(copied/pasted from “notes” on an iPad… not corrected).
April 1, 2011
Katharine was kind enough to take us to the airport this morning crack o’ dawn. Everything was working at the airport and no hitches. We flew to Minneapolis, where we grabbed a coffee and then caught the plane to Toronto. We found some sushi for lunch and sat for a bit, (actually it was 3 hours) then boarded the plane to Rome. It’s always such a thrill to hear the Italian for the first time, and we were we flying Alitalia so the first language was Italian and the food was Italian and the red orange juice was Italian! I love that stuff.
The plane was not full so we had two seats with an empty one next to us. I slept for a bit on 2 of the 3 seats and then when Mark got tired I moved to the floor and he slept on the 3 seats. There are occasionally advantages to being short and unembarrassed… It was such a treat to have arrived considerably less sleepy than usual. I did acquire a bit of a headache and the tooth that was bothering me before I left acted up a bit. As I write, the left side of my face is a bit painful but Mark had some ibuprofen with him so that should help.
I thoroughly enjoyed having the iPad along. I wasn’t sure I would really use it but I listened to things almost constantly. I had downloaded several Fresh Aire interviews, and there was one she did with Paul Krugman on his recent article in the nytimes called can Europe be saved. It was a terrific interview, mostly about the economic situation there in general, and the development of the euro, etc. I also had downloaded some podcasts from Freakonomics based on the reviews it had and how many people had reviewed it. I’ve seen the blog on the nytimes website but never investigated it before… My loss. They were all fantastic, but I was particularly taken with one on The School of One, essentially customizable education. It’s fantastic. It described a program being piloted in at least one NYC school using a combination of technology, small group teaching, individual practice and a couple of other things, which is essentially what my plan was for the summer. Must email Jeremy Barr and get with him about integrating what we do this summer and seeing if we can use some of those ideas.
April 2.
We got a cappuccino when we arrived into rome (surprisingly tasty for the airport, but I don’t know why my expectations were so low… We were in Italy at a major airport used by Italians who would probably want a decent cappuccino whilst traveling) and wandered around in the duty free a bit. mark bought a swatch to wear instead of his regular watch, and i bought a little lightweight, flat bag that just fits the ipad, the michelin guide, my flip camera and a couple other things. Perfect. We arrived at 7 and our plane isn’t until 10 so there is time for a little bit of writing, and now I am going to pull out the Sicily guide and see what we might want to do this afternoon. Terri arrives tonight and we have the whole day tomorrow, as well, to explore Palermo.
We were on the right side of the plane (looking forward) and that wasn’t very smart. If one looks at the map of Italy one clearly sees that the interesting view would be on the left. Oh well. Nice view of the water. 🙂 The flight was short, about 40 minutes, and it was easy to find the bus to the city (Palermo), and then it was easy to find our hotel which was located a couple blocks from where the bus lets off, at teatro politeama. We got situated at the hotel (plaza opera) which is very nice and reminded me of the Prague hotel, and then went out walking. We wandered toward the old town, hoping to find a little lunch, which we did down a little alleyway, in a courtyard. The michelin guide said it had been there for a long time and served typical sicilian food, and it was a tiny tiny place in a pretty rundown courtyard but we did try one of everything and it was good. It was served on a plastic plate and we stood out in the courtyard to eat it. We kept walking and eventually found a place to sit. Mark had a pizza and I visited the antipasti table. I had the tastiest sun dried tomatoes I had ever had. There was also zucchini, mushrooms, and eggplant prepared a couple of different ways, and octopus (which Mark loves but i had never eaten… It tastes like chicken! Ok, so maybe it doesn’t taste like chicken but it has a much more palatable texture than I had anticipated, and a much milder taste.)
More walking, . We went back to the hotel to regroup then went out to possibly get a bite. It was strangely quiet for a Saturday night and I wondered where everybody was. The main roads were nearly empty. At one point we came across a little spot where plastic tables had been set out and people had meat and fish you could choose and they would cook on a grill, or deep fry, and another little spot was selling beer and other drinks. It turned out that Milan inter and Milan ac were playing a big soccer game so maybe everyone was inside watching those. We found a group of churches and a piazza on the map that looked interesting so we walked there, to what had looked like it would be a big cool fountain with statues in a pretty piazza. However, when we arrived it was in a sad state of disrepair… Both the fountain and the piazza and the buildings around it. By then it was 9:30 or so and we decided to wait for terri and see if she needed a little something to eat. We headed back toward the politeana to see if by chance we could catch terri’s bus from the airport and just as we entered the square, the bus pulled up and mark found Terri in a window. Awesome. Perfect timing. We got her and her stuff (which was remarkably little for 40 days away) and got her checked in, then went to find a little something. There was a walking area not far from the hotel so we sat outside and ordered a bottle of prosecco and they brought some bar snacks out. It was great to catch up and it was great to be all together.
