Italy/ Sicily 15 to 27 October 2023

Sunday 15 October leave Cosenza thru some narrow streets,

and head south west towards Villa San Giovanni to catch the ferry to Messina in Sicily.  Just over a two hour journey;  we get to what looks like an auto check in and… nothing happens when I present the QR code on my phone to the screen.  A chap with about three teeth, but good English, pops up and tells us that this is where you buy a ticket (we've already done that) and explains how to get to the ferry.  I've got almost no change (we're paying for everything by card) but give him what coins I've got.

We make the noon ferry in the nick of time, which saves hanging around the docks for another hour or two.  Smooth crossing which takes only 35 minutes. 

From Messina we drive just over an hour south, with views of Mount Etna on the horizon. 

We're staying at a 'sosta', Oasi San Marco, with basic facilities but close to the beach and with roomy pitches.  And kittens roaming around.  It's the first time we've had to take a photo of the EHU meter when we arrive (and will have to do so when we leave) so we pay for what electricity we use.

It's a Sunday afternoon so almost nothing is open - some Googling tells us there's a Lidl that's open within a 20 minute cycle ride.  John bravely cycles off to buy the essentials and returns after an hour with laden panniers, including a plaited bunch of onions,

and tales of a challenging ride (roads that were just sand tracks etc).

John goes for a swim in the sea and even he says it's chilly - so I'm definitely not going in!

Great excitement when we WhatsApp the quiz team in Balcombe to wish them luck with the quiz tonight, and learn that one of the quiz team, Sapna, and her daughter Maya, have also arrived in Sicily today and are staying about 30 kms south of us.   A classic “of all the gin joints in all the world she walks into mine” moment.

Monday 16 October. Quiet day today - John goes for a quick swim, we read, learn Italian, do house work.

Tuesday 17 October. We've booked a mini bus transfer from the sosta to Taormina, a half hour drive north along the coast road.  Agree we'll be picked up at 4.30 pm.   Have a coffee and walk to the Teatro Antico de Taormina and get in quickly.  It's a big theatre on top of a hill with a (cloudy) view of Etna and must have been spectacular in its day. 

It was built by the Romans in about 300 AD on the site of a Greek theatre that was created in the 3rd/2nd century BC.   Much of the site is built of terracotta bricks some which would have been covered with plaster or marble.   It remained unused after the fall of the Roman Empire until its complete restoration in 1955.

When we leave after a 90 minute visit there's a long queue for tickets and the streets have filled up with visitors.  The coaches have arrived!  We hear more English spoken here (mainly American English) than anywhere else we have visited on this trip.

Wander through Taormina, check out a piazza or two, a Duomo and a church.

Stop for lunch in a restaurant with a sea view from the terrace.   Not sure whether to be amused or appalled when an American woman comes in and wants to know if they serve hummus?  You haven’t gone far enough east, dear.    Not sure if the wait staff even know what she’s asking about.   

Then we head to a cable car (funivia) which takes us from the historic (ie old) area of the town on a short ride down 700 metres nearly to the beach.   Walk along the coast for ten minutes until we're opposite the Isola Bella, and access the island by paddling through a shallow bit of water.  

The island was gifted to the Municipality of Taormina in 1806. In 1890 it was bought by Lady Florence Trevelyan, an English noblewoman and wife of the mayor.  They built a house and planted rare plants and trees. The island was put up for auction, and bought by the Sicilian Region in 1990.

The island has several grottos, a small swimming pool, the house and an assortment of plants and is interesting… but not very.  Maybe the plants look better earlier in the year. We wade to the beach and walk to the funivia station.  

While waiting we talk to a couple from the UK in the queue who, it turns out, live in Lingfield about 13 miles from us.  The woman is very worried about the cable car ride and gets increasingly anxious as the cars approach;   when we get in she firmly says that she wants John and me to ride with her husband and her. She spends the whole of the five minute trip with her face buried in her husband’s chest and shrieking every time the car jolts or sways.  Neither my attempt at ‘distracting‘ conversation (where do you live, what do you do etc) or John's gentle warnings whenever we're approaching a pylon and a bump, calm or distract her.    Poor thing - she says she ‘didn’t used to be like this’ but we don’t get as far as what brought on the fear of heights!

We have a beer, walk back to the pick up point and are collected by the sosta mini bus.  There’s a German couple there as well - he speaks very good English and we chat on the way back to the site.

Wednesday 18 October    leave Oasi San Marco today and once we've packed up I have to run to the site office as the chap in charge is about to take some guests off in his mini bus.   He’s a bit distracted and doesn't realise we've been there for three nights (not one, as he initially charges us) and I have to remind him to charge us for the mini bus trip yesterday.   Anyway, we get there.

