo’s Airport is on your own. Ciao!

Actual tour itinerary may vary slightly due to unforeseen circumstances.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Level of difficulty: Moderate

Sicily is not a flat island! Except for the climb to Erice on the first day, the tour gradually increases in difficulty. The leg between Erice and Marsala on day 2 is an enjoyble ride along the flat countryside between Trapani and Marsala. On day 3 you’ll ride along the sea to Selinunte. This leg could be another easy one, but it could be a difficult one because the wind from the sea. After your legs and general condition get fitter, the tour increases its difficulty level. The sections since day 5 are inland to the end of the tour when you’ll get the north coastmof the island. They are rolling. The overall difficulty level of them is moderate.

The tour because its gradual increase of difficulty level, in distance and altimetry, suits well a large part of riders in good shape. This is not a bike tour for beginner, but it doesn’t need a long period of training anyway. Plus: you can have an extra shuttle in any leg of the tour (you have to pay an extra fee of € 30 for this service)

Travel notes

The reference airport for this tour is Palermo (see Italian airlines or international airlines).

Books

Salvatore Quasimodo, poet and writer: Ed è subito sera, Giorno dopo giorno, Dare e avere. Modica
Gesualdo Bufalino, novelist Diceria dell’untore (the plague sower), Le menzogne della notte (Night’s lies). Comiso
Jacopo da Lentini (sec XIII), poet. Lentini
Vitaliano Brancati, novelist: Don Giovanni in Sicilia, Il Bell’Antonio, Paolo il caldo. Pachino

Movies

Divorce, italian style 1961, film director: Pietro Germi. This movie It won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.
Anni difficili 1948, film director Luigi Zampa, from the novel of Vitaliano Brancati, “II vecchio con gli stivali”
Gente di rispetto 1975, film director Luigi Zampa, from the homonymous novel of Giuseppe Fava
Kaos 1984, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, from several novels of Luigi Pirandello
The star maker or best known as L’Uomo delle stelle 1995, Giuseppe Tornatore

Group tour price

€ 1265 (minimum 8 people) – currency converter

Additional options and fees

High season surcharge – € 90 (effective July 1– August 31)
Private room – € 270
Bike rental – € 100 (€ 15 each additional day), which includes 1 bike pannier per bike, helmets and a cycle computer.
Cooking class – € 80 per person
GPS rental – € 35 (Garmin E-Trex Venture HC)
Transfer rates per person (two person minimum
- Palazzo Adriano to Santo Stefano di Quisquina – € 35
- Cefalù to Palermo ARP – € 65

Included

One English-speaking trip leader
Nine nights in three-star hotels, all rooms with en suite bathroom
Nine breakfasts and five dinners
Baggage transportation between hotels
Detailed route information and maps
Van support

Not included

Admission to museums and archaeological sites
Tickets for trains or any public transportation
Wine or beverages
Airfare
Transfers to the starting point or from the finishing point unless specified; we can assist you in planning and arranging for any necessary shuttles
Transport of bike case (for guests who bring their own bike)
Personal expenses (laundry, personal supplies, phone calls, etc.)
Gratuity

Self-guided option