Sicily – Cinque Parto

More pics and stories from the island.  Took a day trip to a little Baroque town called Noto and experienced dining out in Syracuse.

The main drive into the city center of Noto. Noto is a small town perched on a hill in the SE corner of the island.

Here is the archway to the city center. Lots of sandstone used in this part of Sicily

The town cathedral.

Kids!

This is the city office building. Not too shabby.

We love intricatly carved doors.

The duomo fresco.

The altar, the details were exquisite up close.

A wooden model of the cathedral. Every church we went in seemed to have one of these.

The cathedral after it closed for the afternoon.

World War 1 statue honoring those who died in the Great War

Bustling with tourism. Fortunately we experienced a lot of low time due to it being the Spring. Apparently during the summer months the places are much more crowded.

Where can I get an Olive tree?

The Opera house.

A ?? tourist mobile?

We found a playground in the city for a little break.

The smile says it all

Zayne was laughing so hard he couldn’t keep from drooling (look close on the chin)

And had a bite to eat with some fresh carrots and…..salami and cheese of course.

Determined.

A smaller town named Avola we stopped in. Avola is “known” for its street markets. We kind of hit it in between market times, because this square is full of merchandise, another has clothes and another has food. There are others, but we had to get back to the apt.

When you see a guy selling “antiques” wearing a top hat and a scarf, you just take his picture and move on.

The church in AVola.

This was on the side. Still haven’t figured out what it is. I think it’s some sort of sun dial…or something…

A pic from our terrace in Syracuse looking South.

and looking North.

And straight out.

Zayne playing with his ball on an elastic string.

Mommy and Capriana singing? No! They’re saying PIZZA!!

We stopped at a wine/olive oil shop for a tasting. The store owner saw the kids (mostly Capriana) and brought out this car from the back. Capriana sort of liked it… The owners of the store were French, spoke excellent English and directed us to a great gluten free restaurant. Oh and we bought 3 bottles of wine, a bottle of olive oil and 3 bars of chocolate.

Sunset in Syracuse

The cathedral in the piazza with the orange backlit glow.

PIZZA!!! And really good gluten free pizza at that. Noone could have ever guessed it was gluten free.

Vinicio, our apt. landlord, also owned the restaurant, unbeknownst to us. He sent over some extra food and alot of extra desserts. Including biscotta di limone, a lemon/almond cookie that was incredible.

The name of the place and the basic menu.

The piazza at night.

I played with the effects on this a bit, and like the aged look.

It was late and Capriana had had it.

But we had to stop at the fountain on the way back to the apt.

And my journal entry.

Our first full day in Syracuse and….we’re off to another town or two.  Today we ventured to Noto and Avola.  Noto is a picturesque Baroque town with Arab influence if that makes any sense.  We saw the antithesis of many churches here in Sicily in that the church was more beautiful on the outside than the inside.  Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful on the inside, with gorgeous pink and green marble, but the outside sandstone was just a level above.  While in Noto we actually stopped and had our first mid day relaxing drink.  Quite the change with two kids, usually this happens the day of arrival.  Then we went to the nearby park and the kids played on the toys and we ate our lunch.  Pretty uneventful as far as things go.

Next we headed to Avola where there were to be many markets and the best almonds in Italy.  Well, apparently we were too early as only the “antique” markets were open, if you call old junk antiques.  And by old junk, I mean a lot of the same things we see in our neighborhood garage sales.  Even in Italy people have worthless crap.  We missed the markets by a couple hours too early, but couldn’t wait for them to open.  After bailing on Avola we left to find a market with vegetables and eggs for meals and breakfast.    We passed one supermarket which was still closed, then another one which had two cars parked I front of it.  Which was exactly two more Ethan when we passed it earlier.  So we turned around and headed back.  I was elected to go in since Capriana was sleeping and Zayne was playing with his ball.  I went in and they had just unlocked the doors minutes before.  I found the produce, or what there was of it and loaded a couple of bell peppers.  An employee called to me as I was walking away to point out he was raising a roll up door for the rest of the produce, also to let me know everything was to be bagged and tagged, like central market, and by him.  Then he threw in four oranges for free.  Somehow he knew we neede four….  I spent the next 20 minutes hunting around for the things we needed and saw what had to be a 20 lb bag of pasta!  Seriously, it looked like a dog food bag full of pasta.  Then he whole family came in and went to the bathroom and we headed back to the apt.

