West and North Sicily 27 Oct - 4 Nov 2023

Friday 27 October -  4 November 2023

Friday 27 October we leave 'Flintstones' campsite today and drive north west,  along the coast, heading for Agricento, about 120 kms away.    

Slow journey on winding roads and in the early stages the scenery consists mainly of plastic.  Field after field of plastic greenhouses where tomatoes, peppers and aubergines are grown.  I'm sure it's good for the veggie production but does nothing for the views.  

There are huge numbers of eucalyptus trees (or 'Australian weeds' as one of us calls them) growing here.  Apparently the roots suck up tremendous amounts of groundwater, and they were planted late C19th/ early C20th to dry up swampy ground and to defeat malaria. 

Reach Agricento in good time and find the campsite, Valle dei Templi.   Find a pitch to park and set up.  Not full, and feels very end of season - the bar and the swimming pool are shut.  But there’s one number plate on a nearby mo-ho that catches my eye.      

The supermarket across the road and the on site laundry are open so we can get some shopping and washing done.   Later go for a walk to the beach which is pretty depressing as the area is filthy with rubbish strewn around.  The Italians do a lot of fly tipping and littering.

Saturday 28 October today we're going to visit the nearby site of the valley of the temples.  First we have to ask our visitor to leave so we can both have breakfast sitting down - completely relaxed on 'his' chair.

Cycle to the temple site and reach it with only one wrong turn.  Once through the souvenir stalls and ticket office we walk for ten minutes until we get to the first of the temples.  Originally built by the Greeks, it was also occupied by the Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs and the Normans.  Beautiful ruins, a mix of fallen stones and columns that remain standing. 

It's a big site and we run out of steam before we've seen it all, tho' do spot some goats with amazing horns.  

The back drop is the current city of Agrigento on the hills above which, frankly, is hideous.

Have an ice-cream in the souvenir stall area and then bike back to the camp site.

Important that the mo-ho telly works tonight as it's the final of the rugby World Cup tonight between the All Blacks and South Africa .  Sadly, the ABs lose by just one point so it was a very tense evening.

Sunday 29 October pack up and pay for the campsite and head north west ish along the coast for just over two hours.  Reach the Lilybeo campsite at Marsala at lunch time, so reception is closed, but there's a poster that says 'pick any spot and give us a call'.  Then we meet a chap who says to come to reception at 4.00 pm.    

Fun wall art on one of the campsite buildings. ET seems to have lost his bike...

Go to reception to check in - I can pay the pitch fee with my phone but have to pay the city tax in cash which I don't have, but la signora is quite relaxed about me paying the city tax later.  Order bread and croissants for tomorrow and pizza for dinner tonight.   The pizza is delivered later to our mo-ho door, not just to reception, which is good service ☺️

Monday 30 October   get the bikes out and cycle about 10 kms into Marsala;  the route is mainly flat but it is fairly windy.  We meet a 'road closed' sign on the coast road and have to backtrack, followed by being seen off by a stout labrador that rushes out of a gate at us when we cycle past.

Get to the Centro historico and find a piazza where we can lock the bikes and have a beer and a glass of Marsala, a fortified wine, which is a first for me.   It's quite raisin-y. 

Go for a stroll through the old town and then back to the bikes and off to the winery, Cantine Florio, where we're booked in for a 4.00 pm visit.   

We're a bit early and so have to hang around but the tour starts promptly - and in English so the Germans, Swiss etc have to try and follow along.  Apparently Marsala wine was first popularised by an English merchant, John Woodhouse back in 1773.  

We're given the history of the Florio winery which was a family business from 1830 to 1924 when it was bought by Cinzano, a description of the three different types of Marsala wine and are shown the barrels in the warehouse, some of which are huge.  The oldest barrel and contents is dated 1941!

Then there's a guided tasting of three different wines - no surprise that John and I like the most expensive one.  

Exit via the shop where we buy a bottle.    Then we cycle back to the camp site - it's dark, we're on a fairly busy and bumpy road and we're heading into the wind.  So, even with bike lights, it's a bit 😳 but we get back in one piece. 

Tuesday 31 October on my way back from collecting croissants at reception I see our Swiss neighbour from the next pitch to us, and who was also at the winery visit yesterday.  We have a chat (she speaks excellent English) and I invite her and her partner for drinks with us tonight (and please bring your own chairs).   John and I hang out by the swimming pool for a bit and then cycle to the nearby supermarket for supplies.

We are joined by Aristotle, the stout camp site cat and two of his buddies, for a Hallowe’en stake out, 

and at 6.30 pm Teresa and Claudio come over to our pitch and we spend a lovely couple of hours exchanging life stories, and drinking Marsala and normal wine.  

The name of this brand of Marsala means 'Scorched lands', so no sniggering. 😊

Teresa lived in Argentina for ten years and speaks very good Spanish, and we compare stories of where she visited and where we went on our trip.

