A big day - a very big day indeed

This road goes no where - according to my Sat Nav it does go somewhere but in reality the road is just a legal right of way with no on the ground presence.  Someone got a nice grant to do solar powered lighting though.

Almond groves I think - fantastic drive

First sight of Etna

N37 E15... Exactly

Confused my Garmin - this road - all 50km of it are not on the 2010 version map!

Starting to climb now.  A little bit of smoke/steam - a couple of days earlier they were considering closing the airport at Catania - apparently there was some orienteering (etnanews.com) and coincidently Lester and Lyden from HOC were on the mountain.

Orienteering anyone?

Now on foot - they wanted so much extra for the bus to the viewing point - I walked - and I got their quicker as the buses don't go that frequently (I was on a tight time schedule if 38N 15E was going to get bagged)

A lot of little tourists on the skyline

here come the buses!

As far as you get - the bus park

Now I am on someone's skyline

Brilliant scree run down - I think it was up in 90 minutes and down in 25

Final bit by cable car

Still on a mission - not much time before sunset

Etna from the North - only 15km as the crow flies from the bus park - but 2.5 hours of fast driving

South of Etna are motorways, airports and big cities but now I felt like I was passing deep into the back country - fortified towns clinging on cliff-sides...

 ... and chestnut forests - driving on switchbacks for half an hour and seeing no other cars...

N37 E15 is down there somewhere - I could hear goats/sheep with bells and the shepherds calling in the flocks.  I have done my research - but the road I intended to drive is blocked off - do I have enough time?

Everyone remember where we parked

Give Blood - go confluence hunting

A very tricky confluence (described here) - not least because of the need to be very very careful as no one knew I was there and no one was going to pass through that bit of forest this side of the next decade

My reward - these are the Aeolian Islands

Running out of light - and I still have to get to my hotel

What a magic place

Tired, sweaty, scratched and acheing

Side effect from trudging through volcanic cinder - you should have seen my feet BEFORE the shower

Here I am at last in the Hotel Federico II safe after my driving travails (see later).  The hotel dates from about 1300 and is located right in the centre (and the top of) of Castiglione di Sicilia - an amazing hill top town.  I was so exhausted after my long day driving and walking and bushwhacking and then getting trapped in maze of city lanes and then parking a mile away and walking up the hill and still then getting lost as my GPS lost signal in the narrow alleys - but the hotel was wonderful and the receptionist offered to jog down the hill and drive my car up...

It is a family hotel and, as far is as practical, everything is sourced from family land or local producers

Anitpasti: Formaggio mandorie e miele (sounds much better than 'cheese with almonds and honey', it was)

Primi Piatti: Ravioli al Pistacchio - you can work that one out for yourselves

Beware - the restaurant is closed on Wednesdays - well that is what it says - but I was there on a Wednesday - check before you decide which day to visit

Secundi Piatti: I think this is meatballs grilled between lemon leaves - you can just see the biggest glass of wine I have ever been served (top left) - home made of course

This is the piazza where I should have parked

Looking the other way this is where my Sat Nav intended to take me through

And here- apparently this is a major street - thanks Mr Garmin.

This is where I failed - and I am glad that I did - so so tired and on the slippy tiles I just could not get the car round - one or other front wheel losing grip

I was rescued by the driver of this 4x4 - but even he took about 6 attempts and at times only three wheels on the ground - he came after me as I drove past "muy difficile!" - some folks did make it but only in three wheelers and tiny Italian cars.

I did get through here but was getting very nervous

And here - when I passed there was a parked truck and I had to put half a tyre over the step

If I had got round the hairpin - this is where my Sat Nav would have taken me...

...Right to my hotel

View from the top of the hill just a wee climb up some steps from the hotel  - I am planning to go back and visit the rest of the island (and visit lots of family run restaurants) - fantastic moonlit view of Etna - my photos don't do it justice though.

Busman's Holiday...

Demetra Resort - very handy for the World Heritage Site at Agrigento.  Set in a 'retired' nursery - so there are lots of trees and plants and so on.  Also two friendly dogs, some horses and a goat.  Feels like an old villa - not at all like a hotel. A very civilised stay - but the manager tells me that business (and prices) are well down since the 2008 financial crisis.

View from from the hotel access road.

The central south coast appears to be part petro-chem refinery and part industrial agriculture - not very nice indeed - but I was warned.

Further east - and the greenhouses become derelict

along with failed development (on the otherside of the road was an abandoned C19th villa

Now this is more like it - Modica

Glad I parked out of town and walked - the old centre seems to have been abandoned to old ladies and cats - you can buy or rent a house here very cheaply indeed.

Killing time outside the big church until the shops and attractions re-opened after lunch - and along came the ice cream man

Very nice indeed

What is up this street - I recognise that smell...

Its coming through this wall

..and yes it is a proper chocolate factory (Antica Dolceria Bonajuto) - not just somewhere that melts and moulds - but chocolate from liquor, cocoa butter and sugar

/tr>

The quintri-lingual Albanian lady spotted I was looking at a cutting from "The FT" - I mentioned I had come to Modica on a busman's holiday - and I was also a chocolate maker.  This led to an hour of intense conversation with the factory owner - comparing experiences from Sao Tome (him) and Ghana (me) and talking technicalities about conching, emulsifiers and sourcing of beans.

I'm trying to get a shot of the wee cocoa moth - a friend from ancient history

The family have been making chocolate for generations - starting as itinerant chocolatiers travelling from big house to big house making custom chocolates for duke, counts and their families.  The chocolate is very coarse in texture - a surprise - but very nice - closest to the artisanal chocolate I found in Astorga - not surprising as it was the Spanish who brought the technology to Sicily.


The Financial Times says:

"Off the Corso Umberto was a tiny, elegant chocolate shop, the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, which I entered on an impulse. Instantly the shop’s owner and manager, Pierpaolo Ruta, came bounding downstairs to regale me with his philosophy of chocolate, illustrated by tidbits.

Even as a child Ruta wished to become a chocolate-maker: “It was the way my grandfather smelled when he came home from work.”"...read the rest of the article and all about Modica here


No one comments on how I smell after a hard days work in the factory.  I bought a LOT of chocolate in the shop - but the most interesting was the hot pasty filled with cocoa and meat.

What a place to live - but most tourists visit Ragusa and miss out Modica - a shame

View from the kitchen at Casa Modicarte!

The view from the carpark

Here is what I wrote for Booking.Com

"The best "view from kitchen window" ever - the hotel is perched on the side of a valley on the edge of farmland - all limestone walls and olive trees with Modica town lit up on the southern horizon. All home made food - own olive oil, own wine, own chocolate (yes!), cakes, bread and so on. Cooking is a joint family effort - if you stay here I recommend that you also eat here! There is a well behaved and friendly dog and at least one cat (also friendly). My room was in good condition - decoration and fittings "out of Habitat via IKEA" Good English is spoken by the proprietor."

My "starter"

Home made wine and olives - from the fields around the hotel

The hotel is a "new build" - part art studio, part cookery school and with just 5 guest rooms - but it is close to the old family farm building

First course - lots of veggies - healthy

I think this was beef - a real surprise - in the UK Italian food seems to express only a limited repertoire = but this is Sicily - the cross roads of culture

And finally