We packed up yet again and set off for another adventure on Monday. We arranged for our new friend Vincenzo to pick us up and take us to a train station out of the town a little where we had a car reserved. Chatting in Italian we gave us a bit of a tour on the way. This time we have a sporty BMW for traipsing through the Sicilian countryside. However, before we got too far we stopped off in Monreale, a small town about 8 km from Palermo but with a fabulous cathedral. Literally covered in mosaics, the building was an interesting blend of different styles ( Norman and Byzantine). The mosaics essentially tell the main stories in the bible, so the church is like a big picture book. One exception is the story panel of Jesus crowning the King of Sicily, I don't seem to recall that one in the good book. However, since he paid for the joint I reckon he can make that one up. It was right above his throne as well.

We had lunch in a little piazza nearby. While eating we noticed many of the vendors were quickly either moving inside or covering up their wares. Sure enough about 5 minutes later the skies darkened and it poured rain. We all had rain jackets of course ...... stashed away in the boot of the BMW. Not surprisingly it seems the prices went up for those little pop-up umbrellas - 5 euro each. Soon we were off, fogging up the inside of the car as we dried off and headed out of Palermo into the interior of the island. Our destination was a small B&B style hotel near Agrigento, on the south side of the island.

Very interesting scenery, quite dry and similar to the Okanagan region of BC. All over the countryside were old abandoned and falling down stone farmhouses, likely centuries old. Possibly abandoned as the result of the the shift from peasant farming life to movement into the cities. Or maybe global warming. It looked like a pretty dry harsh landscape to eke out an existence. The Google GPS took us on a very interesting back door way to our little hotel in a village called Giardini Galloti. One of those moments when you wonder where the heck you are, squeezing through narrow roads between houses and then suddenly our destination comes into view. A small hotel with maybe 10 rooms, a nice little restaurant and a beautiful outdoor terrace with pool. Pleasant views as well, between cloudbursts and lightning that is. Dinner was good, however for the first time I had a dish that I didn't care for at all. It might have been due to a bit of a touchy stomach I've been having. Maybe shouldn't have ordered swordfish rolls and kept to something simple.... hmmmmm. Kindly Beth and Gaye shared some of their pastas with me. After some vino della casa I was perked up and had a great lemon sorbet served in a frozen half lemon shell.

The reason why we're stopping off here while making our way to Taormina is to see the "Valley of the Temples". An amazing collection of Greek temples, the best outside of Greece itself. We spent about 4 hours wandering through the large park. The weather cleared up nicely too, thanks Greek gods! It was very dry in most of the park, except for a sunken garden area that was like the garden of eden. Not sure where the water came from, perhaps a spring, but the area was full of tropical plants and trees. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, grapefruit trees were all heavenly laden with fruit. A nice respite from the hot area above.

By mid afternoon we were back in the Beemer headed east towards our next stop. Thanks for following along with my stories and I hope I haven't bored you silly. That is, if there's anyone out there at all! Hello hello..... (echo). Pin drop ........

Ciao!