Glorious -- 18 days in Sicily

Old Oct 28th, 2016, 07:54 AM
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" hope I am not waxing too enthusiastically, and I realize that my ravings may make you think that either I'm a loon or I'm embellishing. "

Sicily is magical, not the least because the people are just so friendly and kind. We've been twice but I'm ready to go back after reading your report, and we were just there in May!

We had bus load after bus load of school kids viewing the mosaics at Villa Romana, and we had to kind of rush through, getting glimpses of the floors in between heads, but we loved it anyway. Looks like your timing was much better than ours. I think we arrived around 2 pm.

I'm glad the bus from Taormina to Syracuse worked out well for you. The kind people at Villa Schuler recommended it to us.
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Old Oct 28th, 2016, 08:33 AM
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Thanks for that, sundriedtopepo, I was thinking this morning that surely there must be more negative things I should say just to preserve some balance. And I did think of something-- The landscape in the interior was dry and brown, not beautiful and green like it would be in the spring. That did make some of the the drives much less scenic and the landscape was rather barren and severe. But I think that's a small price to pay for the other huge advantages that come from traveling in the fall.
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Old Oct 28th, 2016, 04:26 PM
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L

Oh ,no! I had a few misdirections from my Tom tom too. It sent me the scenic route between Agrigento and Piazza Armerina. I knew to stay on the main highway until Gela and did for most of the way. Somewhere along the route it gave me a turn that had me off into the mountains on little deserted roads, but no dirt. Thankfully the scenery was fantastic and I stopped several times for some great pictures.

Then I went round and round Piazza Armerina trying to get to the Villa Romana. I knew it was just outside town and even which side, but Tommasina just didnt get me on the right street! She even sent me up the wrong way on a one way street. A street so steep my stick shift car stalled in first! That was interesting..... Once I got up to the top, I could easily understand why it was a one way going down only!

In Scicli, she tried to direct me down a street blocked with concrete barriers at the point where the street became a stairway......didnt fall for that one!

Fortunately Tommasina got me straight to La Foresteria Planeta Estate in the Menfi countryside, when I had absolutely no clue where it was. I had been unable to reach them for directions due to internet and e mails problems on their end. Just breezed in the driveway after a nice countyside drive.

None of these things bothered me. Like your husband, I dont worry about getting lost. I know Ill get there even if it takes a little figuring out. I also think that after you have driven a couple of times with a GPS in a strange place, you kind of know went to ignore it.....and trust hour own instincts and sense of direction. Plus I always take a detailed paper map. Although I hardly used it in Sicily.
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Old Oct 28th, 2016, 11:04 PM
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Definitely not too much 'rambling' ! Enjoying your thoughts and impressions and no doubt will add this TR to my file
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Old Oct 29th, 2016, 05:21 AM
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like you, lreynolds, we loved Sicily and I am really keen to go back though I think that DH may have ideas about other places to go first. and there is the rest of Italy of course.

The food is one of the things that IMO sets it aside from many other places [it's hard to have a bad meal and most are very good] and I noticed that you spotted this:

>

It's dead easy to do, so long as you have enough salt. you need a whole fish, a big enough dish [I use a roasting pan that fits straight onto the oven runners] some flavourings, and you are good to go. oil the tin, place the fish on it [a flat whole fish works best like brill, turbot or halibut] stuff the cavity with herbs, and then cover the whole lot in a deep layer of salt.

Bake in the oven for 20 -30 mins or so depending on the size of the fish. take it out, and the skin should lift off with the salt, then you can take the fillets off the top side; lift out the bones [they should all come out together with the backbone] and then you are left with the fillets underneath.

after that small culinary diversion, our problem with the roads was not so much the GPS [where it seemed to be going mad we ignored it and used the map] but the roads themselves. These were mainlythough not entirely self-inflicted problems caused by my choice of accommodation at the top of places instead of at the bottom. Getting to the hotel in Castelmola almost finished us off, but I don't think we'd have got there at all had we not served our apprenticeship in Ragusa, where we had to drive all the way up through Ibla to get there. But even in the countryside we ran into problems - one road between [i think] Palazzolo Acriede and Ragusa had been so badly affected by weather/erosion/subsidence that actually getting to the other end required nerves of steel on DH's point and a huge amount of self-restraint on mine! [he was driving, I was spotting the potholes]. Then being faced with driving up into Ragusa Ibla, finding our B&B and then getting to the parking up at the top by the dome of the Duomo tested both our endurance. As did steeling ourselves to drive down the next day, knowing that we'd have to drive all the way back up there again at the end of the day. I suppose if you live there it gets easier!

