You can have your cake and eat it!

After a few days of showers and sunshine we left Avola and aimed Noddy
firmly in the direction of Siracusa, well after a short excursion to Noto.
Noto is a very pretty little town and reputed to be the 'capital of Baroque'
by UNESCO. It was rebuilt from scratch after the 1693 earthquake, as were
many other historic towns, but it stands out from the crowd due to the amber
coloured stone that was used for many of the prominent buildings. Sadly the
Duomo was undergoing a major overhaul and clad in scaffolding and closed to
the public, typical, but it was still mighty impressive especially in the
aforementioned amber coloured stone that it is built from. We had a
delightful wander, which did not take too long as there are only really two
main streets to see. Our tour was slightly extended due to our indulgence in
one of the many cafes. The trouble with cafes is that the choice of cakes on
display is too overwhelming and makes a decision mighty difficult to make.
Eventually we settled on a slice of baked almond ricotta tart and a slice of
baked chocolate ricotta tart, oh and a due cappuchini. What can I say,
delizioso! Suitably stuffed we rejoined Noddy and headed off to Siracusa.
We have been here now for 5 nights so far, wild camping at the Porto
Piccolo. This is the nicest city on the island as far as we are concerned,
and we have wandered around aimlessly on several occasions just taking in
the sights and the sounds, oh and the odd taste or two! The weather has been
great since we have been here, hot and sunny. We have managed to keep
ourselves 'busy' walking, reading, eating, and dozing. Thankfully there is a
nice laundrette just up the road and we got some much-needed washing done.
It is not easy to keep on top of it whilst wild camping without having the
facilities of a campsite to use.
Today we made a day trip inland to Palazzolo Acreide. Apart from being a
pretty little town, some of the buildings are alleged to have the longest
balconies in the world, quite a bizarre claim.
Tomorrow we will finally depart Siracusa and head further up the east coast,
not quite sure where too yet, but aiming towards Catania and perhaps inland
again to Enna.
Ciao
M&S

Normal service is returned .. whaterver that is

Well, after all the problems with the email, I can't remember what we have
been up to.
We indeed have eventually left our very nice site at Punta Braccetto,
Camping Scarabeo, highly recommended if you ever come this way. The rain did
stop and we managed to get the washing done and exited stage left on the
Monday (12th), seems like ages ago.
Anyway, we have been mostly wild camping since then. Firstly we camped at
Marina di Modica, along the coast east from the site, a nice small seaside
town. We stayed in a large car park with about 12 or so other campers. It
was a bit like a pikey holiday spot. It was safe though, the police came and
checked a few times a day that all was ok, and the bread man came every
morning in his van delivering his freshly baked goods. The weather was still
wet, both mornings we were there, but we did get a couple of sunny
afternoons. We then moved on a bit further along the coast to Maganuco, a
small hamlet just west of the town of Pozzallo. We stopped for a couple of
nights just off a nice sandy beach parked up with a couple of German
campers. The weather had totally cleared by then and it was nice warm and
sunny again.
No surprise when we found out that Anne and Steve were parked the other end
of the beach from us. We had bumped into a friendly Italian in Pozzallo and
he happened to mention that he had spoken to some other 'early retirees' who
were camped just out of town. So, after our two nights on the beach we went
and joined them for the weekend at the sosta that they had been at for
almost 2 weeks.
A guy called Peepo owns the sosta and he works at the harbour in Pozzallo.
On his land he has a couple of large old wooden boats that were dragged from
the sea not too long ago. Illegal immigrant smugglers had used the boats.
They buy an old boat for just a few thousand euros in North Africa, load it
up with hopefuls for a few thousand euros each, and then set sail for Sicily
to dump them off. The lucky ones end in jail, the unlucky ones drown. They
had all been unlucky on one of these big boats as the never made it to dry
land. The coastguards stopped the boat before it made land, so the 'captain'
of the boat made them all jump and swim for it to save his skin, 80 or so
passengers, they all drowned as they couldn't swim, men, women, and
children. Peepo keeps the boats as memorials to them. I think the 'captain'
is still locked up, and will be for some time. Sadly it is an all too often
occurrence.
Anyway, we moved on again a couple of days ago, and stopped for a night at
the harbour of Port Palo di Capo Passero, the most southern tip of the
island. It always amazes us with the seeming attraction of harbours to the
locals. There were endless streams of cars driving in, going to the end of
the harbour, turning around, and leaving. Why, we don't know, but they love
doing it. They don't stop or get out, or look at the boats, they just whiz
in and out, a kind of afternoon stroll without having to work up a sweat,
most strange. We stopped there for the night, and had a nice pizza at the
harbour restaurant just next to us, very handy. The next day we had a very
nice drive slowly up the east coast. The small fishing port of Marzamemi was
very pretty indeed. A haunt of the local upper crust apparently. We ended up
at the Nature Reserve of Vendicari, halfway up the coast between Pachino and
Avola. We had a very nice sunny day and a very nice walk around the reserve.
Our main reason to go there was to see the Flamingos, and we did. They are
most strange looking birds, but amazingly coloured. The European ones are
not all pink, but are white with a hint of pink, but their wings have bright
pinky red flight feathers, stunning. We saw plenty of other birds and
lizards on our walk. We stopped for the night where we had parked, just
outside the reserve entrance. It was very quiet that night, very quiet
indeed, pitch black, and not a soul for miles, just the sounds of nature,
cool!
Yesterday we ended up at Avola and joined Kevin and Libby on the site they
had been at for the last week. We had a trip out yesterday to the nature
reserve and gorge just inland from here. It was very nice, but a long trek
down into the gorge to the bottom and to the icy clear water pools. It was a
long trek back up again too! I won't say too much but one of our party
reached the top with a little less skin on their nose and forehead. Not to
mention names, but it wasn't me, but the other male in the party. It had
rained a bit while we were walking back up and the path was a bit slippery
in places, Kevin went face down. He is ok, and is milking the sympathy a
bit. Thankfully he was ok to drive us back to site as we were in their van!
Phew, back up to date again. Are we leaving here today? Don't know, its
raining again.
Ciao
M&S

