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Published: September 28th 2019
The other side of the bay-Bonagia
This massive rock just stood out to us at all times of the day.I can’t remember if I said anything about it in the last entry, but the food in Italy is quite good. And it was by pure chance that we ended up at the Cous Cous Fest in San Vito Del Capo one evening. The food and drink were plentiful and tasty. We found a tuna supplier handing out free samples. We also found a wine maker giving out free tastings. Then there was another tuna tasting for free; this time dried and saltier tuna. We loved it and actually bought some to take away with us. So, we wandered from tent to tent in the main street trying everything we could (some we had to pay for) until we found an all you can eat smorgasbord for 8 euro and that included any drink with it. “Mojitos all round”, we said. They were strong too. So, we walked out of there, or perhaps we rolled out, and realised that we still hadn’t eaten or even seen any cous cous! Finally, we bought t-shirts because we were perhaps a little happy after the mojitos and were given a box of cous cous with each t-shirt.
So, the reason why we ended
Bonagia Pool
We enjoyed some sunny weather playing with Nathan in the pool up in San Vito Lo Capo at cous cous fest is because we had been told there was a food festival somewhere near our place in Bonagia (North West Sicily) and it just turned out to be very close to the entry to the Zingalo national park. We had been to Zingalo to check out the beaches and swimming holes along this section of rugged coast line. Like many parts of Sicily there are steep hills plunging into the clear Mediterranean waters. The beaches look beautiful but when you stand on them, they are all stones, and our Australian feet aren’t accustomed to this sort of roughing up, so we took some photos but didn’t spend the whole day at Zingalo. It was quite warm for hiking. There was a nice sandy beach near the festival and we enjoyed an afternoon there.
One morning in Bonagia, Leanne and Craig went out to find a good coffee and met Giuseppe the barista. Giuseppe didn’t have change so Leanne owed him 80 cents and we had to go back to see him at lunch time. It turns out that Giuseppe’s shop is also a restaurant specialising in tuna dishes. And what
Giuseppe's restaurant
Another fantastic meal a spread he put on for us. We didn’t see a menu, but instead trusted his suggestions for food and wine to match it. As usual we ate like kings and in particular, we loved two dishes. One was called caponata and is usually made with swordfish. The other was a plate of different types of tuna, cooked, smoked, salted, etcetera and it came with very thinly sliced pineapple. It was delightful and the reason why we were drawn into the cured/dried tuna seller at the cous cous fest, without cous cous. Giuseppe tried so hard to manage a successful restaurant and from what we could see his efforts were paying off. He is only twenty years old and already so knowledgeable about the food and drink that he serves.
From Bonagia we went East to Cefalu, but on the way we decided to visit Palermo, Sicily’s capital and have lunch whilst we were there. To our surprise, we had read that there is a big cathedral in Palermo. Might be interesting! Now, if you’re thinking of going to Palermo, I have one piece of advice for you. Don’t! Especially if you are driving. It is chaos on the
roads. Most roads don’t have lines marked and if there are any, drivers ignore them anyhow. I would never try driving in Hanoi, and this reminded me of that. It’s hard enough to cross the road! Cars double park wherever they want and some roads were just a few centimetres wider than our car. A station wagon is practical for fitting 4 passengers plus luggage, but there is a reason why most Italians drive tiny little Fiats. Small cars have a definite advantage in the busy cities and towns of this country. It was Craig who drove and Leanne navigated our way through the turmoil of Palermo, but even with the GPS (it has been so useful in the past week; I don’t know how we would have done it without GPS) we didn’t manage to see the Cathedral. Roads were closed and between Leanne and the Satnav we didn’t get to the main attraction. We were just glad to get out without testing the insurance policy on our car hire. Speaking of Craig’s driving, Nathan has been a little disappointed. He was looking forward to being in the car whilst a policeman was driving and well … Craig hasn’t
lived up to Nathan’s expectations. Not even one high speed chase! Craig’s driving has been far too cautious and careful for our son. And on top of that, Nathan hasn’t seen Craig arrest anyone either. He keeps making excuses about jurisdiction, but it just doesn’t cut it with an 8-year-old.
Cefalu was always going to be a beach stop for us. We checked out the mediaeval old town and wandered the cobble stoned streets in search of gelati and cannoli. Cannoli is a tube-shaped pastry with cream cheese inside. The ones we ate had nuts and dried fruit at either end. There is also an old fort perched on a high rock with cliffs overlooking the sea and surrounding land. But we had most of one day moving between sunbed and water. There was a life guard who blew his whistle way too much. I think he was frightened that the two-foot-high waves were just too treacherous and it certainly wasn’t good for his blood pressure. I found it amusing that he wanted to pick a fight with almost anyone who dipped their toes in the water. I could never understand what people had done wrong and just laughed
at him. And just for a change we at a really nice dinner, this one overlooking the sea at sunset.
This morning we returned the car to Avis in Milazzo and caught a ferry to our next destination. It had been fun driving in Italy, but I am glad to return the car in the same condition that we collected it in. There had been some nervous moments, like the time in Palermo. The autostrada are top quality roads, but many of the smaller roads are very narrow. The drivers are crazy and the road rules don’t always seem clear. For instance, you often see many different speed limits in a short space. I think Italians just add them all together to come up with their speed limit.
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