Miserable Weather

On Saturday there was another meeting and another early start for Christian. Weather chilly all weekend so I stayed in and had a very frustrating time with disappearing photos on the association's website.

Duty Calls

Christian was on the road bright and early this morning to get to a meeting for 8.30am which gave me time to go to my Spanish class and do loads of things that hadn't been done for this evening's AGM. Indispensible or what? Just a plain old workhorse, methinks. Still, all went well as did the meal for 81, so all's well that ends well.

Ciaou!

All good things come to an end and our trip to Sicily was no exception while it's always good to go home, we were left feeling that we'd like to go back to Sicily and spend more time sightseeing. In order to have a contrast from the tourist trail, a couple of days in Syracuse to hang out in the cafés is equally appealing.
We left Joséphine with her Mum for a couple of extra days and luckily we had plenty of time at the airport before our flight as it took over an hour to get the hire car sorted. There was a scrape on the back side which left us with a surprising bill of nearly 300€ once we were home. Of course tye money was taken directly from the credit card and proved impossible to get any details. Just had to grin and bear it.
The weather was cooler on arrival and within a couple of hours of being home, I was trying to catch up with association stuff as it's the AGM tomorrow.

Tempus Fugit

Another day ad another market but this time we had lunch out in Mazara del Vallo in an all-but-empty restaurant opposite the sea. Had a long siesta in the afternoon and then did some cheese shopping to take back home with us. It was our 21st wedding anniversary ..... doesn't time just fly by?

Market Junkies

Today we hit the Market in Marsala and after an apéritif in a small bar overlooking the sea it was time for another lunch 'en famille'. This time langoustines were on the menu to the delight of all.

Donkey Seranade

A day's sightseeing was in store for us and impressive it was too. Juste, our chauffer took us to the old town of Erice, high up on a hill with it's narrow streets and Norman tower. Here we were serenenaded by an old man with his donkey (not the Donkey Serenade)which thankfully, didn't join in. Had lunch back down in Trampani where there was a huge and I mean huge, Thomson cruise ship in port. The restaurants were either "tourist c..p or too expensive so we took a back road and eventually found an empty restaurant serving very ordinary food which didn't turn

out to be that cheap. With hindsight we should have gone for the c..p as at least the view would have been more interesting. Still you can't win 'em all.
The evening meal back at the Mama's was another large affair but the mozzies were active as were the flying ants so we were driven inside. There were 11 at the table with assorted nephews and their wives dropping in and out at regular intervals.

More Festivities

After a lazy start to the morning we all headed over to Rafaella and Antonio's to join in the celebrations of their 1st wedding anniversary. A huge fish couscous was on the menu into which had 6kg of fish and 4kg of couscous. Of course there was also cake and before you are wondering, it was not a boozy affair and we were able to have an early night.

Indulgence is Sweet

Another interesting town nearby is Mazara del Vallo which overtime has been dominated by Catharginians, Romans, Moors and Normans. Wandered around in warm sunshine looking at churches, other architecture and the ceramics. Lunch chez Mama, siesta and then a drive by the sea. On the way home we stopped by a wonderful cake shop and bought some "cannoli".
Crispy pastry open-ended tubes, stuffed with sweet ricotta. Very rich, full of calories but worth every one of them. Found this recipe on the web but haven't tried it (yet!). http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/515414

And while some of us enjoyed the sun, others were hard at work preparing a fish couscous for tomorrow's lunch.

Birthdays Sicilian Style

Started the day with a trip to the local supermarket to by cheese, olives and mortadella and were surprised by the lower prices.Lunch was left-overs from the day before and was followed by a wee siesta. Weather is gloriously warm, 30° or more and doesn't drop lower than 26° in the evening but luckily there is a breeze coming off the sea.drove over to Marsala with its upmarket shops and had, a glasss of Marsala, what else?

Given that Mama has a large patio,Carmello's (the neighbour's father) 86th birthday was celebrated here.The whole family was there ... 19 of us and a huge cake.

A Day Steeped in History

We're all early risers so were able to start for the nearby Roman Villa del Casale (iii & iv century) before all the other tourists arrived, in fact before it was even open. Somehow we managed to find our way to the archaeologists' enterance so ended up having a freebie. What can anyone say other than the mosaics are just Fab-u-lous!