Party Animals

Well I am getting even lazier! The trouble is that the 'more you do less'
then the 'less you do more', or sommit like that, and we have actually had
quite a busy week or so.
It all started last Saturday with the 'six' having lunch out in the
sunshine. Sue made some assorted bruschetta for starters, Anne a lasagne for
main, and Libby a salad - Libby doesn't cook much! After the excellent food
and a few drinks we had an evening of games. We started off with Jenga
outside, most amusing, and not easy when it got dark and we were playing by
candlelight. After retiring to Noddy for the evening, we played silly games
like pictionary. The girls had the better of the boys over the course of the
evening, but they didn't take winning gracefully, I think they thought we
let them win. Only the boys will ever know. It was quite ironic that even
though Noddy is the smallest of our 3 vans, he actually has the most room
for six people to lounge in.
The following day was a day of rest after all the 'excitement' of the day
before, not to mention a beer or two, Steve. The early part of the week
followed in the same style with some general lazing around in the lovely
sunshine. Thursday was market day again, in Noddy this time, and then off to
Lidl at Vittoria to stock up on a few things. It was a bit of a rush shop as
despite the Lidl advertising 'all day' opening outside they actually shut at
13h00 and we got there at 12h50. So we ended up doing a bit of a
'supermarket sweep', Dale would have been very proud of us!
On Friday, we joined Kevin and Libby for a stroll along the beach to the
next town along the coast, Punta Secca. I say along the beach, it was some
beach, then the scrubby grassy path above the beach, then mostly along back
roads in between all the poly tunnels that they grow all the fruit and
vegetables in. The town was deserted when we arrived, another place that is
only open for 2 months of the year in high summer. Thankfully there was a
café open so we fuelled up with a Cappuccino and set off for the return
journey.
Then another Saturday, and another luncheon, and this time for the whole
campsite. The owners had laid on a party for all the guests and did a BBQ.
They cooked huge Cumberland style sausages, grilled aubergines, made tomato
salad and also orange salad. The main event though was the Sicilian dish of
artichokes. We had helped wash them out in the morning, and then they cooked
them on the BBQ. They put salt and olive oil in the flower heads and then
place them bottom down in the hot coals and let them cook. They were very
nice but a lot of effort to eat for the amount of nourishment you get from
them, not to mention the black hands from the burnt outside. To follow we
had some delicious cakes. Small doughnut type cakes filled with ricotta, and
also Cannolli, a sweet crisp rolled tube filled with ricotta and pistachio.
The cakes were truly delicious. They even laid on red wine, water, and some
champagne. It was a fantastic day, and all gratis! After we had finished up
and some people had returned to their motorhomes, they took the remaining
dozen or so stragglers around the corner to the café and bought us a coffee!
Needless to say we are not in any great rush to leave here! The funny thing
was that it was probably Sue and my fault that it all happened. When we
originally arrived at the site and were chatting with Angela the owner we
told her we did not known how to cook artichokes and had not even tasted
them. Thus the BBQ, and all the trimmings.
To cap the day off, seven or eight Italian motorhomes had arrived in the
morning. When evening finally arrived, the music started! If you cant beat
them, join them. So we went and enjoyed the impromptu disco for a while.
Unfortunately we missed YMCA!
Sunday was a day of rest, well only after we had gone for a cycle ride in
the morning to the nearby nature reserve / park. We had to cycle the long
way round to get into the park as we were unable to find the entrance that
was allegedly just down the road from the site. We eventually got into the
park, cycled a bit, and then ended up on the beach next to the park. We
cycled back along the sand, which was hard work. We emerged from the beach
just down the road from the site in a rocky car park that we had earlier
been at not thinking it was where we should have gone. Never mind, it was a
nice outing.
On Monday we took the tourist bus, Kevin and Libby's van, to Modica. By the
time we arrived and found a place to park the sky opened and it poured down,
so we had a coffee and waited it out. When it had stopped it was still grey
and overcast but we had a nice walk around and even bought some of the
chocolates that the town is famous for. We will let you know what they are
like!
The Tuesday brought on the next lunch with a nice Dutch couple that had
arrived a few days earlier. The weather nearly put a 'rain check' on the
meal with the sudden arrival of a thunderstorm, but it passed quickly and
the day turned out lovely and sunny.
Today, hot sunshine, rest, phew!
Ciao
M&S