Rome and Sicily, Trip Wrap Up and Lists

Statues at the Vatican in Rome

Wrap-up and lists for our Rome and Sicily trip, in no particular order:

The Return Trip

Breakfast on the Ambasciatori's rooftop deck

At this point I usually write something about an uneventful return journey and recap the trip. On this occasion, it seemed like United Airlines was intent on extending our trip. Unfortunately, the extension wasn’t going to be in Italy.

Palermo

Panorama of Palermo

Our day began with breakfast on the Abasciatori’s rooftop terrace. After the previous day’s rain, the skies had partially cleared. From the hotel’s deck the expanse of urban Palermo, tucked in between the hills and the

Agrigento to Palermo

Shades of the Temple of Concord, Valley of the Temples, Agrigento

With the crowing of the Fattoria Mose’s rooster, we woke to sounds of a working farm. Soon we were out into the light and air of a day that had the feel of a looming weather change. We strolled around the farm seeing a wide variety of animals in the pens and trees in the orchards.

Ragusa to Agrigento

Ragusa Superiore in the morning light

The morning quiet in Ragusa was broken by the clang of the bells from the nearby Duomo San Giorgio. No need for an alarm clock here! When the bells fell silent, the only the sounds that remained were from the birds, the braying donkeys in the distance, and small, slowly moving vehicles collecting garbage and making the local deliveries.

Siracusa to Ragusa

Syracuse in the morning light

Our morning tours continued with the pastel, hazy sun rise in Siracusa. We were a bit sore and stiff from our run down the slopes of Etna, but creaks and pops and all; we forced ourselves up and out into the light.

Nine Rules for Driving in Italy

The Italian autostrada

I’m going to take a break from the trip account to talk about something we did a lot of on this trip—drive. Now we love taking the train and public transportation when we travel abroad. It would be our preference. Public transit is frequently more relaxing, more involving, and often gives us a better sense of the place we visit. But, as we get further away from the city centers, using public transit just takes too much time out of a short trip to be practical. And, of course, there is the issue of transporting the jumble of bags that we bring along on the trip. Perhaps we could pack lighter. It’s not like we carry a lot of clothes and, God knows, we can’t reduce the extensive collection of personal electronics and the 17.4 lbs of travel books that we typically carry. So, renting a car it is.

Etna to Syracuse

The smoking gun: Mt. Etna panorama

Moving to the slopes of Mt. Etna yesterday let us casually sort out our volcano tour options in the bright light and crisp air of the morning. If you are interested, more information about the tour choices and

Taormina to Etna

Piazza IX Aprile and San Giuseppe in Taormina in the morning light (panorama)

We woke early to try and catch Taormina without the crush of people lining its streets. In the morning light, we found the streets near empty with only a few small delivery vehicles and street cleaners occupying

Matera to Taormina

Matera in the morning before our departure

In the morning we departed for the drive to Sicily. We somehow navigated through a tangle of road closures in Baslicata. Eventually we worked our way to the autostrada and into Calabria, the southern most province of the mainland portion of Italy that includes the toe of the boot.