236 – 238: Puppets and Corpses to Brucoli – the centre of the Universe!

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Clunegapyears

236 – Saturday 12th December 2015: Corpses and Puppets

We caught the now familiar bus into the centre. We must be becoming local as there was little need to recourse to the map and by accident we found ourselves in the cafe of yesterday – the phones auto connected to the wifi!

We walked up Corso Vittoria Emanuele and James shopped for enough e vape juice to keep him going for about 3 months. We poked our noses into the Cathedral again, which we had visited with the Aged P’s … it had not changed … still much more attractive on the outside.

We walked past the church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti. A bit too pricey for us to go in, but I reckon we saw the best of it from outside. It was built in 1132 and is set in a small citrus garden.

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San Giovanni degli Eremiti: The Arab influence is clearly visible in the shape of red domes and cubic forms.

We also balked at the EUR9 each to go into the Capelle Palatine … I know it is supposed to be one of the main sites in Palermo, but we had seen and enjoyed the mosaics of Monreale cathedral and looking at the images in the guide book, the design at the Capelle look very similar.

We continued walking up to the Catacomb dei Cappuccini. I’d read a bit about this … catacombs with the corpses still there. We had really enjoyed the catacomb tour in Siracusa where the guide explained about the history and rituals. Stupidly we expected a similar level of information. It is a cynical money making exercise. Most of the corpses have name tags and dates, are dressed, some have embalmed skin and hair. They were segregated into men, women, virgins (!), children and professionals. Some were on shelves, but a lot were wired up and hanging in niches. Some faces were distorted into an Edvard Munch like Scream. Gruesome. No information about anything:

Why were they here? We knew from the Siracusa catacombs that Christians started using out of town cemeteries in the 4th century.
Why were some up right and others on shelves?
Why segregated?
What was the embalming process?

James found this info later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombe_dei_Cappuccini Interestingly, the Capuchin’s held the deads’ families to ransom … pay up or your dead relatives stay in division 2 shelves. No photos allowed out of respect, BUT you could buy postcards and TV programs have been in! So much for the Capuchin philosophy of ‘life was to be one of extreme austerity, simplicity and poverty’.

The pix are all easily found on the internet.

And we walked and shook off the unpleasantness of the Catacombs to the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette. This houses puppets from around the world, including shadow and water puppets. We learnt that the Catanian puppets were bigger 1.4m and heavier so consequently the stages were shallower only allowing for limited movement. Puppets can weigh as much as 20 kilos.

This car was as battered on all side. The interior was just as full, leaving small person shaped gap in the driving seat.

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Amazing attention to detail.

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Punch and Judy represented in the overseas section

Leaving here, we walked to the puppet street we had seen two days ago to attend the 6.30 pm. show. Time for a glass of wine and as they brought so many snacks out, we did not need supper later!

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The square in front of the Teatro Massimo was buzzing with street performers and a procession … put on for us whilst we enjoyed our wine.

The performance was brilliant. No other words for it. A small theatre with a high stage, so all could see. One man did all the voices, hardly changing his tone, but you know which puppet was talking by their movement. Movement of the main arm was by a pole, and there were some double jointed arm movements! Other movements were using the more familiar strings. The story line is that of the Crusades; Christians defeating the Arabs. There was a puppet who smoked a cigar and blew real smoke. A maiden burnt at the stake. Swashbuckling sword and sabre fights, where limbs and a head flew off. Just brilliant. Really brilliant.

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You probably picked up that we walked a lot today. James had very sore feet. I have not yet told him, that we may have done about 15km on hard pavements!

237 – Sunday 13th December 2015: Brucoli – the Centre of the Universe

With Maddy arriving on Tuesday, we needed to be near Catania airport, so it was another flit across the middle of Sicily on the motorway. We are getting quite familiar with this route. We stopped off to do our Christmas shopping at the Outlet Centre. How times have changed … what use have we of designer brands? We came away empty handed.

Excellent views of a now gently smoking Etna as we approach Catania

Closer to Catania, we saw what I initially thought was black smoke, but then it moved … flew. A flock of birds doing the most amazing formations. They swarmed up and down and across. I was driving and so fascinated, I could have added to the Sicilian road stats, had James not reminded me to keep my eyes on the road!