The easy trip back to the apt turned out to be anything but.  I took a couple of wrong turns and ended up being pulled over at a checkpoint where the officer asked for my license, and passport….only problem I didn’t have my passport.  Then he asked for Mel’s license and passport, of which she had neither.  He dropped his head and scolded us and then let us on our way, we’re sure it was totally because of the kids.  After our scolding we got back to the apt to find no parking.  In the area we were staying, yellow parking is for apt owners, blue is for official/ and or paid use and white is free/general public.  Finding white parking along the front of our building is a challenge to say the least.  While Mel was unbuckling Capriana, I saw a spot behind us, but so did another guy.  Just as I had pulled the groceries out of the car, I saw another one, but by the time I got back in the car, it was being taken.  The steering wheel took the blunt of that frustration.  So I drove around, and around, not easy on such a small island.  I finally gave up and just parked in a yellow spot, and figured I’d buy some time. Again while unloading, I saw a spot open, this time I dropped everything, and ran to the car and pulled out and pulled in right behind the people leaving.  One new U2 song, and a little patience, and I had a pretty good spot.  Whew!

We had decide to go out to eat on the island that night, i.e. dont cook and don’t drive.  We had heard of a gluten free place and went to check it out.  When we got there nothing appeared to be gluten free, so we walked a bit.  We found a wine/olive oil/chocolate place that had tastings.  Never the ones to give up free stuff we checked it out.  Turns out the place is run by a French family who also speaks English.  We tasted and bought – chocolate, olive oil and wine, and got advice on a gluten free restaurant.  Merci!

We arrived at the restaurant and asked the maître d if they were in fact gluten free.  She assured us they were and gave us a table inside.  We ordered and ordered and ordered.  The food was delicious!  Mel got risotto, again?  Of course the kids and I ordered pizza.  They brought us focaccia bread with olive oil and basil.  It was so good I had to ask if it was gluten free.  The waiter assured us it was.  The rest of the food was great.  No one would have known the pizza was gluten free if they weren’t told. Then we ordered some gelato for dessert.  Spectacular!  We both got pistachio with amarena (cherries) and shared with the kids.  It was then we saw our landlord, Vinicio, who was our apt owner but also the restaurant owner.  I waived him over and greeted him and he was quite excited to see us.  In fact he sent over a couple of more desserts, and called over his English speaking waitress to ask how we were enjoying the apt.  One of the desserts he sent was called biscotti di lemona, or something like that.  I can’t describe how good it was.  All I know is we were debating on whether to eat out again, and after that Mel decided, not only were we eating out again, but we were eating out again there.  I couldn’t have agreed more, even after Vinicio, knocked another 9 euros off our tab.  50 euros for all our food, bottled water and a 1 liter carafe of wine.  Molto bene!!!!

Sicily Part 4

Daddy has given you guys a couple weeks to digest the first part of our trip, now on to the second.  We drove from the NW part of the island to Syracuse (Siracusa) in the SE.  The inland portion of the island is very beautiful and even reminded Mommy and Daddy of parts of Ireland with all the different green colors.  But as we neared Syracuse, they said the terrain more resembled Spain.  “Tough trip”…  Here are the pics.

We stopped along the Autostrada for gas & a bathroom, and they had a playground!

Look Mom, no look!

On a scooter! I learned how to tell the difference between a motorcycle and a scooter!

All by myself, I’m such a little climber.

Tandom slide.

Oh, and we had lunch there too. Lumch being some pizza Mommy bought at the gluten free store where we stopped on our way out of Palermo.

Daddy snapped this pic from the gas station on the Autostrda because he thought it looked cool.

And this one too. (See the buildings on the top of the rocks? We saw that a lot)

Some greek ruins in the entry piazza to Ortigia which is a tiny island in the city of Syracuse.

More pics of the piazza.

The cathedral in the center of Ortigia.

The Cathedral’s piazza (we ended up spending a lot of time here).

The piazza looking the other direction.

Another pic of the cathedral

Another building in the piazza. We loved all the detail on the buildings.

Daddy took this picture because he’s a geek. He noticed all the chandeliers were dual switched to save energy. Notice 3 lamps on, and 3 off? This was consistent throughout the cathedral.

