Ciao!
Hope this finds you well and happy.
Sicily has treated us very well. The landscape, while rugged and dry is beautiful at the same time, and so full of interesting history. Sicily has been ruled by the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans (all the way from the north of Europe), the French for a short stint, the Germans and the Spanish, before joining a united Italy in 1860. It makes for an amazing melting pot of culture, cuisine, architecture, and the look of the people themselves, from a blue eyed, blond haired Sicilians to very dark looking Sicilians.
It's been nice staying in the one place for a while. We've seen a lot but had time to relax around the house with the kids and take in the country air and views.
We had a fantastic night on Sunday in the town of Ragusa Ibla. It was the festival of St George, the town's patron saint. The photo below shows some of the fireworks, note the Arabic design on the roof of the church bell tower on the right.
One day a week or so ago we visited Ragusa's St George Cathedral, the Duomo di San Giorgio. Inside was the statue of the man himself on his white horse, as shown below, already for the big night....
Paolo and his wife, Pina, who are locals of Ragusa took us along to the festival which was really special. Ragusa Ibla is a town of about 20,000 people and 44 churches!
Here is St George as he first appeared at the door of the cathedral, what a sight it was.......
And as he was being carried down the steep steps of the church, the crowds watching intently.....
After we had some pizza and arancini and watched some amazing fireworks as shown above, St George appeared again, slowly and triumphantly making his way around the town.....
One day we decided to visit Donnafugata, a 17C castle about 15 minutes from here. When we rolled up we thought things felt a bit strange. It was all looking very, very rustic and there were all these really cool looking people hanging out doing next to nothing but looking very important at the same time. We had just walked onto a film set! The movie will be called "Racconto dei Racconti" or in English, a "Tale of Tales", a period piece, we look forward to seeing it one day. So the castle was closed, and we headed off to check out Ragusa.
This is how the same scene looked a few days later when we returned, tourist shops and a restaurant had appeared and the hay and dusty street had disappeared....
During our little train trip I took this photo of the part of Ragusa that sprawls across the higher hill....
When we finally made it to Donnafugata, we strolled through its grand gardens, which included a stone wall maze, huge exotic trees, and this majestic stone lounge which Soph popped up onto, I caught the moment....
Speaking of stones, below shows a good example of the old dry stone walls that are everywhere in this southern part of Sicily, it's gorgeous.....
One day we headed up into the Iblei Mountiains for a drive. We visited the ruins of Akrai, a town founded by the greeks in 664 BC, a mere 2,677 years ago. There were some young students rehearsing for a play in the small ancient theatre there, so just as the greek audiences would have done all that time ago, we sat there and watched.....
Another day we headed off for a long drive to Siracusa, it was well worth it. Siracusa was colonized by the Greeks way back in the 8C BC. By the 5C BC it was one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world and rivalled Athens in size and power. Here is Sophie in the Piazza Duomo of Siracusa....
Below is another photo looking back at Piazza Duomo with its stunning Baroque buildings including the main cathedral or "duomo" on the right......
What's really interesting about that particular church are the greek columns inside it as shown below. These columns, which belonged to the original 5C BC Temple of Athena (the goddess of wisdom) where incorporated into the current Christian church.....
A few kms outside of the ancient part of Siracusa are the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. Amazingly, the Romans used to fill it up with water for mock seas battles.... It was warming to the heart to see gum trees around the perimeter of the amphitheatre, as shown below.....
And not far from there is the famous and huge Greek theatre of Syracuse, shown below, originally built in the 5th century BC. It's the festival time of the year, hence the stage back drop behind Jane and Sophie, all set up for the next Greek tragedy........
You could still see Greek inscriptions on one of the passageway walls of the theatre, they were the names of famous people back then......
Nearby were the ancient quarries and here was this huge man made cave that had amazing acoustics. Below shows Sophie and Connor testing out the acoustics. Caravaggio, the famous 17th century painter that mastered darkness in painting, named the cave the "Ear of Dionysius", when he visited in 1608. He was staying with a friend in Siracusa after escaping from a prison in Malta, now this guy is an interesting character.
The kids have had turns feeding the four semi-wild cats and have enjoyed it immensely. It was Connor's turn this day...
