wherearetheloves2006

22 maggio (May) -Sciacca Sicilia

Buongiorno da Sciacca - on the South west coastof Sicily, near Agrigento

First a few words about steps. Travelling on a fairly modest budget means you have to be pretty fit, or if not, you will soon become so. Anywhere worth staying is in a verticaltown or village and only a few places have had lifts,. Pensione Colomba in Praiano made up for the gorgeous views of Positano and the coast by the 200 steps up!! Consolation - there was a lift for the baggage. Pensione Svizzera in Taormina had gorgeous rooms, with lovely views but we were on the 3rd floor with no lift.... here in Sciacca we are staying in this incredibly modern (only 1 year old) B&B built in an old 13th C Moorish tower. We arrived in the narrow main street below, found Al Moro, then had to drag our bags up a long stepped street, between ancient houses and wondering what on earth we would find..... and were just blownaway by the lovely interior with modern Italianfurniture, lovely local tiles, turkish carpets ...... but we are on the 3rd floor again.... but the view makes up for it.

Back to a few days ago - after leaving Taormina,on our way to Siracusa we detoured up Mount Etna and took a tour of the craters (up a gondola, then a 4WD bus to 3000m) - WOW - I will post the photos when they are on a disk and have a bit of time. One more plus about Al Moro is there is a free internet, but Rhondda wants to check her emails.

Siracusa and Taormina are chalk and cheese, Taormina very international set, Siracusa more old Baroque Italian. There seems to be a frenzy of restoring everywhere. Noto Duomo was completely covered with scaffolding while they are replacing the cupola which collapsed in 1997, and so are lots of other buildings in Noto and in the old part of Siracusa. It looks like the temples in Agrigento are also partly covered in scaffolding, but everyone says it is still worth going, which we will do this pm. Piazza Armerina was very hot. .. and I have not even mentioned the Teatro GReco in Siracusa where we saw Ecuba on Saturday night.... what an experience, even if it was in Italian.

to be continued...

posted by lizandarthur @ 5:34 pm