Last fall, Bruce and I did back-to-back tours with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), and we were back at it again.  This time, our first small group tour was to Sicily, with a post-extension to Amalfi Coast and Naples.  We connected this with a small group OAT tour to Turkiye.  It was all fabulous!

As usual, we chose to arrive early to allow ourselves to adjust to the time change.  Although we knew the tour would include a visit to Capo Market, Bruce and I decided to go on our own after settling into our hotel room upon arrival. 

We love visiting markets; it’s one of our favorite things to do when we travel.  Markets always present wonderful photo opportunities, they’re a great place to grab some fresh and tasty food, and it’s fun to watch the locals doing transactions with the vendors.  Never a dull moment.

Although I had Euros left over from our previous trip, we took advantage of having access to the ATM along the way and picked up some more Euros.  Before we leave the country, I always look up my bank’s website to see if it has a partner bank in the country I’m visiting.  It does have a partner in Italy, so using their ATM saved us some money on fees.

Since we were going to walk to the ATM, followed by the market, and possibly some other stops on the way back to the hotel, Google Maps came in handy.  I was thankful to have an Airalo e-SIMM for my phone, so I could switch it on when I was away from the hotel’s WIFI, and use the step-by-step route instructions for our walk.

Now, for a shameless promo: If you decide to try Airalo, you will receive $3 off and I will receive $3 off my next order if you use my referral code: ELAINE7474.  I spent $66 to get 20 GB of data, and it’s good for one year. Since purchasing it last July, I have used it in Peru, England, Ireland, Sicily, and Turkiye.  It was well worth the $66 just for using Google Maps for walking routes!  Besides, you can set it up at home before you leave town, so you won’t have the same hassles some of our Turkiye group members had when they purchased an E-SIMM at the airport in Istanbul.  They paid A LOT more, it didn’t work, and it was a nightmare for them—long story.

Airalo switched on, and more Euros tucked away, we continued to the market.  Capo Street Market (Mercato del Capo), has been in existence for many years and was historically famous for its meat trade. Currently, fresh fish, produce, Sicilian products, and tourist souvenirs are sold at the market. We enjoyed scoping out the various street food options we looked forward to tasting while traveling throughout Sicily!

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

During our visit, it started to rain hard, leaving us looking like drowned rats by the time we returned to our hotel.  Thankfully (gratefully!), that was the last of any significant rain during the entire tour.  Although it rained a couple of other times, it never impacted us; we were either indoors or on a bus.  We were fortunate to have beautiful weather!

Next up: SICILY & THE AMALFI COAST #2: POKING AROUND PALERMO