It's Monday, September 25 now, making our way to the airport to pick up our rental car from Felirent, which turned out to be a Mokka Opel. When they asked about the alternative driver, Maggie showed them her International Driver’s Permit, which they disregarded, asking for her USA driver’s license (she had secured a temporary one online after the theft) but it was not acceptable, ergo, I was the only one who could drive the vehicle…no rest for the wicked!!! Off we went on our road trip of Sicily, starting with a one-night stay in Ragusa via the city of Syracuse (Siracusa). Driving started to become challenging at this point, entering the city bustling with people and cars, navigating the narrow streets, looking for a parking spot so we could wander around the harbor and cross the bridge to Ortygia, the historical Centre of Syracuse. The trick was to take pictures of sign posts near our parking spot to find our way back! We came upon an open-air market, where I purchased a 10-Euro, maroon-colored touristy cap (hot sun on my thinning head of hair) that read “Sicilia” and had the 3-legged Trinacria, symbol of Sicily that stands for the 3 promontories of Sicily: Cape Pelorus, Cape Passero & Cape Lilibeo, as well as Medusa and her two sisters. I wore it religiously the duration of our time on this island. Before returning to our car, we dined on vegetable cous-cous and white wine. We asked for “il conto”, paid the bill (40 Euros, which included a 5 Euro mancia), and followed the bread crumbs back to our car. We decided to drive south to Noto (a town of 24,000) before turning northwest to Ragusa (a town of 73,000 & change). It was late afternoon and we got caught in a fierce rainstorm in Noto, just after we had decided to grab some coffee, pulling over on a hillside curb to outlast the storm as rivers of water rushed down on us, the driving rain beating against our windows…pretty cool, but no coffee!
We eventually arrived at our destination in Ragusa at 5:30 PM, B&B Terra del Sole Ibla, meeting our host, Giovanni (“Nanni”), checking in to our hillside abode, learning about the “secret” tunnel (we were given a key) that exited out onto the streets below where we would find food and beverages for the evening. That made the day and we used our key to enter the nighttime foray into the center of town. We did a lot of wandering up and down the pathways, with intentional diversions just to come across shuttered domiciles and get a sense of the vibe here. Finally, having some hunger pangs, we stumbled upon THAT’S A MORO restaurant which had just opened its doors for the evening. After dining there, we headed back up through the secret tunnel and our abode for this one-night stand. Before driving west to Agrigento in the morning, we had breakfast on our terrace…fruit, yogurt, boiled egg, and cappuccinos and espresso for the next leg of driving! We tried to check out around 10:30 AM, but had to wait on a slew of patrons with their mountain bikes and attendant gear who were checking out.
On the road again by 11:00 AM, after walking uphill to our car that had been parked carefully on a curve and backtracking to our entry point from yesterday. Nanni had suggested we go to Caltagirone to see some ceramics, which we acted on and turned out to be a bust, thus, onward to Agrigento, 83 miles west. Along the way, somehow, SIRI re-routed us onto a very rural country road that turned out to be quite scenic and peaceful, with very little traffic…an unexpected treat!!! After driving almost 3 hours, we arrived at our next 1-night stand, Aljama-Downtown B&B, meeting the most interesting host of the entire trip! We followed directions to Piazza Pirandello to park and found this B&B by foot on what initially appeared to be a dead-end street. We reparked and strode to the front door, meeting our hostess, Rosanna, who spoke no English, we, no Italian (only some Spanish) and “conversation” with her took place via her large-sized iPhone, talking loudly into it at a rapid pace, followed by shoving it in our faces for viewing the translation written in English…the most amusing reception we had our entire time! We found our abode to be one room with a bath, fine for our 1 night.
We were wanting to walk down the hillside to the waterfront and the main attraction, Valley of the Temples. However, we were forced to move our car to a nearby public garage, so Rosanna sat in the passenger seat and motioned to me when to make turns, etc., eventually parking underground at Parcheggio Pirandello, with Rosanna getting out of the car and guiding me into a tight space, yelling the whole time! The sad story is, we didn’t get down to the Valley of the Temples and were content to walk around, discovering Osteria Civiododic, dining on ravioli stuffed with ricotta, almonds and dried tomato with Trapani pesto, imbibing white wine and ending with a dessert of pannacotta! Leaving in the morning after dining in the small breakfast room, Rosanna stopped us, telling us we needed to pay her the 81 Euros for the night. We told her (erroneously, we discovered later) that we had already paid through Booking.Com. This led to a loud scene, Rosanna shouting Italian, Stan, BASTA!BASTA! (enough! enough!). As It turns out, it was her responsibility to collect money upon our arrival. We left telling her that if we discovered the bill had not been paid by Booking.Com, we would send her money. She provided us with her International Bank Account (IBA) number, which meant nothing to us as to how to transfer funds from our BECU account to her if need be!!!
Off now to another 1-nighter, this time in Sciacca (pronounced like the English word “shock”, with an “a” on the end, hence, Shocka!), 50 miles Northwest, which drive was broken up with a cliffside stop at the Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Stairs), taking in the beauty of the shoreline and the Mediterranean Sea on this hot day, meeting some New Yorkers…Bruce, Moira & Lex, now transplanted to Florida, sharing our myriad travel adventures between all of us. A lot of laughter when the women commented that Bruce and I must have discussed our dress code before we all showed up here, both of us wearing red shirts, dark shorts and sandals! Maggie and I moved on toward Sciacca, hugging the coast line, ending up dropping down toward the seashore, parking at Spiaggia de Eraclea Minoa, known as one of the best blue water beaches on Sicily, which lived up to this, as we waded toward a restaurant built up on a wooden pier, dining on local seafood before getting back on the road to Sciacca for another one-nighter which turned out to be the most interesting domicile on the whole trip, Casa Dell’ Aromatario B&B, owned by two brothers, Silvio & Carmello. It was Silvio that met us out front to show us where to park our car on the street. While we were checking in at the front desk, we told Silvio about the fiasco with Rosanna and the 81 Euros, which led to him offering to use his IBA to transfer money and add it to our bill. What a great start in Sciacca!
We were treated to a tour of this abode from the 1700’s, this area formerly called the “Cadda” district, an ancient suburb of the Carthaginians. Silvio told us about the merchant who had lived here, who prepared and sold herbs and spices, hence the naming of this B&B, House of the Aromatorium, this being a library of smells from essential oils and herbal extracts. Our evening was spent wandering around this city of 40,000, ending up at Osteria il Grappolo, dining on, Pasta alla Norma, an Italian dish of pasta and eggplant, sipping Moscow mules.
Before hitting the road to Trapani in the morning we took breakfast in a charming cavern-like setting, where we were presented with a tableful of fruits, cheeses, meats, breads, cereals, sweet pastries, etc., all of which were solely for us, as other guests had moved on! Maggie did purchase some packets of dried herbs, of course, being a gourmet cook!! We then were treated to a walk outside with Silvio’s brother, Carmello, pointing out a myriad of plantings, mostly herbs, sharing their uses and qualities. We were chewing and sniffing for an hour! Afterwards, we received a Certificate from Carmello, congratulating us on our visitation to the “Caves of the first grain loader of Sciacca, carrying out the Olfactory Path of traditional, particular and unusual aromatic plants such as: plants with curry fragrances, licorice, chocolate, orange and other curiosities.” Silvio had previously shown us various indoor oddities, such as the well beneath a grate in the breakfast area, which still provides water for them, and pointed out all the work they had done to salvage this structure after decades of abandonment, yet keeping its character and “roots” intact for posterity’s sake, including clay pots that were unearthed during the renovation.