We are now back in Bagni di Lucca after our trip to Sicily. We drove down, stopping in a few places along the way. We covered most of the things we wanted to see in Sicily. We didn’t spend a lot of time in each place, but the idea was to find the places we liked best and we will return to spend more time in our favourite spots.
I wanted to post more while we were travelling, but we were on the go most of the time and the Internet wasn’t always reliable.
I didn’t know what to expect of Sicily and for the most part was delighted by what we saw. Taormina and Ortigia were fabulous. Of the baroque towns we visited, Scicli was my favourite. We love the Greek temples at Agrigento and Segesta. Corleone did not impress at all. The Norman church in Monreale was incredible. Cefalu was a charming place to visit and a great jumping off destination for the nearby islands of Stromboli and Lipari…we are definitely going back there. There will be posts on these places and more in the coming weeks.
The thing that we really didn’t expect was the stunning beauty of the countryside. Our lady of the GPS took us across the country, even when we didn’t want to. We were amazed by the green fields, the rugged mountains and the car high wild flowers we encountered.
Some of these photos were taken from a moving car…with very dirty windows. (Thanks to the Sirocco and the accompanying dust)
All over Sicily were hot houses…that’s where all those delicious tomatoes, strawberries and other good things come from.
A big surprise was the number of eucalyptus trees we saw. After a bit of research I discovered they were planted at the time of Mussolini to help drain wet areas to control malaria. We also saw Moreton Bay figs and Norfolk pines…a little bit of home in Sicily.
We were very lucky to be there in spring. I doubt the flowers will last into the hot summer. I was most impressed with the wild fennel, some more than a metre high, with bright yellow heads.
The often appalling roads, that had huge pot holes, were made enchanting with their edges of purple, yellow and red flowers.
There were purple thistles and amazing yellow ones.
We will definitely return to Sicily to see some of the things we missed and to return to the places we loved…the wild flowers alone would take me back.