Pre-season 2025 discussion | Palermo (A) - Sat 9th Aug

[TheGhost]

Any tips etc?

Do a guided jeep tour up to the craters at Mount Etna. Then run down what is like the world biggest sand dune made out of volcanic ash.

Great fish restaurants in Catania.

Avoid Taormina it’s just tatty tourist shops and cruise ship fodder.

I mentioned Scopello earlier in the thread. Cefalu is well worth a visit too.

 

[VinceYoungisaBLUE]

Any tips etc?

Just to add a but, we rented a little villa in Castelbuono and it was absolutely lovely. No tourists, just sicilians and great food. 30 minutes to Cefalu, little Normal castle and beautiful square. We took a car around to Sperlinga and the other medieval walled villages and had a great time. Wish I would have gone to more vineyards and small beach towns.

 

[aka blue jambo]

Just to add a but, we rented a little villa in Castelbuono and it was absolutely lovely. No tourists, just sicilians and great food. 30 minutes to Cefalu, little Normal castle and beautiful square. We took a car around to Sperlinga and the other medieval walled villages and had a great time. Wish I would have gone to more vineyards and small beach towns.

I have 3 full days one on either side of the match day
I dont drive but will try to explore as much as I can

 

[Bluewood]

Amongst all the flapping, worrying, arguments, discussion and everything else on this forum and in general football wise, I’m just really looking forward to this game tbh.

Liverpool have strengthened loads, Arsenal got their missing striker, Chelsea have improved and won the CWC, we’ve not signed a right back, everyone’s apparently better than us and Peps over the hill etc. etc.

Who cares.

City being back playing again makes life that much more fun and even though it’s only been a few weeks I’ve missed the shit out of it. Can’t wait to see us play again and the new season to start. A Gundogan, Kovacic, Bernardo midfield on day one wouldn’t even dull my enthusiasm (it might).

 

[scall]

Well this seems like a suitable time to resurrect me posting on here! A pointless game on an island in Europe!

Going over on Friday into Catania with Jet2, couple of days in Palermo, back to the east and fly back from Catania on Tuesday with Jet2. Itinerary is already looking like the call sheet for all the Godfather films

Any bars or areas sighted yet in Palermo to meet up on Saturday?

 

[WillyT]

Landing 3pm on the Saturday. Any specific bars to head to on the day of the game?

I land on the Friday 3pm. Never been to Italy before let alone Sicily but seems to be plenty of bars/pubs so keep eye out on here when u land and should already be blues out and about.

 

[aka blue jambo]

Arrive late Thursday
Lots of proper bars by the looks of it but none at stadium

 

[Damanino]

interesting Chelsea arent back yet for training given they spent about 2 weeks more at CWC than us and had the final on the 13th of July, so in theory they would get 2 weeks longer to be back than us (28th July)
if their players get 4 full weeks of holiday which imo would be standard and same as we did after CWC, they would return only on 10th of August.
but they have two friendlies set up for 8th and 10th of August...

btw no wonder we and them asked PL to postpone round 1 for us.

 

[johnnytapia]

Arrive late Thursday
Lots of proper bars by the looks of it but none at stadium

That’s me fucking off after ten minutes then.

 

[I'm Blue]

Anyone know if this will be shown anywhere other than City+?
I’ve never had any luck with City+
I tried for 2 seasons, subscribed but then told get told I need to subscribe to view.
Rang them and hey didn’t have a clue, so gave up.

 

[pride in battle]

Do a guided jeep tour up to the craters at Mount Etna. Then run down what is like the world biggest sand dune made out of volcanic ash.

Great fish restaurants in Catania.

Avoid Taormina it’s just tatty tourist shops and cruise ship fodder.

I mentioned Scopello earlier in the thread. Cefalu is well worth a visit too.

Taormina is lovely

 

[aka blue jambo]

Anyone in the Edinburgh flight want to share a taxi

 

[117 M34]

Anyone know if this will be shown anywhere other than City+?
I’ve never had any luck with City+
I tried for 2 seasons, subscribed but then told get told I need to subscribe to view.
Rang them and hey didn’t have a clue, so gave up.

