As I get older I do worry more about falls than I used to, especially after I went flying over my bike handlebars about fifteen years ago and broke my upper arm by the shoulder. Do not care to do anything of the sort again! These types of injuries do linger though. We just came back from a walk, and I can still feel the painful spot on my thigh a month later.

My husband also had his freak accident later on in our trip, and it has really set me thinking since we had two incidents that impacted what we were able to do on some days. I wonder how those people who have an hour-by-hour plan for their trip (kind of like their own forced march tour group) handle it when something happens to throw off all of their planning.

This point may be where all of the detailed reporting ends since this is the end of the time I made any notes while traveling. I always start out with the best of intentions to take notes consistently, and I always stop by about the halfway point on our trip.

Very much enjoying your continued trip report. Sorry to hear about the fall you had - how fortunate it wasn't more serious and am glad it didn't hamper the overall enjoyment of your trip.

Interesting to hear about your take on the Modica chocolate -- I look forward to doing my own taste test now!

PIAZZA ARMERINA

As I planned our trip, the one place that I absolutely felt was a must-see was Villa Casale del Romana. I love mosaic work and knew that this would definitely be a highlight and very different type of sight than anything else we would see on our trip. How to fit it in a logical itinerary was my dilemma. I finally decided that as much as we dislike one night stays, we would need to do an overnight here. With all of the warnings about not leaving luggage in cars and with all of the advice that we should try to arrive early at the villa to avoid the crowds, I just did not see any other options.

On this trip we did not feel that we were on a rigidly scheduled, tour bus, fit in every possible sightseeing opportunity type trip, so we typically took our time and had leisurely mornings before setting out for the day. So, as is usual for us, we did not get an early start from Modica. In addition to packing up our things, we needed to stop at the headquarters of the B & B to pay our bill after we visited the bar/café for breakfast. Weather had changed overnight and a cooler, partially rainy day had set in that morning. It wasn’t raining a lot but just enough to make sitting outside impossible.

As we were leaving Modica our GPS (we were still relying on HERE as a navigational tool) once again got us all turned around. We ended up on the outskirts of the city at the top of a hill in a very large cemetery complex with large, elaborate tombs and a several story high mausoleum area that we actually thought were some kind of apartments from the far distance. This is exactly the type of place that we would have loved to stop and explore a bit, and on any other trip we would have. But, once again, it was the luggage-in-the-car dilemma, so we had to give it a pass. Another place we might have stopped if we hadn’t had luggage in the car was Caltigirone. I’m not a shopper, and I wasn’t interested in looking at ceramics so this was not a major disappointment that we were unable to stop. However, if we had not had the luggage worries, I know we would have made at least a brief stop, probably for lunch, to see what all of the hype on visiting this place is all about.

There was some dramatic scenery on our way to Piazza Armerina that made us in awe of the engineers who designed and built such structures. It also helped us to realize why, in the days before cars and great roads people in Sicily were so tied to their home villages. Just going anywhere by foot or donkey would be extremely difficult and time consuming.

Frankly, I had been resenting the idea that we would need to overnight in Piazza Armerina or another interior town in order to be abler to visit the mosaics at Villa Casale de Romana. But, I couldn’t figure out any other way to make this work. So, I reluctantly booked a B&B (Dimora del Conte B&B) in Piazza Armerina for one night thinking we’d check out in the morning, leave our luggage for a return pick-up later in the day, visit the mosaics, and move on. However, I’d also heard from some sources that Piazza Armerina was interesting in its own right, so in the back of my mind I was also thinking that if we liked the town we could extend our stay a night. The beauty of not having everything completely planned out and reserved ahead of time!

By the time we arrived here, the rain from earlier in the day had brought in a bit cooler weather so we were no longer in our lighter, summer-weight wardrobe. We had a very pleasant surprise in Piazza Armerina and did find out it was a place we wanted to stay for an additional night. There were lots of narrow, intriguing, little streets we wanted to take the time to explore. And, once again (other than the parking hassles) we were pleased that we’d booked a place in town where we could walk everywhere rather than being stuck out somewhere where we had to drive in to restaurants.