I only knew what it was as I had seen video footage of the birds over the Somerset Levels

Our desination was Brucoli – not even in the guide book and the internet described it as a small and quiet fishing village. How wrong!

J here – as we turned down another very small road to identify our overnight parking, I was a little nervous of the passing places…. it got narrower – has our reader heard this before ? Around one bend – and we were faced with another motorhome coming in our direction – absolutely no millimetres to pass. K gave me directions from the road behind – to retrace my centimetres and allow the other van to pass by – he was in a rush and countered each of K’s moves with – the Sicilian Defence ! All you avid chess players will know that this defence is actually an aggressive attack ! I’m no Grand Master but my dilemma was apparent – following K’s moves – or being outflanked by Boris Karlovski ! (Apologies – I cannot think of the 1970s well known Russian Grand Master who had that legendary battle with his American opponent…). Either way, I was going to be stuffed, so I retreated my pawn en passant to a gateway – Boris shot past without as much as a “Grazi” He would have been truly “Prego’d” if `i was 50 years younger ! (Was it Fischer the American chess Master – Bobby)?

We retreated to a nice sandy parking – Tim (who with Karen was parked there) helped us navigate a steep step and directed us to the best view – looking out across the bay to Etna and Catania – see K’s photos…..

Intros all around and chats – and Tim made what was to become the quote of the evening “We’re off to the bar !”. Could we resist ? Fat dogs and lino – again, Amelia/Thomas O’Reilly ? First bar – wine – ok an innocuous start – good. We also had Arancini – Sicilian dumpling/roll filled sometimes with rice, cheese or other delicacy – no need for dinner later… Second bar – did not stock wine – Aperol for `k and beer for moi – still innocuous…. We had by now met Natale, Francisco and Gaedano – all local friends with wonderful stories and very good English. Gaedano had gone (Tim said) to light his Christmas tree. We supped – and Gaedano appeared into the bar- wearing his Christmas tree – see photo ! Then Tim said “How about some Sambucca ?” (The fat dog perked up). We supped again and chatted….. Then back to the first bar for – you guessed it – Sambucca ! Innoculous ? Inoculated ? Innoculosis ? Something like that…. We eventually strolled back to our Vardonnay… Slept for England and Ireland – a great start to our stay in Brucoli….

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The view from the door. Yes, that is Etna still smoking in the background. On the right you can just make out the Blackpool / Brucoli Illuminations: Tim’s tinselled, decorated and lit up Christmas Tree.

238 – Monday 14th December 2015:

Leisurely start. Tried running along the coast, only to be blocked by a large and locked gate. Nothing for it but to head up the looooong hill up out of the town. James tells me it is good training! We pottered and replenished our wine supplies. Sat on the beach and read and pottered some more. We eventually made it out for a walk along the coast, for a little way, clambering over rocks. The path was between the sea and the bottom of some rather nice villas. We had assumed that the villas were unoccupied in the winter, but barking dogs proved otherwise. A German Shepard on the way out and three Dobermans, who really looked as if they would hurl themselves off their property walls at us. Security is obviously taken seriously here, and yet Tim and Karen don’t lock their motorcycle etc.

Later Tim and Karen popped over for a wee drink before supper. Supper became cheese and biscuits … too late and too pickled to cook the planned risotto!

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Looking across to the town of Brucoli

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Nestling amongst the fishing boats

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Wild orchids growing on a common along the coast

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234 – 235: Pulsating Palermo

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Clunegapyears

234 – Thursday 10th December 2015: Nothing for it but to go for LUNCH

Having checked the weather forecast, we planned to go up to Monreale Cathedral, above Palermo, however, heavy rain hit the roof. And then did not stop. Pretty much all day. So we walked, dodging the dog faeces on the pavements (worse than Paris ever was) and caught the 101 bus into the centre and checked out a few things with the TIC. Sicily and particularly Palermo has a strong tradition of Puppetry and there are several museums. We had been directed to one of them, but it was shut. Virtually the whole street was given over to puppetry – workshops and a theatre. A show at 6.30 on Saturday sounds tempting.