April 3.
Big day of walking. We started with the nice hotel breakfast and then headed toward the Normanni palace, ducking into a couple of churches along the way. The palatine chapel was stunning… Mosaics, mosaics, mosaics. I love mosaics. Actually most of it was inlaid stone rather than mosaics, come to think of it. We took a tour of the apartments and it was quite nice, as well. The building is still used for the Sicilian parliament. On the way there, Terri and I went into a beautiful small church with a really beautiful garden and cloister while m sat outside and read for a bit. Ermiti?
We then went to casa di brodo, which mark had found in the micheiln guide and another source, and it was perfect. He got the sardines he was looking for (with bucatini) I had a fava bean and fennel soup and Terri had fish ravioli. The local wine mark chose was also very good. And the service was delightful, the dining room was very nice… Just a great spot all around. We took our time and really had a delightful time. From there we walked toward the seaside, found a park along the water, found a dry spot of grass and had a nap for maybe an hour or so. The park was completely full of people… Everybody who had been hiding on Saturday night came out on Sunday. There were lots of people kicking soccer balls around, walking, skating, flying kites, etc. All ages were out, including young couples and whole families. The view was nice out over the water and surrounded by bumpy hills inland. It was a very clear day and warm but not hot.
We walked back in toward the old town to see what we could see. At a certain point mark had had enough of churches so he chose not to go in to san domenico but i can show him the Flip videos:)
They had even blocked off all the main streets and turned them into walking zones and all the stores were open. It was pretty wild to see that on a sunday in sicily. We popped into a couple of stores, including one that we had passed a couple of times that had the most beautiful mother of the bride dress I have ever seen. I took a video of it. We went in to inquire and it was a 1945 euros. Turns out it was valentino. No wonder it was so stunning… Terri insisted someone could make it based on the video…
We came back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and studied a bit to see where to go. Mark first thought he wanted pizza but then he found a place called biondo just up the street so we went there to inquire. It was full of locals, which is always a good sign, but he wondered about maybe just having pizza so we went to look at the pizza place. It turned out not to be quite what he wanted but we were undecided so Terri jumped right in and said we should go back to the biondo, which we did. They said it would be 15 minutes so we walked around a bit and came back, and the guy cracked open a bottle of prosecco and poured us each a glass while we waited. After about 25 minutes we were seated outside in a funky little tent they had set up with tables in it. I was willing to wait for a table inside but mark said the guy was trying hard and this would be fine. Pretty funny that he was being the nice guy and I was the one who was fussing about it. It really was not not not a pleasant space, and it took me awhile to get over it… I was quite distracted nearly the whole time. The food was very good, and mark chose an especially good wine, which was a treat.
April 4.
Nice breakfast again, then mark went to the airport to get the car and terri and I went to see the two oratorios, which were in fact impressive. The carvings by a 17th century artist named serpetto were something. The second oratorio was quite amusing with lots of cherubs hanging around the windows playing with this and that, and interacting in some cases with the statues of the Virtues. Very entertaining.
We came back to the hotel and mark still hadn’t arrived. Terri called the modica hotel to confirm we were coming today (she wasnt positive she had changed the date from the 2nd to the 4th but regardless, it was all good. Then we packed up and mark arrived back soon after that. Terri went out to organize her phone since she is going to be here for 5 weeks, and when she returned we were off.
We took a long way out of the city but we did make it out, and found the road to Monreale. At a certain point I was wondering if we should just get on the road but I am SO glad we went up there! It was just on the outskirts south of the city and very easy to get to once we got on the main road up there.
Monreale is a former hunting lodge and grounds that was turned into a church by the grandson of Roger II, who did the palatine chapel in the Norman palace… He wanted to do something even greater than his grandfather, and I have to say I think he did it. It is full of the most exquisite mosaics I’ve ever seen. And huge. And the ceilings were gorgeous, painted wood. We spent a fair amount of time inside, then went looking for the cloisters. I needed to use the restroom but it cost 50 cents, which mark is not a fan of paying, but I went ahead and it turned out the cloister entrance was right by the ladies room. Unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays but I could see it was lovely, and I found a hole just big enough to get my arm and flip camera through and I took a couple of videos of it. Awesome. When I tried to watch them the camera said my battery was low so that was the last video of the day. I was thrilled to get it, though.
