The Valley of the Temples, or Valle del Templi di Agrigento as the Italians call it, is the most famous site in Sicily and a UNESCO world heritage site.  It is the largest archaeological site in the world, 1300 hectares,  and showcases the magnificent Greek temples from 5th century BC.   We spent a few hours touring around here, and counting our blessings, as it was pouring rain on our four hour drive from Siracusa and once we arrived the rain disappeared.  At the very end of our visit the skies opened up again with lots of rain for our drive to Sciacca where we spent a couple of nights.   Sciacca was picked, once again, mainly because it was a good driving distance to our next stop, and a great little stop it was.   The town has a population of just under 40,000 and its economy still relies heavily on the fishing industry as several companies prepare, preserve and season blue-fish for export all over the world.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs the name on my passport is Madonna, because that’s my legal name, and it often  is noted on in our travels in one way or another.   As a child I did not like the name, probably because it was mainly used by the nuns and meant I was in trouble, so being called  Donna was great.  Once again in this very Catholic country the name Madonna gets attention and in Sciacca the most important feast is the Madonna del Soccorso who is the patron saint of the town.  The townspeople show their gratitude to the Madonna because she saved the city from the Black Plague which reached Sciacca in 1626.  Every year in Sciacca on the 2nd of February and the 15th of August, after a High Mass, the statue of Madonna is carried through the streets by 100 barefoot fishermen.  Just thought that was worth mentioning, but then again maybe not!

Our accommodation in Sciacca was across the street from the water and within walking distance of a couple of good restaurants.   Our host recommended a typical Sicilian restaurant that was about a 15 minute walk from our place and we wandered down there earlier in the day to check it out and really enjoyed our conversation with the young hostess so we booked a reservation.  Little did we know until later that evening that she, Maria, and her husband, Morris, took over the restaurant from her parents and of course in doing so added an up-to-date menu but held on to some of the traditional Sicilian recipes.  They were lovely and spoke excellent English which, for some reason, always makes my meal taste better – guess it’s because I know what I am ordering so there’s less of a shock!  Maria is from Sciacca and Morris is from the Phillipines and they met in China where Maria lived for five years and learned the language.  They mentioned that they had friends in the Vancouver area and would like to spend some time in Canada – I think they would make an excellent addition!

View from our apartment and Jim and Marilyn waiting for me as we head out for our walk.

Great parking on this two way street!  Marilyn with Maria and Morris – such lovely young entrepreneurs.

So off we go the following morning towards Cefalu where we’ve booked ourselves into an air bnb for four nights.  Before leaving home we also watched another Rick Steeves you- tube on Palermo and Cefalu where he again recommended not taking your car into Palermo because of the driving on extremely narrow streets and of course the parking nightmare.  This time we listened, as we hadn’t in Taormina, because now we knew what he meant.   Off to Palermo on the train we go on our first day in Cefalu to tour around and see what that city had to offer – so glad we didn’t take the car as the return train trip was so relaxing and the traffic in Palermo was crazy!  Palermo is the capital of Sicily and has a population of approximately 700,000 and walking around the touristry area was actually pretty easy.   We wandered around for several hours having a great walk along the water, visiting sites such as the Palazzo dei Normanni – the Royal Palace, the magnificent Cattedrale di Palermo, the water fountain and of course a stop for lunch.   There is so much history here and a google will tell you all you want to know as my fingers are getting tired and soon I am headed to bed!   But first a few pictures

Cattedralle di Palermo

Last but not least, Cefalu, a place all three of us totally enjoyed and found very relaxing.   Beautiful beaches, small town, no need to move the car, great restaurants, excellent gelato, wonderful hiking and walking, not too many people this time of year – what’s not to like?     No doubt this town of around 14,000 explodes in the summer because of its close proximity to Palermo and also to the ferry from Mainland Italy – not sure it would be quite so pleasant in July and August.   But for us it was a great way to end our stay in Sicily and here are a few pictures to tell the tale.

What? We’re going up!
Rocco – a two hour hike up and down and so worth the sweat

Quite the view and then down we go

Great walk out on the rocks to the beach

One of the beach areas and a wonderful restaurant right around the corner where we had an excellent ‘good bye Sicily’ fish supper!   Off to the ferry tomorrow and heading towards the Amalfi coast where the plan is to hike the Path of the Gods, which Marilyn has been looking forward to for months, and also to drive that scenic drive along the Amalfi coast that we have heard so much about over the years.  Stay tuned!