Travelling to Modica

Sunday February 28 was a travel day.  We got up early and left Residence San Martino at around
8:30  a.m.   We said goodbye to two cats that had been hanging around outside our window.  They were seeking warmth and shelter.

Cats outside our window facing the courtyard

After a caffe at Postale 17, we headed down the Erice hill.

Last caffe in Erice

Near the parking area 

Cows as we left Erice

View of the sea from Erice

View of Tapani and the sea from Erice

We decided to take La Via del Sale (the Salt Route) between Trapani and Marsala.  The salt from the saltpans is considered the best in Italy and has been big business since the 12th century. However, salt production has fallen massively and only a cottage industry remains.  At this time of year, the salt is covered with tiles to protect it from the rain.  There are also many small decommissioned windmills.  

Saltpans covered with tiles

Decommissioned windmill

There is a small salt museum in a 300 year old salt worker's house.  It will not be open until early March.  There was one 16th century windmill nearby that is working today.

Museo del Sale and working windmill

We passed an old pillbox from the war, with an anti-war message.

No more war

Fake gun

From the saltpans, we were able to have one last look back at Erice, at the top of the mountain.  A very special place.

View back at Erice

We continued on the slower road---some of the topography was very interesting- lots of green and stone.  Near Marsala, a bit scruffy.

Lots of green

Interesting outcrop

We continued our drive to Agrigento (population 60,000), where we stopped for lunch at a recommended restaurant near the Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples).  We decided to order the special lunch menu for the Almond Blossom Festival that had started in early February and runs until mid-March.

Alonzo getting ready for lunch

The menu

Antipasto of mussels, orange, onions, shrimp and almonds- delicious

Pasta with olives, tomatoes with a basil pesto

                                                  Dorade with fig balsamic vinegar and pistachios and caponata

Semifredo

Due to time constraints and my gimpy ankle we didn't explore the Valley of the Temples, but we did drive around and saw some of the architectural treasures.  The Valley is not really a valley, but rather a high plateau facing Africa over the Mediterranean Sea, with perhaps the most important inventory of Greek architecture outside of Greece.  The Temples were built in the 5C BC.  At one time the fourth-largest city in the known world, Agrigento, or Akragas as it was then known,  was founded by settlers from Gela and Rhodes in 581 BC.  

                       Temple of Concord- one of the best preserved as it was transformed into a church in the 6C AD

                                                                                      Closer look

Temple of Hera Lacinia (Juno)- built in 5C BC, but burned by Carthaginians in 406BC; partially re-erected in the early 1990s 

We continued our drive, passing Gela, the home of the petrochemical industry.  One of the very few places our guidebooks did not have good things to say or recommend.

Petrochemical refineries

We finally arrived at our meeting place in Modica where we will be spending the next five nights.  We are staying in a wonderful two level Airbnb with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a small terrace on the second floor.  Modica has a population of around 55,000, and is one of southern Sicily's most atmospheric towns.  It is also a Unesco site.  It has a steeply stacked medieval centre and our apartment can only be reached by walking down narrow streets.  Modica is the home of Chiesa di San Giorgio, one of Sicily's most extraordinary baroque churches.

The owner clearly lives in the apartment for part of the year and there are wonderful photos and books in each room.

                                                                  Our bedroom with antique tile wall

Our hosts showing us the kitchen area

Our bathroom- with wonderful photos

                                                            Vicky and David's bathroom on the second floor

Vicky and David's bedroom

                                                                     The outside terrace- it was getting dark

View from our window- Church to the left

                                                                                Another view-- lovely spot

On Monday, we will start our exploration of Modica and surrounding towns.

Backroads, Segesta and Monreale

On Friday February 26, when we awoke in Erice, it was foggy and a bit gloomy.  We walked to where the car was parked and stopped at Postale 17, a little cafe, for a coffee.  The town is almost deserted this time of year and the morning fog made it very eerie.

Walking in the fog to the car

Coffee with local dog

However, the sun came out as we headed down the mountain and we had a beautiful sunny day.