This shows the view up Via Nicolaci with the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata and its eye catching balconies on the left....
Here is a close up of one of those balconies.....
Back to our one week stay at the foot of Mt Etna. Connor and Soph met this little Italian chef in Taormina one day, they were roughly the same height so felt they could relate to each other....
Taormina is right up there with the most attarctive towns in the world, with its interesting Moorish and Baroque architecture and extraordinary views. Here is Soph and Connor in one of Taormina's pretty squares...
And here is Taormina's most prized possession, the Greek Theatre, with the blue waters of the Mediterranean and Mt Etna in the background, the peak of which was clouded over that day, but still what an amazing place to finally see and just admire in awe. It was built by the ancient Greeks and later altered by the Romans, gee these guys knew where to pick a spot for a theatre....
One day we visited Catania, a Baroque masterpiece and the second biggest city in Sicily. It's had its fair share of disasters, two thirds of Catania's population was killed in the 1693 earthquake and 20 years earlier lava flowed through its streets. Miraculously the ruins of one of the largest Roman amphitheatres survived as shown below. It's below street level and most of the ruins sit under the neighbouring buildings......
Luckily it was open when we were there. Here is Sophie and Connor exploring the amphitheatre passageways where Romans would have once hurried along to see their favourite gladiators do battle...
We noticed preparations for a wedding taking place so came back to see the bride and groom leaving this very grand looking church. As you probably guessed, Sophie is loving weddings at the moment, very cute.
The day had come to climb Mt Etna. I would point out the mountain to the kids from our kitchen and say we're going to climb that; this was met with unsure, but excited eyes. I took this picture a few days earlier, shown below, of the south side of the mountain. It shows old lava flows in the foreground.
One night I saw a small red burst of light at the top of the mountain and some previous people who stayed at the apartment had written in a review that they were lucky enough to see an eruption, so it's definitely still active.
On the way up we saw this house which had been almost completely covered in lava I think in around 2002....
First we caught a cable car up through the clouds, into another world it felt like...
There were these warnings at the cable car station referring to the "volcanic risk area", mind you it is a very popular tourist destination........
And then we caught one of these large four wheel drives up as far as we were allowed to go, which was at about 2,900 metres. The peak is at 3,350 metres. Now it was cold, really cold....
It was like arriving at what I imagine Antartica would be like, very remote and freezing. There was a German couple with us and they had a small baby of about 1 year with them. Here is Jane braving the cold, the kids exploring, luckily we brought along extra, extra layers that day. An exciting, unforgettable experience.
The kids started to cry it was so cold! I knew Connor was okay when I asked him what flavour cake he wanted when we got back, he said strawberry. This was a photo I took of one of the main craters up there, whisks of smoke showing where there was still warmth under the surface. It was time to head back for a hot coffee and some strawberry cake....
Godfather country! One of my favourite films of all time. Here are some scenes from the movie and then us in the same spots, it was a thrill. Here is Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) with his bodyguards when he flees to Sicily...
Am here I am with Soph and Connor in front of the same church in a town called Forza d'Argo, just north of Taormina....
Here is Michael meeting the father of the beautiful Apollonia to ask for her hand in marriage.
And here I am with the kids in that exact spot, at the Bar Vitelli in a gorgeous town called Savoca a few kms north west of Forza d'Argo.
Hope this finds you well and happy.
Sicily has treated us very well. The landscape, while rugged and dry is beautiful at the same time, and so full of interesting history. Sicily has been ruled by the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans (all the way from the north of Europe), the French for a short stint, the Germans and the Spanish, before joining a united Italy in 1860. It makes for an amazing melting pot of culture, cuisine, architecture, and the look of the people themselves, from a blue eyed, blond haired Sicilians to very dark looking Sicilians.
It's been nice staying in the one place for a while. We've seen a lot but had time to relax around the house with the kids and take in the country air and views.
We had a fantastic night on Sunday in the town of Ragusa Ibla. It was the festival of St George, the town's patron saint. The photo below shows some of the fireworks, note the Arabic design on the roof of the church bell tower on the right.
One day a week or so ago we visited Ragusa's St George Cathedral, the Duomo di San Giorgio. Inside was the statue of the man himself on his white horse, as shown below, already for the big night....
