Exploring North of Enna

Another beautiful day outside.  Breakfast starts at 8:15, and we are up and ready early so go for a walk to see if the views of Etna are a little better today.  It is a beautiful clear day, a great day for touring. 

Better view of Mt Etna today

Terrace that we had drinks on last night

Not sure we would have a comfy ride for long, would Andre fit?, Ron could roll down the sunroof and stick his head out?

We discover on our walk that what we thought was the Duomo was not, found it a couple of blocks further down.  The outside is all under construction, but we found a side door that we were able to get in.  So glad we found the way in, every little surface is covered in some kind of ornamentation. 

Duomo in Enna

Tallest wooden ladder I have ever seen

A smaller church close to our B&B

Back to the B&B for breakfast.  We meet Patricia who is the owner, her husband checked us in yesterday.  This couple are so very friendly.  We show her the route we are planning on driving today, and they suggest a castle we should visit.  They seem a little surprised that we want to drive off the main highway and explore the scenic roads, they suggest where we may want to get off the scenic roads and back onto the highway to go back to Syracusa.

Before we head out for the day we visit more in Enna.  Yesterday the castle was closed so that is where we start today.  Started off by going the wrong direction to get into the castle, so walked the entire way around and ended up at the entrance to Rocca di Cerere.  This was thought to once have been a temple, it is a bit exposed outcrop.  Walked up top for some great views again.

Next back down to the castle where there is no admission charge, but there is a free tour guide available.  He walks us around and shows us the highlights, from what we understand the well here still serves the entire town.  You are able to climb one of the towers, which again gives beautiful views.  Interesting story the guide gave us, when you first enter the castle there is a wide open space that is now pretty much all roped off.  This area was being used as a theatre by the locals, they give lots of performances here, then gov't decided it should be excavated so they took down the staging for the theatre. Then money ran out, so no more excavation and no more theatre, just a roped off area.

Enna from Rocca di Cerere

Inside the castle grounds, we will climb this tower later

So today is mostly spent driving and stopping for views.  It is a gorgeous day, lots of amazing views, everything is so green, almond trees are in blossom, lots of yellow flowers in the fields, crocuses are up, just a beautiful spring day. 

The owners of the B&B told us about a castle we might want to visit that was in Sperlinga, not too far off the road we were planning on taking.  It is not in any of our guidebooks, but well worth the stop.  Who can say no to 2 castles in one day anyway.   This castle is really on top of a huge rock.  Once again we parked at the bottom and walked up.  Saw some amazing homes built right into the rock, it would have been very cool to go inside one of them.  Admission was 3 Euro.  None of the signs were in English, so it wasn’t a long visit as we didn’t have to read anything, and it wasn’t in our guide books.  The steps to the top were slightly on the dangerous side.  Luckily there was a rope on the side that you could help pull yourself up, the steps were so warn and slanted, coming down I sidestepped, put my skiing experience to good use. This was the first stop we have seen any amount of tourists, there were 2 small groups here, so funny, the big tourist attractions we didn’t see tourists, I guess the Italian tourists know about this stop.  One of the groups all seemed to have come in on Motorcycles, this part of the Sicily would have made an amazing bike ride.

These yellow flowers are everywhere

Solar farm

We see many abandoned farmhouses, and lots of small towns on top of hills  

Cows house?

Homes built right into the rock in Sperlinga

Castle in Sperlinga

Wendy did not love these "steps"

Views from the top were worth the climb up

You can see where the steps are in the narrow opening to the top

Next Andre had read about a Canadian War Memorial in Agira.  The book did not say exactly where it was so we were trilled just to happen upon it on our travels today.  490 Canadians that lost their lives in Sicily during World War II are buried here.  It is a beautiful spot for reflection, so many of these men were really still boys.  It was very hard to read some of their ages.  Many of the tombstones show where they were from, right across Canada.  The memorial is being very well looked after, there are little gardens with different flowers at each tombstone.  It was a very moving experience, we are so very very lucky to have the lives that we do, thanks in great part to these men that gave their lives for us.

Continue on to the town of  Regalbuto  where Andre had read about the marble square outside the Church and to visit the Church.  This town is so quiet it is a little creepy, where is everyone?  The church is not even open.  But, the bar beside the church is open and it is time for some lunch.  We had what is very traditional in Sicily, Arancini, which are rice balls.  These are delicious, we had 2 that were kind of filled with tomatoe/meat sauce, and 1 that was pistachio and cheese.  Lots of things have pistachio here, very Sicilian.  We each had a small pastry for dessert and water.  Total for lunch under 6 Euro. 

Very yummy Arancini

Square outside Church, see all the people and cars!

Haven't figured out the significance of this yet, saw lots of them in the ceramic town, and in this town outside the church

Bar where we had lunch

Next we went on to the town of Centuripe, this was a bit of a crazy drive on back roads.  At one point I was not sure if we would have to turn around, parts of the road were washed out, but we had gone so far we really didn't want to turn around.  We didn't even explore this town that we drove to, Andre had enough and wanted to start home, he wasn't even driving! Below you can see part of the switchback road we drove to get to this town on top of a mountain

Back to Syracusa and we fill up on gas, next challenge is to find parking.  I am so glad we have walked the streets here as much as we have.  It seems like all of Italy have come to Syracusa for Sunday afternoon, it is crazy just driving into town.  We knew where the free parking was, but no way were we getting a spot there.  The pay parking lot where we normally walk by every day is packed, it was a little shocking to see.  We didn’t have to wait long and a spot opened for us, 10 Euro to park for the night.

We are pretty tired after a long day of travelling and a busy weekend so decide to go out for supper. It is just before 7PM so not much is open. We did find a “pub”, that we have walked by a few times. Not sure why they call it a put, it really has an Italian menu for food, but lots of beer to choose from, maybe that is why pub? I have lasagna and Andre has a pizza, we are good for the night.

Back to the apartment to work on the blog. Already looking forward to travelling next weekend

Back in Syracusa, where did all these people come from?  

Pub in Syracusa where we ate dinner