EXTENDED TRIP TO ITALY, THIRD SELECTION

 

 

SIRACUSA, 2nd series

 

 

 

IBLEI MOUNTAINS AND ETNA

When we drove past Mt Etna on our way from Messina to Siracusa, rain and mist disappointingly obscured it from our sight; we were amazed and thrilled to see this major volcano conspicuously rise above the Iblei Mountains, a hundred kilometres to the south, where we stayed at the Borgo degli Ulivi

 

 

 

 

Siracusa museum

 

 

 

 

BORGO DEGLI ULIVI

 

 

 

RAGUSA

 

 

 

BORGO DEGLI ULIVI, specimens of interior decoration

 

 

 

 

ON OUR WAY FROM THE BORGO TO RAGUSA

 

 

 

RAGUSA MUSEUM


ON OUR WAY FROM AGRIGENTO TO PALERMO


AGRIGENTO

INGLESIA DE SAN NICOLA, AGRIGENTO


AGRIGENTO MUSEUM

Here again, like at the Volterra Meseum, the Empedocles-inspired sculptures of Gregg Wyatt were in evidence


SCOPELLO

Our three weeks in Sicily were concluded with a blissful stay at the modest seaside resort of Scopello, in the extreme North West of the island

SCOPELLO TO GENUA VIA PALERMO

From Scopello we thought to end our long and eventful trip the easy way, by embarking the Genua ferry at Palermo. We should have known better by then. Our gps, which had already constantly misguided us at under-digitalised Sicily, now completely abandoned us, despite repeated e-mail contact with the internet company that had sold us the electronic tickets we were at a total loss as to where to exchange these tickets into the ones acceptable for boarding, and when after two hours through the heavy Palermo traffic we finally had the ferry port in sight, access to it proved impossible because of road works; a blind 7 km detour along the harbour edge solved this problem, and at official directions we left our car at the official car park to find a restaurant – there was none at the ferry port. When we returned after two hours, the car park was unattended, the automated barrier out of order, and we literally had to steal our own car from the parking lot. Boarding the ship was as stressful as we had anticipated, and although we slept soundly in our cabin,  the sea voyage was totally spoiled by rough weather and the ensuring sea sickness. Welcome to Sicily. However, we sailed past the famous Isle of Montechristo, saw the shores of Corsica, saw our fellow-passengers at the promenade deck stage Plato’s Parable of the Cave, and arrived at Genua, which in our experience matches Siracusa as a strikingly beautiful harbour – enhanced by the early work of the architect Renzo Piano.

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GENUA AND BACK TO HOLLAND VIA THE GOTHARDT TUNNEL AND Germany

Before entering the tunnel we stopped long enough to enjoy the striking pplay of sunlight on the steep mountain slopes, see a Muslim family (also its female members) perform the salat in public, and wonder at the special, massive facilities Chinese tourists were treated to

 

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