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Published: April 13th 2013
Todays gelato flavour - GMB - Frutii di Bosco(Fruit of the forest)
We have been fortunate since we started our trek south from Rome and have been blessed with fine weather and warming temperatures and today looks like being no different with bright sunlight greeting us as we headed down to breakfast.The nights sleep had been disturbed by both of us waking up feeling very thirsty at 3.45am and we put it down either to last nights pizza or the house white we had drunk that wasn't the greatest of flavours.
We were a little later for breakfast today and the choices were a little less but we still ate well realising that the territory we were going to cover today probably wouldn't have any major towns to buy lunch if we decided to change from the fruit and crackers of the last few days.
Neither of us were game to ride the lift personally so I put the suitcases in the lift on their own and pushed the lobby button.Gretchen had gone down the stairs ahead and was there for the arrival of the lift and was removing the luggage as I arrived.We shall be very wary
of any further small lifts we encounter on the BBA V2.
On checking out the man on the front desk handed us a bottle of wine as the hotels present to us for staying.It was very nice to be given something for nothing and a memorable gesture.We were out of white wine so no need to find a supermarket tonight for wine.And there was no 'Mafia' or bed tax to pay even though the sign on the back of the bedroom door said there would be €1 each per night.It is hard to work out whether there will actually be a charge or not and after Rome where it was €2 per night we are always on the ready at check out time.
We decided to head north along the coast before cutting inland to get ourselves over the mountainous centre of the island to Monreale near Palermo.There was another option that went directly inland from Agrigento but the tourist book we had read in the hotel said the coastal scenery north of Agrigento was worth a look.
Filling up with diesel and using the travel card to pay has been a hit and miss affair as
sometimes the pay machine has an English option and sometimes not.Today was the latter and after a couple of attempts, giving sufficient time for authorising of the card,we stuck a €20 note in for payment because there is nothing else to do using this payment method other than pushing a button for the pump you wanted.Diesel seems to be getting cheaper and our deal today was at €1.63.It would have been another €0.10 to have a guy in a snazzy uniform to pump it for us.
The road did follow the coast with views as we travelled further on, although we never actually got down to the beach itself.
With coast on our left and farmland to the right with limestone cliffs here and there we reached a turn off to a National Park which turned out to be afforested area along a strip of the coastline.We were ready a for a walk and eventually the beach and more coastal views were in sight.It was a white sand beach with a lot of small pebbles also.We guess if you lived in an apartment in Agrigento and needed time in the open spaces this would be the place to
be with walks amongst the forest,BBQ and picnic area and the beach.
We then headed inland the road gradually climbed up through a number of small hillside towns some of which were easier than others to negotiate the car through.In one there was a market going on with locals just wandering everywhere amongst the traffic.It all seems to work and no one gets run over and we haven't yet seen any accidents although we have seen a lot of cars without wing mirrors!
As we drove on Gretchen noticed a town high up on the top of the highest point around, with buildings seemingly clinging to the mountainside.Initially it in front of us and she firmly declared there was no way she was going to drive up the road that led to the town.As it turned out the road we needed by passed the road leading up the mountainside much to her relief.
The plan was to visit a town called Prizzi although as it turned out the road to it loked very steep and windy so we just admired the way the buildings were on the edge of sheer cliff side and continued on with the
town of Corleone next to visit.
From Prizzi the road appeared to have reached as high as it was going to get and we travelled through a pleasant area with fresh spring grass growth and fields ploughed ready for the summer growing season ahead.With signs for snow chains required on the roadside it was evident that this area saw snow during the winter.
Corleone,the town in the movie 'The Godfather' was not anything like we thought it might have been,but perhaps our imaginations as movie goers were too vidid.There was no Al Pacino strolling over the paddocks,and there were paddocks on the outskirts of the town,with his two guards while he waited for the heat to die down after he escaped New York.It was in fact just another Sicilian hillside town with the usual apartment blocks etc.
It did have a couple of notable things the BBA V2 won't forget.One was the first public toilet we have found when we have been walking the streets although the cleanliness and smell of it I won't describe in too much detail other than to say the word 'putrid' would give you a good idea.Any port in a storm is
the old saying and in I went although I decided to leave the door open as I think I might have been overcome otherwise.The toilet was on a little rise at the back of a very small park and Gretchen standing across the street must have wondered what I was doing leaving the door ajar.I was pretty safe from other prying eyes as it was mid afternoon and as you know Italians don't venture out in great numbers at this time of day.
Relieved and hands sanitised, we carried on our stroll through Corleone stopping for a gelato,sitting as you do to watch the world,such as the traffic was,go by.
A little further on we came across a friendly looking dog lying on the footpath who decided to get up and follow us.He looked friendly enough and he limped along as he seemed to have something wrong with a hind leg.Perhaps he did this to all tourist who came to the main street of Corleone and he stayed with us waiting patiently on the footpath as we used the ATM at the Bank of Sicily to top up on Euros.
The church we were heading for was,as
usual,closed so turned around and headed back to the car to continue our journey to Monreale.The dog followed us until we came to the fountain in a piazza where he somehow managed to climb in to take a drink.We quickened our pace and went along behind a parked truck hoping to shake the dog from our trail,a manoeuvre we had performed to get rid of a pregnant woman and her partner in Cuba who wanted our tourist pesos 'to buy milk powder for the upcoming delivery of their baby'.
It worked and we were back at the car on our way to Monreale.
Corleone hadn't measured up to our 'movie dream' expectations but it can now be crossed off the bucket list.
Our arrival into the Palermo area was supposed to have been via a lesser road which would have taken us directly to Monreale, a hillside suburb above Palermo.This is where relying upon the GPS is not all that smart and we should have paid closer attention to the atlas we are carrying for road numbers.
Anyway there was nothing for it but to continue on the E90 heading for the middle of Palermo.The traffic
flow wasn't too bad and at least it was moving.
Thankfully the GPS didn't take us right into the city but off on a road that led up the steep hill to our destination.We still had several narrow roads to negotiate through Monreale as our accommodation was on the other side of the suburb but Gretchen did the driving with the Italian style she has picked up very well.We were relieved to pick up the sign for the street the apartment we have for 4 nights and after following the house numbers along the windy road which even included some numbered like '23 1/2'(make that one out)we made it to number 57.
Fausto,our host, showed us around the four roomed apartment which also has a deck facing east which will be great to have breakfast on.
Then it was a 25 minute walk back to town past all the yapping,barking dogs,thankfully all behind big fences,to get food for dinner and some fresh vegetables.Why it takes 3 people to run a little vege shop is beyond us but there was a protocol to follow from having one man roll a piece of paper up into a cone and
put our beans into(he didn't do the same with the bananas though)and give you a till like receipt who you then to take a man behind a cash till and pay.The third man............well perhaps he was watching the other two to make sure they were working and putting the money in the till.
After a hearty meal of fish fillets and all the veges we were ready for sleep as it had been a fairly long but fulfilling day.
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Rin
non-member comment
Godfather...
It may not look the same as the movies but I can still imagine Don Ciccio's men walking up and down that street in the photo, telling the people of Corleone not to let Vito Andolini stay with them.... Can you tell that we watched Part 2 in the weekend? ;-)