. A Slice of Sicily

A Slice of Sicily

Well, it's several weeks since the last blog was written and I will just say that it continued to rain through Calabria, thru Sicily, back thru Calabria and into Puglia. Rain. Not as bad as up north in Bologna, where epic flooding had friends and relatives inquiring about our location & health. "Fine but soggy", we replied. But enough moaning (for now).

We escaped the Amalfi Coast after one more mercifully short coastal drive and headed for Catanzaro --- our mid-point stop headed to Sicily. Michael & I tend to be somewhat contrarian vis a vis preferred locations. Most people prefer Tuscany. We prefer Umbria. Most people adore Sicily. We prefer Calabria. And forget the Amalfi Coast -- we love Puglia. 

In Catanzaro we stayed at a country house that started out as a Spanish watch tower. This area has been conquered (as has Sicily) a zillion times. Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Normans, Spanish & French (briefly). There may have been more but my attention lapsed. So, Carmen, our host, had inherited the house that her great, great grandfather crafted out of the Spanish tower, and it is beautiful. It sits high on a hill overlooking the sea. Marvelous. We went into town for dinner after a walk along the promenade soaking up local color.

While strolling the promenade before dinner in Catanzaro, we saw this colorful seawall.

We had this great view of Catanzaro, the sea and the mountains from the Spanish tower.

Dinner was a bit of an introduction to Italian adult/child interaction. We had seated ourselves and were enjoying a glass of wine when the silence was shattered by five young boys (8 - 10) running shrieking back & forth through the restaurant over and over. They were ultimately joined by another dozen hooligans (a favorite word of my Moms) who also indulged in the screaming, running melee. Eventually they sat, but the noise level continued to escalate. At one point the ringleader stood on his chair shouting "Mama Mia!" --- really! The 3 adults accompanying them seemed to find nothing at all wrong with their behavior. Civilization is doomed.

The next day (still raining) we arrived in Sicily after completing the world's shortest ferry ride across the Strait of Sicily. A bridge would be a good idea. Before we reached the ferry we negotiated over 100 tunnels from Catanzaro to the ferry.  We averaged over 25 tunnels per hour. People always think that Switzerland is the world leader in tunnels but the Italians are crazy for tunnels.  Not just in the South either.  The Lakes region also boasts dozens of tunnels. We had a place in Siracusa (Syracuse). At week's end I suggested to the property manager that he recommend the owners spend several nights in the rental and see how THEY like it. I won't bore you with the details.

I also won't go into every trip we took in Sicily. I will say that we most enjoyed the small towns like Noto & Ragusa Ibla, which afforded charming strolls, good food and local color. In Noto we lunched at a great restaurant and noticed teenagers charging up & down the hill carrying pails of water. After lunch we strolled down to investigate what all of the activity was about. They were using flower petals to create intricate "paintings". On our walk back up we stopped in at the restaurant to inquire about the "paintings". They have a five day festival each May and decorate the streets. We told them about our same ritual for Day of the Dead and they replied, "No one dies at our festival." Something got lost in translation.

Noto, like a lot of hill towns, had steep stairs leading from one section of the town to another.

The ceramic pine cone is seen throughout Sicily representing good luck and prosperity.

The ceramic heads as flower pots were also quite a common site in Sicily.

Deirdre, in a whimsical moment, waiting for our lunch.

This cat was around our table during lunch, and having secured a treat, was ready to curl up for an afternoon siesta.

Here was one of the uncompleted street artworks...

and the many young people working to complete them for the festival.

I ducked inside this church in Noto and captured this interesting interior.

Steeples with bell towers were a common sight in all of the hill towns.

, 

On to Ragusa Ibla, with this small river flowing past the town.

The Cathedral of San Giorgio, at one end of the Piazza Duomo, is a dominant feature of the piazza.

A closeup reveals the detail on the statues on the Cathedral.

Ragusa Ibla is a Unesco World Heritage Baroque site in the Val di Noto of Sicily.

This cart maker is famous for his brightly painted, detailed carts.

Wandering through the town required navigating many staircases.

This picture shows why they need all those staircases.

This colorfully tiled roof on one of the many churches could use a trim...

as could this church with the vegetation growing on the balcony and the tower.

There was a garden where I spotted this beautiful yellow rose.

This photo will give you an idea of the elevation of the town. The hill towns were very defensible from invaders, and make for a lot of exercise for tourists.

This colorful three story house was designed to fit neatly between the intersection of two streets.

This whimsical mural caught my eye as we were leaving the town.

The first day we went to Ortigia Island (linked by a bridge to Siracusa) the wind was fierce and it was raining (off & on). Michael's photos will give you an idea. We decided against the boat cruise to the sea caves, although I am sure it would have been exciting. Ortigia was so interesting we went back on the one semi-nice day we had. We did take the boat cruise that day and it was terrific. The skipper showed admirable seamanship in maneuvering the boat into and out of several sea caves with no lost limbs or damage to the boat.

This will give you an idea of the ferocity of the wind and waves on our first visit to Ortigia Island, just off 

 Siracusa.

A house had several tiles embedded in the brick, but this one was the most unusual.

A view of the seawall, one of the many churches and buildings on Ortigia.

When we got back to where we were staying, I took these pictures of Ognina Cove and the terrific wave action there.

You can see how sea caves like this are formed by this intense wave action.

One final picture of the intense wave action on our first visit to Ortigia, coming all the way up the seawall.

We went back to Ortigia for a second day when the wind & waves were calmer and spent the whole day exploring the island.

One of the narrow walkways on Ortigia.

This is the facade of St. John the Baptist church...

and this is the interior. The roof was lost in an earthquake and it is now an open air church.

A typical Sicilian summer breakfast of granita câ brioscia, which we enjoyed on Ortigia.