Our B & B was nice, and I’d paid a bit more to upgrade to a room with an additional alcove with a couch and a nice balcony with a great view over the town. After walking around a while and checking out the town, we told the owner we wanted to add a night. He, of course, was more than happy since it turned out we were the only guests the first night, and our second night there was just one more room booked.

Seafood lovers that we are, we decided upon a restaurant for dinner that specializes in seafood (Ristorante la Tavernetta). This is also a popular place with locals, and there was a group there that night celebrating a baptism. We enjoyed the food so much that as we left we made a reservation for the next night. Unfortunately, as was our experience other places, the second time did not match the first. The second night the cook had been particularly heavy handed with the salt, and even the identical mussel dish we’d so enjoyed when we had it the night before was not so good the second time around.

I can understand why the Romans built the villa where they did; the area approaching the villa is verdant, lush and very attractive. And, the entire experience and the quality of the mosaics is absolutely magnificent. After my disastrous fall in Noto Antiqua, we had detoured and made a brief stop to see the mosaics at Villa Romana del Tellaro. While the few mosaics there are of high quality and very nicely done, the two experiences in no way compare. This was a 10* compared to about a 2* at Tellaro. If you absolutely can’t make it to Piazza Armerina then do stop at Tellaro, but these are sites of completely different magnitudes.

Despite our best intentions to get to Villa Romana del Casale when they opened at 9:00, we didn’t get there until 9:45. It really is a short and quick drive from town, but we just didn’t get our act together and get out the door early. The first half hour or so of our visit it was very quiet, but then the tour groups did start to arrive. However, most of them moved through quite quickly (glad I wasn’t on a tour) while we preferred to linger and take our time. At no time was it so crowded that it was unpleasant, but we prefer to have options to move around where and when we want without having to make our way through large crowds of people. As I had suspected, around lunch time the groups thinned out a bit with no more large groups. All, in all I’d say we spent about 3.5 hours at this marvelous site.

This is a large villa, with many rooms, so these were obviously very rich or royal owners. Some rooms have more elaborate mosaics than others on the floors, and a few rooms also have traces on the walls of their original frescoes. As I understand, there had been restoration work for years, but the new building superstructure is complete for the most part. Apparently the new protective superstructure in some ways has been built to mimic the way the building may have originally been.

There was only one time during our visit when we wished we had a guide or someone to ask questions of. I didn’t need or want a guide pointing out the different scenes in the mosaics, but I wanted to ask about the structure and restoration of the floors themselves. In the very, very long corridor where the hunting scenes are, half of the floors have been leveled out and are quite flat. The other half are undulating and very wavy. Our assumption is that the undulating condition is the condition in which the entire villa was found, but these level portions have now been completely restored and flattened out. The undulating floors either are waiting to be restored or are being left to demonstrate to visitors what their original condition was. After our visit, when trying to learn more about the undulating floors, I came across this very interesting website which gives in-depth information about the villa and its layout. http://www.villaromanadelcasale.it/w...da-A4-ENG2.pdf

We had decided to buy the combined ticket that offered admission to the Archaeological Area of Morgantina and the Archaeological Museum Aidone. When we bought our tickets, the non-English speaking ticket seller kept repeating something to us about the sequence of visits to these different places. We were quite positive that she’d said to visit the mosaics first and then Morgantina because it closed at 1:00. Our interpretation of her Italian was correct as we discovered when we drove up to Morgantina in the early afternoon. It was closed up tight, but we didn’t really care since it was not big on our list of desires and from what we could see didn’t look particularly interesting anyway. We initially wondered why in the world they’d sell a ticket that wouldn’t work out logistically but later on that day discovered that this was actually a ticket that was good for three days.

Once again we were thwarted when looking for food. Shortly after leaving the villa and the mosaics we’d pulled in into a nearby restaurant that I’d read was supposed to be good. But, this was regular, full meals only, and we only wanted a snack. So, we thought we’d find something else on the way that would do, but we could not find a thing since it was now after 2:00. After our unsuccessful stop at Morgantina, we again decided to try to find a place for something to eat and then head on to the Museum in Aidone. Nothing open anywhere. Finally, as I suspected we might, we did find a small bar/café adjacent to the site of the museum in Aidone. We had a not particularly good snack there and then went in to visit the museum.

