Circling Sicilia

Day 183-192

From the mainland of Italy, we took a quick ferry ride over to the town of Messina in Sicily. With about 10 days up our sleeve to explore the Mediterranean's largest island, we decided on an anti-clockwise route from the ferry port all the way around to the capital of Palermo.

The following photos show some of the cities and towns we visited along the way, as well as some spectacular inland and coastal scenery throughout the trip.

Taormina, Sicily. It wasn't easy getting to this place as it's perched high up on a mountain and doesn't allow large vehicles even remotely near it. After being told parking would be $30 Euros for 3 hours we parked the van at the bottom of the hill and rode the motorbike up.

Another tiny Italian town - another tiny Italian Fiat.

We couldn't quite figure out whether the church is lopsided or if it's the tiling.

$180 Euros for this puppet. Dreaming!

Taormina Duomo.

Taormina wasn't event the highest town on this hill. We travelled further up to the town of Castelmola which had a good aerial view of Taormina below.

At the top of Castelmola.

Private little island called Isola Bella.

From Taormina, we cut inland to a national park called Pantalica. When going for a hike Claire always recommends sturdy shoes, scarf, sunglasses and a Hot Drink!

Pantalica is famous for these tombs. In all there about 5000 scattered through the valley dating back from the 13th to the 7th century B.C.

Crystal clear water of the Calcinara river. More of a stream than a river though.

Claire checking out the insides of one of the tombs. Being a nurse, she is used to dead people, however, I kept my distance.

Sunday morning in Siracusa. Good time for a walk as there's nobody about.

Luke impersonating an elderly (and quite well dressed) beggar from Siracusa. She basically stuck her hand on her hips, glared at us and demanded money. Needless to say she didn't get any.

Siracusa - one of the nicer cities in Sicily and it is still surrounded by some very clean water despite its population.

Some beachside property in Siracusa.

Boats out on the water Sunday morning - Siracusa.

The Noto Cathedral, which is not far from Siracusa.

Being a Sunday and between the hours of 1pm - 3pm we literally had the town to ourselves.

Luke being a clown in front of one of Noto's churches.

Gelato on the steps of the cathedral. Caffe' flavour is highly recommended but in future I would steer well clear of Pistachio - tastes like Domestos.

At $10 Euros each to see some old ruins in Agrigento, we decided to go in the rear gate.

The Temple of Gemini and the modern city of Agrigento in the background.

The Temple of Concordia dating from between the 6th and 5th century B.C. Still remarkably intact after all this time, as the Christians later claimed it as a church.

An amazing camper we parked up next to the night earlier outside of Agrigento. It is owned by an old German photographer who was travelling to Tunisia. The camper costs about $150,000 Euros and consumes 17 litres of Diesel for every 100kms. I'm glad diesel is cheap where he is going.

A very foggy morning in Erice. Visibility was about 25 metres and made for a very eerie walk through town.

Dropping back down the hill from Erice, we passed through the clouds and were greeted with this amazing view.

Private residence near the town of Scopello. It's not uncommon in Italy to have private places owning these magnificent coastal cliffs. Shame the public can only view from the road though.

With many Italian towns being extremely tight, narrow and unsuitable for large campers the motorbike got more and more of a run.

High above the town of Castellammare Del Golfo. Even with the motorbike it was near on impossible to find our way down to the port with a endless field of one way streets.

With a great deal of the Sicilian population on the coast, it was great to go inland and away from the crowds. You quickly get tired of the endless high rise apartments and city traffic so it's refreshing to see Italy still has views like this to offer.

The town of Isnello, Sicily. We stopped in town to refuel and grab a coffee. Amazingly, the coffee was bought for us by a local gentleman who spoke 9 different languages and also told us that a former New York mayor (Vincent R Impellitteri) was born just up the street from the cafe we sat in.

Strolling the steps of Castelbuono.

After getting a fine for parking overnight in the town of Cefalu, we headed out of town and up the coast parking just across the road from this black beach.

The Cefalu Cathedral - going strong since 1131.

View of the town of Cefalu from the Castle which sits 300m or so above. 

Heading back inland and about an hour from Palermo. Parking this high up comes with a good view but also strong winds, which tend to keep you up at night when the van is shaking from side to side.