Room after room and the excavation is not yet finished.The most famous are the hunting scenes and young women in bikinis.

Just time for a coffee stop and then it was onto Agrigento and farther back in time to 581BC and the Valley of the Temples. Christian, being over 65, his enterance was free. By now the sun was high in the sky and in deference to Christian's tired legs we took a buggy to the other end of the site, after looking at the Temple of Hera. Bypassed the eerie Catacombes and the Temple of Concord before arriving at the Temple of Zeus and Hercules. Talk about hedging your bets! The site is immense and we didn't do it justice.

After an expensive coffee, the fellas took the buggy back while Joséphine and I walked back stopping off at the Villa Aurea, which had been home to William Hardcastle, militaryman and archaeologist in the 1920's.
Sightseeing is hungry work and as luck would have it, we ended up in Porto Empodocle,where Andrea Camalleri, the author of Montalbano was born.

We found a restaurant called "Grotto di Vigata"which had been a haunt of the author but once again, no sign of the main man.A good note to end our independant travel on as now it was time to head for Trapani and Joséphine's Mum's house where we'll be staying for the next week.
Joséphine had warned us about Sicilian family life but we weren't really prepared to have so many people in and out of the house and at the table all the time. Mama is well supported by her neighbour and her family which is of course great but it means that Joséphine has to take a bit of a b&ck seat which doesn't go down well.Dinner consisted of snails from the garden and delicious meatballs in tomato sauce by the end of which we were pretty tired and so sloped off to bed.

Follow the Guidebook

Another early start with breakfast down the road and another lovely sunny day. Only downside to our morning was finding the hire-car with a scrape just above the back bumper.
Our first port of call was Noto a beautiful, well cared-for town classified by UNESCO. a bit of wandering, a few photos and a well deserved coffee - capuccino, what else?
from Noto it was on to Modeca where parking was difficult so we only stopped to take a

photo. By now it was almost time for lunch, so we contunued on to Ragusa where the church used in "Moltabano" is to be found. Saturday evenings on BBC4's European crime drama slot is where you'll find thid great wee series andthe Detective Moltabano himself is as pleasing on the eye as the Sicilian scenery. Sadly, there was no reference to the series and he was nowhere to be seen but we did manage to sqeeze ourselves into a parking space not too far away and find a good cheap lunch.

Next stop was Caltagirone, famous for its ceramics. The church of Santa Maria del Monte sits at the top of 142 steps, each one a rise of ceramic tiles. Quite a feat of craftsmanship and Joséphine was the only one of us to puff her way to the top.We contented ourselves with a look into the Sturzo Gallery where the walls were covered with interestin and colourful tile mosaics and of course, an ice cream.
Well, that was enough sightseeing for one day, (or so we thought)and it was getting

late in the afternoon. Drove onto Piazza Armerina and Joséphine and I went in search of a B&B down in the town after we'd looked in vain around the cathederal on the hill. Eventually asked the owner of a wee trattoria if he knew anywhere ... it helps having someone speak the language as Joséphine does. Have I mentioned that her family originates from Sicily and her Mum lives there? Anyway, back to the business of finding a bed for the night. Our friendly 'local' telephoned a friend who was full up and then after scratching his head and conferring with his wife who by the way, had been sweeping up while he snoozed when we first arrived, indicated that we should follow him. Just down the road we were shown rooms in a large old house thankfully with more character and higher standard of comfort than last night (was it only last night?)so we said "yes" on the spot. The owner came with us to fetch Juste and Christian and took us off to see an ancient Roman freh water fountain. Once again, parking was at a premium and he kindly gave us his space. Dinner, naturally was in our local trattoria with its good home cooking and swordfish on the menu.

Upmarket, Downmarket

After a good breakfast we said "caio" to our charming host Alessandronwho who reminded us that his establishment is featured on Tripadvisor if we would like to leave a comment. pointed the car in the direction of Taormina on the coast. Etna was in heavy could as we passed so it was just as well that we didn't have time to stop. A very popular tourist destination, parking was difficult. We took the cablecar down to the sea and had lunch in a smart place over looking the sea. This was the most expensive meal of the trip but I suppose that you pay for the surroundings.