Paolo and his wife, Pina, who are locals of Ragusa took us along to the festival which was really special. Ragusa Ibla is a town of about 20,000 people and 44 churches!
Here is St George as he first appeared at the door of the cathedral, what a sight it was.......
Jane, Connor and I amongst the festivities, Soph was further along hand in hand with Pina..
After we had some pizza and arancini and watched some amazing fireworks as shown above, St George appeared again, slowly and triumphantly making his way around the town.....
One day we decided to visit Donnafugata, a 17C castle about 15 minutes from here. When we rolled up we thought things felt a bit strange. It was all looking very, very rustic and there were all these really cool looking people hanging out doing next to nothing but looking very important at the same time. We had just walked onto a film set! The movie will be called "Racconto dei Racconti" or in English, a "Tale of Tales", a period piece, we look forward to seeing it one day. So the castle was closed, and we headed off to check out Ragusa.
Here are Jane and Soph enjoying a tourist train ride through Ragusa Ibla, dramatic classical music being played along the way....
During our little train trip I took this photo of the part of Ragusa that sprawls across the higher hill....
When we finally made it to Donnafugata, we strolled through its grand gardens, which included a stone wall maze, huge exotic trees, and this majestic stone lounge which Soph popped up onto, I caught the moment....
Speaking of stones, below shows a good example of the old dry stone walls that are everywhere in this southern part of Sicily, it's gorgeous.....
Before I leave the subject of Donnafugata, here is Soph enjoying a good laugh in front of the castle there...
I've been going for my early morning walks, trying to compensate for all that pasta, bread, and cheese, and the odd beer or two, this is the sort of peaceful scenery I see along the way....
One day we headed up into the Iblei Mountiains for a drive. We visited the ruins of Akrai, a town founded by the greeks in 664 BC, a mere 2,677 years ago. There were some young students rehearsing for a play in the small ancient theatre there, so just as the greek audiences would have done all that time ago, we sat there and watched.....
Another day we headed off for a long drive to Siracusa, it was well worth it. Siracusa was colonized by the Greeks way back in the 8C BC. By the 5C BC it was one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world and rivalled Athens in size and power. Here is Sophie in the Piazza Duomo of Siracusa....
Below is another photo looking back at Piazza Duomo with its stunning Baroque buildings including the main cathedral or "duomo" on the right......
What's really interesting about that particular church are the greek columns inside it as shown below. These columns, which belonged to the original 5C BC Temple of Athena (the goddess of wisdom) where incorporated into the current Christian church.....
A few kms outside of the ancient part of Siracusa are the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. Amazingly, the Romans used to fill it up with water for mock seas battles.... It was warming to the heart to see gum trees around the perimeter of the amphitheatre, as shown below.....
And not far from there is the famous and huge Greek theatre of Syracuse, shown below, originally built in the 5th century BC. It's the festival time of the year, hence the stage back drop behind Jane and Sophie, all set up for the next Greek tragedy........
You could still see Greek inscriptions on one of the passageway walls of the theatre, they were the names of famous people back then......
Nearby were the ancient quarries and here was this huge man made cave that had amazing acoustics. Below shows Sophie and Connor testing out the acoustics. Caravaggio, the famous 17th century painter that mastered darkness in painting, named the cave the "Ear of Dionysius", when he visited in 1608. He was staying with a friend in Siracusa after escaping from a prison in Malta, now this guy is an interesting character.
The kids have had turns feeding the four semi-wild cats and have enjoyed it immensely. It was Connor's turn this day...
In 1693 this area of Sicily was subject to "the most powerful earthquake in Italian history". It destroyed over 70 towns and killed 60,000 people. At the time Sicily had a strong economy due to all the wheat it grew and sold to the world. Architects which had been trained in Rome had a blank canvas to work on, and so the beautiful Baroque towns of south east Sicily were created. In the case of Noto, they decided to not to rebuild in the same place but 10kms away. Below shows us walking through the ruins of the original Noto , "Noto Antica" as they now call it.
Here is Sophie playing weddings amongst the ruins of Noto Antica....
From there we headed to the new Noto, which is a very fine example of a Sicilian Baroque town. I think we walked about 100 metres before finding a café for some refreshments, Granita mandorlas and homemade icecream was ordered and enjoyed as shown below. A great spot for people watching, so we were in no hurry to leave.
