Sicily.... The Leopard

To prepare myself for Sicily I started to read The Leopard just before coming.

Those of you who have read it will remember the family's summer sojourn in Donnafugata. We were looking for an alternative return journey from Ragusa and I happened to notice it on the map.  We got there and it bore no resemblance to what I had in mind.....

but it was a castle.....sort of!  Almost more a folly!


 Looking again at the map I saw there was a Donnalucata... not too far away!  I probably had gotten the name wrong, I thought!

Off we went....... but it didn't seem too interesting and ..... no castle....

We returned to our rented villa and lo and behold it WAS Donnafugato in the book.......obviously poetic license came into play.....or we missed the whole town, which could have happened!
But we are not going back to find it!

(Now that I am doing a little fact checking on Google..... it was a fictional name for Santa Margherita de Belice, which is north of Menfi, a long way away! And the castle was essentially destroyed in an earthquake!)

Today we revisited Noto....and picked up a parking fine.  Not sure we understand the system.... we got there around 10.30am. Duly noted that on the arrival time on the front blue parking disk....

 returned to find we got a fine.... at 10.23 am! Obviously the 'vigilante' is still on summer time!! Now we have to find where we pay......and the amount to be paid is not evident! I should say that  this particular parking area  was only 25% full!

Noto is a very nice city...... lots and lots of Baroque!

The very ornate balconies are fantastic!

and it is obviously not over-run with tourists......at least at this time of year!

Then on to the Villa Romana del Tellaro, just down the road from where we are staying.......a Roman villa discovered in the 70s under a farm property ..........

Had we not been to Villa Romana del Casale   at Piazza Armerino..... we would have been awed.  However it was very interesting... particularly noting that one of the scenes showed a picnic in progress!

Lunch was.....well....minimal! Still recovering from Ragusa!

Then back to the Vendicari Reserve.... to walk a km or so within the park to Calamosche beach.....
we definitely needed some exercise!

Just before we arrived back at the villa we had to pull in......

Presumably the transhumance has started!

Sicily..........on to Ragusa....for lunch!

We did have a big lunch yesterday in Palazzolo Acreide..... but hadn't planned that! However today's lunch was planned ahead. We were going to........

.. a 2 star Michelin restaurant in Ragusa.....
We had read about Ciccio Sultano and wanted to try.... however only the lunch is affordable....

at least for us!
We first went to the Archeologicaal Museum in the newer part of Ragusa......after the 1693 earthquake a lot of the then residents opted for higher ground.......
This was actually very interesting as they showed how a lot of the tombs were found.

The city is on many levels, so very, very confusing. Our (semi) trusted GPS system took us across a bridge to the Best Western hotel but unfortunately also to the start of the pedestrian area. So we had to turn around on the bridge and go back down under it........the Museum is actually on a floor under the hotel! Above the hotel parking!

To get to Ragusa Ibla, the older original area of Ragusa prior to the earthquake we had to go down many winding very narrow streets......

showing bus stops.  We had to hope we didn't meet one! The streets were mainly 2 way!
We also noticed that people ignored the no parking signs!

Our poor GPS couldn't work out how to get us into Ragusa Ibla..... she kept saying 'please make a U turn'!
This could have been us!!

Fortunately we found a parking space and decided walking in was a safer bet! And from where we parked we had a great view......

Getting to the restaurant was a little uphill.....

 we had no guidance but we knew that we should head for the Duomo itself.

which obviously was not open......the cat was waiting.......

Indeed Google maps showed a Piazza and we originally thought we would find parking there.....how wrong we were!

We actually found the restaurant quite easily once we could see the Duomo...

The meal was fantastic.....
It was supposed to be 3 courses......but we lost count.....
Paper music to start...... homemade crackers with pistachios.....

and

just to get us to the amuse bouche.....

which was.....swordfish carpaccio wrapped around melon balls............

the starter was a pasta dish! Sardines around spaghetti in tomato sauce.....covered with a wild fennel blend.......

and then...... (here we were beginning to loose track!).... truffle ice cream sandwich!!!!!!
Absolutely fantastic!!

and on to the main course......

And then came the desserts.....

The pre-dessert....... fried chickpeas on a creamy sauce

then the main one....pistacchio ice-cream, ricotta mousse and chocolate walnut sauce.....

and then, in case we were still hungry...... with the coffee.......

and.....

We had a fantastic meal in a beautiful setting......

and we will definitely be walking it off tomorrow......... and no dinner needed tonight...........

Sicily...... a little exercise in a wildlife reserve and then on in search of ruins!

We decided we needed a little exercise and so went to check out the Vendicari reserve

 which is just over a km from the villa we have rented. We were very impressed! Particularly at how well it is maintained.....

One passes what were once salt flats......

...now a bird sanctuary...

And then on to an abandoned Tuna factory......

This is right beside an old fort built by the Spanish in 1430..... Torre Sveva.....

There were very unspoilt beaches along the way.

 However the water was extremely shallow.

There were lots of round sponge like items on the beach....... we thought they were actually sponges but apparently they are filament balls which show that the water is extremely clean.......however one is asked not to remove anything...... so we couldn't take one!

After the walk we decided to go for lunch...... nothing new here! We headed over the mountain to Palazzolo Arcreide because we had read it had a Greek theatre worth visiting.

The town was architecturally very interesting...... in fact reminded us a lot of South America, particularly Brazil.

This particular house has, apparently, the longest balcony in Europe!

and all the faces are different........

It is definitely not yet on the tourist circuit!

We were very happy that we managed to find our chosen restaurant, Il Portico.....

 hidden,through the arch....

supposedly open on Mondays..... it wasn't!

 We walked around and ended up eating in a fantastic restaurant....

 where the chef is interested in the Slow cooking movement.  Their dishes are locally sourced and locally grown. It is inland so no fish!
This is the first place we have ever been to which warms the bread, baked in house........

The food was excellent....

and they use greens which are non cultivated but gathered in the hills......

They use a lot of pistachios in this part of Sicily and we have been waiting to see the results.......great!

Afterwards we again needed a little exercise!  So off to wander around the Akrai Greek /Roman ruins. Very interesting......
The old roman/greek road was intact.......


The greek theatre was small but intact...

and still had great acoustics....

the roman cistern still had its vaulted roof.....

the quarry was still there........

but I wasn't sure that I really liked the areas of the tombs.....

particularly from on top........