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I was ‘permitted’ to take one photo of a puppet being created – you can just see the workshop through the door.

Given the weather and the Italian long lunch everything was shut until 3.00, so nothing for it, but for us to have a long (and boozy) lunch too. We walked to the Trattoria we have eaten in with the Aged Ps … and were recognised. Knowing how much food is thrust at one, we opened ‘just’ for the mixed starters. Despite the wine, we were both feeling chilled and damp through, so we aborted the catacombs, which were planned for the afternoon and headed back to Chardonnay to get warm under the duvet until the heating was well cranked up.

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We got all excited that the Messiah was on tonight … any spare tickets? No, we would have to come back next year … we’d spotted the 2016 programme! A lovely carpet of poinsettias up the stairs.

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Attempting to dry out … clothes, not us!

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The restauranteur kindly gave us ponchos in balls … James is pointing to his dangly balls!

235 – Friday 11th December: Mosaics and Tiles … and Parrots

No rain, but chilly so we were well layered up with water proof trousers packed in the ruck sack – just in case. Despite yesterday’s heavy rain having washed away the dog droppings, we had to mince our way around the fresh batch! Up and at ‘em to catch the bus from the central train station to Monreale, where the driver kindly alighted from the bus in order to direct us and a Spanish couple (we obviously all looked like tourists) to the cathedral.

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Street side welding taken from the bus …note H&S: gloves, face mask etc – Not!

The cathedral is listed as one of the Palermo highlights. It was commissioned by William 11 -the Good, who wanted to compete with the cathedrals in Cefalu (and somewhere else, that I’ve forgotten!). According to the audio guide, it is a harmony of architecture and decoration influenced by Arab, Norman, Byzantine etc …. in other words a complete hodge podge. But the mosaics are truly stunning and there are some impressive inlaid marble work of a later date. I went up on the terraces (aka, roof) and got a view of the cloisters (we balked at EUR6 each, even though they are supposed to be special) whilst J headed off for a coffee.

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The mosaic tiles are usually set onto a slow drying base which is marked out by the main artist … slight angles make the light catch the tiles to give the shimmering effect … or least when the sun is shining!

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Many of the scenes depict biblical stories

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Amazing inlaid marble curtain folds behind the figure

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Commando man … should check his underwear is also camouflage!

I know we have both mentioned the driving in Italy and Sicily, but Palermo is a whole new ball game. We both dozed off on the return bus, with the sun streaming through the windows and the very sedate (mostly stopped!) pace through Palermo. There was congestion at EVERY junction, despite the traffic police attempting to direct the traffic … not sure if they made it worse. There was, of course, the odd prang for the bus to navigate around.

We had about an hour to kill before our ‘appointment’ at the tile museum, so we wandered down to the Botanical Gardens … too expensive (we are not tight fisted, but we do have to consider value and interest levels before parting with our cash). However, just beyond was a free leafy park. An American lady asked if we knew where the green parrots were. Parrots? What parrots? Caged? Whilst we chatted to this charming couple, we heard their squawk followed by them do a fly past. Just lovely. If we had not got into conversation, we would have completely missed the parrots and heard about some of the wonderful national parks in Washington State.

The Stanze al Genio is a tile museum and ranked number 2 on Trip Advisor, but you have to pre-book, as I had. It is completely invisible from the outside. We pressed the buzzer on the panel of buzzers at number 11 and were told to come up to the first floor of what is essentially old palazzos converted into apartments. An English speaking Croatian chap met us as the door and explained everything from the production process to the changes through the centuries and the styles from Campagne (Naples area) and those made in Sicily. The tiles are presented in a most usual way … they are the personal collection of one man and they are displayed in his home. They are nearly all floor tiles, but are displayed in groups on the walls, mounted on wooden boards. They make for really warm and intimate wall coverings. The mix of designs is staggering …. birds, flowers and geometric shapes that could be from the 60’s. In fact, one set of tiles is a dead ringer for some of the floors that we saw in the Palazzo Nicolaci in Noto. We were also really lucky in our timing: the owner had purchased the apartment next door, knocked through and only since Saturday, was now displaying 5 rooms of tiles, instead of 2.

