Today, we took a drive around a counterclockwise loop taking us through some old mountain towns North of Enna:
Nothing earthshaking there, mostly a fun ride through the very verdant Sicilian countryside:
Amazingly, even though there are still patches of snow close by, the cactuses are crowing like weed on weathered rocky outcrops and the wild flowers in full bloom:
Actually, I was glad we had a big-wheel-high-off-the-ground Opel crossover instead of a little Cinquocento, as the GPS got us on a tiny country road that turned out even worse than the one coming up to Enna, barely wide for one car, and at times completely washed out. Either winters up here are so harsh that they can't cope with the damage to the roads in a timely manner, or they don't give a shit and just put up semi permanent warning road signs. Most of the bad spots did not seem to be very recent at all. So again today, some fun all terrain riding!
From some of the higher elevations, we could see the Etna in the distance, still all snow capped, behind hillside villages (left):
In Nicosia, the Cathedral had a magnificent Chapel entirely covered with small marble mosaic:
as well as a very attractive tortoise shell reliquary housing a few bones of a local Saint Felice, enclosed in a larger marbleized reliquary:
We visited Gangi, Petralia Soprana, a medieval village with great doorways and walls to photograph for my Architectural Detail collection, and an unusual small church with a baroque portal and very colorful skinny spires(ceramic tiles, or modern LED's?...):
We made it back to Enna early enough for Rachel to read and nap, and me to put my Blog up to date, with a couple of snuggles to warm up, as the heat in the room quit working, and it is on the cool side up here...
I am afraid this blog is turning out to be a little too much to handle. It takes me too long to run the pictures through Photoshop and all, and I refuse to just post mediocre stuff. I just spent several hours getting up to date (I was already a day and a half behind).
If I have to choose between keeping it going, or reading some good Sicilian books, taking a nap, and snuggling a bit, the blog may get behind, or abandoned, and that's too bad.
I bet you don't care anyway!
Now, I am having a Kir, one of my last ones, Cassis not being available in Sicily.
Ciao!
Nothing earthshaking there, mostly a fun ride through the very verdant Sicilian countryside:
Amazingly, even though there are still patches of snow close by, the cactuses are crowing like weed on weathered rocky outcrops and the wild flowers in full bloom:
Actually, I was glad we had a big-wheel-high-off-the-ground Opel crossover instead of a little Cinquocento, as the GPS got us on a tiny country road that turned out even worse than the one coming up to Enna, barely wide for one car, and at times completely washed out. Either winters up here are so harsh that they can't cope with the damage to the roads in a timely manner, or they don't give a shit and just put up semi permanent warning road signs. Most of the bad spots did not seem to be very recent at all. So again today, some fun all terrain riding!
From some of the higher elevations, we could see the Etna in the distance, still all snow capped, behind hillside villages (left):
In Nicosia, the Cathedral had a magnificent Chapel entirely covered with small marble mosaic:
as well as a very attractive tortoise shell reliquary housing a few bones of a local Saint Felice, enclosed in a larger marbleized reliquary:
We visited Gangi, Petralia Soprana, a medieval village with great doorways and walls to photograph for my Architectural Detail collection, and an unusual small church with a baroque portal and very colorful skinny spires(ceramic tiles, or modern LED's?...):
We made it back to Enna early enough for Rachel to read and nap, and me to put my Blog up to date, with a couple of snuggles to warm up, as the heat in the room quit working, and it is on the cool side up here...
I am afraid this blog is turning out to be a little too much to handle. It takes me too long to run the pictures through Photoshop and all, and I refuse to just post mediocre stuff. I just spent several hours getting up to date (I was already a day and a half behind).
If I have to choose between keeping it going, or reading some good Sicilian books, taking a nap, and snuggling a bit, the blog may get behind, or abandoned, and that's too bad.
I bet you don't care anyway!
Now, I am having a Kir, one of my last ones, Cassis not being available in Sicily.
Ciao!
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