We decided to take the back roads to Segesta, home to one of Sicily's most ancient sites.  We were surprised by how green everything looked.  There were also scars of quarrying in the mountains.

View back to Erice- we are staying on the top of the mountain

Quarrying site

Lots of spring flowers

Vicky and Allan

Segesta had been the principal city of the Elymians, an ancient civilization whose peoples claimed to descent from the Trojans and who settled in Sicily in the Bronze age.  The Elymians were in constant conflict with Greek Selinute (located on the southern coast of Sicily), who they destroyed in 409 BC in a particularly brutal fashion.  100 years later the Greeks slaughtered over 10,000 Elymians and repopulated Sagesta with Greeks.  Today at Sagesta, there is a never- completed, but well-preserved Doric temple, dating back to around 430 BC.  There is also an amazing amphitheatre high up on the mountains.  The site is located on the edge of a deep gorge.

Approaching the Doric Temple

Of course, on the climb up, I managed to twist both my ankles as I fell into a gravelly area near a step.  Luckily, I made it up to the temple and we took the shuttle bus up to the amphitheatre.  However, my ankles soon swelled and it became very difficult to walk.

Signage on the way down, but too late for me

Another view

Side view

Ancient bird??

Beautiful flowers in the gorge area

At the Temple

After circling the Temple, we took a shuttle bus further up the mountain, to see other remnants of the town.  These stones were part of a church built in 1442.

We then got to the amphitheatre, which was amazing.  Some other tourists went down to the stage to test out the acoustics- pretty awesome.

Amphitheatre

Fabulous Four

View of the Temple from on high

It was then time for lunch.   We drove to Monreale, our next cultural stop.  Luckily, David was able to drop me near the Cathedral (my ankles were very swollen by then) and we found a wonderful place to have lunch nearby.  The restaurant, Ciambra, was superb.  One of our best meals so far.

Amuse bouche-sardines

Caponata with fish and raisons

Octopus with lemon and oil

Grilled vegetables

Vicky and David had tuna with carmelized onions

Alonso and I shared dorade in an amazing lemon potato sauce

Inside of restaurant with beautiful ceiling

I then hobbled over to the Cattedrale di Monreale and sat on a chair in the middle of the Cathedral taking it all in.  William II competed with his grandfather Roger II, who was responsible for the Palatine Chapel in Palermo.  The Monreale Cathedral was completed in 1184.  The beautiful mosaics depict stories from the Old Testament.  It is a very large Cathedral, though quite dark inside.  It was very impressive, but the Palatine Chapel was much more intimate and it was easier to see the mosaics.  In any event, we were glad we had seen the Cathedral.

Outside of Cathedral

Unbelievable golden mosaics

Inside of the Cathedral

Noah and the Ark

Adam and Eve

The Ark--- the water is wonderfully depicted

The ceiling

Adam

After the Cathedral, we headed back to Erice, stopping at a supermarket to pick up some food for dinner.  We drove up the hill just as it was getting dark.  We got back to the Residence at about 7:00.  Maria-Elena and her colleague took me to visit the local doctor.  She suggested I get X-rays at the hospital in Trapani the following day (Saturday) as she wanted to be sure there was no fractures.  There was no charge for the visit.   We had a light dinner and early to bed.

Saturday February 27 was extremely windy and cool, both in Erice and in Trapani, which is located at the foot of the Erice mountain.  We got to the hospital just after 11:00 a.m. and didn't get out until after 2:30.  It was the usual emergency department routine- talk to intake doctor, have X-rays, wait in hallway for a long time, then wait again to see a doctor in another room.  David helped translate, which was wonderful.  There was no charge for the hospital visit. The good news is there are no fractures, the bad news is I'm supposed to keep the foot up, use ice, and not walk too much for about six days.  Luckily today was the hospital day, and tomorrow we are driving to Modica, our next destination.  The adventure continues.  I probably won't be blogging until Monday, depending on what we do tomorrow en route to Modica.