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Being part of a Palazzo, the original ceilings had been uncovered.

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The owner’s living room

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James is hoping to be invited to dine

The bus ride back to our parking was again slow: constant horns and again we saw another accident …. Palermo really is a good argument for the congestion charge and out of town parking. There is no way anyone in their right mind would cycle here – we’ve only seen a few bikes, despite the number of mopeds. Very few people bother with seatbelts, even for children. It is really NOT uncommon to see people on their phones, despite apparent legislation that it is illegal.

231 – 233: Noto Nocturnes

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Clunegapyears

231 – Monday 7th December 2015: A Noto Ordination

Text by James … who will K find next to do the write up?

The morning run started a bit late but we reached Acicastello – I did a bit of speedwork along the Promenade – I am quite determined to race in the next month….

Adieu to Aci Trezza and we journeyed south on the A18 motorway – heading back to Noto. On our previous visit with our guest writer Kerstin, we had met a German lady who lived part time in the area. She told us that 2 new priests would be ordained on Monday night and on Tuesday there would be a large procession and lots of celebrations – this seemed an excellent reason to return – not just to see the wonderful Baroque buildings and churches.

Driving smoothly down the A18 motorway – K at the helm – just approaching the turn off for Syracusa – there was an almighty bang beside us – a shower of wreckage and bits in the air – a car had a high speed impact against the central reservation fence of the opposite carriageway ! We stopped on the hard shoulder and k phoned the Police – a number of other drivers must have done so – the Polizia arrived quite quickly. The accident car looked completely wrecked – we just hoped the occupants survived…. Our van suffered some scrapes and a small hole in the bonnet from flying shrapnel – if it had hit our windscreen – it would have shattered ! Nothing compared to the possible injuries to the accident victims…. We have come to learn that the driving culture in Sicily is inherently unsafe – because we are 28’ long and a large vehicle travelling slowly, we probably have some advantages (unless it’s a mountain town !).

The free overnight parking area (photo below) looked good and just on the fringe of the old/rebuilt post-1693 earthquake city. To get to the heart of Noto – there were steps to climb – not too many thankfully and just 10 minutes from the Citta di Noto. Recce’d (what horrible English, James – just as well it’s not your first language !) and retired to Chardonnay to get suited and booted for the ordinations at 5:30 pm. Now then – the last such event I attended was 30+ years ago – but I recall it was just like a wedding – invited guests only. However, we already knew members of the public were ok to attend in Noto. We arrived at the Cathedral at 5:15 (plenty of time, we thought) – to find it was already filled to capacity (standing room only) – a thousand folk ? Eventually, we sat on the step of a side altar – which had quite a good view. 5:45-ish, the grand occasion kicked off – a hundred priests (!) processed through the Cathedral – K reckoned all the priests of Sicily were there. The Bishop of Noto delivered a homily – it was theatrical – my Italian/Latin is good enough to identify much use of “pecatta mundi” – the sins of the world. As a Catholic (not a regular churchgoer), I have had my fill of fire and brimstone in the 60’s. But, the bishop calmed down and the celebration continued with lovely choir singing – and finally Giovanni and Paolo became ordained priests – to rapturous applause from the huge congregation ! After 2 and a half hours, we slipped away – a lovely warm family occasion – a first for K.

View to Acicastello on our morning run

View back to the Cyclopi Rocks at Aci Trezza

We took this going back up the motorway on Wednesday: you can see with what force the car hit the barrier, and the barriers here are seriously strong – they need to be. Less than 1 km further up the road we saw a newly overturned car on the opposite carriageway.

Bishop’s looong sermon: it sounded full of brimstone and fire

232 – Tuesday 8th December 2015: Feast of the Immaculate Conception

We were awoken by 8 thunderous artillery rounds at 8:00 am – K was convinced that Mt Etna was erupting on our parking area – and she complains about my geographical prowess ! No signs of lava in the photo though…..