From there we drove back into the city and got the highway toward Catania, then south to Enne, then castagirone, then ragusa and modica. At a certain point we realized we didn’t have directions to the b and b but fortunately terri had her new phone so we could call Francesco at Villa Masseria Quartarella. Unfortunately the connection was bad so at a certain point we pulled off the road and asked a guy at a bar for some help. He was super helpful and we got on our way. We found ourselves lost again after about five minutes so we stopped again and I went into another bar where we found another amazingly helpful guy. The directions he gave us started matching up with the directions the first guy gave us so we thought we were probably on the right track. We found a road called quartarella so we went down it, and then we found a b and b quartarella and sat there’d debating rather to go down and ask at the b and b for help finding villa quartarella when terri’s phone rang and it was francesco asking where we were and when i told him he said I’m coming, I’m right on your shoulder and he would meet us at the b and b. We drove down a very unpromising stretch of road, bumpy dirt and a little gravel thrown in, and the car that had just passed us as we were doing our debating by the sign, was sitting in a driveway with his blinker on. We followed the car into a driveway and up to a farmhouse that was clearly our place from the pictures.
Francesco took us into the kitchen after introducing us to another guest who comes here on. business and chooses to stay at Quartarella instead of town (Modica) for the tranquility. It’s a simple kitchen but nice, he offered us some really lovely apple cake that his wife makes using olive oil, and we had a tisane (chamomile tea) with some great thyme honey his neighbor makes. We talked about this and that, including the history of the farm, the history of the area, what kinds of things he finds while out walking in the fields (the same fields he used to run around in as a child, picking wild asparagus and something else.)
April 5
It was a gorgeous morning, a bit hazy and in the upper 60s. I got a cappuccino around 8 in the little kitchen and took it outside and sat by the little pool and read the Michelin guide about the history of Sicily. When Terri and mark got up around 9:45 we had breakfast of scrambled fresh eggs from the chickens in the yard, some pastries from the area, including nucola, a mixture of figs, honey, almonds and egg in a little pastry. There was also a brioche and we had some of francescos homemade orange marmalade and fig jam. Perfect. We then walked over to the villa with Francesco so he could pick more oranges for his marmalade. The wife at the villa had an American mother so she was fluent in English. The gentleman, it turned out, had defended the hospital during the war (he was a physician). They picked the oranges and also offered us some lemons. There was also something growing called agrumi that looked like elongated grapefruit. There was an enormous fig growing in the courtyard of the villa… It had to have been hundreds of years old.
When we got back to Quartarella, we walked over to the chicken coop with Francesco because he thought he had heard the noise the chickens make when they lay eggs. At first he thought there weren’t any, but it turned out there were two hiding beneath the hay. In addition to the chickens there are two turkeys and also some pretty white pigeons that could easily fly away if they chose, but they seem to prefer to live there. Francesco also has a horse that we could see off in the pasture, a halfinger, which he says takes care of himself as there is plenty to eat. He said he can’t figure out how the horse gets enough water because he never sees him drink, and he was clearly amused by that. Francesco has land in a couple of other places; enough olive trees to make 50 liters of olive oil every year, and peaches in another place.
We walked back to Quartarella and got ready to go to Ragusa. Francesco also called and reserved at a little restaurant in Modica called Girasole (sunflower) which sounded appropriate.
The drive to Ragusa (a UNESCO site) was beautiful and very easy. Soon after we got to the city we stopped into a gas station and asked an elderly couple for directions to the scale (stairs) down into the city. The directions worked and we parked on the bridge, followed the signs to a tourist office, which was opposite a gorgeous church, and got a map and recommendations for not only a walking tour but also a restaurant with typical Sicilian food (“molto buono”). We decided to at least have a look at the menu and the sala (dining room) and other than the tv playing a soap opera it was perfect. I had a ricotta ravioli with olive oil and caciocavallo (local cheese) that was just fantastic. Terri had a cavatelli with ricotta and mark had ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce. All were just wonderful. We had a mezzo of the house red, which was more than fine.
