Icecream and Pizza
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean. It has a wonderful climate, great food, interesting architecture, and more historical sites then you can shake a stick at. Did we also mention the ice cream... Mmmmm.
We made our first landfall on the North West coast, and over a few weeks sailed three quarters of the way around the island to our winter marina near Agrigento. Along the way we stopped at many interesting places to take time out to visit ancient temples and amphitheatres, which we documented in Scarlet Lady's Odyssey
Most 'Yotties' will tell you that there are two marinas in Sicily to over-winter, Ragusa and Licata. Both are located on the South coast, and both are almost new. Last year when we started to take a closer look, it became a little clearer that Licata, Marina Di Cala del Sole, was the one for us. The supermarket was just a five minute walk away and unlike in Ragusa, you did not need a bike to get to the shower block!
Having spent almost all of the summer season avoiding marinas and using the anchor, we had become tired. The reasons for this are simple. Firstly the anchorages are often crowded, especially in the summer months so space is at a premium. Then you have to struggle for a bit to find a patch of sand amongst the weed.
On calm days the experience is sublime, and we had many of those for sure. However, we are at the mercy of the wind and in the Med this can go from nothing to gale force in 10 minutes. Not only that, but it always seems to come 180 degrees form the direction it was forecast in!
If for any reason our anchor becomes unstuck and drags, it usually means our floating home is heading for rocks. Conversely we may be fine, but others around can drag into us. This means some nights we have no alternative but to share an anchor watch on deck, taking it in turns over two hour shifts to make sure we remain safe.
Sometimes the wind conditions are just fine and we settle into a good nights sleep, only to be awoken in the early hours by the sound of the anchor alarm warning us we have drifted. Anyway, a digression.
You get the idea that by the time we got to Licata it was very nice to tie up to the dock, plug in the shore power and sleep, knowing Scarlet would be in exactly the same place when we woke up.
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| Winter home |
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| Settling into marina life |
One of the many reasons we enjoy this lifestyle so much is the opportunities it affords to visit different countries and meet new people, both fellow sailors and the local inhabitants.
A sort of homage to the Grand Tour first adopted by the upper class as an educational rite of passage in the late 1600's, and then embraced by almost everyone else when Thomas Cook and the word 'Excursion' became synonymous.
The town of Licata can best be described as shabby, with only the occasional hint of chic. On the other hand it is not a tourist resort hiding behind a facade of overpriced bling shops, here you find the real deal.
Nearly all of the buildings have crumbling facades, pavements exist sometimes only in your imagination as they morph into convenient places to sale fruit and veg, and old men appear to sit around on white plastic chairs all day. No idea what the women do!
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| Lots of character |
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| No age discrimination here! |
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| But maybe here! |
One of the 'must see' places just happened to be about an hours drive from the marina. The Valley of the Temples at Agrigento has some of the best preserved examples of Greek temples outside of Greece, and just after Christmas we paid a visit with Lou, Tony and Phill to take a look.
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| Kings and Queens of the temples |
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| Lynne left and Louise right, err hang on Lou left and Lynne right |
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| Tombs |
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| Posing for catalogue modelling Scarlet Lady crew shirts |
More pictures of the temples to follow when Graham and Shelia paid a visit in February. In the meantime the next day we hiked up to the castle in Licata to get a better view, followed by a relaxing drink in one of the many nearby bars in the town.
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| Looking down on Licata town |
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| We sailed all the way from over there |
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| Beer o'clock and much need after the hike to the castle |
We came back to Agrigento a couple of months later when Graham and Shelia came to visit.
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| Lynne checking the Rightmove brochure for the fixer upper |
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| Hello Blossom |
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| Objects in the rear view mirror... |
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| Local inhabitant |
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| Pause for thought |
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| Old tree |
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| 'New' Agrigento in the background |
From Agrigento we moved further inland to Piazza Amerina to the site of the 4th century Roman mosaics. Although a little tricky to find, it was worth the effort and the photos don't really do justice to the experience of seeing them in the flesh, but here goes anyway.
From here we heading North to stay in Catania in readiness for the excursion to see Etna.
Our B&B was really comfortable and we had two rooms, and later in the evening an open fire in the sitting room. The next morning we had an early breakfast and put on a few warm layers in readiness for our 4x4 Etna tour.
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| Above the clouds |
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| Into a Magma chamber |
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| Buried house! |
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| It was a chilly day |
Later that evening we wandered around Catania, had a lovely meal, and even got treated to a firework show!
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| Fireworks in Catania |
All in all a great experience, we really enjoyed Sicily!
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