I did a morning ride around Siracusa for an hour and a half or so, and 2 did a bit of a walking tour of the old city. My impression of the "new" town was not too high. Lots of apartment buildings and indirect streets. Little sense to it all. (I did receive a couple of gratis nectarines from a fruit stand, but I think that the generosity was driven by the gal's lack of change for my 10€ bill.)
Our drive to Etna required almost 90 minutes back up the coast on the freeway. The mountain became visible almost from the start. Funny how one hill can dominate a skyline. We had difficult traffic once we got off the freeway and into the city of Catania that we had to traverse to access the climb. It was just short of 20 kilometers to the tourist station once we got out of the city.
From the tourist station, we took a ski lift to the next staging point. We guessed that that the lift was maybe 3/4 of a mile or so in further distance up the mountain. The lift ticket was 28.50€ each. You could have upgraded to a jeep/excursion vehicle trip further up the mountain for another 20€ each, but we declined the privilege.
Here's a pic of 2 on the cable car to the mid-mountain station. We'll have some other photo's to add to the travelogue at a later time.
I felt like the mid-mountain point was very similar to Squaw Valley's upper lodge area in concept. They had a restaurant and souvenir place, and some other options, but mostly, there was more "up" if you were willing to walk or pay for the experience. We elected to take the tram back down the hill.
This pic is one from down the hill on our return drive that I may need to doctor-up to get the contrast. What I was trying to show is the outline of the island in the distance. You could see the shape and contour of the shore for miles from high on the mountain. Maybe another case of you having to be there to appreciate it.
After getting back to Siracusa, we did the obligatory wine sampling in anticipation of a higher-end dinner at a place just down the way from our B&B. We had purchased a bottle from a wine shop up the street last night, and it was not a bottle that we were going to hold for 10 years to properly age. It was worthy of an earlier usage.
Dinner was a home run. Period. Antipasti. Wine. Main course. Service. Atmosphere. Less than 130€ all tips included. Pics to follow. 2 went with the veal and I had tuna. The hit of the evening was a mushroom pasta pre- main course dish that was over the top delish. The head waiter was a star. These folks have served Yankees before.
We ended the evening with a glass of house wine in one of the piazza restaurants not far from our B&B.
So really a great day for the tourists.
A couple of other points. Our B&B is basically in an alley off of one of the streets in the Old Town. I would NEVER have found it. Leave it to 2 to locate us close to the action. But it's a nice room with our own bathroom/shower. Breakfast included. Parking is on the street as we did yesterday, or in the town public lot which we are in tonight. About 5€ per day. Not so bad.
Lots of tourists in Saracusa. Most on group/guided tours. Many nationalities. They all have phones. There was a gal at the top of Etna yelling in a phone!!! And there are countless motor bikes, the drivers of which follow no rules. They will pass on either side of your car, and will wind their way down the middle of lanes with abandon. Madness on wheels!
So I'm going to post this and then add a couple more photos from today. I apologize in advance of the appearance of the blog as this app just doesn't help me out much. Thanks for reading. Really. Sometimes I feel like my ruminations are just whispers in the breeze. Kinda like Kierkegaard. Does that tree really make a sound in the forest when it falls when no one is there?
Tomorrow is a combo-day. We're here in the AM, and then travel to Agrigento for the evening. Greek temples, I think. There will be additional Sicilian wine in the equation.
More then.
BCOT
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