Vizzini

We are now in Vizzini, a small town where Joanna's ( our travelling companion ) mum and dad grew up before coming to Australia.

Before I go any further a quick catch up. I have missed a few days of the blog earlier due to me getting sick. I did actually do a blog but somehow I lost it before I could post it, so here is a brief catchup. We spent a few days in Rome, had a guided walk through the Coliseum and surrounding ruins which blew our minds away, unbelievable, then it poured rain and we got drenched. Not letting that deter us we went back to our Monestry stay which buy the way was fantastic, right in the heart of Rome, got changed and then went touring again. Rome is such a beautiful place, we visited so many amazing things it's hard to remember, the Vatican of course, just so grande, we visited at about 10pm and it was still raining so we basically had the place to ourselves which was pretty special, the shrine of the unnamed solider, my favourite, massive statue of a solider on a horse, the Trevi Fountain which made the girls tear up, and too many churches and temples to list.

 We just kept walking around until we had to make it back to our Monestry before the 1am curfew. Rome is an amazing place which I think one day we might have to revisit, never thought I would say that! 

Now back to the present, we are staying in Vizzini and touring Sicily by car. Starting to feel a bit more comfortable driving now, it's hard to get used to. Making turns and going through roundabouts is an experience as you always think your going the wrong way and doubting yourself. We have a saying " always keep the passenger in the gutter" this seems to help as you drive.

My 3 great navigators sent me up a one way street the wrong way, but as the people here drive anyway they want it took a while before someone kindly told us and we had to do a u turn and go back with my tail between my legs and my 3 so called navigators laughing at me. 

We have spent two days here meeting friends of Joanna's family and are staying in a friends, Maria's, guest house. It's an amazing old town surrounded by rural areas. Maria's son Giovanni and his son Francesco run the local grocery store and are all looking after us. Such lovely people. Vizzini is the home of Ricotta cheese in Sicily. We just missed out on the annual festival by a week, damn it! The ricotta is delivered to Giovanni's store in the morning and it has to be eaten that day. We'll let me tell you, you can eat it by the tub full, 500g, just like yogurt on its own, it is to die for. 

Maria's guest house where we are staying and our hire car.

We spent a morning visiting family friends and places Joanna's family had previously lived in led by Maria. It's so funny, if you stand still in the street and start talking, all these ladies come out on their balconies and start nattering away as we'll.We had lunch at Maria's, place, home made Lasagna, Italian sausage and salad, crusty bread and ricotta, panetone and then coffee ice cream. Very nice homemade Italian cooking, does it get any better. My walking is getting less and my stomach getting bigger. Luckily all of Italy is steep and every where we go there's lots of steps. 

A snow capped Mt Etna as backdrop

We did an afternoon trip to Noto, we'll guess what, more churches and old stuff than you could poke a stick at. But for some reason each place is different.  Noto buildings seem to be made from a different type of material, more like a sandstone than the usual limestone which gives the place a totally  different look. We had some places that we had to visit that we saw on TV back home, a show about Sicily, which led us to Noto and a little shop that makes it's own ice cream and Galati. We'll I had a hazelnut and pistachio ice cream brioche, ( ice cream in a bun) Wow, why don't we have this back home. 

Brioche. Yum Yum