Sunny Sicily

After weeks of rugging up for the cold and trudging through snow in Tuscany Kaye and I decided we needed sun therapy so we've followed the birds and headed south. Well - as far south as Sicily via a budget flight.  We've been exploring Syracusa based at a delightful B&B on the Isle of Ortygia. This is the view of Piazza Archimede from our window.

Syracusa offers some ancient places to explore including this 5th century BC Roman amphitheatre. The archaeological park and museum entertained us for hours, we both returned footsore and appreciative of the fine seafood and wine we dined on.  The recent downpour has encouraged wild flowers aka weeds to add colour to roadsides and ruin sites.

I went to a lot of trouble to take the perfect photo...

and apparently wore myself out in the process.

Ortygia has delighted us with it's winding streets. We've exclaimed over the number of decaying buildings and such typical Italian scenes as  rusting vespers, arches and balconies of every size and shape.  

This is Kayes magnificent night shot in Piazza Duomo

The produce market  with vendors trying to out shout each other offered fresh seafood galore and I wished we had a kitchen to create our own culinary masterpieces. Sicily is the food bowl of Italy and the stalls overflowed with fruit and vegetables, herbs...

...sorry had to stop a moment and wipe the drool off my chin. We sampled the sweetest blood oranges and strawberries and have crunched our way through crisp salads. The olives are positively scrumptious and preserved ginger even better than Buderim's.

Both pleasure and fishing boats tie  up here in sheltered marinas and seafood is offered on every menu.

The day we arrived in Catania torrential downpours had caused flash flooding and we saw a few cars stranded in water up to their doors. By the time we arrived via bus in Syracusa the sky had cleared and just a strong wind remained. The Ionian Sea was uncharacteristically rough, so much so that locals flocked to photograph the waves crashing onto the shore.

As I walked along here an extra large splashing wave surprised me with a cold shower.

This interesting option in a rather plush restaurant in Ispica amused Kaye as you can see.

 

 ...but we decided that as we both have wonderful men to go home to we would visit a few more churches instead.

The stunning blue decore in this church made it our favorite, a refreshing change from gaudy gilt, statues and busy frescoes that most other churches are filled to bursting with.

As we left Ispica we wound our way down the hill between beautiful cliffs dotted with numerous caves.

We managed to find our way to the most southeast corner of Sicily, Capo delle Correnti and Capo Passero, which both have little islands just off the shore. Yesterdays big swell had settled to choppy waters today. 

Below is the Capo delle Correnti, which translates as Cape of the Currents,  where the Ionian and Mediterranean Seas meet, an apt name. It must present a danger for ships as there are light houses on both the little island and Sicily 'mainland'.

We found a beach to walk on at Lido di Noto but it was not warm enough to tempt us in for a swim. The rough weather had deposited a disappointing array of rubbish onto the beach so we played safe and kept our shoes on.

We have the rest of the week to frolic in the sunshine and explore more of this enticingly different part of Italy and it's unique scenery, culture and cuisine.

We shared those tiny cakes - each eating half of each one. The one on the right looks plain but it was orgasmicly good. I MUST savour more before I head 'home'.

A special thanks to Kaye for some of these great photos, usually I don't appear in my blog this often.  

Chapter two of our Siclian adventure is still unfolding ... stay on the edge of your seat. 

Mouth Cam

OMG in Italy the dentist has Mouth Cam.

When they are poking around in your mouth every move they make beams up on a giant  screen. So if you have enough courage you can watch all of that poking, prodding and  drilling in your mouth.

I broke my tooth munching a biscuit I had baked. Demolished the tooth really. I spat out 3 bits of tooth and the filling that had been holding it together. So very tentatively I went to the dentist hoping it would be less of an ordeal than  visiting the hairdresser is for me here.  Giorgio came to interpret thankfully, but the dentist knew all the important words in English like "open your mouth wider" and "this will cost..."

The demolished tooth needed to be "devitalised" which I figured meant a root canal to take the nerve out, a post inserted and  reconstructed for a temporary crown. And  all of this is beamed up there on that big screen.

Gruesome.

I quickly discovered that I can't grimace and keep my mouth open ... but I couldn't help but peek every so often to check on the progress.