The museum was a worthwhile stop but not at all a necessity. However, it did fill out our day in the Piazza Armerina area, and we were ready to relax on our balcony for a bit after we returned to our B & B and took another quick stroll around Piazza Armerina. The day before we hadn’t had time to take in the Duomo because it was closing for the day, so we did it on our second day. Its Byzantine –appearing icons were particularly striking.

Ah, yes, the mosaics are just fabulous and definitely a not to miss. If it makes you feel any better, we weren't impressed with Morgantina. We walked around for an hour or so, and because it was so hot, we left not feeling like it was worth the sweltering heat.

It's a shame you felt so constrained about leaving luggage in the car. The cemetery complex sounds very interesting. Just love running into places like that traveling.

Still enjoying following along as you make your way thru Sicily..

mmm - I'd not thought about Sicily as a place to see mosaics. silly me.

another place to put on my list.

like you, how often have I found that my stomach is out of synch with Italian and French restaurant owners; Spain is so much easier from that point of view.

So sorry to read of your fall but luckily it wasn't worse and you could continue your very interesting trip. Thanks for the info about Piazza Armerina as we too will be spending a night there in order to see the mosaics at Villa Romana. I was also interested to learn of Noto Antiqua, which I had not heard of before.

IMO the mosaics are definitely a not-miss when visiting Sicily. I believe this is the largest and best collection of Roman mosaics anywhere in the world.

I just thought I'd put these eating-time cautions in here for others who may be visiting Sicily. I guess we learned when in doubt that you'll be able to find something you are probably better off just bringing a bread and cheese picnic.

The luggage issue was definitely our bug-a-boo the entire trip, and I am definitely starting to think that we were overly cautious and paranoid because of Vagabonda's warnings over at TA. We've traveled in Italy before and have never been anywhere this cautious (or paranoid). The US State Department's warnings do not select out Sicily for extra cautions over and above those elsewhere in Italy. They do, however, make a mention of thefts from cars while stopped in traffic in Catania. I am not saying that people should be fool-hardy, but in retrospect we overdid it. The combo of having a husband who is naturally suspicious and my having heard Vagabonda over and over say never ever leave anything probably contributed to the problem.

Julie

I'm enjoying your detailed TR as I was quite curious to see how this all turned out for you and your husband. I was concerned that your destination parameters might cause you to miss some incredible sights in Sicily. However it sounds like you enjoyed most places so far....

I'm so very glad you enjoyed Ortigia and made the time and potential one nighter to see Villa Romana. The mosaics were the single greatest highlight of my trip!

I too read the advice on TA, but made the judgement call to risk the luggage in the car two times. I felt pretty good about it in the places I did, but also made the decision knowing that I might suffer negative consequences. I did take everything valuable and essential with me both times. Since I am of Nordic ancestry, I would have been in trouble without my clothes and shoes. I simply do not wear the petite Sicilian sizes!

Looking forward to the rest!

Thanks, Dayle.

I too would say that, as a tourist site, the mosaics are pretty near the top of my list too. I would advise anyone visiting the eastern side of the island to do everything possible, even a longish daytrip, to make an effort to see them.

Frankly, in a well-touristed place like this I find it pretty impossible to think that anyone be brazen enough in the middle of the day to try to break into a car's trunk.

The villa was being renovated when I was there, so I didn't get the full effect, but the mosaics were still a highlight. Obviously I need to go back now they've finished, lol. (Did they get rid of that horrible plastic roof?)

ann - not only are the Roman mosaics great, so are the Arab-Norman ones at Monreale and other places in Palermo.

thanks, thursdaysd. I'll add them to my list.

as for theft from cars, of course it does happen everywhere, but there was once a cautionary tale from someone here who when parking in Catania followed the standard advice to reverse the car hard up against a wall so that the tailgate could not be opened, only to come back and find that the thieves had entered the car through the rear passenger door and got into the boot that way.

so I think that I too would be extra specially careful in Sicily.