I'd be interested to know if will be shown on IPTV as also not a fan of city+

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

interesting Chelsea arent back yet for training given they spent about 2 weeks more at CWC than us and had the final on the 13th of July, so in theory they would get 2 weeks longer to be back than us (28th July)
if their players get 4 full weeks of holiday which imo would be standard and same as we did after CWC, they would return only on 10th of August.
but they have two friendlies set up for 8th and 10th of August...

btw no wonder we and them asked PL to postpone round 1 for us.

They could have just made the first game of the season Chelsea v City and then allowed them to postpone it and said you’ve got to fit it in sometime before December.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Anyone know if this will be shown anywhere other than City+?
I’ve never had any luck with City+
I tried for 2 seasons, subscribed but then told get told I need to subscribe to view.
Rang them and hey didn’t have a clue, so gave up.

Never got it to work on any of my devices. I don't see the point of it they should just games on our Youtube channel and get revenue from the adverts. I'm sure it will be on one of the dodgy channels somewhere.

 

[I'm Blue]

I'd be interested to know if will be shown on IPTV as also not a fan of city+

I just checked again and it’s now showing on ‘Sport TV3 Portugal’ which is available on eye pee tv, allegedly ; ) and 30w if anyone’s got a motorised satellite.
It’s a week away so hopefully other options will appear.

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

Anyone know if this will be shown anywhere other than City+?
I’ve never had any luck with City+
I tried for 2 seasons, subscribed but then told get told I need to subscribe to view.
Rang them and hey didn’t have a clue, so gave up.

If anyone's on Android I use these apps to stream live to tv through play store or you can google names then install always got the Friendly's on.to put on TV got to settings on your phone then go to connected devices then smart view it will come straight on your TV or device. Apps are live sports TV live ten sports and live football tv all 3 are decent either install through Google search or play store.

 

[hammersmithlad]

Just stroll that main street down to the sea, drink spritz and birra all the way down, stopping for mortadella sandwiches and arancinis and however much limon gelato you can stomach, should take a few hours. Add an hour if you get some hash from the backpack African kids. My wife does the fancy part where the Prada store and all that is but I just like to walk and drink and have a toke. There is a fantastic restaurant on the ocean at some very fancy resort that was very memorable, I'll ask my wife what it was

My only problem was how expensive it is to get into the old churches. That's like my favorite thing to do and its 35 dollars to get into each of them! Never seen that before in all my travels outside of world renown cathedrals, which, of course..

edit: I would fly into palermo for the game, then rent a car and drive across Sicily, even for the day if that's all you have, and fly out of Catania. Sicily is such a gem

Cheers for the tips...decided to pull the trigger with this one & also managed to get one of the remaining match tix - although they seemed to open up another section in C32 of the stadium.

We're staying in the old town area near the lively La Vucciria district. Did you manage to visit the Ballaro market near the station & if its worth it or simply a tourist trap? Also thinking of squeezing in a day trip to either Monreale or Cefalu - any preferences? I think another poster also recommended visiting Scopello.

Reading up on the island, think the various available Sicilian street food will be ideal to soak up the beer for the trip.

 

[Harvster]

Do a guided jeep tour up to the craters at Mount Etna. Then run down what is like the world biggest sand dune made out of volcanic ash.

Great fish restaurants in Catania.

Avoid Taormina it’s just tatty tourist shops and cruise ship fodder.

I mentioned Scopello earlier in the thread. Cefalu is well worth a visit too.

My wife and I recently spent a jolly pleasant day in Taormina, though to be fair to us we are what is known in common parlance as the afore-mentioned CSFs

 

[threespires]

Another vote for Cefalù, albeit it'll be pretty busy. if you like churches/architecture the Duomo is a really interesting mix of styles.

Or if you are big on pre-match rituals head west to Trapani and get yourself up Monte Erice and sacrifice something to appease the footballing gods for the coming season. The town of Erice Is very well preserved too if you are looking for something cooler/quieter.