anyway you are inspiring me to go back to my own TR though whether it will be as entertaining as your remains to be seen!
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Old Oct 30th, 2016, 05:24 AM
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Day 9 -- Piazza Armerina to Agrigento

The Villa Clementine is very nice. Rooms are very comfortable, the grounds are spacious and very private (pool for the summer), Rita is a doting hostess, and the breakfast rivaled the Villa Schuler in Taomorina. If you could find more things to do in the area, I would definitely encourage another night there. For example, the ruins of the nearby ancient city of Morgantina, from 11th century BC are, I believe, undergoing extensive work, but nothing really jumped out at me when I was planning.

The drive to Agrigento was another one of those where the GPS took us off major roads and through the little village of Mazzaria. We had wanted to try the roads through the hills rather than the obviously more direct route south to Gela on the coast and then west. There was construction and some detours, so that didn't help things. On one remote road, we flagged down a motorcyclist coming in the opposite direction and he very helpfully stopped and drew us a little map of where we were and how to get to Agrigento. Even the little town of Mazzaria was abuzz on a Sunday morning and the drive up to the top and out the other side was interesting and involved a lot of quick turns onto narrow streets.

But without too much ado we made our way into Agrigento. The main road from the west takes you right to the one of two parking lots for the temples. This is the "lower" one, and we found that it was easy to get to our B&B with that entrance into town. Just keep following signs to Agrigento, going up the hill. After the turnoff to the left for the Archaeological museum (at the San Nicola church), but before the turnoff to the right for the "upper" parking lot of the Valley of the Temples, the Villa Lumia has a sign on the right. Not terribly obvious, but visible if you are looking for it. Great location, another nice family run place, with breakfast outside with a view of the temples! Rooms were pretty typical for our trip -- perfectly clean, bathroom worked well, not much in the way of charm or historic trappings. The B&B is on the grounds of the family home and the accommodations are either newly built or heavily remodeled. Another "enclosed compound" where you needed a key to get in the gate.

After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we walked towards the temples' upper parking lot. It seemed to me that this was definitely the "secondary" entrance, that most of the hoopla was at the entrance we had seen at our entrance to Agrigento. From our B&B, it was probably about a 15-20 minute walk to the entrance. On the way we passed a few roadside cafe/restaurants and had a light lunch. That left us with many hours to tour the temples. Again, we lucked out -- though it was a Sunday afternoon, and there were lots but not hoards of Italian families visiting, we saw only one or two bus loads and were able to enjoy ourselves without feeling pressed or crowded at all. I was surprised looking at our pictures to see how few people were in them! Not all of the on-site cafes were open, but we did have some acqua frizzante at one.

Since my husband is a good 10 years older than I, he took the tourist train back up to our starting point (3 euros) and waited there for me. I then walked back to our B&B and got the car to come pick him up, to save those kms for him. We had passed a nice looking restaurant on the side of the road, Il Re di Girgenti. Turns out we had dinner there both nights, sitting outside with a view of several of the temples lit up. Though there is a fair amount of road traffic very nearby, the views cancelled out that minor irritation. We both had good fish, some good risotto and pasta, so we decided to return the next night.

Day 10 -- In Agrigento

We had two choices for today. We knew that we wanted to visit the Archaeological Museum (you can buy a "combined ticket" for both sites to save a few euros), but that would leave a lot of the day. As between a car trip, to Scala di Turchhi and one or two other things I had jotted down in my notes, and just a "stay put" day in town, we opted for the latter. It was the right choice for us.

First, the museum is quite nice, has one of the original Atlantes from the Temple of Zeus and a reconstruction of how it looked in all its glory. Lots of nice artifacts, and less draining for the non-expert than some of the other museums we had visited. It was much smaller, seemed more intimate, and easier to roam around in.