Hi Julies, thanks so much for your great trip report. Love all the detail. We were just in Sicily last May and I too read all the warnings on TA not to leave luggage in the car which made me totally neurotic about it. I almost missed Villa Casale del Romana because of it which would have been a total shame as it was one of the highlights of Sicily for me.

We didn't have the option of adding another night nearby so chanced it (and besides my husband thought I was crazy for being so paranoid). And I will say when we got there it really didn't seem like such a dangerous spot -- the site is small, the parking lot is very nearby and gated so not really a quick get away for thieves. There were definitely places in Sicily where I would not leave my car unattended with my luggage inside but I felt OK there.

I guess I'm just saying that people going should know to be careful but travel is full of risk, stuff happens all the time everywhere and I hated that I felt so paranoid about Sicily -- once we were there I never felt unsafe. There were a few rough areas (like the Catania bus station) but like anywhere you just need to be aware and careful.

Hi Julie's,

Please, oh please, say you aren't done! Am waiting patiently for more....

-Annie

Annie--I just haven't had the time to continue. I will though. I've still got Mazara del Vallo, Erice and Palermo to cover.

So pleased you are only 'pausing', not 'stopping' your report, so interesting.

Thanks, Julies. I'm enjoying your adventures in Sicily.

Just started reading but wanted to say how chagrined I was to read that Alitalia and Delta's partners in the sky program has yet to iron out those same kinks we encountered at least 8 years ago!

Back to your TR.

Thank you julies, it takes a great effort to write a TR. We are greatly looking forward to Sicily in May.

On to MAZARA DEL VALLO

Once again it was late morning before we were packed and on our way out of Piazza Armerina. On the advice of our B&B owner, we headed over to the 640 route which would drop us near Agrigento. Scenery on this inland route was not nearly as interesting as that we’d seen before, but it was okay.

Once again, if we hadn’t had luggage in the car we may have stopped for a couple hours of sightseeing and taken in the Valley of the Temples, but the luggage issue stopped us. Apparently there is left luggage storage at the train station in Agrigento, but my husband nixed that idea stating that there was no way in the world he was going to drive through traffic into the center of a town to find the railway station, park there to drop off and check our luggage, and then drive back to the parking lot to access the temples just so we could feel comfortable leaving our car parked for sightseeing. We’ve been to both Greece and Turkey and have seen a lot of ruins (and a lot of Greek temples), and the Valley of the Temples hadn’t been on the top of our list anyway, so it was not that big of a deal to skip the site.

However, we can say that we’ve seen a couple of these temples. I discovered that there is a road on the edge of town (the one that leads to the main entrance of the archaeological park) where it is easy to see some of these temples from a distance. So we did what others were doing, and parked by the side of the road for some photos of a couple of temples. Some people were even parking here and leaving for a walk to the temples thus (I assume) avoiding the parking fees. Maybe we missed a lot; maybe we didn’t. I don’t know, but this distant view was fine for us and we didn’t feel a need to actually walk amongst them.

After we had moved on inland from Ortygia, we realized that we missed the sea and wanted another base on the water. We also were looking for a town or city that wasn’t excessively touristy, so I started researching different places on the sea. We were intrigued by what we had read about Mazara del Vallo being kind of a mixture of Sicilian and North African cultures and, after finding a very nice looking apartment online, decided to make it a base for three nights.

As we drove on towards Mazara del Vallo from Agrigento, we decided to detour a little bit on our route to see the scenery that was highly recommended by one of my guidebooks. The area around Eraclea Minoa is stunning with its vistas and permanently sculpted rock-like dunes. We drove all of the way up into the antiquities park but didn’t visit the park itself. However, we had a picnic at a table right inside the park (actually leaving our luggage in the car while we sat about 100 feet away!), and of course, a restroom is always a plus.

When we arrived in Mazara del Vallo, the owner met us and showed us around the apartment. Once again we had an apartment in a really nice location, and this definitely made our stay better. Our small balcony overlooked the lungomare, so it was a great place for both people watching and observing the sea across the street from us.

