Summer days in Scopello, Sicily.....
We arrived in Sicily a couple of days ago, but the wifi has not been good until now, so no chance to update.
On Sunday, we spent the day cleaning the apartment of villa in readiness for the owners first guests to arrive Tuesday. Very busy day! Charles, Clare and Amy arrived home about midnight, and we had a drink and chat with them until about 2 in the morning. They seemed very pleased with everything. We have really enjoyed house sitting and will definitely try to find more and more in the future. It is great to stay and mix with the locals and have the whole property to ourselves. And luckily looking after the animals was really easy.
The next day, Monday 1st July, we headed off to the airport in the early afternoon for our Ryan Air flight to Palermo. Had a couple of issues because we needed to fill the car with petrol before dropping it off, but was now siesta time, so no petrol stations open. They have self serve pay stations for these times so didn't think it would be a problem. But we only had €10 euro cash left as we were going to get more from the ATM at the airport. First petrol station we stopped at does not take credit cards at its pay point! So will find another! Next one does, but after a few attempts, it keeps rejecting the card, saying chip error! So off to another, where we have the same chip error problem.... So we spend our €10 cash and at least get enough fuel to get to the airport! By now of course we are going to be arriving a lot later at the airport as we have wasted a lot of time trying to get fuel! Get on the autostrada for Pisa and luckily a few km along there is a big service station that is open! So at last we fill the car! By the time we arrive at the airport we have little time to waste as Ryan Air wait for no one, worse than Jetstar! But we make it ok! Next time must get the fuel the night before!
After arriving at Palermo we picked up a new hire car, this one is much bigger, a Lancia. Drove to Scopello which was a very easy drive along the coast. We are staying at La Tavernetta which is a lovely little boutique hotel B&B. We have a sea view room with a little balcony. The room is quite tiny, especially after having all the space of the villa for the past two weeks. But it is spotless. There are lovely little areas to sit around the hotel with views of the ocean. Scopello is a tiny seaside village, very old buildings with a cobbled piazza filled with restaurants, which is just around the corner from our hotel. We had a pizza for dinner at one of restaurants last night.
Breakfast is included here, and is served on a terrace overlooking the sea, really lovely. It is a continental breakfast so not like the huge spread we find in Asia, but was really nice, with lots of choice. Cereals, breads, pastries, meats, cheeses, fruit and yoghurt.
After breakfast we drove to a local little swimming area, not really a beach as it was large pebbles and rocky! But the water was amazing! So blue and crystal clear! Heaps of people down there swimming! Very pretty spot. We went for a swim and stayed a while before heading off on a drive up to San Vito Lo Capo, a lovely beach resort town in the north east corner of Sicily. Very hilly drive, and in parts the landscape is very barren, so different to what we have seen in Tuscany. It reminded us in parts of going up the centre of Australia. We went past marble hills, with the sides cut out of them for the marble. Then there was a town in the middle of the marble country which was not at all like an Italian village, looked more like Mexican, with very square buildings and lots of cactus. Lauri said he was expecting Clint Eastwood to suddenly appear on a horse!
About 15 minutes on from that town we arrived in San Vito Lo Capo, which had a real Moorish Arabic feel to it! The buildings were all more Arabic looking with their arches etc. Very large town and lots of European holiday makers. Has a lovely long beach and heaps of hotels. But just behind the beach there is a huge rock, which juts up into the sky from nowhere. It looks so picturesque. And the water here was just like the other beach, so clear, just gorgeous. We swam here for a while, before heading back to Scopello. And then had a lovely seafood dinner at La Trattoria.