I was unimpressed that on visit three the impression taking and fitting of the temporary plastic tooth caused some grazes and bruises around my mouth so I looked a bit battered. Especially as I was on my way to the ceramic exhibition opening with  my pottery cat showing along 60 or so other artists work.

 

By now I am sure that you are grateful this post has no photographs!!

I was surprised to find the dentist does not accept credit cards so  when I returned for the temp crown to be fitted I had to take 500 euros in cash, which I am expecting my travel insurance to refund as the policy covers emergency dental work. Later I will need to get a permanent crown.

And I swear I am not cooking any more biscuits.

Give and Seek...



Thanks to everyone that gave me a little treasure to stitch onto THE QUILT. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to be creative in a different way.  As I whiled away the hours, often sitting curled up in a sunbeam like a cat, I would smile as I remembered times spent with the person who had given me the treasure I was stitching. Long walks, even longer talks, wining and dining, proper squeezy Ozzie hugs, old friends, newer friends and family, all treasured for the richness you continue to add to my life.

Deciding how to create something from the eclectic bits and pieces I ended up with was a challenge as they did not naturally fit together, but I am happy with the end result.  I learned to NEVER try to make a quilt with a stretchy fabric again, but I do love that purple velvet with its sparkles. The photo makes it look blue but in fact it is deep purple.

If you are a Where's Wally fan you might try to find your little treasure in that not-so-well-focused photo ... Well I was balancing on a chair and leaning over the  quilt stretched out on the floor.  Some contributions will be easily found others have been cut or stitched and disguised, but all are there:  elephant, wombat, spider, worry dolls, angels, shells, bling, flowers, sheep's wool, buttons, lace, ribbon, baby sock and so much more ... except the dam because latex disintegrates, instead I stitched the slogan from it "Dam It, Have Fun"

Thankyou my beautiful friends, I look forward to catching up with you again in a few months.

STAY SPECIAL xxxx 



Sand 'n' pussy cats

Our travels took us to the edge of the desert where we wandered in the dunes a while.  Giorgio is passionate about deserts while I prefer the sand on a beach.  No doubt he was wishing he had his motor bike and could zoom out of sight  ... but as that song says "...the things you do for love."

We wandered exploring the first of the dunes that were accessible in a car appreciating that we were at the edge of a vast, seemingly empty space until you looked more carefully. 

A camel train wound its way across the sand in the distance. The desert is dotted with wells complete with  a trough so camels too can quench their thirst.

From M'hamid the town nearest  the edge of the desert it is a 50 day camel journey to Timbuctoo, well it was when camels  traversed North Africa.  This sign prompted me to recall my mother telling me to go to Timbuctoo when I was pestering her as a child. I wonder was that expression particular to her, or used by other parents of that era?

At Zagora in the hotel car park one morning I met this man unloading supplies from his two camels, they appeared to be used for more than entertaining tourists like most are these days. 

I had it in mind to have  a camel ride here but Giorgio put me right off that idea when he told me they are prone to ticks.  My previous encounters with those blood thirsty little buggers caused a recurring itch in an intimate place for a year. In fact that tick travelled with me from Perth to Frankfurt in Germany  before he was discovered and evicted.

One evening we climbed a small hill to watch the sun set over the desert and found fascinating rocks while we waited for the cloudy sky to transform into a red and orange kaleidoscope. 

Thanks to my Grade 8 science teacher geology fascinates me, so I savoured many beautiful rock formations in this area, marvelling at the incredible power of the shifting ground and eroding affects of time, wind and water. 

As you can see Giorgio takes his photography very seriously and will go to entertaining lengths for a good shot.

The clouds in that vivid blue sky created stunning ever changing  swirling patterns as we headed west to the coast.

I was so excited when we reached that coast and I could paddle in the chilly Atlantic Ocean.  I have missed living near the coast so much and had to wipe  away a few tears as I  walked barefoot on a beach again.  In some areas a good swell was rolling in enticing surfers to test their skills.

We tried to ignore a fresh ocean breeze and other people as we romantically watched the sunset into the Atlantic Ocean at Safi. Safi was one of my favorite places in Morocco, I could even entertain the idea of living there...but then I would have to try to learn to speak French as well. 

There is so much to miss about living on the coast, any coast ... I was even  happy to see squawking gulls again. Pigeons are boring in comparison with all their cooing and pooing!

All seaside towns the world over have identical color themes ... a refreshing contrast to all those mud houses of the hinterland.

Somethings are to be enjoyed rather than understood... and I fell in love with this mosaic fountain despite, no, because, it is in such an unlikley position at the edge of the ocean. At present it's my computer's  desk top background.

Several meals of fresh Moroccan fish were oh-so-yummy, something else not readily available in Florence that I had been missing.  At a seafront cafe we shared an enormous pile of grilled fresh local fish of various types and sizes. 

 

I was grateful to be an experienced fish bone picker.On the left is my pile of bones... 
...and below is Giorgio's plate ... guess who doesn't like picking fish.




Under our chairs a cat patiently waited in hope of some scraps and a pat. Almost every Moroccan restaurant and café has a well mannered resident cat.

And so did the electrical goods shop!!

I  savoured the ocean for as long as possible knowing that soon I was returning to Florence which has it's own beauty but will never be as luring as coastal places are for me.

The Kasbah's of Morocco

According to the dictionary a kasbah is a North African palace or castle.  Wikepedia had a nice photo of one but little to say about them. Giorgio is almost obsessed with them and  I found them intriguing with their  fortress-like hill top presence providing a birds eye view of the village and surrounding landscape.   Come and explore some with me.  Kasbahs make a facinating change from Italy's  Roman ruins and people still live in parts of some  we explored.  I will introduce you to some of the people we met along the way.

The sky really was that amazing shade of blue.

This kasbah has  been restored whilst others we explored were  crumbling ruins. Their structure of mud and straw would be high maintenance. I wondered how effective the  bamboo and mud roof was at keeping rain out.  

A group of women we met in a little village when we were exploring  a crumbling Kasbah invited us into their home for mint tea. This is traditionally made with green tea, fresh mint leaves and large amounts of sugar and it’s drank in copious quantities in all the areas we visited.  It is always poured (hot) into a glass from a great height. I didn’t work out why the height was required other than it looks impressive  …  and that  tourists feel inadequate when they spill it everywhere  trying  to do the same! 

The ‘girls’ insisted sharing their wonderful homemade flat bread with us.  We had seen older women grinding wheat earlier and  as we explored the area near the Kasbah we found a mud and grass lean-to containing 2 little clay ovens.

Three of the four women  were sisters, the oldest at 24 was married with a 4 month old ‘Buddha’ baby. She told us her husband worked away and she lived here with her mother. 

Which one is the cutest?

At another Kasbah stop a group of boys curiously raced to the car before we had a chance to climb out. They all loudly volunteered to be guardians of the car, arguing between themselves about who had arrived first and could claim the role of chief guardian.

As I wandered around the ruins the boys wove camels from reeds and proudly presented them to me. When we returned they all held out their hands for payment!  One was unimpressed that he was paid in euro cents not Moroccan dirham.  Paying a car guardian is wide spread across Morocco especially in the cities, for both car parks and street side. A better option than our money gobbling parking metres as the car is kept safe as part of the parking fee.

As we explored the kasbahs we often found animal enclosures for goats, sheep, calves and chickens plus tethered donkeys. Traditionally kasbahs were used as places to keep people,  animals and food stores safe from invaders, hence their hill top look out towers and high walls surrounding many little rooms and  courtyards, terraces and flat roof tops with multiple uses including drying dates. I read of one housing 60 people and others we saw were larger. 

This animal inclosure was a combination of mud walls woven bamboo and wire that appeared to be the guts from an old mattress!  Useful materials are recycled but I was often disappointed to see plastic bags and other rubbish strewn everywhere. Rubbish bins were an endangered species so even as responsible tourists disposal of waste was not easy.

Only one Kasbah had an entrance fee and used the money for restoration. They had a small 'museum' which included these wooden door locks. Can you figure out how they worked?

In the past Giorgio has regularly organised group tours of North Africa, usually through the deserts on motor bikes with support vehicles. We were trialing a new route for less adventurous tourists, and those that can't ride a bike (like me), which includes exploring a number of the historic kasbahs.  It's one aspect of a new website he has been designing for people that want to explore another culture not just chill out at a tourist resort. Check it out at http://www.colortravels.it/  

We did in fact journey to the edge of the desert... I've saved it for the next blog and promise to write it while I am on a roll... and snowed in!!