It's easy to see that it was once pretty amazing but now it seems to be being managed by the local council, so large parts of it are out of bounds because they are crumbling and dangerous. The exotic plants are deceased, the man on the gate was quite surly because I had interrupted his game of Candy Crush Saga and it cost me €4.
Typical Sicily. I wonder if all of Italy is like this.
I'm going to the Isola Bella which was owned by some artistic type English woman who turned it into a magical tropical paradise, at least that's what it says in book.
The bit at the bottom of the hill is a beach resort. I will go and investigate tomorrow.
The first photo is a view from the central piazza looking down.The second is from the same place looking up at the castle which you can just see to the right of the church spire.And the third is from the castle looking down. You can see the church and the piazza in that one.
I wasn't surprised to see beggars in Albania but I am surprised that there are so many here. She seemed to be doing alright though, a couple of people gave her money whilst I was watching. She could probably double her takings if she disabled the child.
I didn't know whether to point out to the museum staff that their prize exhibits are being devoured from the inside by uninvited guests.
Sicily has a tradition of brightly painted carts, get generally pulled by a donkey, so they are smaller than you would see in the UK
There are casualties everywhere, being nursed by paramedics, under the watchful eye of others with clipboards. I think they are practicing. It's right outside the hotel.
But I've had to give up. It's so hot and whoever built this path has gone straight up with a never ending staircase of very high steps. My legs have just stopped cooperating. I got to the top of Etna because I followed the road that the four wheel drive buses were going up and although it was a long way it wasn't so steep. This is torture.
I don't feel too bad though because a German couple half my age have just passed me on the way down and they have given up too.
Funny thing is that whenever I climb a mountain in Greece, Albania or Sicily the only people I meet are Northern Europeans, the Southern Europeans prefer to sit in the shade chatting. That probably explains their economic woes.
It's some sort of holiday here and as a consequence the ferry is full, so I've had to get another one that gives me 3 hours to climb the volcano and get back to the port to get the ferry back.
As usual in Sicily, the problem is a lack of information and British Rail type employees who actually couldn't care whether you use the service or not, so I can't work out what my alternatives are, there's no map and the timetable consists of an A4 sheet of gibberish sellotaped to the inside of the ticket booth window.
Funny that Albania should be so much better, but I suppose that's the benefit of free enterprise.
Today's plan is a ferry to Salina to climb the Monte Fosse delle Felci volcano. I've got four and a half hours before I have to be back to the port to catch the ferry. And then I am going to Vulcano to see the sulpherous mud holes. I did want to do Stromboli but there are too many obstacles the main one being that you have to go with a guide and I hate guides.
Tuna, olives, grapes and jasmine were the major industries here in the past. The jasmine was used for perfume.
There are quite a few of these running around. I'd like to get a photo of one of these parked next to a new one.
Hands up anyone who knows why amphora are a pointy shape. It's because they stacked them, in several layers, vertically in a ships hold and the pointed end went in between four amphora on the layer below. I had wondered, in the past, why they were shaped like that.
So now I'm in Milazzo, in a quite posh hotel. I couldn't find a B&B, they are all booked, so I thought that I would have to start looking at hotels and suffer the extra expense. The first one I went in gave me a special deal on a single room, it's actually cheaper than a lot of B&Bs I've used. The fault is that the view is a little disappointing.
Last Sunday was a bit of a shock, I mean the way that the whole place just shut down and the inhabitants disappeared. So I am going to get myself to Milazzo which is the port where you sail to Stromboli, Vulcano etc. My idea is that the tourist industry will not rest whilst there is money to be made and so I ought to be able to get a boat on Sunday, otherwise I shall have to hang around until Monday.
What do you suppose this item might be used for? Is it for night time relief of the bladder? Or an I just being vulgar?
Cefalu has a castle, and the castle is at the top of the hill. At the bottom it is a typical tourist trap, full of shops selling crap. At the top there is just me and a young couple from Slovakia. I've just taken their photo and they've taken mine. Do you know what Slovaks say when they are having their photo taken? Sear! And that is their word for cheese! At least that's what that have told me. Maybe they are taking the piss.
After a very enjoyable cappuccino and croissant sitting on the pavement, beneath the trees, in dappled sunlight, watching the locals on their way to work, I am now on a coach to Palermo, then I am going to get another to Cefalu.
I've had to wash my sandals, they were becoming a bio-hazard. Last nights accommodation was sub standard so I've moved and got a much better place with a sea view and a balcony.
