Saturday 24^th May 2014

A new feature on the blog site is that our map is now linked to our blogs. When you bring up the “ Follow our 2014 Trip Map” and click on the places you will see the word “look at the Blog” , click on that and it will link up to the blog that is closest to that location. Very clever this computer technology!! I’m learning things all the time.

San Vito Lo Capo

We were told of a nice camping place in the town of San Vito Capo, and that in the town on this weekend there would be a kite festival. It was about a 100km drive and by lunch time we were set up at our new site which was to be home for the next 3 days.  It was a nice site, with lots of trees for shade and clean and convenient facilities. We found a good spot by a fence with views towards the town over paddocks. In the afternoon we rode our bikes the short distance to the beach where the sky was filled with kites of various sizes, shapes and colours. The most interesting thing at the festival was a man who was flying 3 stunt kites at the same time. He would operate one from cables around his waist and the other 2 from hand held controls. I dubbed him the “Kite Master” and he was amazing people with his ability to perform separate manoeuvres from the kites and then join them up to form a single kite. For anyone who has flown a stunt kite one kite is hard enough at times to control. We enjoyed watching the kites and the passing parade of people then walked up to the Marina and along past the usual stalls selling assorted trash then back to the beachfront where we bought a Gelato each which was enjoyed sitting on a wall watching the wind play with the kites. The crowd was starting to build and then the loud speakers started playing annoying music so we decided it was time to head back to the campsite and have a quiet afternoon.

 

Sunday 25^th

A lazy day was spent at the campsite doing a few repairs and finally sorting out the back shelf and Jenny made use of the washing machine to get the bedding clean. Lori had travelled with us and had used the shelf for her suitcase, finally two weeks later I sorted out the shelf, giving us more free space to store assorted items that were filling up the hatch. We also spent time talking to an English couple Val and Geoff who are now living in Spain and also a Dutch couple who proudly showed us through their motorhome, a smaller van but well set up and interesting. The highlight of the day came in the evening when Clyde cooked us all some Paella in the wok pan on the barbeque. It was delicious and went down nicely with a glass of red wine.

Monday 26^th

After a mostly lazy day we decided to go on a bike ride to see the coast further along from the campground. We first rode to a bay which was unfortunately surrounded by holiday shacks and all fenced off then riding back we saw the outline of a large building near the sea and after investigating found out that it was an abandoned tuna factory. We both forgot to bring our camera which was still back at the campsite so we rode back and picked it up. The water in the bay was clear and inviting and while I was taking photo’s Jenny couldn’t resist had hopped in for a swim with me following shortly after. The water was cool, clear and refreshing and was a delight. The tuna factory was partially locked up and signs which we thought said keep out, dangerous, so I cautiously climbed in to the main area to investigate before we thought it time to ride back. We thought it would have been nice to have found it sooner and spent the afternoon, oh well!

Tuesday 27^th

Agrigento

Our usual set off time is “about half nine” in Clyde speak, so it is usually a relaxed start for our drive. Our next stop was Agrigento to visit the “Valley of the Temples” and we had a pleasant drive mostly along the motorway about 170 kilometres on the southern coast of Sicily. On the way the Bunyip [our trusty motorhome] clocked up 150,000 kilometers on the clock. We purchased it with 68,800 km’s on the clock and apart from with Sam and Sue doing a trip in 2009 and John and Helen using it last year we have travelled up till now 65,000 km’s over the past 6 trips and still going.

There we parked at the car park near the Valley of the Temples and spent the afternoon wandering around the ruins. The park consists of eight temples and other remains which were built between about 510 BC and 430 BC, the temples of Hera, Concordia, Heracles, Olympian Zeus, Castor and Pollux and others. Akragas or now Agrigento used to be a Greek city and they used the area around to cultivate olives, grapes and cereal crops. It became prosperous and was one of the most important and most culturally advanced Greek cities in the Mediterranean. Many of the temples were in good conditions for their age and it took us a few hours to walk up the hill to the furthest one and back to the car park, of courses having a gelato on the way. We stayed the night in the car park costing us an extra 5 euros, it was quiet with only us and 2 other motorhomes. The Temples where all lit up at night and provided our backdrop for the night.  The next day we are heading further south to another beach campsite before heading out of Sicily via Mt. Etna.