Krista Allen

Krista Allen is the author of the International Bestseller, The Accidental Tourist and the blog, Accidental Tourist Adventures. She has been featured on CBS News, the New York Times, and The Huffington Post. A native Washingtonian, she now lives in Italy with her husband and two children.

Her Accidental Tourist Adventure

One day, while browsing through a travel magazine, she came across an article about Sicily, an island in the Mediterranean Sea famous for its stunning landscapes and rich history. Inspired, she decided to explore Sicily for her next holiday with her family. However, since she had never been there, she didn’t know where to start. After a few trials and errors, she found a travel agency that was willing to take her on an accidental tourism tour and provided orientation to the locals. The next day, she and her family boarded a bus and started their exploration of Sicily. What followed was her first ever accidental tourism adventure:

Best of both Worlds

Sicily is the perfect combination of history, art, and architecture. While wandering the streets of Palermo, one of the largest cities, she came across Palazzo Vendramin (above), a 16th-century palace that now serves as a luxury hotel. As a lover of history, she could not resist the temptation to check out the opulent palace, which was built by the Merlo Palermo family. She later learned that the palace had originally been designed by Giacomo Rossi Doria, a great grandfather of Ferdinand Sicily (the 15th King of Sicily). Seeing as how she had never been to Palermo before, she did not know what else to do but to check out the rest of the city’s wondrous achievements (including the Cathedral). Later that day, she and her family explored Monreale Cemetery, a beautiful graveyard that features some of Sicily’s most famous graves, such as those of Dante, William Shakespeare, and Virginia Woolf. As the tour was coming to an end, the agency guest services manager handed her a map of Sicily and told her that this was just the beginning of her Sicilian adventure.

Although Accidental Tourist is the title of Krista Allen’s blog, she actually writes about her travel experiences more than she does about the accidental tourism concept itself. In one of her earlier posts, she recounts how she and her family visited the Acri Napoletane (above), a neighboring island to Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. While sightseeing on the mainland, she stumbled across a burger shop and decided to try a Sicilian sausage, called Foglio (pasta), accompanied by a glass of wine, which turned out to be one of her favorite meals ever. To this day, she still thinks about that burger shop and wants to try Sicilian food just because she has not had the chance yet. After years of promising herself that she would visit Sicily one day, Krista has now lived in the country for almost four years and never been to Sicily in person. She tells us that as soon as she finishes her current tour (of Austria), she will arrive in Sicily and visit some of its wondrous welcome mat (above). She does not intend to give up the idea of visiting Sicily despite her many adventures here on this planet. If you are an Italian speaking visitor, you can use this link to reach the organization that her agency works with locally based on Sicily. Although Krista does not want to impose on the reader, she does feel that a visit to Sicily, especially Palermo, is something that every traveler should experience.

The Accidental Tourist

Krista Allen’s blog is full of engaging content that is apt to be of interest to anyone who is interested in Sicily or living in an apartment that they could use a tourist attraction. She has also been very active on Twitter, sharing blogs and news items about her adventures. Her blog posts are often accompanied by images of historic buildings and landmarks, which add an element of beauty to the reading experience. At the end of a hard day, a tour of the city’s wondrous landmarks and vibrant culture is just what she and her family deserve.

Behind the Scenes

Krista Allen is an accidental tourist because she chose a destination that she had not been to before and was not expecting to visit. When seeking advice on where to go on her annual holiday, she always looks for advice on the web and comes across articles that mention Sicily, which gives her the idea to visit the island. She does not do any research on the topic and simply decides to go to Sicily because she has never been there before. In case you are interested in Krista’s story, she has written an in-depth article about her adventures in Sicily that you can read by clicking here. To learn more about Sicily and how to visit the island, you can use the resources listed below: