Caltagirone to Ragusa, to Noto and then the Island of Ortigia

This morning Anne's friend Camille is arriving from the Netherlands to join us. We were picking her up from Catanaia airport at 10am, so we got up early to explore Caltagirone during daylight.. We walked out of our apartment and onto the stairs - looking down as the sun was rising onto the city..

First of all we walked up to the top to look around...

The view from the very top...

Caltagirone is known as the city of ceramics. Even the signs of he important buildings were beautifully done in ceramic and the colours of Italy.

This building is our airbnb apartment we were staying at. from the front door, we were on the next level - you can see our balcony window which is open...

Little alleyways...

 Beautiful views...

Children on the way to school...

 The main square...

 Once again at the bottom of the steps with me about to cimb to the top. Anne is already halfway up, I'm making photography excuses! I counted - 96 steps to our apartment. My poor hips and butt!

But this breakfast awaited us at the apartment!

Our view while eating breakfast!

After picking up Camille we drove to Ragusa. We thought we had arrived a the old town, but we found out after lunch that we were in the new old town, and that the old town was further down the hill! But we explored the new old town first... The cathedral...

A couple of interesting sculptures...

 The white cat of Ragusa...

Driving to the 'old' old town...

Interesting Balustrades...

The 'old' Old Town Cathedral..

Then I had to walk up hill, up and down more stairs for the rest of the afternoon. It was definitely a butt and hip day. My knees will never be the same...

Sometimes very narrow staircases through very small tunnels...

And finally at the top the huge cathedral...It was hot too - about 29C and I wasy dying of heat!

And back down again through narrow staircases...

Camille bought a sicilian cuisine book - this is one of the recipes. Lost in Translation!

Then on to Noto - another ancient town, this time much different. The buildings were bigger and more wealthy. More palaces...

We stopped for wine and cheese (and meats) and soaked up the atmosphere!

And drank red wine from Corleone!

We then drove to the island of Ortigia in Syracuse, where we were staying the night! Anne and Camille went out to explore, but I was exhausted and stayed in, did some washing, and was fast asleep by the time they came back! A full day!

Agrigento to Caltigirone Sicily

Our airbnb host had left us Tiramisu for breakfast this morning. A bit too sweet for me, but between Anne and myself we still managed to polish it off.  We left our luggage at the residence so we could relax while driving around knowing there's nothing in the car worth taking while we were sightseeing.  First stop were the Scala dei Turchi - the white cliffs...

Then to the Valley of the Temples. Again I got in free because I was Deaf and Anne got in free as she had to help me!  We did catch a taxi up to the top though and then walked down, temple by temple. It was really hot too!

The first temple was the Temple of Juno Lacinia. It dates back to 450 BC. The buliding was damaged in the fire of 406 BC and restored in Roman times.

Old fortification walls...

A lone tree at the top of the cliff..

Temple of Concordia.  In front of this one was an amazing piece of artwork by a local artist.

A View of Agrigento City from the valley...

Temple of Heracles - sixth century BC.

The temple of Olympian Zeus. Sadly in ruins, not only because of it's age but also because it was used as a quarry by the Porto Empedocle

The olympian Zeus would have held up the temple originally, now lying sadly on the ground.

I found fossils of Scallop shells in the paving..

Last temple is the reassembled remains of Castor and Pollux.

After wandering the Valley of the Temples, we went into Agrigento and had a lunch and a glass of wine, then drove to Caltigirone. On the way we stopped to take a photo of one of the many abandoned farm houses...

We arrived in Caltigarone about six. So we had a wine on the deck looking over the city from our B&B.

The steps of Caltagirone from our balcony looking up...

 And looking down...

We then went out to explore the town. Walked all the way down those steps (from the BnB there are 96 - I counted!) Found some cathedrals and old jails and some beautiful old buildings.

We then found a restaurant to eat at - that was recommended by our host. Anne googled it and we found it was Number 1 in Tripadvisor. It waspretty good - we had the Pasta with clams and mint, (we shared one between us), and then had the swordfish rolls which were divine. A very enjoyable evening wtih good food.

Then we had to climb those 96 steps back up to the BnB. Needless to say I took a while, and now my knees hurt!