After lunch we started down into the town, found the staircase and kept descending and descending, stopping frequently to catch a short flip video. It was a beautiful walk. At the end of the town was a very nice garden, which we walked in a bit before turning around and heading back up, up, up. We did stop at a little place and Terri picked up some local chocolate (which tastes like Mexican chocolate because at one point the spaniards were in charge of the area and they brought Aztec influence with them from their travels to the new world at the time of Columbus.) Mark picked up a local red wine, too, which we tried upon our return to quartarella, sitting at the stone table outside. It got a bit chilly so we came in to write and read before going to find Girasole.
Francesco had left us a book and card with directions to Girasole but it turned out to be another interesting adventure. We found the center of Modica eventually, with the help of a kind gentleman at one point, and parked near where it looked like the restaurant was. We walked one street over, and it turned out that we needed to go one more street over, but one more street over was about 150 feet up. Modica’s main streets are at the bottom of a gorge so as one gets away from the center, the town climbs up the sides of the gorge. We started walking down the street, thinking we would get to a place where we could turn for a switchback, but we saw a woman start up some stairs, so we went to investigate. We had seen a church up at the top so I asked if this was the way to the chorea. She said yes, so we continued, then she took another turn to another set of stairs and we followed again. We arrived near the piazza of the church just as services were starting or finishing and there were cars parked every which way in the piazza and nobody could move. We couldn’t find the restaurant, but at a certain point we realized the road continued on the other side of the church so we went round it and found it. We were the only ones there when we arrived but mark commented that something he had recently read mentioned the author had just arrived and nobody was there but eventually and suddenly the place filled up; he had just arrived too early. Unfortunately, though, that was not the care with us. Nobody else ever came. We felt bad that they didn’t have more business, but in another way we were happy to provide them with the business. The food was good, with several Sicilian specialties. When we left we made a wrong turn but ended up having a nice little tour that worked out nicely in the end as we went by a couple of beautiful churches that were beautifully lit. Sometimes things look even better at night so it was nice to see them by accident; I’m sure we wouldn’t have gone looking for them at night. San Giorgio and the duomo san pietro.
We figured out how to get back to Quartarella, but as I told Terri, I think she should travel with us more often because we have angels…
SICILY April 6-10, 2011
Breakfast every day has been a cappuccino or two, some local pastries and a scrambled egg if we chose. Today there were cannoli with pistachio and they were wonderful. They were filled with sweetened ricotta (cows milk rather than sheeps milk) and the ends were dipped in pistachios. Really really tasty. We sat around for a long time and chatted, then finally went in search of Internet. We didn’t find it where we thought Francesco hd been directing us so we took the main road toward modica and as it ended near the market square, there’s was a little truistic servizio on the right. I went in there to ask where I might find Internet or wifi and the guys said we could use his computers right there. It was a delightful title place with stone walls a wooden ceiling. Terri and I set up shop, with the laptop, where I downloaded the videos from the flip, and she used the iPad to see if it would work for the rest of her trip, and I then used the computer at the desk that he had offered. It was perfect. We had a little over an hour until he was closing, so we both checked email and did a couple other things. We saved the settings so we could go back as needed and park outside his office when it was closed.
We stopped by a store mark had previously gone to and picked up some cheese and red orange juice and Campari, then came back to the b and b and set up a lovely picnic with the leftovers from breakfast, the wine mark had picked up (a frapetto, a Nero d’avola and a c, which is a combination of the two) and the cheese, plus a couple of apples from the fruit bowl in the kitchen. While we were having lunch Gretchen called Terri’s new Italian number, which I had emailed her earlier, so we caught up on when they are arriving (Friday afternoon around 5:30) and what they have already seen (Gretchen came to a couple of years ago but Luigi ended up not coming because it was during the time he was selling Etra).
Our conversations at meals have tended to be “what next” conversations. Mark is at a bit of a crossroads with work (current situation not only untenable but unhealthy) and Terri also néeds to make a choice between continuing with arbitration or taking her former labor law firm up on the offer to return there. There are advantages to both, of course, as well as drawbacks so it is a difficult decision. Since she is away for so long she will have time to think it over, which is helpful. As for Mark, I am not sure what he will do. He doesn’t see leaving Wichita for at least five years or more but there are some options for change so we will see. His health is definitely suffering, though, with the amount of stress, which is unfortunate.
After our picnic we all had a nice nap, and then Mark went down to the Marina di Modica to see what was there. When he got back we chatted a bit with Francesco, who was waiting for another guest to arrive. Mark had seen a pizzeria ristorante on the road to ‘marina di modica, just after turning right out of c di quartarella and asked Francesco about it. F said it was good so we decided to give it a try. It was new, so not particularly charming, but it had a very pleasant interior and soon after we arrived it filled up with locals, always a good sign. There were several fish options and lots of pizza options. We each chose pizza. I got my favorite, (rucola, prosciutto cotto and Parmesan) and Terri got one with ricotta, sausage and spinach, Mark got one with onions and sausage. All were excellent, but i must say mine was the best! We made reservations for Friday night with Luigi and Gretchen. Mark said it was possibly the best pizza he has ever had and I would agree. Baldovino in Florence comes to mind but this really was outstanding.
