Agrigento and the valley of the temples

Look who is here!  Our old buddy, Icarus, from Pietrasanto.

Jon says I am absorbing a lot of Italian attitude.

We are spending the night in the olive groves in an agritourisimo.

This is really remote and peaceful.

Andiamo 

The salt museum

The windmill is an iconic symbol of Sicily.  These picturesque salt flats have been in production at least 3,000 years.

There we catch a little ferry to an island used by the Phoenicans and now the whole island is a museum.  This statue was found here recently.

There are windsurfers everywhere as an international competition is going on.

A great picnic on the island.

Mazara del Vallo

It is chilly and extremely windy for our visit to Mazara.

Jon loved this proof my ancestors had come to visit.

This famous Satyr was pulled out of the sea by fishermen in 1998 and one of only two bronze statues known to exist from ancient times.

Loved this pottery crusted with sea shells and mullusks.  It looks like it was done purposely .

Old wooden Opera house.

Mazara's mayor is a ceramic artist so he and fellow artists are adorning the town with ceramic tile art and street signs and graffiti.  Since it is on sea it is really lovely and off the beaten path.

Palermo day two

Party time in Palermo on Saturday night

Great meals

The name is everywhere 

Sunday is a stunning drive down the west coast of Sicily.

Erice

Lunch in a winery in one of the most stunning settings I have ever seen.  A 2 mile drive through forest and fields studded with rocky outcroppings reached in a shuttle because cars don't cut it.

400 BC and it is just sitting on it's own little mountain in the midst of the vines.

It is the loveliest time of the year and there large meadows that are not fertile enough for grapes that are a carpet of wild flowers.  The drive in and out is by far more dramatic than the food and wine. A very memorable time.

Palermo

We were both pleasantly surprised by Palermo. More vibrant and exciting than we expected.  Spent the day exploring.

Wonderful mosaics 

Great market and street food for lunch. 

Arancini

Sicily

It has been a long two days of travel including riding out a severe thunderstorm on the plane at the gate and a real thrill ride of a takeoff out of DFW. Rock and roll and turbulence doesn't begin  describe what it was like. We missed our connection in London to Sicily and spent a night on American at the Gatwick Hilton. So we started our tour a few hours late onThursday morning and we are at destination uno.  Sutera, Sicily. Perched under a mountain at the top of a lovely valley... it is charming.

However no Suteras live here now.

Our goal is to find out about this area in Roman times. 

Jon in front of city hall

We drove on to Palermo through a wild landscape carpeted with lush green and vibrant fields of wild flowers.

Christian soon had everyone in town lookin for the historian who could help us with Roman history and he is supposed to call us. In any case the search now goes to the nearby town of Enna which was huge Roman era encampment and there still today live a lot of Sutera's.

Weekend in St Augustine at Nancy's

Who says flying isn't fun?