By Tom Allin
Yesterday we checked into our hotel in Syracuse, unloaded the 4Runner to make
room for cousins Anna and Edmund, drove to the Catania airport to pickup Anna
and Edmund and then back to our hotel in Syracuse.
Oops, forgot on our way out of Noto on our way to Syracuse we stopped in
Vendicare Nature Reserve for about an hour and a half of birding. This reserve has
several lagoons, a wooded area, and a beach on the sea to walk about.
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By Tom Allin
I haven’t been able to walk past a church much less a cathedral during our Italian
travels. I find every one of the Italian churches fascinating from their different
architectural designs, Stations of the Cross, sculptures, paintings, altars, crypts, and
more.
The volume in each church is almost overwhelming due to the height of the ceilings.
It doesn’t matter if you are walking into a neighborhood parish church or a city
cathedral – the volume of the interior is overwhelming.
By Tom Allin
We left the Valley of the Temples and took the scenic drive to tonight’s stay, Noto.
Our drive took us along the coast until we reach Gela where we took the inland road
into the low mountains. This drive took us through the Baroque architectural
hilltop towns of Ghiaramonte Gulfi, Ragusa, Modica, Ispica and into Noto.
Knowing we had a tight time schedule to avoid driving at night we didn’t stop to
explore any of these hilltop towns – maybe next time. However, the drive wasn’t
difficult and was very scenic.
I had chosen a place in Noto’s old town and of course the nearest parking place was
about 200 yards away from our apartment and it was an uphill walk from the
parking spot. The moving of luggage was easy compared to finding our apartment
and did I mention the owners knew as much English and as I know Italian. We or
Nancy made it work with the Google translation application.
By Tom Allin
The Tunis, Tunisia to Palermo, Sicily ferry’s PA system woke us up about 5:30 am
for a docking at 7:00 and a drive off the ferry at about 8:30. In summary we had
been up for three hours plus before the Toyota 4Runner’s wheels touched Sicilian
pavement.
Took about another 30 minutes to pass through customs and passport control. Our
first stop of the day is 120-km/1.5 hour drive to the south side of the Sicilian Island.
Exiting Palermo isn’t too bad and the highway is an easy drive. Damn if that isn’t the
entrance to the Selinunte Ruins dead ahead.
By Tom Allin
We had been smart this morning and took a taxi to the museum saving our legs for
the museum and whatever came after. In our case we did some serious steps. First
we took a short walk through a very small part of the park surrounding the Villa,
next a longer walk through more of the park and on to the Modern Art Museum –
and no we hadn’t checked to see if it was open on a Monday and it wasn’t – so it was
on to food.
By Tom Allin
We left Siracusa, Sicily about 10:15 for a quick drive to Messina, the ferry and on to
Tropea. The first hour of our drive was easy and uneventful. Then things went a
little wrong – seems we typed in the state of Messina, not the city of Messina to
Google Maps.
This route took us to the west of Mt. Etna (snow covered peak in above photograph)
through gorgeous mountains and wild flowers, on a dirt road, the occasional small
town or village, farm houses and you get the idea. I wish we had stopped here for a
night to give us more time to explore this area of Sicily.
Complete article posted on iEXPOSED.us — click here to read the article
By Tom Allin
Nancy in one of her late night searches found Rich Steves’ online tour walks of Italy.
She downloaded these to our iPhones, downloaded Goggle Maps where the tour was
taking us, and we layered up with clothes and stepped outside.
The first tour we began with was Heart of Rome. This was an easy tour to do since it
began less than five minutes from our front door.
First stop is Campo de’ Fiori. During daylight hours the square is a large market of
mostly fruits and vegetables. Of course, a different sale table caught my attention.
Complete article posted on iEXPOSED.us — click here to read the article
We had a light lunch late this afternoon and we are hungry. So we bundled up: long
underwear top, shirt, sweater, leather jacket, and gloves for me and Nancy dressed
similarly.
We walked to the end of our street or about five blocks. We then walked into a
small restaurant that had a single couple occupying an indoor table. We made a
mistake – we only ate here one more time! Our two meals at Osteria Le Streghie are
as good as it gets. And by the time we left this evening over half the tables were
occupied – we are early dinners and had arrived a few minutes after 8:00 pm.
Note: this photograph was taken in the late afternoon on our second visit, not our
first visit at night.
By Tom Allin
Nancy in one of her late night searches found Rich Steves’ online tour walks of Italy.
She downloaded these to our iPhones, downloaded Goggle Maps where the tour was
taking us, and we layered up with clothes and stepped outside.
The first tour we began with was Heart of Rome. This was an easy tour to do since it
began less than five minutes from our front door.
First stop is Campo de’ Fiori. During daylight hours the square is a large market of
mostly fruits and vegetables. Of course, a different sale table caught my attention.
Story posted on iEXPOSED.us. click here to read the story
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