About an hour and a half later we decided to walk down the main street of Noto, Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Below shows one of the three magnificent churches along the way...
This shows the view up Via Nicolaci with the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata and its eye catching balconies on the left....
Here is a close up of one of those balconies.....
Back to our one week stay at the foot of Mt Etna. Connor and Soph met this little Italian chef in Taormina one day, they were roughly the same height so felt they could relate to each other....
Taormina is right up there with the most attarctive towns in the world, with its interesting Moorish and Baroque architecture and extraordinary views. Here is Soph and Connor in one of Taormina's pretty squares...
And here is Taormina's most prized possession, the Greek Theatre, with the blue waters of the Mediterranean and Mt Etna in the background, the peak of which was clouded over that day, but still what an amazing place to finally see and just admire in awe. It was built by the ancient Greeks and later altered by the Romans, gee these guys knew where to pick a spot for a theatre....
One day we visited Catania, a Baroque masterpiece and the second biggest city in Sicily. It's had its fair share of disasters, two thirds of Catania's population was killed in the 1693 earthquake and 20 years earlier lava flowed through its streets. Miraculously the ruins of one of the largest Roman amphitheatres survived as shown below. It's below street level and most of the ruins sit under the neighbouring buildings......
Luckily it was open when we were there. Here is Sophie and Connor exploring the amphitheatre passageways where Romans would have once hurried along to see their favourite gladiators do battle...
We noticed preparations for a wedding taking place so came back to see the bride and groom leaving this very grand looking church. As you probably guessed, Sophie is loving weddings at the moment, very cute.
The day had come to climb Mt Etna. I would point out the mountain to the kids from our kitchen and say we're going to climb that; this was met with unsure, but excited eyes. I took this picture a few days earlier, shown below, of the south side of the mountain. It shows old lava flows in the foreground.
One night I saw a small red burst of light at the top of the mountain and some previous people who stayed at the apartment had written in a review that they were lucky enough to see an eruption, so it's definitely still active.
On the way up we saw this house which had been almost completely covered in lava I think in around 2002....
First we caught a cable car up through the clouds, into another world it felt like...
There were these warnings at the cable car station referring to the "volcanic risk area", mind you it is a very popular tourist destination........
And then we caught one of these large four wheel drives up as far as we were allowed to go, which was at about 2,900 metres. The peak is at 3,350 metres. Now it was cold, really cold....
It was like arriving at what I imagine Antartica would be like, very remote and freezing. There was a German couple with us and they had a small baby of about 1 year with them. Here is Jane braving the cold, the kids exploring, luckily we brought along extra, extra layers that day. An exciting, unforgettable experience.
The kids started to cry it was so cold! I knew Connor was okay when I asked him what flavour cake he wanted when we got back, he said strawberry. This was a photo I took of one of the main craters up there, whisks of smoke showing where there was still warmth under the surface. It was time to head back for a hot coffee and some strawberry cake....
Godfather country! One of my favourite films of all time. Here are some scenes from the movie and then us in the same spots, it was a thrill. Here is Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) with his bodyguards when he flees to Sicily...
Am here I am with Soph and Connor in front of the same church in a town called Forza d'Argo, just north of Taormina....
Here is Michael meeting the father of the beautiful Apollonia to ask for her hand in marriage.
And here I am with the kids in that exact spot, at the Bar Vitelli in a gorgeous town called Savoca a few kms north west of Forza d'Argo.
At one end of Savoca is a beautiful church, the Chiesa di Santa Lucia, perched on a cliff with views out to the ocean. This was where Michael and Apollonia were married. There is a panel out the front of the church with a picture of the wedding parade as shown below, the last sentence on it says,
"Nowadays Savoca is well-known all over the world, because they filmed some scenes of "Il Padrino", particularly the marriage between Apollonia and Michael Corleone."
And here is Sophie and I pretending to have been married, and walking in the steps of Michael and Apollonia....
This Saturday we're driving across Sicily to Palermo, the capital of this incredible island. We're staying for week just near spectacular Mondello Beach, the adventure continues.....
Best wishes and bye for now, "arrivederci!"
Jane, Soph, Connor and me.
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