MEETING OLD FRIENDS IN OLD SIRACUSA

SIRACUSA

We sailed into the town coasting along old Siracusa early one evening, the majestic honey coloured buildings just glowed.

Siracusa is a jewel of a town and sadly my photos don't do it justice.  We moored up at a small marina situated by the old town so we felt in the midst of all the action and it was just a short walk into the centre of town.

 Cathedral in Piazza del Duomo

Ancient greek pillar imbedded into Cathedral wall (there are several)

Piazza del Duomo

Siracusa is full of beautiful old baroque buildings mostly built after the earthquake of 1693.  It is however a very old settlement and was once the largest city of the ancient world.  It was a pleasure to walk along the sea front, or wander up narrow winding lanes which inevitably led to another piazza. The morning market was also another great venue, both for people watching and buying fresh Sicilian produce.

Our friends Begona and Elbio joined us here for a long weekend.  Elbio arrived with a very large bag of goodies from Madrid.

Begona, Alan and Elbio poised ready for an aperitivo.......

Elbio guiding Alan on how to cut the Jamon

The master at work...........

Plate of Jamon and Lomo

and Manchego cheese

Beautiful Palazzo Bellomo

Begona and I stumbled across the beautifully restored Palazzo Bellomo as we explored the old streets around the Duomo.   Life must have once been very grand in this 13th Century palace with its quiet inner courtyard and palatial rooms, today it houses collections of old paintings and sculptures.

SOUTH COAST of SICILY

TRAPANI TO MARINA DI RAGUSA

Pretty outlook in Trapani Harbour

We said goodbye to my cousins in Trapani and left the harbour the next day to sail south to Marsala.

We travelled from Trapani down to  Marina di Ragusa in the South

Marsala is of course famous for its sweet fortified wines, not really to our taste, but there were some good Enotecas in the town with an excellent choice of very acceptable Sicilian Wines.

One of many baroque churches

 Fig Tree + healthy parasite in one of the Piazzas

The Marina was a good walk out of town but it was worth the trek into Marsala.  It's relatively low key place with a pleasant pedestrianised historical centre, spacious piazzas and honey coloured baroque buildings.  Marsala is also famous as Garibaldi's point of entry into Sicily in 1860 with his army of 1000 red shirts - one of the pivotal points in the movement towards a united Italy.

Captain 'ever vigilant' in case we bump into .....

..... a freighter

Granitola

From Marsala we sailed SW - we anchored in a quiet bay off the small town of Granitola.  This coastline lacked the drama of the Northern Coastline, it was also much more built up.

We continued following the coastline SW until we reached moderately large port of Sciacca.  Sciacca is typical of many Sicilian coastal towns - apartment blocks crammed cheek by jowl and the port area was quite dilapidated looking.

View from old Sciacca looking down on port and marina

Renovator's dream

Old Sciacca was on top of a steep hill overlooking the port - I climbed up the steps early one morning. Some efforts had been made in restoring the old town but there were still some 'renovation opportunities'.  The town is famous for its ceramics...........

Sciacca is the largest town on this area of coast, it's also home to a very large fishing fleet.

Trawlers in poor evening light

There are some excellent restaurants down in the port area - if you can reach them!  There are no footpaths and we were competing with 'formula one' traffic, the food was worth it though......

No laundry at Sciacca so I got the rubber gloves out.............

Alan inspects the barbecued meats...............

Further down the coast we stopped at Port Leone, just past Agrigento.   We anchored near the small but busy harbour - suffering the constants wakes of small motor boats.  Then later that night the sea developed a horrible rock and roll motion - we upped the anchor at 4.00 am and moved on!

LICATA

View of Licata from the Marina - mausoleums on hill line.

Licata was our final stop before reaching our destination of Marina di Ragusa.   The marina was large and new, obviously a pivotal point for the locals as they took their passeggiata there each evening.  It was a pleasant enough town but without much historical interest.  We did have an excellent supper at Hosteria L'Oste e il Sacrestano run by a delightful young couple.

