We have had a week of super weather and showers. Luckily we have managed to see everything we have wanted to so on the two days it wasn't as good we enjoyed relaxing in the villa.
On Monday we drove South into the Monte Iblei, a barren range of mountains about 80km away and visited Noto, reputed to be the most baroque city in Italy, which is to say the World. After a lovely lunch, we drove in the misty rain to see Pantalica, Sicily's greatest ancient necropolis. Here deep in a remote gorge there are several thousand tombs hollowed out of the valley sides.
It goes back 3500 years. In fact much of Sicily is actually Greek in origin, it having been a Grek colony rivalling the city state of Athens for thousands of years before the Romans eventually took over the place about 200BC.
Next day we visited lovely Syracuse which was surprisingly empty of tourists which made it a lot better experience than other places we have visited. It was the home of Archimedes and has history oozing from every street and house. We stopped at the fish market and bought some lovely mackerel which we BBQ'd that evening on the terrace. They were superb! Then we wandered up to the main Piazza where the Duomo is.
It a lovely old church based around an old Greek temple. Then onto the Fountain of Arethusa, a freshwater spring right on the edge of the sea and in large part the reason for the settlement of Syracuse. The ancient Greeks held that the nymph Arethusa rose here after swimming across from the Peloponnese.
The oracle at Delphi foretold the founding of the city by referring to a natural spring beside the sea.
Then off to the Archeological Park to see the Greek Theatre built over 2500 years ago and still used today for plays. It can house 15000 people.
There are many other impressive ruins and structures in the area and we spend an enjoyable hour or two exploring them before going onto the Church of St Giovanni which has been destroyed twice by earthquakes and remains as a ruin. But deep beneath lies a secret. The most extensive network of catacombs in the world outside of Rome. We were escorted around by our guide and saw the altar where St Paul and St Peter preached on their visits, as the church goes back some 2000 years. Syracuse is a gem of a city. You can feel the history of the place in every building, every vista - a sort of subconscious layer overlaying the sights and sounds of the city.
On Wednesday we left bright and early and headed up the hill and up and up towards Mt Etna. It is about 3350m high and at 2000m we parked the car and caught a cable car up another 700m, and then got into a unimog and drove another 300m up to the site of the craters of the 2002 eruption, about 3000m high. That is as far as one can go as the main crater (As you can see in the photo) is still smoking from a number of vents. The 2002 craters are still very hot.
The 2002 Craters
It cost 52 euros each but was a great experience to see the the barren landscape of only 7 years ago.
By the time we got back to the bottom of the cable car the cloud had set in and we had cloudy weather until Saturday when we left Pozzillo for Palermo. The villa here is very picturesque as you can see from the view from the terrace.
On Thursday night the heavens opened and we had torrential rain and it wasn't until the next morning we found out that the rain had caused many deaths and lot of destruction in Messina just 60km away. Pozzillo is built on old lava flows from Etna so the water just runs down into aquifers. This is the view from our terrace of the lava rocks and a fishing boat leaving the small harbour.
Messina backs onto the Monte Nebrodi mountains and the water can only flow down streams.
We left on Saturday for our next villa in Carini near Palermo. We went via Agrigento on the South Coast, to see what is the probably the greatest ancient site in all Sicily - The Valley of the Temples. Actually it's not a valley as it is on a ridge but from the valley you can see a line of temples along the ridge remarkably well preserved.
The Temple of Concordia is reputed to be the best preserved temple outside of the Parthenon in Athens.
We also saw the ruins of the greatest Greek temple built anywhere in the world. Then on to Palermo and through it to our lovely villa on the top of a mountain overlooking the Gulf of Carini. The GPS found it OK but we weren't sure which house it was so we had to knock on a few doors to find out. Apparently we were the first people ever to find our own way to the villa. Thankyou Garmin!
Today we went to see the great cathedral of Monreale on the outskirts of Palermo. There is no picture as it is impossible to photograph its glory. With its ton of gold leaf and stupendous mosaics covering the walls, it is one of the great wonders of the world. It was built in just 10 years in 1070 and looks as good today as it ever did.
This week we shall explore Palermo and surrounding towns. More next week. Ciao.