From the museum, we found our way up to the modern town. Some of the walk was less than inspiring, but I really do enjoy seeing the non-touristy parts of the places I go, and this walk up was surely that. A bit chaotic, car mechanics next to pharmacies, not exactly scenic but interesting. Once up there, we got on the Via Atenas and used it as the spine of our visit. All of our day was spent either on or near it. We would take little detours up to churches or just to wander around through the narrow streets. We had another good lunch in a little cafe somewhere on an old narrow street. Sitting outside, another good antipasto plate. No doubt many would say that Agrigento is not high on charm nor on attractions to visit, and on some level I would have to agree. But it was another one of those places where you would happen upon an open church door, find a nun sitting there taking donations, and go into another beautiful baroque stucco church. Lots of winding old streets with houses close together and clothes hanging on the balcony. One of my favorite pictures is of six prayer mats hanging out to dry next to a big satellite dish. Not too touristy, and the pretty low key Via Atenas was the closest it comes, I think, to "trendy" and "upscale" in Agrigento. But we enjoyed it. And we topped it off with a visit to probably the best gelato place we experienced -- Crispini on the Via Della Vittoria.

Another good fish dinner, and with our breakfast on check-out morning, we ate a total of four meals sitting with unobstructed views of the temples. Not bad.
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Old Oct 30th, 2016, 06:20 AM
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Loving this report, please keep "rambling"!

Ann, for our Taormina accommodations, we did the reverse of your solution to the crowds and found a lovely B&B down by the water in Giardina Naxos. The bus system was fantastic and readily available when we needed to go in one direction or another. Probably because it is used by both the late night and early morning commuters who live by the water but work on the hill. BTW, we needed nerves of steel just to ride to Castelmolo...I can't even imagine finding the courage to drive. L, I am jeolous that you found the trail to walk up to Piazza Castelmolo. From our periodic glimpses, it really did look like a beautiful track.

Looking forward to reading both of your reports in their entireties".��

-Annie
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Old Oct 30th, 2016, 07:07 AM
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Ann, for our Taormina accommodations, we did the reverse of your solution to the crowds and found a lovely B&B down by the water in Giardina Naxos.>>

sounds like a good choice, Annie. On our trip to Etna we met a family [mum and two grown-up daughters] who were in an apartment in that area and they loved it. Frankly I have no idea how we got up to the hotel either - and the SatNav was s..all use as it couldn't "read" the road. We certainly weren't up for doing it again, and we left the car in the vertiginous car park all the time we were there. Whilst I would consider returning to Ragusa, despite the hills, I won't be rushing back to Castelmola again.
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Old Oct 30th, 2016, 11:44 AM
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I had fish prepared that way in Ravello this summer. I was surprised that I finished it all myself--underneath the salt and sans bones it wasn't that big. Now maybe thanks to annhig I'l try to cook it at home.

I wish I had stayed at your b & b in Agrigento. We stayed out in the countryside and that is when I determined that I will never again stay in the countryside unless they serve dinner onsite! Too dark, too curvy driving at night for me.

Looking forward to your next stop.
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Old Oct 30th, 2016, 03:12 PM
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Now maybe thanks to annhig I'l try to cook it at home.>>

oh the responsibility!

>

that's why we always stay in a town, Leely - that and our wanting to be able to have the odd glass of wine or three without worrying about who's driving. AS you will discover if ever get round to finishing my TR, we thought that we'd made a bad mistake in the place we stayed at in Piazza Armerina, because though it wasn't exactly in the countryside, you needed the car to get into town, and the road to get back to the pensione was vertiginous in places. EXCEPT we discovered that if you ignored the directions they gave you, and the signs that they had put up, by turning right earlier than they said, instead of driving round the side of a small cliff, you drove along a perfectly normal road past other houses.

