Closing the circle

While in Grotte I had the change to watch one of these fire fighting airplanes picking up water and dropping it again in appeared to be a training program, quite impressive.

I know, not the best picture of it but I didn't realise immediately what the plane was doing and by the time I got the camera out it was already too far away :)

After Grotte I Drove along the north coast until Palermo and was quite surprised about the condition of some road stretches with good flat tarmac, didn't expect to find something like this in this island. 
Later on at dinner I ordered a big bottle of water which had an interesting size.

It's just amazing how far marketing and sales departments go to fool consumers and try to hide price raises.
In Palermo and after spending some time trying to find the office from Grimaldi to do the check-in I went for dinner in the Osteria Lo Blanco which I absolutely recommend regardless of some negative comments on the Trip***sor site, from the Palermo port you walk up the Via Emerico Amari up 200 meters and you will find it on the left side, be aware that you'll have to wait for a free table if don't reserve or are there when then open.

The last two days were quite unpleasant with stormy winds from the north and I was wondering how that would feel inside this huge ferry and if I would be able to arrive in Livorno without getting seasick, well I did but the crew seamed to have expected that some of us do there where plastic bags hanging all over the ship.

On my way back home I opted for a different route crossing Switzerland over the San Bernardino, it was quite difficult to find an empty spot to park the bike on reserved parking space, wonder why? :-)

Based on my latest experience in Sicily generally and specialy in and around Catania, I made a couple of diagrams that show how the majority of the Sicilians understand traffic lights and signs that can help you survive a visit to the island accident free.

Be aware that it can be very dangerous if you respect the speed limits and if you're willing to keep always a good look your mirrors, I didn't on one place, a connection (single) lane on a highway crossing with rails on both sides, while driving in the middle well guess what, a car coming from behind saw those 2 millimeters one of each side of his car between me and the left rail and overtook me on the left, I didn't even notice that there was someone behind me when I entered that lane, what an idiot.

The North East

I've been struggling the last days to get my tank filled up, the most gas stations are unattended and the only choice I had was to use bank notes which don't give you change. The stations that still have someone available to fill up for you, charge around 20 cents extra per liter. After three days I finally found  someone kind enough to inform the cashier that you'd like to fill up by myself and got the pump unlocked.

Drove the coast up past Messina, this side is worth seeing and I do think that this is the best time to do it, all day with temperatures above 20 degrees and a nice view of the Etna and I look at all the closed hotels and emtpy holiday apartments I don't think it is that fun to drive around in Summer, even now it took a lot of time to cross some villages. All the restaurants I drove by were closed, ended up stopping in a bar where I saw "foccacia" writen outside and that's what I had for lunch. 

I had already eaten foccacia before but it was the first time that someone asked me if I wanted half a kilo, a kilo or one and a half kilos of it.

Exploring the East side

Every evening I look at the weather forecast and adjust my travel plans accordingly, Catania seamed pretty good for the next couple of days so there I went. The East has a much pleasant scenery but the infrastructure is equally falling apart a the traffic in Catania is by far the most chaotic and dangerous that I've ever seen or driven in my all life.
This morning I visited the Isola di Ortigia in Siracusa, beautiful place, a must if you're near, too bad that it's not being take care of.

Later I went to take a look at Noto, also a place to visit when you're in Sicily

Eraclea Minoa

Today I drove back to visit Eraclea Minoa, the view from the top is pretty impressive, something that I wasn't expecting to see in Sicily after the past two days.

I went down to the beach and there were only two camping cars, I imagine that in the summer the all place is full with cars and people because it's really awesome.

From Eraclea Minoa I drove further to Porto Empedocle to have a look at the "Scala dei Turchi"on the way there I had the chance to see a bird migration, very impressive.

 Scala dei Turchi

After three days driving around, I came to the conclusion that I'm using the wrong bike, here you need something with a good and long suspension like an enduro, otherwise you shouldn't keep your eyes too long away from the road, because they're full holes and sudden depressions that exceed the suspension reserves of the most bikes.

Valle dei Templi

Staying near Agrigento I had to visit the "Valle dei Templi", got some information on the web about the open hours and how much it costs, according to the site €4,50 but the reality was different, pay €2 to park the bike and €10 for the entry ticket. I have seen some crazy stuff in my life but I didn't expect a policeman at the entry making me take everything out of my pockets and scanning me for explosives, that's completely sick, there's not even a fence in some places of the complex, why the hell would I pay for a ticket to blow the thing up?

 Agrigento

 Temple of Dioscur

Icaro

 The all place looks like a high security place, full of surveillance cameras, here  near the Hercules temple.

 

 

 Temple of Giunone

 

Agrigento goat in the valley of temples

End of day

Sicily (first impressions)

Some thoughts about the ferry journey from Livorno to Palermo that may help any followers. I've done a some research regarding the available routes to Sicily, my preferred, due to the frozen weather conditions, was actually Genoa to Palermo but it was more than double the price I've paid from Livorno. Besides that I already knew the port in Genoa and don't really like to travel from there and the arrival in Palermo would be a couple of hours later. 
When you search for ferries on the web you get a lot of pages with offers but you become the cheapest tickets strait from the website of the shipping company you'll be travelling with.
When you book the ticket, they give an option to buy breakfast and other meals straight away with options for standard or business but no description at all about what these options mean in terms of food. I did buy business breakfast and standard lunch but will not do it ever again. The best choice is to take a look at what you get and then decide if you really want eat it and of course if the price is reasonable. I paid for lunch upfront so I had some, if I didn't I wouldn't have bought anything because it didn't look good, the small portion I ate only remained  around 10 minutes inside, if you know what I mean, not going into details here ;-). Just take something with you and save the money and your stomach.

Back on the road I started to ride the island anticlockwise and I must say that it didn't warm me up, it reminded me of Bulgaria, almost all buildings and houses unfinished or falling apart, trash all over, smoke from fire and an unpleasant smell. I drove until I had the chance to get near the seaside.

The weather was good but the views were not quite there yet.
Anyway, the day went on and I needed a place to stay but it looks like 98% of the hotels and guest houses close during winter and the other 2% are either fully booked, don't look good or so expensive that I could not afford it. The day was almost over when I finally found an affordable and nice place to stay near Agrigento.