I had forgotten that 8th December is the feast of the Immaculate Conception – a most important occasion in the Catholic Church. K’s photos show the completely novel (to us) way of placing the floral garland on the statue of the Virgin – at midday outside the Church of St Francis of Assisi. I even remembered the Latin words of the Angelus hymn – Amelia – can you sing it please ?

The main procession was scheduled for 5:30 pm and we managed a quick glass of wine at Paolo’s cafe near the Cathedral…. Paolo knew every man, woman and child who passed by en route to the procession… He also serves a good Marsala, K assures me…..

The photos excellently capture the spirit of the procession – it took 40 strong men in relays to carry the statue of the Virgin around town – including one uphill section !

Yet another warm family event – all ages out on the streets. We probably celebrated these feasts in Ireland in a similar fashion 50+ years ago – clearly, Italy has maintained traditions that go back many centuries… It definitely gets the whole community involved – not a bad thing ?

Paolo’s cafe seemed to draw us in again – was that Marsala K ? (K: yes another two glasses and they were not sherry schooner sized!!!)

A lovely day – one of those magic moments that we are lucky enough to find. Will K become a convert – and drag me off to church every Sunday ? I don’t have the heart to tell her that altar wine is not Marsala !

Ciao, amici….

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View down to our car park – 4 of the Italian vans went off early – up and at ‘em

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Part of a nativity scene that filled a small room in a side street.

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The Bishop emerges with the floral tribute to the Madonna …

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… who hands it over to the fire fighters? ….

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… aah – now I see why.

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Tied carefully in place. And then a cacophony of canon fire.

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Town officials … sporting white blouson jackets … some were filled by their bellies!

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The band struck up and this cheeky chappie caught my eye.

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Bishop and church dignitaries posing for the press.

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We celebrated with a coffee and J had a Tiramsu (just for you Sylvie – he did not really want it! – forced himself, honest!!!)

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Church of Francis of Assisi ready for the parade of the Madonna

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Clerics and church orders descended from the Mass first …

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The Madonna carried by a lot of burly priests and accompanied not by canon fire, but fireworks and showers of paper contain the words ‘W Madonna’

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People and the band followed through the streets of Noto

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Many watched on their balconies … this lady dressed to match her poinsettia plants.

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We peeled off and returned to the bar, and about an hour later the nuns arrived, heading the procession

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Once the Madonna was safely back at the church, there was a superb firework display

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233 – Wednesday 9th December 2015: Abortive Dentist and Motorway to Palermo

Minor dental treatment is required – not to sew up the outlet for the hot air – but a filling of sorts. I visited a dental clinic in Noto but failed to get an appointment – K photo blogged while I pounded the cobbles and steps…..

Palermo beckons – for the second time – A18 again northbound this time. We passed the scene of the bad accident – the photo above speaks for itself. Later, a car on it’s roof on the carriageway – these motorways are not busy – what is it ? Speed seems to be the problem everywhere….. Rush hour in the streets of Palermo en route to our overnight stay – the van fuel gauge suddenly indicated empty – somewhat adding to my driving stress levels…. a quick fuel fill and onwards. K navigating by Google maps (Brad sidelined) – I managed to overshoot the gate of the parking area – K had to guide me reversing (the van, not K reversing) in the dark and rain and traffic, successfully…..

Buone notte, readers……

Postscript: Well done Maddy

Well done to my Munchkin:

a) massive hair chop and donated it to Little Princess Trust

b) all selected Universities have offered her a place … she just needs to do enough work to get into the one she really wants … Kent Uni.

229-230: Eruptions and an Almost Satisfied German!!!

