very behind in blogging, in part because there is no wifi at this very hidden agritourismo, Anapama b&b, down a very steep narrow winding dirt road leading into a valley in the shadow of the high walls of the hilltop Palazzalo Acreide.
some highlights:
Anapama – beautifully rescued Sicilian stone farm house with lots of rough hewn stone, tile, wood, ceramics, art, Turkish rugs. Feels exotic and lush. Run by elegant older woman named Vivian who looks like an older age fashion model. She lived on a commune outside Santa Cruz in the 70s and tried organic farming in Tennessee, of all places before moving here at some point after marrying someone from Siracusa ( she’s from Milan) and having three kids and opening a bar in Siracusa. gorgeous place with a pool and horses and many dogs and cats but drive here is challenging and the dogs started howling at about 3 am. Great breakfast.
Noto, Modica, Ragusa– all hilltop towns with magnificent caramel colored limestone baroque cathedrals and chock a block homes tucked into the hillside. As I expected, I liked Modica best. Ragusa was beautiful but a bit too posh. Noto was picture postcard perfect. Palazzalo Acreide is more of a real place but also has it’s astonishing churches.
Coalamosche- beautiful pocket beach between two cliffs jutting out into the Mediterranean. Warm water. I was the only one piece suit on the beach.
Restaurants– too good ones in Pallazzalo: trattoria del gallo, homey place, wehearty food, we were served what the waiter offered. No menu. All good. Tonight went to Andrea — little fancier, excellent. No one spoke English and no translated menu which was sort of refreshing. We did ok.
We had a really lovely drive through the Sicilian countryside to get to Modica. Classic olive-grey and khaki fields with winding white stone fences and crumbling or restored stone farmhouses, olive trees, lemon trees, vineyards, persimmon trees, cactus and agave. Vaguely reminded me of Crete. So glad we came here.
TakeBetsywithyou 