Interior pick of the cathedral.

We stumbled upon this church while stopping at a small market to buy some groceries.

Mel noticed the band assembling and since it was Good Friday, she had a hunch.

Sure enough, the band started to play….

…and a statue of Mary came out…

..out into the streets..

…and down the street. We had read about the Procession of the Madonna, but weren’t near some of the towns known to do it. Fortunately we found one.

And the kids played on the floor while we prepped dinner.

And my journal entry from that day:

Today was a travel day.   We were headed to Syracuse (Siracuse) to see what we could of the eastern side of the island.  We drove along the coast which is very beautiful and then turned inland.  Driving inland is quite dramatic with the mountains, some topped with snow, the valleys and the medium hills, all so green.   We stopped at a gas station to go potty and fill up.  At the station they had a small play ground, which served the purpose of exercising some energy and providing a place to eat lunch.  Pizza from the gluten free bakery we had to stop at just before leaving town.

After finishing our journey and arriving in Syracuse, one thing became quite clear that the traffic and the street layouts are much easier here.  Not easy, easier.  Well, easy compared to Palermo.  The biggest issue we had in getting to the apartment was waiting for the ATM to be refilled, and then contacting the apt owner.  Both easily accomplished after 10 minutes.  We took a little stroll looking for a store to buy groceries.  Stopped at a pharmacy, known to carry gluten free products, in which they had almost an entire wall. So we indulged.  We bought pasta, cookies, a beer and some cannolis.  Still looking for the market we stumbled upon a gorgeous church, went inside and checked it out, then started walking back to the apt.  We saw a small store that had some water that we dearly needed since the water in our apt was awful.  It still tasted like saltwater.  I asked the store owner about eggs and she picked out some decorated chocolate ones.  Ummm, no, we’re looking for real eggs.  When we left we noticed a band staged outside a church, and then we noticed a grocery store right next to the small store.  I went in and tried to buy our staples, but found they were out or just didn’t have it.  I bought enough for dinner and went back out.  The crowd was gathering and so we waited, and finally the procession came out of the church carrying a statue of Mary.   It was after all Good Friday.

Back to the apt to cook dinner.  Of course something had to be amiss, and this time it was that the stove only allowed one burner to remain lit.  Trying to cook pasta, saute some green beans and heat up sauce is difficult with one burner.  I found that if you held the burner knob down, it remained lit.  The igniter continued to click, but it’s not my stove.  As I held the knob down, stirred the green beans and the pasta on another burner, Mel made salads and we managed to get dinner on the table, and I must say it turned out very well.

 

Sicily part 3

Our next day trip took us out to the Northwest tip of the island to see Erice, Trapani and some Greek ruins along the way in Segesta.  In fact, outside of Greece, nowhere else has more Greek ruins than Sicily.  Pics and journal entry below.

Hilltop vineyard near Segesta

Walking backwards up the hill, and up and up. It was a long walk up the hill. Made even longer when I had to carry Caprian the last half. But at least it warmed things up a bit!

The Greek temple as taken while walking up the hill to the theater.

A couple of pics of the view from up there.

This building was one of the first on site and was used by the Greeks, the Arabs and the Normans. At one point it was a mosque

Another view. These never got old.

We concentrated on taking more pics with us in them this time.

We really liked this vineyard/orchard on the hilltop

The Greek amphitheater.

A couple of patrons at the theater

“Peace” or “tre”

What do you do when you’re waiting for the shuttle to take you down the mountain? Throw rocks of course.

Throw, toss, whatever.

And on to the temple, with our tour guide.

The temple dates back to the 5th century BC

On to Erice, a mountain top city in the Northwest.

You can almost see the other side of the island…..almost.

A cemetary just below the city walls.

The city of Trapani, looking west from Erice. If you look to the left of the pic, you can see the salt pans where they harvest sea salt.

Just a less zoomed pic.

I thought the clouds and the castle made a great ominous look.

You can see how the castle is built on the edge of a cliff.

Celebrating 5 years!

And even with the fence, we didn’t let them stand up here too long. But what a view!

Peephole view.

Our little apt. in Palermo.

The only knife and the tiny cutting board. That is 1/2 a cucumber on the board.

Zayne and his birthday cakes!