Drive thirty kilometres south to Catania, where we’re meeting Sapna and Maya for lunch.  We have identified a car park that is described as ‘very large so that even larger campers find a parking space’.  Now, we’re not very large but the car park is almost full and we struggle to find a spot - we need either two parks (fore and aft) or somewhere we can back the rear of the mo-ho over a verge.   Arrive about 11.30, drive round the car park four or five times, then wait around until 12 noon hoping that people will move then, but nothing big enough becomes available.   So we end up with the rear end of the mo-ho backed over the bonnet of a Smart car and our bonnet sticking out three feet into the drive.    I’m crossing everything that we don’t get clamped or towed….  

Head off to meet Sapna and Maya and about half way there John says ‘did you lock and alarm the van?’ (neither of us had) so he goes back to do that and I head to the Piazza del Duomo.   I'm a hot mess, and not in a good way, by the time we meet up!   

Great to see Sapna and Maya and to catch up with their adventures on their four night trip.    We have lunch in a restaurant near the centre and, naturally, have a photo taken of "Thorn & Roses (our quiz team) Sicily branch".   

Maya has just finished a year's postgraduate foundation training as a pharmacist, and starts her first 'real' job at the end of October, so this is a pre-career treat.

We go back to the car park and find the mo-ho (neither clamped nor towed), pay €3 parking fee and head slowly out of Catania.  

Tonight's campsite, Camping La Grotta, is on the slopes of Mount Etna.  Bit of a climb to get there with plenty of hairpin bends;   it's a small site on the lava field with cold water showers and no EHU, but great views of some of Etna's several peaks / vents with steam rising from them.

Thursday 19 October   have a quiet day today, sitting in the sun and keeping an eye on the volcano.  We go for a walk to 'La Grotta' (a lava cave) billed as being a ten minute walk away, which is nonsense.  I know I'm not that sprightly, but it takes us a good 15 to 20 minutes to pick our way along the path and over the lava lumps (not sure that's the technical term, but lumps they are).   

Friday 20 October pack up and say goodbye to the nice German woman who runs the campsite. The campsite is closing from tomorrow as she's taking a trip home for dental treatment. We drive about five miles up the road to the base of the funivia/ ski lift that takes you up to 2500 metres, then you get a special bus to 2900 metres followed by a guided walk. However there's quite a breeze blowing so they're not running the cable cars; we agree to go on the alternative trip, a bus and another bus. DON'T DO THIS!

We queue for 45 minutes to board a 4 X 4 bus to the top of the cable car run, then a short wait for a second bus to 2,500 metres to meet the guide.

It was very windy with grit blowing off the hill side and sandblasting us. Then a 15 minute walk / clamber up to a crater and views of three of the vents/ peaks.

We catch bus one, then queue for over an hour to get bus two from the top of the cable car to the base.

Each bus takes about thirty people and there were at least 200 people queuing at the cable car station when we left. Sadly the lack of transport, and the hanging around, completely ruined any positive memories of the day.

We go on to Syracuse, about 45 miles south, and reach it by late afternoon, staying at sosta Ippocamper on the outskirts, tucked away behind a shopping mall.  The sosta has a lot of cats dotted around, not moving very much, so there's a bit of cat slaaloming as we park. 

Guests have to phone the owners to say they've arrived - they don't speak English and my Italian is not phone ready.  But the chap turns up in his van 10 minutes later and we get by in French…. There's EHU and water at the pitch but not a lot of room for chairs and table.  The facilities are basic and it costs a euro for a hot shower - unless you're a man, since John says his shower is warm, without any money.  We don't have any euro coins of course, so apart from one in mo-ho hot shower, I have cold showers during the stay.

I walk round to the mall and find the supermarket and shop for some basics - it's lovely to be in air conditioning.    

We’re parked under olive trees and sleep is disturbed from time to time by the sound of olives falling off the tree and onto the mo-ho roof;  I even find a couple of under-ripe olives in the mo-ho shower.  I never thought I'd be writing that sentence . 🙃

Saturday 21 October   Quiet day today after the frustrations of yesterday, apart from going to the mall for groceries and for me to buy a couple of tee shirts (H & M doncha know).   

Sunday 22 October  today we cycle into Syracusa to visit the Greek and Roman remains which are about 3 kilometres away.   We reach a car park,  tether the bikes and helmets to a post, and go and buy entry tickets - then have to walk back over the car park and cross the road and past another ticket office…..   Into the Latomie del Paradiso first (no, I don’t know what a Latomie is) a former quarry, with cliffs and and some spectacular caverns.

Then we get to the large Greek theatre which has been carved out of living rock,

and finally to the remains of the Roman theatre.

Ride into down-town Syrucusa, which is fairly bland, and have a beer and a lemonade, then get on our bikes again to visit the island of Ortigia which is lovely.   It reminds me a bit of Venice, but without the canals.   

We cycle round the island and get to the restaurant we’d earmarked for a late lunch;  unfortunately its very small and very full.   So we go on to what looks like a cheap and cheerful local place which serves huge portions - I'm not used to large lunches and can't finish my "mix catch of the day" (octopus, squid, shrimps, sardines plus a mystery fish).