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Clunegapyears

229 – Saturday 5th December 2015:

Guest writer, by popular request!:

Today is E-Day, Katherine came up with a place that is (in her opinion) far enough from Etna but close enough for her not to be struck of my x-mas card list But before setting off from the campsite, the two went running. I got such a bad conscience that I went swimming instead (well actually I love swimming). The water was probably as warm as our showers in the campsite. I also had a male guest watcher whose best part got very excited seeing me on the beach fully dressed…

We arrived at the very idilic harbour of Taormina to park the van. By public transport we went up to this hilltop town (I am not sure why the two always complain about the small roads, the bus driver charged up the roads as it was the motorway). Katherine guided us through the town like a local (pointing out restaurants that they already visited). Arriving at the wonderful gardens we were greeted by Mount Etna spitting lots of smoke. Fantastic sight. James took some really good photos as you can see for yourself. On our way to the town centre we struck gold. We saw the Etna light show! Amazing how much we could see and how high Etna could spit out the lava. But Etna lost the battle to wine. Two of my companions who again cannot be named due to confidentiality reasons left the light show before the end! Can you imagine this. The biggest happening in Sicily that night and they wonder off for some drinks.

We got the last bus back into town and had a good night (at least I had one because Katherine lost big time playing cribb against me, they might claim it is beginners luck, but I know better)

Open air showers amongst the lemon trees – shame they were near cold!

Our overnight pitch

Taormina – Part of the Roman cistern.

Taormina is full of small street up and down off the main drag.

Whilst it was still daylight we wandered into the Park let to the town by Forence Trevelyn

The weird and wonderful structures are called ‘beehives’.

From the balcony of the gardens we could see the smoke plumes from Etna.

As the sun was setting, the clouds cleared and it got a bit more interesting.

We just made it out of the park before we got locked in and walked through the town

From the large balcony, Etna started putting on a show for us …

… and it got better and better

Along the coast to Giardini Naxos, where Chardonnay is parked and Etna, not so very far away!

Our overnight view: looking up to Taormina from the parking on the harbour wall

230 – Sunday 6th December 2015:

Katherine sold me the blogging as “due to popular demand”. I think she is just so happy to have found a poor sod who does the typing.

Today we got up late and left even later. The weather was not really nice therefore it made no sense pushing Katherine out of bed.

We arrived at the parking lot for the cable car station. I inquired about the fares. They are really taking you to the cleaners, 30 Euros to go up to the middle station and another 32 Euros to go up to the top. But as the weather was nice and Etna was busy smoking I decided that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and went up. Katherine and James could not be persuaded even with bribes to come with me. Once up it was an amazing sight. Etna was busy billowing out smoke. I would also hear the noise of the “explosions”. To some extend it sounded like a steam engine. The trips up to the crater were cancelled and visitors were advised to stay near the middle station. Watching Etna for nearly 2h I knew why. From time to time he jugged out stones, too. I did not see any lava. I very much enjoyed my trip up to see Etna. Katherine was able to secure her position of my x-mas list again.

Now I have to check my flight details to see whether my flight leaves on time tonight.

To all dear readers thanks for staying with me. Enjoy the blogging.

K’s postscript. On the evening trip to the airport, Kerstin was delighted to be able to observe Etna erupt again and then we could see a growing red lava flow. Really amazing.

Previous craters

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Kerstin went above the cloud line

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Kerstin saw a number of eruptions, smoke and spitting of debris. Sorry, the video clips are not going on the blog … I’d have to upload to YouTube and embed!

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Smoke and steam

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Evidence: She was most definitely there!

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227-228: Miracles – Etna Erupts, Weeping Ladies and Kerstin Arrives

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Clunegapyears

227 – Thursday 3rd December 2015 – Tyre Fix, Syracuse with Kerstin

James was up and out taking more sunrise shots … don’t tell him, but I have deleted a lot of the Sunsets and Sunrises as they would fill the hard drives!

Our parking with water on two sides – may be getting used to the sound of the waves as we sleep.

The view in the other direction.

One rear tyre had deflated a fair bit after being pumped up only yesterday, so it was imperative we got this fixed.

The first tyre place in Augusta attempted to jack our near 4 ton truck up using two 3 ton load bearing jacks much to our slight consternation. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, even with the addition of rubber wedges, the jacks would not go high enough so they had to abort. They told us about another tyre place nearby …. that does trucks.

Hard to see, but Chard is actually jacked up a) alongside the road and b) blocking in cars.

Relaxed H&S: a make shift flag that kept falling down to warn motorists of the hazard!