Once we discovered our new route we were perfectly happy as the drive back from the town only took about 5 minutes and it was lit up all the way, so long as you went the right [ie our] way and not theirs. Weird or what?
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Old Oct 30th, 2016, 03:50 PM
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Enjoying your TR! It should be very helpful for future visitors to Sicily. I remember your planning thread. Glad you liked Palmero. I thought it was a much underrated city. I'm glad you thought it would have been ok to leave luggage in a car. as I have said, we did it throughout Sicily and never felt particularly worried given the locations and number of people around.
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Old Oct 31st, 2016, 05:11 AM
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Day 11 -- To Selinunte and Villa Sogno

Another "travel day," though our travel days this trip tended to be very low key and non-stressful. We got around to leaving the B&B around 10:30 or 11, knowing/hoping we had only about 90 minutes -2 hours to Villa Sogno. We had been having such a good time with our routine of "drive straight to the hotel and then head to the main attraction for the day" that we decided to forego a quick detour to Scala di Turchi. Maybe that was a mistake, but we had heard and read so much about Selinunte and wanted to make sure to have as much time as we wanted there.

So by the time we checked in, dropped bags, and drove into town to a little salumeria for another great sandwich and fresh fruit for our upcoming picnic, it was about 2 pm when we arrived at the ruins. We parked in the "near lot" and left the car there for the rest of the day. That meant a lot of walking, but we are both used to a fairly high level of activity, and two hours sitting in the car just adds to the urge to get out and go. There is another "combined ticket" option, allowing access the next day to the Cave di Cusa, the nearby quarry site where all the stone was prepared for the temples.

I can't add much to what others have said about Selinunte. Another spectacular site, totally unrestricted access to the temples (except for the Acropolis on the location closer to the water, which is gated off to visitors), good guidebook descriptions, beautiful water locations and excellent picnicking opportunities. I might slightly disagree with remarks that it is not really "worth it" to walk across the ancient river (now stream) to the third and most remote site, Temple M (Malophorus ???). Our guidebook explained how it was the most ancient part of the entire complex and that they had discovered many hundreds of votive statues to Demeter at the site. For ancient history buffs, this is probably an essential stop. For the ignoranti like us who just like to walk a lot and conjure up the past with our basic understandings, it was also fun. Excavations are ongoing and we knew that a lot of the findings from Selinunte were on display in Palermo, so we wanted to have a good mental image of the whole thing for our later visit there. Our long haul back to the car started with an overpriced but refreshing lemon granita. As the only guy in town selling anything to eat or drink, he was pretty much able to choose his prices, showing once again that it's fun to be a monopolist.

Back in the car, we went into the little town nearby Marinela di Selinunte. We walked around looking for someplace inspiring for diner, but decided that tonight would be another picnic supper out on the terrace in the B&B's beautifully landscaped backyard, so more fixings were needed. Since it was a Monday night, the restaurant at the nearby and highly touted Agriturismo Carbona was closed. We considered the fish extravaganza at Boomerang but had read conflicting reviews and decided to stick to basics back at the B&B with another excellent bottle of wine,some fresh vegetable (SORELY lacking in my Sicilian restaurant diet), and the standard meats, cheeses, bread, etc.

Day 12 -- To Segesta

I had several options for the day in my notes. One was to head to Scala di Turchi, the Eraclea Minoa site, and then poke around there. Another was Mazara del Vallo to see the Satyr, then visit the salt flats plus Mozia. A third was a drive up to Caltabellota and around for the scenery. With the weather forecast predicting rain near Scopello, and with our incipient idea about cutting a day off what was planned as three nights in Scopello in order to add a day to Palermo, we opted to "jump ahead" a day. We decided that after our visit to the Cave di Cusi we would then drive to Segesta (knowing that we would cover essentially that same bit the following day when we moved to Scopello, so it wasn't really that efficient). But our B&B host Lorenzo told us the forecast looked much better for Segesta and the north than the few kms south in the Selinunte area, so we went with that plan. I'm sure we would have enjoyed the other options, but hey you can't do it all.

Driving to Cava di Cusi we took a wrong turn and suddenly found ourselves as the only car in a sea of men hanging around in groups on the side of the road. Some were batting a ball around, most were just milling though. The backdrop cabins/shanties from which they must have emerged were depressing to say the least. We later learned that it was immigrant labor for the olive harvest, and the men were probably waiting for their pick up rides. Not sure where we had taken the wrong turn, we flagged down the only other car we saw coming our way, and the driver promptly turned around and took us to the entrance, only a few kms away, but if you don't know how to get there, being near won't help you.

The Cave di Cusi is probably not a "must see" stop on anyone's list, but it was evocative and interesting. I had always assumed that the round columns standing in all these temples were carved out of big blocks of quarried stone. Not so -- round columns were actually chipped right out of the quarry itself, and there were several excellent examples of half-done columns still standing with a little ring of space most of the way around them. The site is fairly extensive and not heavily touristed. It is surrounded by olive groves, too, which makes for nice scenery.

Segesta was just as described, but even if you are expecting it, it kind of knocks your socks off. The five star attraction is the highly intact temple, amazing. Back down at the main visitor site (cafe, tickets, etc), there is a km or so path up to the top where the theater is located. The options are a couple of euros for a bus (which my husband took) or an off-road path that takes you through the excavations of the defensive walls and some recently discovered remains of housing units. The setting of the theater is maybe not as dramatic as Taormina with Mt. Etna in the background, but the gulf of the ocean is visible and the theater is in very good shape. There was even a row of seats that had curved stone backs, so someone must have paid a premium not to sit with lower back pain and watch the show. I convinced my husband to walk down, and the views of the temple as you get lower are pretty awesome.

We got back to Selinunte to a hard rain, the only rain that fell on us (our car actually) during the trip. We had hoped to take an hour or so walk in the nature preserve, but it was raining, so we headed slowly back to town and by the time we got there and had had a coffee, it had stopped. We opted for a walk along the beach from our cafe and enjoyed walking in the warm water with the waves coming in. There is an incredible amount of refuse on the beach, so it wasn't exactly pristine, but when you get out toward the point you can see the Acropolis poking up at you, so it was not a bad way to end the day.

That night we had dinner at Agriturismo Carbona, known for its meat according to our B&B . Even though we aren't much in the way of meat eaters (but were of course making almost daily exceptions for cured meats and hams while here), my husband is always happy to chow down on a big chunk of beef, especially since it was raised on their farm. He said it was quite good, but found that "medium rare" meant something more cooked than he had expected. Since that was the only meat we had while in Sicily, I'm not sure if that's a general issue or whether this was an exception. He did have a similar experience asking for rare tuna, though. We had some excellent antipasto before the piece de resistance, and I was happy with my vegetarian pasta. I would recommend that option for dinner, and it is a very short drive from the Villa Sogno. They also sell home made olive oil, and if you can resist buying a few bottles, since they are in the most beautifully decorated olive oil bottle I've ever seen, you have more self-restraint than I. We had had the olive oil at our dinner, so can confirm that it's more than just a pretty face.

Villa Sogno is a very good stop, finally some charm in the accommodation! And Lorenzo and Cinzia are enthusiastic, helpful and very kind. I would highly recommend it. We're glad we had two nights and could have found lots of ways to fill several more days if time were not an issue. Though we have probably seen many or most of the "must see" places in Sicily, there are undoubtedly tons more waiting for us to explore.
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Old Nov 1st, 2016, 09:08 AM
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Day 13 -- To Scopello

Today we kind of hustled a bit, knowing that the weather report was now glorious for the Scopello area (with thunderstorms threatened for evening) and wanting to spend as much of the day as possible walking the path along the coast in the Zingaro Preserve, Sicily's first protected natural area. So we left a bit early for our Sicily habits, must have been before 10. The route was familiar, since we had gone from our B&B to Segesta the day before, and it was an easy drive on the autovia.

One quick note I forgot to add about driving on the autovia in Sicily. The stretch between Taormina/Messina and at least as far as Catania has tolls. We saw them when being transported from the Catania airport to Taormina. There are both transponder lanes, and cash lanes. From Siracusa to Noto, we were on the autovia for a while, and saw what looked like overhead transponder-sensitive toll points, but no cash lanes. We followed up on it because we were afraid that, like in Portugal, we would have to make payment within a few days since we had no transponder in our car. Our B&B hosts in Villa Ambra, however, told us that the toll collections were not yet functional on this is part of the autovia. So my sense is that the only place to worry about tolls is on the autovia on the east side, because we saw no toll booths or overhead transponder points driving on the A29 between Mazaro and Palermo.

When we got to Castellamare del Golfo, we decided not to take a little detour through town to see the port, the castle, etc, again with our Zingaro destination in mind. We did pull off at the overlook on the way up after going through town to enjoy expansive views down towards town and beyond for many kms.

Arriving in Scopello was easy for us. Straight up towards the "lower" entrance to town, and about 500 m before the parking lot, we saw our destination on the right. It's very identifiable, kind of a white three sided building, a ring of rooms put together, with an open courtyard in the middle. It was very early, but our room was ready and the woman at the desk was very accommodating. I have described our decision to change from 3 nights in Scopello to 2 nights, even though our booking.com reservation had us down for three. In hindsight, and especially because we had already visited Segesta, this was exactly the right amount of time for us.

Walking gear, water bottles, backpack for lunch, and off we went. On the way to the preserve, there is a little market, which has a great deli section. It was in fact the first one we had found with a lot of prepared salads (cous cous vegetables, many different eggplant options including caponata of course). So we did a double shop, buying lunch fixings and dinner fixings at the same time. By now, I had pretty much had my fill of eating in restaurants. No matter how good the food, I found myself longing for my own green salads more than anything. At least here we could get some carrots, peppers, crunchy raw vegetables, what a delight! Even with a 20 euro bottle of wine, the bill was around 35 euros. And we had gotten several recommended cheeses to boot and at least one cured meat.

So by very early afternoon, we were at the parking lot at the southern end of the trail. This is very close to Scopello. Before reaching it, though, we had parked the car in a little signed parking lot to take a quick stroll to see the rocky formations close to the coast as well as the now abandoned tuna factory. Turns out this was not the only abandoned tuna factory we would see, there is another one on the way from San Vito el Capo to the northern end of the preserve. I have read that you can visit the tonnara, but the sign we saw said "private property" and since we were eager to start walking, we didn't pursue it any further. But it may have been a very interesting little side trip.

A km or so further on, you come to a fair sized parking lot, free parking, totally out in the open. Charge for entering the preserve was in the 5-8 euro range, and oh was it worth the ticket price. We wound up there almost till dark. When you enter, you will receive a map that shows you how the paths criss cross and descend to a variety of coves. Even in mid October, there were people swimming there. There were many options for combining my desire to walk more and my husband's desire to walk less. Sometimes I would go up and down to a cove while he would wait up top. Sometimes he would stay seated in the shade or visit some of the little establishments along the way (a manna museum, for instance) while I walked out and back, making a circle by using the trail map. So it's a place to walk where it's easy to accommodate different levels of walking. Who can object to sitting and waiting in a protected cove with turquoise water and many rock formations?! This is an absolutely glorious place to walk, beautiful coastlines, beautiful coves, great views extending in both directions. I cannot recommend it highly enough for those who like being active outdoors. The path is good, ups and downs all manageable. I always hike with poles, but hadn't brought them and didn't really miss them.

That evening after showering we decided to walk up to the town and see what was going on. Scopello has a few shops, a few cafes, a great bread store with legendary pane cunzatos, a pension with very high ratings. There are, I believe, parking lots on either side of town, but driving through town is prohibited. I didn't really figure out the details though because we just walked from our place. As we were walking back down to enjoy our homemade dinner, which we hoped to enjoy sitting outside, the heavens opened up and it poured. We made it back, drenched and soggy, but luckily those quick drying clothes served their purpose and were dry by morning. It did dash our dream of an outdoor dinner gazing out over the twinkling lights of Castellamare and beyond, but we were happy that the rain had held off for the day because those coastal paths would have been very different in the rain.

Day 14 -- To Erice

This was the only day with something that bordered on bad weather. Breakfast outdoors on the terrace was sunny and very pleasant temperatures. The breakfast here fit well within our median Sicilian breakfast -- a ton of sweets, some fruit, good coffee. And great views.