5 years old today

Today was the day we were actually going to be rested enough to get up and get going….well, we did better.  Oh, and a little thing called Zayne’s birthday!  We started the celebration with a strawberry pastry from the gluten free place, and was it yummy!

After breakfast we headed off towards Trapani to see the hilltop town of Erice.  Along the way we stopped at Segesta to see some Greek ruins.  We ran into a bus load of tourists from the east coast, and as you can imagine, a few of them were full of “class”.  One guy in particular who complained about seeing another Greek ruin and having to pay for it since it wasn’t on the normal tour.  Then I just happened to stand behind him when he bought his ticket, and cussed the country, the ticket attendant, threw out the GD word when the ticket guy said he didn’t have enough change unless the yank had another 2 euro, as he had asked him previously.  The yank then had to dig into his wallet (I say sarcastically since he already had his wallet pulled out) to get out the 2 euro.  What a hassle, correct change!  It’s people like him to give American travelers such a bad name.  Fortunately the attendant didn’t hold it against me because when I came up “spoke Italian” and was polite, he only charged me for the 2 adults and nothing for the kids.  Haha, pays to be nice, unless you’re driving, then anything goes.

We hiked up and up and up to get to the top of this hillside, not knowing what we were actually going to see.  The kids were game for it, until it got too steep and rocky for Capriana, which I then carried her.  Upon finally getting to the top we found a few ruins, mostly gone with some signs about what was there and when it was built.  Venturing further we found an old mosque which had then been converted into something else, still nothing worth the hike. When we got to the back of the old mosque we saw the old Greek theater, ah the whole reason for the climb.  We went over to the theater and Mel mentioned that Zayne had now been in an Ancient Greek theater before a common movie theater in the U.S., poor sheltered child.  We decided to take the bus back down instead of the hike.  Not sure if age or smarts caught up with us.  I’ll blame it on smarts to appease the kids.  Once down it was back up the other side, this time to the ancient temple.  All of the exterior columns and headers were still fully intact, quite magnificent, especially when you consider when it was built – 5th century B.C.  And we put up monuments In our country if something is a hundred years old….

After the Greek ruins we headed off to Erice and due to overly long stay we had to eat lunch in the car, typical Americans.  Lunch consisting again of salami, cheese and fruit.  Cheap and effective.  Driving up to Erice was stunning and somewhat nerve wracking as the roads were narrow with lots of hairpins, and the occasional tour bus coming back down.  Once at Erice, the views of the valley and coast were spectacular.  We went to tour a castle, by walking up a lengthy hill, but after buying our tickets discovered they didn’t have a bathroom, so back down the hill to find the bathroom.  If you haven’t been, public bathrooms are non-existent in Italy.  At the restaurant for the bathroom break (side note, the Sicilians love little kids.  We received many smiles and “ciaos” and if we needed to use a private  restroom, we just walked the kids in first) Mel noticed some oranges, so on the way out I asked for 4 oranges.  The lady acknowledged my order and got 4 cups out and then I realized she was going to squeeze them for juice.  I stopped her and got a funny look when I told her I wanted them whole to eat.  Orange trees are very prevalent over there and I guess they prefer to squeeze them than to eat them.  Ok, back to the castle tour, or so we thought.  Turns out it was only for the castle “garden”, and garden meaning weeds on the uppermost inside of the walls.  We had some great views, the kids got to run around a bit and we basically wasted 10 euros.  We left and headed down to see the town.  Not a lot to see, really, some nice buildings tight streets and 8 churches in a single square mile.  We stopped into a gift shop where we (we being I) tasted some various Marsala wine, pistachio liqueur and some amazing pistachio spread (like peanut butter), which unfortunately could not be confirmed gluten free or we would have bought a case on the spot.  We left the store after dropping 26 euro on water, wine and chocolate and headed to see the rest of the town.  Only the clouds had now covered the sun and the wind made it quite cold, so we quickly finished our tour and went back to the car to leave.

We drove down the mountain, ate our oranges and went to check out Trapani.  Somehow Capriana managed to stay awake the entire time, we think she loves Italian traffic, until we hit the Autostrada (Interstate), then out like a light. Back to Palermo, heated up dinner ate Zayne’s birthday cake, and put the kids to bed, and….of course they were not cooperative due to their exhaustion and wouldn’t go to sleep.  Capriana due to exhaustion, Zayne because his blanket was left at home.  Another day done in Sicily.