One of the most interesting things we saw was the puppet theater museum (Museo dei Pupi).

Here we saw Pinnochio...

and an amazing assortment of other handmade puppets.

The variety of puppets...

and costumes was mind boggling.

The Vaccaro brothers who were responsible for all of the puppets in the museum and the puppet theater. The legacy they left behind still thrills & amuses to this day, and for many years to come.

The intricate design and craftsmanship speaks to the devotion that went into making each of the puppets.

This miniature shows how various scenes were changed in the puppet theater.

Monsters, a mermaid...

and even a fairy godmother were on display.

There was even a smurf band!

The workbench with its tools...

and the molds to make some of the puppets were on display as well.

The puppet museum and the puppet theater are located in the Guidecca, the old Jewish section of Ortigia. 

Some of the walkways were domed, with open sections in between.

The cathedral is located in the Piazza Duomo, which dates to the 5th century B.C. The cathedral was built on the site of a temple to Athena, with one of the columns from the temple used in building the cathedral.

At the far end of the Piazza Duomo is the Chiesa di Santa Lucia (Church of Saint Lucia). Saint Lucia is the patron saint of Siracusa and was martyred near this site in 304 A.D.

Another of the fascinating buildings is the Camera di Commercio.

Le Jacques Cartier was anchored at Ortigia. It is reputed to offer "adventure with 5 star travel".

Speaking of 5 star ... the hotel in the left background is a 5 star hotel on Ortigia. The second bridge in the background required us to duck as low as possible, lest we be decapitated.

A view of the island from our boat on the way to the sea caves.

Castello Maniace was constructed by Emperor Frederick II between 1232 & 1240. 

Basilica santuario Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of the Tears) is a modern 20th century basilica, termed the upside down ice cream cone.

This is the first sea cave we approached...

and the view looking out from the second sea cave.

The rocks on this cliff looks like an animal preparing to leap into the sea.

As we approached this sea cave,...

we had no idea of the colors inside. 

The orange color are sea urchins below the water on the rocks.

The variety of sea caves, cliff formations, stalactites and colors almost made up for our aborted Amalfi coast tour of Capri and the Blue Grotto.

This rock island is termed the "Lion" by the locals.

We have discovered that Italian is not as closely related to Spanish as we thought. It's not that tough to understand the written language, but when spoken it is tough to catch the meaning. A couple of times I've defaulted to French, which seems to do better. In direct opposition to most countries we've visited we've found Northern Italians to be a bit more friendly & helpful (in general) than Southern Italians. There is more screaming & horn honking down here. Even the dogs bark at each other just walking down the street.

One day we drove quite far to the Valley of the Temples. It was quite impressive and we managed to avoid being rained on most of the time. The great part about traveling a lot is the range of people and experiences you enjoy. A possible downside is getting jaded. We try not to, but ...maybe. Leaving the Valley I said, "Well, that was interesting." "Yes", said Michael. "Five hours of driving interesting?, I asked. "No", said Michael. See. Jaded.

There wasn't much left of one of the first temples we saw.

The crypts carved out of the rock were interesting...

but some have experienced the ravages of time.

This century plant was as interesting as the temples...

with amazing flowers..

which were just beginning to open.

One of the more intact temples...

offered a more detailed view...

of what the original temple might have looked like before the ravages of time.

You can see from the photos how the sky kept changing throughout the day.

The girgentana goat with its twisted horns can be seen at the Valley of the Temples.

The fallen statue of Icarus by the Concordia Temple.

The Concordia Temple.

The cacti were in bloom while we were there.

This olive tree, based on the girth of the truck, may be as old as the Temples.

The colorful wildflowers were also in bloom, to Deirdre's delight.

Talking Trash In Sicily

Some of you know that a member of our family (not Justin, Alex or me) is deeply interested and committed to recycling. That member was deeply distressed in Sicily. At almost every pull over on the highway random trash & even bags of trash were deposited. We had noted up North many recycling bins. Strangely it appeared people had to have a card to use them --- that would seem counterproductive to encouraging the correct behavior, but they seemed to do it. No bins in the South that we saw. Actually Calabria was a lot cleaner. Enough about trash.

So, Sicily was behind us.  As we drove past, Mt. Etna signaled its joy in our leaving by gently belching a stream of smoke and ash into the air.  Michael asked if I thought that was normal and I opined that I thought it was always doing that.  The next day Mt. Etna erupted for the first time in over thirty years scattering ash over half of Sicily.  Guess I was wrong.

 So we were back to Calabria on our way to Puglia. Still raining. We stayed in an agriturismo so high up over the water I thought my nose would bleed. The road leading to it triggered at least two of my phobias -- perhaps three. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the most adorable man ever who spoke no English, but was committed to communicating with us. He toured us through the farm & lodging (views amazing), made us have our photo taken behind cutouts dressed in who knows what style and then settled us on the terraza. He brought us wine made right there from their own grapes. It was delicious. They make about 2500 liters each year and have groves of olive trees as well.

How do we know all this? Finally we hit on the fact that he and I both knew French --- school French, but it worked. It turns out the school children learned French until a couple of decades ago when they switched to English.  Thus he speaks French and his son speaks English He was a professor and he and his son run the farm. The family has been in the town since 1720 and owned the farm since the 1950's. Meeting nice people is the best, or one of the best, aspects of travel.

The view from the heights of Tenuta Mauri Agriturismo were stunning, even with the overcast skies.

Our "adorable old man", who may have been younger than we are, insisted on taking our photos...

as Italian farmers.

This adorable cat was part of the greeting party at the agriturismo.

The clouds were hanging just above the mountain tops...

and the overcast skies gave a soft look to the landscape and sea from our vantage point.

Another amazing cactus bloom about to fully open.

Heading to Puglia next. Take care.