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.....
but I wasn't sure that I really liked the areas of the tombs.....
particularly from on top........
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......
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.
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....
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...
the roman cistern still had its vaulted roof.....
the quarry was still there........
particularly from on top........
No comments:
Post a Comment