April 7.
I like the pace we seem to have adopted, which is to say relaxed. There is no rush to get up in the morning and no rush to get out the door for some activity or another. I am usually the first one up, and I go get my first cappuccino then wait for mark and Terri. Mark seems to typically be second and Terri 3rd. Unfortunately, Terri seems to have come down with a cold but she was quite the trooper today and managed to participate fully despite the sneezing and runny nose.
After a (very) leisurely breakfast, we started a load of laundry with Rita’s help, (Francesco’s helper here), then Terri and I headed back to our little travel agency to use the Internet for about an hour.
We got organized, then got on the road to Noto. Passing through Ipsica we stopped by a bicycle shop, where Mark found some bib tights for a great price, and they gave him a water bottle gratis. I asked the price so I could maybe get one for Katharine, too, but she gave us another one for free, too. So nice.
We found a place to park in Noto and walked up to the main street, vittorio emmanuele, which had some very nice baroque architecture and churches. We found a tourist information office and picked up a map, Terri and I stopped for a gelato (superb limone), and mark and I bought a couple of tiny hand painted christmas ornaments for L and K.
From Noto we headed toward avola, got turned around a little and had to ask directions from a group of gentlemen playing checkers by the seaside, then headed to Antica avola (way up lots of switchbacks with fantastic views of the sea on the way up) and found the parking area for the hike to the gorge. We had our picnic at some tables and then mark headed down to the very bottom and Terri and I took our time at a slower pace. It was a wonderful hike. There are an amazing number of wildflowers in bloom now and it was great to see them all up close like that. We essentially left for the hike at the same time but Mark made it all the way down and 2/3 of the way back up when we met up. So we each got the hike we wanted… Worked out great.
From there we drove to capo di passera, which is at the tip of Sicily and which is the dividing spot between the Ionian and the Mediterranean Sea. Very cool. We skipped a couple of sites on the way there because of time constraints… We will have to come back to see those things some other time.
From capo di passera we drove along the sea (with occasional views of the sea when it wasn’t blocked by vegetation or walls) to pazzolla. It was getting late and dark, about 8:00, so we were trying to decide what to do about dinner. We stopped at a market but it had just closed so then thought we would drive along the boardwalk and see if there were any little stands for food, and then we saw a little vegetable shop so we stopped and bought some butter lettuce, rucola, tomatoes and bought a big beautiful fennel bulb and called it good. We found our way back to quartarella, opened the kitchen and mark made a campari and blood orange juice cocktail while I prepared the salad. We then pulled out the leftover bread from breakfast, the cheese I bought at the store the previous day, a bottle of sicilian wine mark had picked up, and had a delightful feast. And there is plenty left for tomorrow.
It was fascinating to see all the hoops, thousands of them, in use to start the vegetables. The ones we could see into had zucchini and tomatoes but there were no doubt lots of other things. We had noticed hundreds of acres of them here and there on our way down from Palermo, north of Ragusa, and now here they were again. Mark speculated that since the land was flatter near the sea, and the sea air would be cooler, it was a better climate for certain veggies. Terri noticed several tomato processing plants in the area.
April 8
Since we had had such a big driving day yesterday, we decided to go to sampiera (beach) and then Scicli, which francesco has mentioned many times, saying it was “five minutes, five minutes” from here. He even recommended going there the first night, and now in retrospect, we definitely could have done that, but then we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of tasting his wife’s apple cake that first night. 🙂
Sampiera was easy to find, and it did indeed have a beautiful beach. We parked the car in the town and walked from the town all the way out to the old brick factory, maybe a mile, along the beach. It was a little cool, probably low 60s but I had worn long sleeves and long pants so it wasn’t bad. It was really, really windy, though, and on our way back from the brick factory the wind picked up to at least 30 mph. It was a fantastic morning walk, though. The color of the sea is just beautiful here.. Various shades of blue to teal. The beach is a fairly fine sand, and is light but not white. There were a few interesting shells, and Terri and I also found some small pieces of pottery to take back, as well. We convinced ourselves they were thousands of years old, which they really could have been but Francesco said when we showed them to him upon our return that they were probably “only” 200 years old. He also told us that people are constantly finding bits and pieces of this and that when they dig in the fields, and especially when tractors came into use for the first time. He reported a story of how his uncle and his father we fishing for octopus one day and caught the octopus but when they went down to bring him up, they found a fully intact amphora from the Greek times, which would’ve been 3rd or 4th century bc. It sounded like they let the octopus go and brought up the amphora instead. Maybe there were two, even. he also said it is illegal to keep things that are found… They belong to Italy.