As part of our getting settled in, we asked the owner where to shop for some groceries and supplies since we knew we should get those on Saturday rather than Sunday. He directed us to a grocery store that I am guessing was about ¾ of a mile away. This is one of the things that we found most strange about Mazara del Vallo. In contrast to very other place we visited in Sicily, we just could not find small local grocers (other than one small fruit and vegetable shop) or even bakeries. As I said, maybe it was our timing, but during the entire time we were in the town (and we walked through all areas that a tourist might even be remotely interested in) we never did run across any grocer other than this grocery that we had to walk quite a distance to get to. Finally, by our last morning there we did find a small bakery, but in contrast to every other place we visited where there was always a proliferation of small shops, this was really strange.

Other than the museum of the Satyr, we didn’t go to any true tourist sites in the town. This museum itself only highlights the sculpture itself and the only other exhibit is some amphora that had been found submerged. The half hour film at the museum is a highlight and very interesting as it describes the discovery and restoration of the statue. The one other place that we stopped in briefly was very unique and something we have never seen in all of our European travels. As we were getting ready to leave the museum, a man came up to everyone in the museum and started talking about a theatre that was very nearby and was free admission. We strolled on over and admired the small Garibaldi theatre that is under renovation to make it close to its 19th century original condition. Too bad we don’t speak Italian because the people there were telling about the history of the theatre.

On Monday we drove out to Selinunte which is not too far away, so this is a good base for a visit to that site. Selinunte turned out to be my husband’s favorite on the entire trip because of how extensive a site it is. The scale of the place is very impressive, reflecting what a large city that had been, and the setting in a rural area overlooking the sea is lovely (in our opinions much nicer than the setting of the temples in Agrigento). At Selinute we saw lots of wildflowers all over which added to the appeal of the site. Selinunte is also unique in that much of it remains just as it was after the earthquake that shook it. Columns lie crumbled just as they fell. We’d brought a picnic lunch, and we spent a long time at the site, doing a lot of walking. We even went over to the smaller, less-visited third portion of the site. Don’t bother. Other than the unique misting bridge that would be a relief on a hot day, we didn’t find this portion worth the time.

We did a lot of walking in the city itself and along the lungomare by the sea, and Mazara del Vallo was a pleasant place to just amble around. The un-restored, roofless church of St. Ignazio, which is in the center of the city, was a place we returned to several times for more photos in different light at different times of day. There are a couple different squares which we visited both night and day. Sundays one of the main commercial streets is closed to vehicular traffic, and families were out and about enjoying a stroll. In the old part of town, streets were absolutely jam packed with people on Saturday night. By contrast, on Monday evening there were only a couple teens around this same square.

I have mixed feelings about Mazara del Vallo but do not know if part of the reason is that our timing just seemed off a bit for the place. We probably arrived around 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon, so we had Saturday night, all day Sunday and all day Monday before we left on Tuesday morning. Maybe this truly non-touristy city was not a good choice for a weekend because so many of the everyday experiences we were hoping to have were shuttered on the weekend. In retrospect, we probably should have visited Selinute on Sunday rather than Monday so we could have been in town during the regular work-a-day Monday.

I guess our expectations were also off base in terms of what we’d find of a North African community and feel. The area referred to as the Casbah was of a different architectural style—more unadorned cubistic with quite a bit of ceramic wall decorations. But, every time we tried walking in the area (and we tried a couple different times of day on different days) it was practically deserted. We’d also thought we’d find some shops or stalls that were of a North African feel. We didn’t find any of those either, so we don’t know if it was our expectations or the days we were in town or if there really isn’t what we had hoped to find. We don’t regret our visit, but three nights was plenty.

Continuing to follow along and enjoying your great detail. You've gotten me curious as to what you are looking for in your quest for a "non-touristy" town which I agree MdV is. I vaguely recall seeing stores sort of on the outskirts of thetown as we drove in & out. We got turned around (for a change) leaving one of the times in MdV and I remember seeing several I think.

Was the scafolding down completely at Selinute? Some parts had scafolding in May. Certainly agree that it's a lovely setting.