Cycle back to the sosta, thankful that the traffic is fairly light.

Monday 23 October.   Pack up and pay for the three nights (€20 PN) and set off to drive about 50 miles to the south of the island.  Going to stay on a well reviewed campsite, Flintstones Camping Park, which is in the middle of nowhere/ a light industrial area but near the beach.  The initial bit of the journey is on motorway but then we turn off onto 'normal' roads and it definitely gets bumpy - to the extent that the frame on the window above the bed, containing the fly screen and blind, falls off.  Fortunately Mr Fix-It fixes it.

The campsite receptionist has some English and shows us round and explains the (pay for with a card) showers.  It's a dangerous place to be as one can charge items from the little shop, eg beer, to your bill!  But the washing machine works on a trust system and we are able to get three loads of washing done and pay up at the end.

Several cats hanging around - not begging, just making themselves at home.

Tuesday 24 October today we've booked a taxi to the nearby town of Scicli for a visit.  The taxi calls reception (different receptionist, no English) to say he's running a bit late - at which point the receptionist offers and we accept an espresso each 😊.   

When the taxi arrives we both try to get into the back seat, but John is asked to get into the front passenger seat as the driver is 'not really a taxi'.....   Get safely to Scicli only 5 miles up the road. Beautiful Baroque town, but a history over 3,000 years, set in three valleys with some lovely buildings. 

We walk up to the top of the town to an abandoned church and admire the views,

then mosey around the streets and into a couple of churches before visiting the Palazzo Bonelli-Patané. The Palazzo looks like it's all from the C18th or early C19th but the paintings are early C20th.  Fairly small with exquisite detail in the design - there are two drawing rooms off the main reception, one for the ladies and the other for the men to go and smoke their pipes or cigars.  It must have been impossible to see across the room when they got going!

Head to a piazza and Restaurant Buki Buki; friendly service but again my eyes are bigger than my stomach and I order, but fail to finish, two courses.   

Back to our rendezvous point and get picked up at 3.00 pm and back to the camp site, via three food shops (the first two are closed) so we can get something to eat and drink for later.     Agree with the 'not really a taxi' driver that he will pick us up at 9.00 am tomorrow and take us to the town of Ragusa Ibla about 30 Kms north - he says not to pay him today but to do so tomorrow (see earlier point about trust 😀).

To the beach for a swim (John) and a paddle (Lyndon) and back to base.

Wednesday 25 October    Whilst we waited for the (not) taxi John considered getting a new vehicle ...

Picked up promptly at 9.00 am .  The driver has brought his wife with him for the ride.   It's about 25 miles/ 40 kms to Ragusa Ibla (the Ibla bit is the historic part of Ragusa) and a steady climb up from the coast. We were intending to spend six hours at Ragusa Ibla but are persuaded by the driver to be picked up after four hours (I suspect he and his wife will have finished their shopping/ chores by then).

We visit the Giardino Ibleo, a municipal garden with views along a valley,

then walk up the main street to explore the Duomo di San Giorgio. 

Stop for a coffee then on to explore some of the back streets and admire the architecture. 

Buy some wine and mooch - then back to the rendezvous point to meet up with 'not a taxi' driver and his wife at 1.00 pm.   To be fair we preferred the visit to Scicli yesterday, in terms of things to see and places to explore. We're watching a TV series, Inspector Montalbano, which was set in Sicily from 1999, and much of which was shot in Scicli and Ragusa Ibla, so there's an added interest of 'spot the buildings from the TV series'.

Back to the campsite and pay for yesterday's (€30) and today's (€40) trips, plus a tip.  Then to the beach and both go swimming - it's great once you're in!

Thursday 26 October. I have jinxed the good weather by emailing people about how warm it is, and how lovely to be able to swim in the sea in late October.     Still sunny but very windy and the wind is whipping up the waves.  Most of the beach is covered with water so the planned beach day is cancelled.

I go for a walk to the next bay along the coast quietly hoping for an ice cream - but, being the end of the season, the gelateria is open but is out of gelato 😥

John has a couple of dips in the campsite pool.

Decide on a pizza tonight using the menu at reception - our receptionist friend calls the number but it's not working.  He calls another place but there's no answer.  Third time lucky and we order two very good pizzas that are delivered to the site within 30 minutes 😀

Friday 27 October leaving 'Flintstones' today so we pack up and I go to reception to pay for four beers, three washing machine uses and one extra night (we'd paid on line for the first three nights when we booked).  The non English speaking receptionist is on duty, but we communicate ok until I ask if I can pay the €45ish bill by card, at which point his face falls, and he explains (ok, I interpret that) he's not really tech savvy.   Scrabble around for cash and manage to pay the bill - and get rewarded with an espresso.