Wednesday 1 November    today is a holiday in Italy so we have been warned that some shops etc will be closed.   We leave the Lilybeo campsite today (it's amongst the nicest we have stayed at, not just because there's unlimited hot water in the showers) and are heading for the capital of Sicily, Palermo.    We have run out of cooking/ heating gas and plumb a garage into the sat nav where we can buy LPG.   Only to find that LPG Is not ‘serve your self’ and the  serving person is having a day off.   Fortunately we find another garage down the road with LPG and a chirpy chap to serve it.

The drive is attractive with hills to our right and, in places, the sea to our left and takes just over two hours.

I am in a WhatsApp negotiation with an administrator for a sosta near the Palermo city centre who says that she might have a space available for us;  we lose our nerve and drive to another sosta, Idea Vacanze, a bit further out but on a bus route into town, and book in there.  It is definitely a case of being crammed in and there's no space for chairs etc outside the mo-ho, but it has EHU, a loo and four (pay for) showers.    We are somewhat overlooked!     

We go for a walk and find somewhere for a late lunch - most places are closed for the holiday.

Thursday 2 November  After a hot shower I buy bus tickets (€3.50 [£3.00] each) from reception which can be used all day on Palermo buses.     Bit of a guessing game as to which side of the road we should catch the bus and, unfortunately, we guess incorrectly and head off in the wrong direction.  De-bus and after a walk find another bus that takes us into town.

We go first to visit a market that is very busy 

and then, after walking through some 'interesting' back streets, go to the cathedral.   The cathedral has had several guises including as a Christian church and a mosque.  More handsome on the outside than inside imho.

More slightly iffy backstreets - no dire poverty I assume as we see kids with bikes and a ten year old boy on a child size motor bike.  Visit the Porto Nuova

and admire the Norman Palace.  

Stop back in the market for the slowest lunch ever - my salad arrives almost immediately but John has to wait 40 minutes for his spaghetti carbonara.  

John wants to buy a Panama hat and has identified a hat shop to visit.  He ends up with a Panama hat and a fedora and more of a hole in his bank account than I think is reasonable!  He now has a collection of four or five hats on a shelf in the mo-ho.

Get a bus back, call into a supermarket for food, then back to the sosta.

Friday 3 November     pack up and leave, driving east along the coast.   Leaving Palermo is an experience as the roads are amongst the worst we've seen and some of the junctions are manic.   

Staying tonight in an agriturismo on the outskirts of Milazzo and the last part of the route involves a detour that pretty much takes us along the beach.  

Get near the agriturismo to find a German couple panicking because they can't find the entrance and there's a gate barring the road, and and….  But, I ring the bell on the gate, gate opens and we all get in.

We park up and link to the EHU.   It's a bit chaotic as to what happens now - I deliver a passport to the office and am told to come back 'later'.   Once I find the lady in charge I get the passport back, am introduced to the cat, shown where the loos and (unlimited hot water, hooray) showers are, told there isn't a laundry (bother) or trattoria on site and advised about a restaurant within cycling distance.   All in my best Italian (ie not very in depth 😉).   It gets dark about 6.00 pm now and we decide to stay put rather than going out.

Chat (in English) to our German neighbours who are travelling slowly around Italy and of course can take as long as they wish.

Saturday 4 November pack up and pay and get on the road to Messina, to catch the ferry at 10.30 am.  Smooth crossing and when we arrive we turn south and drive to Reggio Calabria.  Once we've negotiated the double and diagonal parking along the streets 

we find a car park near town and walk to the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia. Fascinating place, very well laid out, and clear explanations in English, with displays from prehistoric to Greek to Roman times.   The culmination and highlight of the visit is to see (after going through a sort of air lock) the Riace Bronzes, two full-size Greek bronze statues of naked bearded warriors, that were discovered in the sea in 1972 and restored.  They are very beautiful.             NB naked torsos coming up.

Find a takeaway shop that sells only Arancini, in loads of different flavours.  John has a 'proper' Arancini with ragu (meat sauce) and a gorgonzola & salami one.  I have a spinach and a mushroom one. Yummy, but after two of those for lunch there's no room for anything more.

Drive 50 miles around the ‘toe’ of Italy to an agriturismo, Ceratti, that is supposed to be open all year (this is now becoming A Thing as many places close at the end of October).     Drive past the actual camp area (behind locked gates) and to a deserted farm yard where we turn around and have one of those ‘ok, what do we do now?’ conversations.   Fortunately while having the conversation the owner shows up, hops in his car and takes us down to the camping area.   He turns on the hot water for the showers and shows us the loos, and agrees to sell us a couple of bottles of his wine - he reappears a few minutes later with said wine.   Nice quiet area, level site, unlimited hot water and wine for €40.  Lovely place to stay.