Anyway, after Sampiera we drove up to Scicli, which is indeed a beautiful little town built at the bottom (and up the sides of, and into the rock walls of) a gorge. At the top are some dwellings in the rock that were inhabited ages ago by troglodytes! There are several amazingly beautiful churches and public buildings. We saw a funeral procession in process, with the family and friends carrying the casket topped with dozens of red roses, through the streets to the church. Terri and I got hungry so we stopped at a little pizzeria called millenium in one of the piazzas. We ordered a pizza (gretchen and luigi drove up just now as i am writing!! yay!!!) but they only do them at night so Terri and I ordered a salad with tuna, cherry tomatoes, corn, bocconcini, arugula and lettuce and it was so tasty!
We walked a bit longer then went back to san bartolomeo and the car. When we got there, Terri realized that the kittle shop cut into the the side of the rock across from the church must be the shop franscesco had told us about with the old guy and his eclectic mix of stuff, so we went over there to talk to him. As Terri took the key out of her bag to show him, it broke and he sat down and fixed it! I had run out of juice in my Flip battery about 10 minutes prior so I couldn’t get a video, which was a bit sad, but in another way it’s okay since I tend to remember things better when I know there wasn’t a video of it.
We drove up the side of the San bartolomeo church, up the valley, to try to find the road back to quartarella. We didn’t find the most direct route but we did make it back, and we saw a couple of interesting things on the way back, including some abandoned farmhouses and some beautiful veggie gardens.
Terri and I drove to the little travel agency again to check our email, then headed back. Gretchen and luigi arrived a little before 7, then we sat for a bit and chatted, had a bit of a tour, went up on the terrace to have a look see, then got ready to go to dinner at the little pizzeria ristorante we dined at on Wednesday, la sirenetta.
This time I had grilled veggies and some fried ricotta.. Just right. Mark had pasta with fish and chopped, toasted almonds. Dessert was a lemon sorbet mixed with prosecco. We shared updates on our children (bia in London, applying to internship program st Sotheby’s and Christies for when she finishes her masters at the courtauld institute in July, Maddy graduating and looking for jobs or internships, but planning to stay in new york as she loves it there, Giuseppe planning to stay at Duke this summer and work in the same lab, though his mentor and boss has taken a new job elsewhere, Lauren and William at Woodberry and Williams boss leaving, Katharine and George, Northfield and finishing university, Nick graduating in May in film and tv, and Olivia going to India this summer and studying anthropology and photography).
April 9 Siracusa
Another nice leisurely breakfast, then we left for Siracusa, all in one car; fortunately, luigi and Gretchen had a slightly larger car. The drive was about an hour. We parked near the archeological park and saw the Greek theatre, the roman amphitheater, the orrecchia (ear) of dionysius and the other ruins then drove to orygia, the island at the tip of Siracusa. We had a little lunch at a fairly nondescript place, then walked around from there following the suggestions in the Michelin guide, which were good ones. There were more cool palazzi and churches and balconies and the view from the belvedere as well as the duomo were fantastic.
From there we drove back to the place and got ready for dinner. We drove back to scicli, which was really beautifully lit at night. There were a lot of people in the streets. The restaurant, la grotto, was built into the side of a rock wall and all the walls were the sides of the cave. Amazing. The food was very good, especially the caponata. There was also a salad of fennel, oranges and cherry tomatoes and some mint. So tasty!!
We walked some after dinner then headed back, which we found quite easily this time, and had a tisane in the kitchen before retiring for the night.
April 10
We packed the cars, said goodbye to Francesco and headed toward Piazza Armerina, a fantastic archaeological site from the 4th century AD. It’s beautifully preserved and the observation areas are remarkably well thought-out. More fantastic mosaics.
From there, Luigi and Gretchen drove toward Catania to catch their plane that afternoon and we drove back to Palermo, where we spent the night and flew out the next morning.
Agriturismo gigliotto between caltagirone and piazza armerina.
Hither, Yon and Skies 