Sicily

Something new for me!  I'm not sure whose idea Sicily was, by my parents and I all liked the chance to see this lovely island.  We were able to fly from Rome to Catania cheaply, and stay along the water just north of the city in Ari Castillo.  Our hotel had nice sea views and a decent restaurant across the street. There was no beach there, just dramatic black volcanic rocks.  The hotel had a shuttle to downtown, so we took that into the city to see the sites.  We had a great lunch near the Piazza Universitat, and then went to the Roman theater.  Blood oranges were in season so bought some from a fruit stand and we ate them by the elephant fountain.  The church opened in late afternoon, a massive space.  What most impressed me was the collection of mattresses and blankets in one corner- either the church lets people sleep inside at night, or they let people store their belongings there during the day.

I'd planned a 'down day' of beach and pool, but my parents were raring to go for more.  We ended up renting a car and driving to the center-south section of the island to see the Valley of the Temples.  It was definitely a WOW site.  Of course it was rainy all day and the skies just completely opened up when we got there, but hey, what's five euro for an umbrella?  Or three?  The site is basically a long road connecting temple remains, from the impressive temple of Hera at one end to the huge in tact Temple of Concordia in the center to the impressive columns from the Temple of Hercules.  At the other end was the much more ruined temple of Zeus.  It was a great collection of history, and despite the weather we had a good day.  The drive back was long, but beautiful crossing through the green hills of central Sicily.

Our last day we drove north to Taormina, location of another Greek ruin.  The Main Street through town was really cute and it ended at the ancient theater.  We had great cannoli along the walk and lunch on the way back.  The theater was situated on the hill with sweeping views of the coastline beyond.  Definitely a postcard type of site.  After lunch we drove around Mt Etna, following a Lonely Planet driving route in reverse.  We stopped in Bronte for pistachio gelato and I got really lost and drove the rental Jeep down some narrow medieval streets not meant for Jeeps.  Yay, adventure!  Then we stopped in Agrio to see the medieval castle there.  I loved it!  Such a cool little Norman fortress in the middle of this classic Italian city.  Me being me, aka a little nuts, decided that since we had the car and gas, we should drive down to Sicily for dinner.  We didn't get to see much, but there was a rather large Temple of Apollo near the parking lot so at least that was something.  Dinner wasn't great.  This was a poorly planed excursion.

Overall, I feel like we barely scratched the surface of Sicily, even though we saw a good portion of the Eastern side of the island.  I'll definitely be back here some day.