NW SICILY

We spent a few weeks exploring the NW Coast and found several pretty coastal resorts with long stretches of white beach and dramatic backdrops of high mountains.

CASTELLAMMARE DEL GOLFO

Castellammare del Golfo - looking towards old port from the boat

Looking down on old port (after climbing dozens of steps)

View from boat - mountains surround town

View of coastline surrounding the town

Lots of steps to get to the centre of town and our favourite restaurant

Cefalu, which I've already written about. is perhaps the prettiest seaside resort on this coast but it draws a lot of tourists.  We also enjoyed Castellammare del Golfo, a lovely fishing town West of Palermo.   An old Saracen castle stands at one end of the port and the harbour itself is lined with unassuming restaurants, cafes and fishermen selling their catches.  Unfortunately our favourite restaurant Scala Antiche was in the centre of town and required a hike up the steps, good for the appetite.....

SAN CAPO DI VITO

This resort has wonderful beaches and draws hordes of sun worshippers - the town has grown to accommodate its summer visitors but there is little else to entice the visitor apart from the beach. However the situation right on the NW promontory is dramatic.

Alan, Catherine and Peter Swords

CACCAMO CASTLE built in 10th Century

My Irish cousins spent two weeks with us in this NW area of Sicily.  One day we hired a car and Peter drove us into the interior to visit Caccamo Castle.  That day was full of incident!  First we had to fill the car with petrol, that required finding a petrol station - not easy with one way systems and a town that's bisected by a busy railway line + Italian drivers!  An elderly lady actually drove into us as we waited at a tiny level crossing.  We finally succeeded in filling up the tank and finding our way out of town (not easy!) - our first stop was at an old Church where we managed to lock ourselves out of the car!   Then the road became impassible due to rough surface so we joined a motorway and headed West to the old Castle of Caccamo.   Originally a Norman stronghold, the castle was enlarged by the noble Chiaramonte family in the 14th C.

EGADI ISLANDS

Levanzo hamlet, the bay next to where we anchored

Peaceful bay of Cala Fredda, South Levanzo 

From Capo di Vito we sailed west to visit the Egadi Islands.  We just had time to visit the one island - Levanzo.  Today the islands attract tourists for the clean waters and quiet environment.   The Egadi islanders have always lived off the sea and they are famous for tuna catches.

TRAPANI

Peter and Catherine posing in pedestrianised Corso Vittoria Emanuele

Old Fortification

On our early morning walk - North side of old Trapani

In the Square there was a gathering of vintage Fiat 500s - so cute......

Trapani was a delightful surprise to us all.  Situated on the NW corner of Sicily, it's a busy port serving the Egadi Islands and a major centre for tuna fishing.   The Spanish landed here in 1282 and began their 500 year occupation, many of the buildings show their influence.   The town follows the usual pattern of having a historic centre as well as a modern town.  The port is in the historic centre which is on a narrow promontory, so sea views on both sides as you walk along the old streets.   We really liked this underrated place, the boat was moored in a friendly marina which led out past the trawlers and the fish markets – there was also the best stocked Enoteca we’ve come across.  The central walkway in the old town – Corso Vittorio Emanuele was lined with splendid old buildings in the Baroque style.  Sadly it was here that we farewelled my cousins, but first we managed a visit to the old walled town of Erice. 

ERICE

Views and part of the walled fortifications at Erice

More fortifications and views inland

There were many churches - The Duomo is still a 'working' church many of the others were used as museums

One of the 60 odd churches in Erice

very slippery paving stone - especially on an incline 

Attractive doorway on one of the squares

Erice is on Mount Eryx, 750 m above sea level and looks down over Trapani - thankfully there was a cable car and the ride gave us incredible views.  The old walled town was full of narrow lanes mostly covered in very slippery but highly attractive paving stones!  I was temped to walk in my bare feet.............   There were also 60 churches (maybe years ago every family had their own church!) - we managed to visit a few!  However the views were the most outstanding feature of Erice.