Our next stop was Syracuse, a really beautiful, lively city with lots of squares. Don't quite know how it happened but we ended up in a budget place advertising itself as a B & B. There was a clean bed, an ok "en suite" but no breakfast and the décor pretty shabby!
Enjoyed wandering around and had a good meal in another place that is also featured on Tripadvisor. One night was not enough to enjoy Syracuse with it's wide avenues and colourful oleander trees. It would be a nice place to spend a romantic weekend mmmm, why not?

Zipping About

After an early breakfast which was very good we went out in search of the tourist hop on, hop off bus to find that we had an hour to wait. We decided instead to take the fun opt1on of a passenger carrying scooter like you see more frequently in Asia. It cost a bit more but what the heck, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The driver was able to nip up and down streets that would have been impassable for a bus and we could stop where we liked. The cathederal, numerous other churches, the biggest ficus in the world, an anti-cuts demonstration outside the municipal builings where there were loads of caribineri on alert, all styles of architecture a shady square for a lunch of antipasti and of course a market with lucious fruit and veg.

Had a leisurely walk home stopping en route for icecream. Then it was time for a rest though Joséphine and I went out for a stroll to the bottom of our street and found the market that we'd been in this morning where this time round we came across an offal stall selling, bulls' testicles, cows'udders and stomachs. Can't think why there's no photograpic evidence of such culinary delights. We settled instead for buying some mortadella, olives and wine for our apéritif and a pizza in a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Taking to the Skies!

Ironing, packing and a coffee in the bar before we set off with Juste and Joséphine for the airport and our flight to Trapani. All went well though it took a bit of time to get our hire car which had scratches that hadn't been recorded. Drove to Palermo, about 1½ hours away in warm sunshine. With the help of our GPS we found our hotel in the Porta di Castro, a rather grubby looking street. ,

Behind closed doors, it was another story. The place was charming, lots of interesting features and comfortable rooms. Alessandro, the owner/manager recommended a good reasonably priced restaurant looking out onto a square where the locals were taking their evening stroll.Apart from the overflowing dustbins on the way to to the restaurant, we were off to a promising start.

From Our Very Own Correspondent

Weather better so we went to the market where we met up with Henri and Michèle over coffee. Henri wanted us to go back for an apéritif but as we had a lunch date at the restaurant in the village with Laura and David, we had to say 'no'.
Oh, and what a surprise, the village was featured on the BBC World Service with a short report by a woman in the village (who funnily enough has links with the family in the 'big house' in the village where Mum lives)talking about the role of the Mayor. With going away tomorrow there was some last minute stuff to do on the computer for the association ... quite reminds me of when I used to work and there was always stuff that NEEDED to be done!

Here and There!

Spanish this morning which, if I was a good pupil would have put me in good stead for the rest of day but despite being very willing, the brain lags sadly behind. Met up with frank and Penny and introduced them to Mas Salelles over the border and like us, they thought it was a great wee place. Lunch also gave us the opportunity to talk about the exhibition that Penny's association, which supports anglophones and their families through cancer treatment and its aftermath, that will be held in the village in December.

In the evening there was a vernissage of an exhibition of photos taken in Cuba by a young Spanish guy. The photos were excellent, full of characterful faces. Juste helped with the Spanish translation, Jean and his group provided the entertainment (havanares, ie, songs from Cuba that Catalan sailors brought back)and Thérèse made a cramat, a hot coffee doused with rum. Not any old coffee but one that was heated and flamed.
Came back to ours with Juste and Joséphine, stopping by at the local take-away to buy chips and pile on the kilos.

Excuse for a Break!

Committee meeting and language exchange were for once a treat and a moment for the computer to cool down. Met Christian (another one)who invited us to lunch at the restaurant, so there wasn't even any cooking to do. In case you've been wondering what Christian (the one we all know and love) has been up to while I've been at war with the website well, he has been beavering away as usual at the Mairie.

Grinding On!

Four days spent chained to the computer trying to get the website done. It all takes so long, especially when you're a raw amateur..... and the photos are still disappearing..... and my shoulders ache like hell..... Grrrrrh. This evening however, we were invited to Daniel and Maud's for dinner along with their English neighbours. It was too cold to be outside for other than the apéritif so the bbq was eaten inside. Hope the weather cheers up soon.

