Thursday, March 20, 2014

Wow!! It has been a long time since my last post but I promise I am back !!!!

I was just in Sicilia a few weeks ago and put over 800 miles on my rental car in just over 7 days. It was great!!!!!!

This imagine to the left is of AGIRA, a hilltop town in ENNA province. I have posted images from there before  but not of this view. Part of the joy for me is to  go to places the average tourist may not get to see. I cannot get enough of the island and I still have so much more to see AND  in so many different ways.

Returning to  CASTELLAMARE DEL GOLFO is always a treat. I happened to stay here one night as a friend, who knew I was going to be in Sicily, asked me if I could deliver a package to his mom. The fact that I am all the way over on the other side of the island was inconsequential !  Well, I did it and then stayed in nearby Castellamare del Golfo ( below)

 I had this idea to go to TROINA which is one of the highest villages in all of Sicily..I never made it !
I was sidetracked by the lateness of the day and also the fantastic view of GAGLIANO CASTELFERRATO which just blew me away. It will be the subject of more exploration this summer.

GIARDINI NAXOS, the first settlement of the Greeks in Sicilia, looms around the bend from Taormina on the beautiful SS 114 ( state road)

The day after my stay in CASTELLAMARE DEL GOLFO, I headed south and stopped outside of AGRIGENTO to see the limestone cliffs called the SCALA DI TURCHI. The beach is unspeakably beautiful.

Lastly, for now, I am a big fan of ANDREA CAMILLIERI who is the very well known Italian author who wrote the MONTALBANO series which also appears on Italian TV. Montalbano is the detective counterpart to America’s COLUMBO ( or vice versa). The stories take place in the fictitious Viga`ta which is really PORTO EMPEDOCLE also outside of AGRIGENTO. A statue of MONTALBANO stands proudly in the center of town.  BTW.. I have read all of his ( Camillieri) books and even tried to do it in italian  which is so laced with Sicilian ( language,not dialect) that i would need another lifetime to do it well !












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