Again it was a roadside repair using a very long compressed air cable. The problem …. when the tyre had been repaired in Norway, they had not removed the nail. So Italy 1 – Norway 0. And at only EUR20 a bargain.

We collected Kerstin from Catania airport. I did circuits around the airport in Chardonnay whilst J went into the airport to find Kerstin. Her first question of J, was ‘are we still married?’ As if!!!

We parked up in Syracuse … right by the bridge to Ortygia.

A mystery Guest writer takes over from here!: Guess what, we had to walk around the old town before making our way to the real attractions of Syracuse – the Roman amphitheater. After going up and down the main street three times, (a female person not to be named lost confidence in her map reading and asked helpful Italians for directions!!) we finally made it up the hill! Just before closing time we were able to admire the Roman Amphitheater in the dark. It only meant that we had to come back the next day to see the rest of the archaeological sights. And I am not allowed to say anything about Mount Etna as this is only going to happen tomorrow.

Temple of Apollo: early 6BC is the oldest surviving Doric temple in Western Europe

Duomo: Baroque architecture outside …

… an wonderfully plain interior main nave.

More real bones!

Part of the attraction of the Piazza

We’d all like one of these!

Another sunset … from the bridge between Ortigia and Siracuse

Into Siracuse – an example of Fascist Architecture

Poinsettia’s being sold on many street corners.

Roman Amphitheatre by night

Our overnight parking. We got confused on how to pay for the ticket, and ended up getting away with EUR1 instead of 30… not sure how we got away with it, but we did!

228 – Friday 4th December 2015: up the hill again and your are not to mention Mount Etna

Now I am allowed to say something about today, Friday 4th December and the eruption of Mount Etna. James and I were fascinated to hear that Mount Etna has erupted. Unfortunately a certain person prefers to stick to her traveling plans (and I thought campers are flexible) therefore we first picked up our tourist trail from yesterday.

Going up the hill once more we looked at the Greek theatre and the cave of Dioniso. This cave is huge in terms of its hight and I mean huge. The acoustic is great, whispers are transformed to loud echoes. Then we went to the catacombs of San Giovanni. On 10.000 m2 more than 10.000 bodies were buried. As far as I understood the guide, the bones are all gone to dust, that is why the tombs are all empty (in case somebody wonders). We checked on the weeping Madonna but there was no reaction from her seeing James.

Still my wishes for seeing Etna were ignored (this is me coming all the way from Germany and just being ignored) and we had to walk up to another town – Noto. I was checking out the highest building in Noto but there was not one tall enough to see Etna.

Tonight I thought I get my chance, because the hostess asked me what I would like to do tomorrow. Before I could mention the E word, she said apart from going to Etna. I think she is only worried that Chardonnay is going to be covered in ash. But would not this be a really good picture for the blog?

Greek amphitheatre: end of an aqueduct.

Greek amphitheatre 5BC: it was more complex than indicated by the ruins here as Emperor Charles V nicked much of the stone to build walls around Ortygia

The Ear of Dioniso

The K’s bemused watching an Asian lady mince and tip toe over the bird droppings

OK, so it took two of us to hold up the rock …

… and a certain person did with his little pinkie!

Santurio of Madonna delle Lacrime (Madonna that cried in 1953). The church was erected to house the Madonna. Information on this: http://www.visionsofjesuschrist.com/weeping1.htm

All these miracles … people no longer needing their back and limb supports.

The Weeping Madonna – only a small mass produced plaster work.

Sadly no pix of the catacombs, but they were pretty amazing …

Noto: also flattened by the 1693 earthquake and rebuilt in Baroque style

The Duomo: more impressive on the outside than …

… the inside

Palazzo Ducezio 1746: with ‘an impressive series of columns’

Annually flower petals create images that fill the street

Ornate balconies of the Palazzo Nicolaci Villadorata. The socially aspiring family did rather well out of the earthquake as it killed off 10 of the 19 noble families in Noto, so they became more important and even purchased a number of titles. They made their money in tuna processing … money in fish – then!

A bit dark but Kerstin is battering (oops sorry, think I mean bartering!).

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels