After enjoying a view of the sea since January, we're now in Piemonte enjoying this view from our apartment window each morning. Tough job, but someone has to do it! And JOB it is, in a way as we prepare for our bicycle tour season which starts very soon with La Corsa Rosa, viewing the final week of the Giro d'Italia. While Bradley Wiggins' and Ryder Hesjedal's dreams of pink have ended for 2013, there's plenty of racing and (we hope) excitement left as Cadel Evans and Rigoberto Uran challenge Vicenzo Nibali's hold on the pink jersey.
We noticed a few yachts moored here in the Porto Grande at the end of 2011 when we arrived for the winter, but they were the kind with masts and sails, rather than helicopters. The folks who parked these here for all of us to admire are probably the .1%, but in any case it's a good signal for us to pack up and head north as our bike tour season starts soon. We'll see the final week of what is shaping up to be an action packed Giro d'Italia (with Italian Vincenzo Nibali taking the Maglia Rosa today) and have a couple of places left on the tour so act fast or miss out!
Next post will be from Northern Italy as we prepare for the upcoming season.
Arrivederci Sicilia!
The blog posts have been rare lately, due to other commitments, the largest one being the in-laws arrival for a visit. Heather's folks are getting up in years so this might be their final transatlantic adventure and we wanted to take as much time as they wanted to see Sicily.
After a few days sightseeing Ortigia and Siracusa, they were ready for some touring around the island. We started from Siracusa, heading to Caltagirone for lunch, the on to Agrigento to see the famous temples. The next day it was along the coast to Trapani and up to Erice for the night, followed the next day by a tour inland, where we discovered the tiny Museo Targa Florio.
None of this probably interests the cycling fan, but for Larry it was a break from looking at various archaeological sites in between some great meals! To complete the image of sports cars racing through these tiny towns and along the twisty roads of the Targa Florio, a guy cruised past in a late-model Ferrari was we walked up to the museum.
We continued through the mountainous inland of Sicily to Randazzo, where we spent the night amid vineyards used to make Etna Rosso wine before returning through Taormina (yes, the famous tourist trap) and Catania where the folks wanted to see the museum dedicated to the Allied landing of 1943. From there it was a quick jaunt back "home" to Ortigia to relax before heading off tomorrow to Palermo to see an opera performance on Friday night.
Perhaps someone in cyberspace can enlighten us. WHY would you create a "Mr. Kanny" brand for your cornflakes in Italy? The letter K and Y don't even really exist in the Italian alphabet and what do you think of when you see "Mr. Kanny"? I might have to do some internet searches on this one.
Heather's back in the USA doing some academic stuff so Larry's unsupervised here in Sicily.
Which sometimes means he decides to do some odd things on a whim, which today included a ride to Avola, about 30 kms down the coast from Siracusa. THOSE 30 kms are flat, but turn inland and the road goes up, up, up, though the grade was relatively kind and it was a gorgeous day.
I posed for this photo about halfway up the climb, where this nice lookout was waiting for me. Think people have been living here for many years? Check out the terraces on this hillside!
Some of you may be familiar with Nero d'Avola, the Sicilian red wine. A lot of it finds its way to the USA via Trader Joe's and the like. Still a great value in a red wine though once Tasca d'Almerita dreamed up Rosso del Conte, the first truly great bottling of what had been used mostly as a blending wine and sold in bulk, others have joined them, making excellent wines. In the USA look for Cusumano, Donnafugata and Firriato as well as Tasca.
I saw more than one route marking sign for this event, held just this past weekend. It was nice to discover a route I dreamed up on the spur-of-the-moment (including bringing nothing to eat for an 80+ km ride!) was one chosen by the ride organizers, at least as far as Pallazolo Acriede, where I turned for "home". .Luckily it was mostly downhill and I'm carrying enough onboard calories in the form of fat (as long as I go at a fat-burning pace only) to probably ride up to the Dolomites - and back! A plate of pasta alla Norma was enjoyed while watching the Giro del Trentino on TV. And people wonder WHY I want to move here?
This will likely be another of those "I hate you guys!" posts when seen by folks still in the grip of winter, even though the calendar says spring. Heather swipes some rosemary for tomorrow's roast chicken on a high plain above Siracusa while a nicely restored Fiat 500 was parked just outside our apartment when we returned from the ride. Larry thought maybe it was a special gift but alas, no note or keys were found tacked to our apartment door. That's OK, he'll hold out for a red one!
A story too good not to share - click HERE.
