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April was the month for cruising down the east coast of Italy to spend a few lovely weeks exploring Sicily. After an enjoyable visit to Genova we revisited the Cinque Terre which unfortunately has not recovered too well from serious mudslides in 2011. The coastal path was closed in many places and a lack of signage or information made for a frustrating time. However we put this behind us when we discovered the old Etruscan necropoli at Tarquinia and Cerveteri just north of Rome. Many beautiful pieces were recovered from the tombs which also retained some amazing frescoes. And as with most sights in Italy, now Brian is 65 he gets in for free! After a couple of days of ancient history we spent an enjoyable day getting cultured in Rome. On our first visit we ticked off all the big sights so this day was just to stroll, eat, drink and soak up the atmosphere.
The next few days we worked our way down the coast often using the autostrada as tolls are cheap in Italy. This enabled us to skirt around Naples and the Amalfi to head to quieter shores further south. And some of them were so
quiet they looked like they were never going to open, as this bottom half of Italy seems to be in economic decline with much rubbish left to pile up, shops closed, buildings uncared for and roads seriously in need of attention. However, the locals seem unconcerned and daily life is busy and vocal – and only in Italy do you frequently see drivers jabbering into their mobile phone whilst taking their other hand off the wheel to gesticulate!
We crossed the straits of Messina on a fine, sunny day and our first stop was a little grocery shop for some pane for lunch, however the lady was canny as she managed to upsell Brian to taking a 2l bottle of local vino rosso which she kindly dispensed from a hug keg next to the counter for the princely sum of 4.40euro (40c for the bottle). It lasted a few days and was quite a pleasant drop. Then we got our first taste of ancient ruins at Tyndaris which is a Roman site on a clifftop looking across to the Aeolian Islands. Very atmospheric.
The next several days we toured the northern part of Sicily dipping into hilltop (and
bottom) towns; gilt clad churches; snow covered peaks; glorious coastal scenery and horrendous potholed and earthquake damaged roads. We enjoyed a day in Palermo seeing the beautiful Palatine Chapel, enjoying lunch at a street food cafe and browsing the food markets which seemed to abound in many out of the way piazzas and alleyways.
We stayed in out of season campsites in company with a few other motorhomers and caravanners mostly from northern Europe, and used quite a lot of agriturismo sites which are usually on farms or at a restaurant and offer parking and basic facilities for a reasonable fee. However, the one thing you cannot easily get away from no matter where you stay is the nightly serenade of howling dogs!
We enjoyed a great day hiking the Zingaro national park just west of Palermo with a highlight being that we spotted a rare Bonelli’s Eagle. However after stepping awkwardly in a hole at lunchtime, Brian hobbled the last few km with a sprained ankle which took several days to recover. I think he just wanted a break from having to deal with the Italian drivers and roads!
From here we toured some lovely ancient
Greek temples at Segeste and Selinunte, then had a day with old friends David & Marilyn exploring the sites at Agrigento (fortunately by then Brian was able to hobble around a bit more). Further inland we found the wonderful Casa Romana at Casale with its beautifully preserved mosaic floors and we had it all to ourselves as we were the first customers through the gate when it opened. As we were leaving we counted 10 buses just arriving!
Next on our to do list was the annual Ricotta festival at Vizzini which provided us with insight into how ricotta is made and how to enjoy it like the locals. After a couple of days recuperating at a nice coastal campsite we ventured back into the hills to visit the baroque towns of Ragusa and Modica but after surviving the harrowing drive down the twisty lanes of Ragusa, I had just about had enough so we retreated to the coast again to be greeted by our next campsite host with a bottle of wine and a platter of pasta brought to our van. Our next stop was the coastal bird sanctuary at Vendicari but we noticed we were the only
ones with binoculars which wasn’t so odd once we saw that the locals just go here for the lovely, clean beach! And once we turned our eyes from the sights on the beach side we did spot a lot of flamingo, spoonbill and other waders in the lagoons whilst the crested larks and numerous swifts, chirruped and serenaded from above.
After a night in the nature reserve at Vendicari and a morning walk along the coast, we headed inland to Noto for a stroll around the lovely baroque town centre. We were also on a mission to find what is supposedly the best gelataria in the world and we found it but whilst the ice creams were good the only exceptional one was the mandarin – it tasted like someone was squeezing a fresh chilled mandarin into your mouth! Later we walked around the ruins of old Noto which were destroyed in the massive earthquake of 1693 and spent a very quiet night on the side of the road overlooking the ruins.
Our final few days on Sicily consisted of exploring Siracuse and taking a few hikes on the northern flank of Mt Etna where we enjoyed some
blessed peace and quiet in this less touristed area. One major hike took us up and over a number of lava fields left behind from the most recent eruption in 1981 which nearly took out the town of Randazzo just below. Walking across the lava fields was an eerie experience and left us wondering what the locals thought as they saw this heading towards them...
Ciao for now.
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