Driving up to Erice was sunny and clear, walking through the gates, to the duomo, and starting up the main road, things were a bit cloudy, and then from the main square onward, we alternated among cloudy and foggy and drizzly. No strong rain, but no beautiful views from then on. I readily admit that our opinion of Erice is highly influenced by the fog - it made it chilly and less than pleasant. The castle itself pushed in and out of the fog, the drizzles put a damper on things. But even accounting for the weather, I have to say I was surprised that the Michelin guide gives Erice 3 stars. True, the gates are ancient, there are some old towers and a few baroque churches, some winding narrow alleyways with laundry hanging on small balconies. But in comparison to other walled medieval cities I've visited, it really wouldn't make my "must see" list. I don't mean this to sound arrogant or dismissive, because it does have some interesting features and attractive squares, gardens, etc. We did have some good food (drizzle and fog are great motivators to go inside and chow down) and I wouldn't say it was an awful stop. But all in all, if I had to have one day of bad weather, this would be the day I would pick, for the perhaps weird reason that it put a damper on what wasn't going to be a spectacular day anyway.

Driving back down the hill, we debated whether to go to Trapani/salt flats/Mozia or San Vito el Capo and the other end of the Zingaro preserve. Btw, I don't think the roads up and down to and from Erice are horrible, they do wind around but the pavement is in good condition, the curves are manageable. Maybe in high summer if you have to compete with tour buses it gets a bit more hairy, but for us in a car with very little traffic it wasn't a big issue at all.

The Zingaro preserve option won out, so we drove first to San Vito, a little beach town with not a whole lot of charm in my book. There was a cafe with excellent coffee, however! (admittedly that is not hard to find in Sicily). After a stroll around, we got back in the car and drove to the northern end of the preserve we had walked through the day before. The weather was somewhat cloudy, but visibility was good and we walked almost to the spot where we had turned back the previous day, coming in from the south. Having seen both ends of the preserve, I would say that the south end near Scopello has better access (it's a good 8 km or more from San Vito to the parking lot and entrance). Both have views of the same ocean, both have little coves that are great for swimming, and I suppose that for most people the entrance point depends on where you are coming from.

Back at Tenute Plaia, we got ready to head up to Scopello for dinner but as we started up, it started to rain. So we decided to eat in their restaurant, rather than chance another downpour on the way back. This was the only meal all trip that was a letdown. Uninteresting, overpriced (at least in comparison to the other meals we were eating in Sicily), but the service was friendly and the food was hot! Bad meals are not that big a deal for me, so having some decent wine and a nice table on which to plan out some of our upcoming Palermo time made it an ok way to end the day.
lreynold1 is offline  
Old Nov 1st, 2016, 05:36 PM
  #34  
 
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I'm sorry you didn't get to see the views at Erice, because they are the whole reason to go there, and I think your opinion would have been different on a sunny day. I loved the place....
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Old Nov 1st, 2016, 06:49 PM
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L

Thanks for reporting back on Tenuta Plaia. I thought the location looked great and the rooms the usual basic, but you cant tell about a restaurant unless you try it!

Sorry you had bad weather at Erice. I loved it even in the pouring rain. Lots of atmosphere. But since I had 3 nts there, I did get to see it with the gorgeous views too. I was the one trying to hike Lo Zingaro in the rain. Not a lot of fun and that mud gets very sticky......still beautiful, but I would love to see it in the sun!
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Old Nov 1st, 2016, 08:22 PM
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I'll jump on the Erice bandwagon. We liked it so much we went on both trips to Sicily. It was a touch crowded during the mid day, but the early am and evening and nights were delightful.
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Old Nov 1st, 2016, 10:09 PM
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I knew there were a lot of Erice fans out there, and it's good that you chimed in to offset my less than raving comments. It makes me think we should return!
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Old Nov 1st, 2016, 11:20 PM
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Thanks for reporting on Lo Zingaro. Still more to see in Sicily!
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Old Nov 2nd, 2016, 03:18 AM
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I see the makings of a Sicily GTG!

Im in! Who else?
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Old Nov 2nd, 2016, 04:24 AM
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Do you mean IN Sicily? I am seriously considering a return early next year.
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