Community Links

Up earlier than usual for a Saturday morning to trundle the Association's display up to the village hall for the forum. Despite being 30 minutes early, there were already people there bagging the best places. In that particular 'event', we didn't do too bad either. Maggie and I were there until 5pm with only an hour's break for a sandwich lunch. El Presidente came for that hour! The day went well with several renewals and 9 new members - our best total yet.
Happily left Maud and Daniel to clear up as we were due in Agullana for the presentation of the cheque. The weather was fine and a large number of the inhabitants turned out. Lots of smiles and warm feelings came heading our way. A really lovely experience to feel part of something that was viewed as a gesture of solidarity and not of charity.Our Mayor was presented with a stainless steel plaque, there was an apéritif and we were given a guided tour of the village. In it's hayday, the village had over 3,000 inhabitants but with the decline of the cork industry there are now only about 1,000. We have passed through the village often enough and stopped in the village square so it was interesting to have time to see other nooks and cranies.

Given that a minister for sport under Franco once lived in the village, sports facilities are better than one would expect for a place of this size; the fire came close enough to burn the football goal posts. Still, there again, the open space of the pitch saved the village itself from the fire. The Café Sociedad, the Catalan equivalent of a"working mens' club, was a wee gem with its shady terrace and cheap prices. Here the Mayor treated us all to a drink before we went off to have dinner (which we paid for ourselves before anyone thinks that we were on a freebie) in a local restaurant. There are three plus the café and they all earn a living. Surely there's something to be learnt from Spain where most small villages have at least one restaurant?

Some Work, Lot's of Play!

2.9.12

Even though it was Sunday, Nick came around and we tried to sort out some of the website issues. I learnt a bit more about working with the site and have a couple of things to try viz-a-viz the photos. He stayed for an apéritif before he went home to Lizzie and we headed to the restaurant where we had a lovely meal of a beetroot starter with goat's cheese cream, chicken with grapes and a new take on cold rice pudding.
By chance, Michèle and Henri came in with a couple of friends and ended up sitting next to us. Now Henri, an ex-rugby player, is a pretty big bloke and the restaurant is small and he ended up knocking a glass of red wine of Christian. Imagine our surprise when we went to pay and found that he had already done so. We could have bought a new pair of jeans for the price of the meal!
Later on we were invited up to Juste and Joséphine's to watch the flamenco group rehearse outside and have a bbq even though it was still windy and chilly.
3.9.12:
Website work and then in the evening the monthly pilgrimage up to the mountains for Christian's surgery and our meal at the restaurant. Not as sophisticated as yesterday but nonetheless very tasty
4.9.12:
Went over to the bar to collect some figs that the Mayor had left for us and decided to stay for lunch.Going more downmarket as the week goes on!
5.9.12:

Tonight, there were no excuses to go out to eat as I'd invited people here to help eat a leg of wild boar that Maggie had given me awhile ago (don't worry it was in the freezer). Around the table were Izzy and Richard, who are in the village on holiday, Jean, who is still in his wheelchair and Thérèse, Juste and Joséphine. Just look at the cake that Izzy brought ... it was scrummy. Finished off the evening down in the cave with music from Jean. Not quite sure what time we went to bed but there were an awful lot of bottles to go out the next day!
6.9.12
Committee meeting, language exchange and more website stuff, so that counts as "work" and Christian has been at the Mairie everyday.
7.9.12:
This morning was neither work nor play as we went to the funeral of one of the Association's members at the crematorium. Only 63, Babette was diagnosed and dead withing 6 weeks. Such a kind and friendly person,never wanting to be in the limelight. She and her husband came on the trip to Scotland and just loved every minute.
Gaby, Robert, Maggie and ourselves felt the need for a bit of time together after the ceremony that lasted less than 10 minutes, so came back to the bar for a coffee, yeeees, a coffee, though we did have a rosé afterwards. Decided to go on to Mas Salelles for lunch which helped us to get back to normal and raise the bar foodwise.
Once home, it was time to work and prepare stuff for the forum tomorrow where associations lay out their "stall" in an effort to recruit new members. Was up until 1.30am and there were no bottles to take out the next day!

His and Hers Activities!

Feeling tired and cold. There's snow on Canigó. The observant among you will have noticed that the spelling has changed. Someone said that it was because Canigou is the name of a dog food but I don't know if they were having me on. Christian was out at lunch time for a BBQ with the anti-THT campaign group. I stayed home and put photos into the Association's album and started a scrapbook for it's press-cuttings. Umph!