We did a couple of side trips while staying at Baglio Occhipinti. The first one was to Scicli (pronounced She-clee). It seemed that the main attraction was to visit the Cave of Ron Carmelo, known locally as "A Rutta ri Ron Carmelu". Apparently Ron's grandfather and family lived in this cave until the 1960s. Many of the artifacts of daily life have been preserved and Ron charges a few euros to visit and show you around.
Ron is a very nice man, and the tour is in Italian, of course. He carries a stick with him, and when he wants to show you something new he taps you with the stick. He took a particular liking to Chris, and frequently he would tap Chris and say "Senora, guarda", meaning "Madam, look". Chris wasn't fond of the stick prodding!
Here are views of the inside of the cave, which included a miniature village...
Scicli is a picturesque village, built among hills and valleys...
We also visited Punta Secca and Chiaramonte Gulfi as a day trip. Punta Secca serves as the fictional headquarters village of Inspector Montalbano, a wildly popular Italian television character and series. It is a beautiful little seaside village, and it draws lots of tourists due to the popularity of the show. Here are a couple photos of Punta Secca...
Our next stop was Chiaramonto Gulfi. It took a while to wind our way up to the main piazza. We parked next to a race car that arrived in Sicily on a ferry from Malta!
We had a bite of lunch at a small cafe and noticed this giant chocolate Easter egg...
On this round trip we saw lots of stone walls and fields of yellow flowers...
Ah yes, the cancelled flight. Much earlier we had booked a flight on EasyJet from Catania, Sicily to Florence on March 30. It was necessary to get to Florence on that date to prepare for the visit of Gary and Jill. Of course as the date approached to leave Sicily, the flight was cancelled. The only flight we could find on that date that would work was a flight on RyanAir from the tiny Comiso airport in Sicily to Pisa. So, how do we get from Pisa to Florence with four suitcases? After considering, and ruling out bus, train, and hitchhiking, we contacted Enrico, the owner of B&B La Stella d'Oro where we would be staying in Florence. He arranged for a driver to pick us up at the Pisa airport and take us directly to the B&B. Thank you Enrico! It cost us quite a bit more to get to the Florence B&B this way, but it worked out. When you travel like this it pays to be flexible!
From your still flexible and not too bruised travelers Joe and Chris, see you (with Gary and Jill) in Florence!
Click on any photo to enlarge.
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