Thursday 4th February.... Seeing the new month in this week, has given us (particularly) me, a new sense of motivation and focus. The weather seems to be picking up and we've had three lovely sunny days in a row. Plus we can say that maybe, just maybe, sometime next month we will be able to leave Licata and start sailing onto destinations new.
Dear old Saffy Dog is still plodding on, and making us laugh the way she sleeps half in and half out of her bed standing up. She's back on her water tablets so that means we have to take her for a pee about 7 times a day.
I'm not sleeping... I'm just resting my eyes
We eventually got to send our electric toothbrush back to have the battery replaced. It's been a nightmare corresponding with the company because their online return forms in Italian don't work! In the end they said they would just pick up the toothbrush. Who knows if we shall ever see it again?
Sicily has returned into Orange zone so restrictions are slightly easier. This meant we could walk up to Euronics home store and buy some new toilet seats. Something that we've been talking about doing for a while now. We're pleased with the result and now our loos are looking very smart.
Smart loo
Dean's current ongoing subject is the freezer. He's still not getting the results he wants from it, so now the project is more insulation. He's tried a few things but without much success, so it's still the job of the moment.
Some insulation now fitted inside the freezer top
I've had my embroidery out to keep myself busy. You can see it's almost finished. Makes a change from playing Solitaire on my phone I suppose.
The VERY IMPORTANT parcel that we've been waiting ages for finally arrived out of the blue on Tuesday. Ang, my sister, had sent it from the UK 20 days ago! Why are we looking so elated?
Because it's full of BISTO..... yee haa
....aaah Bisto
Some more cleaning jobs going on. Polishing the ceiling lights. Scrubbing and polishing the fenders.
Sparkly Ceiling lights
Back breaking fender cleaning
All looking spick and span
I updated our January expenses spreadsheet and found that it had been our least expensive month since we left the UK. Wow. The reason we see is that it was the first month that we had actually spent ZERO on eating/drinking out. Well at least being locked down keeps Dean's wallet in his pocket.
Dean was pleased the circuit training was back on this week. It's run by one of the fellow lady boaters and is very popular. This week the focus was on upper body workout. As usual he takes his two tins of cat food to use as weights.
Today we walked to Eurospin supermaket with Ant & Cindy. It's quite a walk, about 25 minutes each way, but they sell maltesers and we were desperate. We also like their dried apricots, so we stocked up on 12 packs of each! On the way we passed a van selling live chickens, and watched as the seller actually put 3 live chickens into a lady's shopping bag, lol.
Chicken van
In the supermarket
The Italians love love love their red pasta sauce
Our shopping stash
Maltesers, Apricots, Crisps, Liquorice and a Cauli
And our afternoon wine delivery to the boat
14 litres of local wine for less than 20 euros
Looks like it's going to be a good night
Friday 12th February... Linda This week was all about me me and me. Yes it was Birthday time. Unlike my UK birthdays where you can guarantee to be grounded by snow, the sunny weekend was giving us temperatures of 20 degrees. We just had had had to take up Cindy on her suggestion to go to the beach with a mini packed lunch.
My favourite beach view... the countryside
We found a bit of seating for our snack
What's in the flask?
It's not tea or coffee
Ant set up his Go-Pro camera
to film our picnic
Dean surprised us all when he pulled his drone out of his backpack. He and Ant had a great time. Although at one point we thought Dean was going to lose it up in the rocks when it disappeared completely, but fortunately the drone (and Dean) are cleverer than that, and a crash landing was avoided with its automatic sensor. He's always wary of flying the drone over water, at least until he's got back into the swing of it again after the winter hibernation.
...and they're off
Now it's Ant's turn
Up in the rocks
On the way home we were followed by two of the stray dogs from the pack that live on the beach. They just wouldn't go away. Eventually we decided to sit on a bench in town and hope they would lose interest. Unfortunately that didn't work and they just hung around with us.
Please go away dogs
Away, not nearer!
It wasn't until we reached the Coastguard building that we managed to lose them. We think it must have been the end of their territory, either that or they didn't like the look of the official person standing outside. We had to take a sneaky detour down one of the backstreets in the hope the dogs wouldn't follow. It worked, and we also found a pub. Albeit a closed pub, and it's not really a pub, it's just a bar.
Pub? I don't think so
Some serious work went on this week also, in between the frivolities. We noticed that when we open the dining table a gap was slowly appearing between the two halves. Closer inspection revealed the bracket screws disintigrating.
Brackets removed
Some TLC going on
Back together again
There was still a food theme going on. We cooked a whole chicken and Yorkshire puds. The puds turned out to have extraordinary shapes, and by the time i got the camera out they had deflated themselves. We had another long walk this time to Lidl. They had a British week going on and we had mainly gone to get the English Cheddar which was on their specials. Something must have gone wrong with their delivery as the cupboard was bare. But we did get frozen roast potatoes and real cooked honey roast ham, and roast beef. Plus Conad supermarket had Heinz Beans... we were on a roll.
The yorkies
Home comforts
Back to the Birthday celebrations. Our dear friends Ant & Cid came over with a present for me.... Prosecco, Matchmakers, and Maltesers. Love Love Love 💓💓💓
We had takeaway pizza and chips.... yes for a change. Although I was really really really craving the chips I must say.
Happy Birthday to me
Chips Chips Chips
To finish off the week we received our parcel delivery.. 3 prop anodes. Is this one of my presents Dean?
Happy birthday to Linda. I really spoil that girl
Thursday February 18th 2021...Dean. So it's me this week. Lots of swearing as of course they have recently upgraded Blogspot and now its completely rubbish to work with, so we'll look out for another blog thing to work with and let you all know...or not! Anyway: We eventually had the news that we have been awarded a yellow zone for Sicily so were free again....well nearly. We ventured out to the pub on Tuesday evening, happy hour 4pm to 6pm O well better than nothing. If you stay out later than 10pm your shot on sight as there is a curfew still going on. We walked up to one of the local café for a coffee and cornetti with Ant and Cid on Wednesday and booked some car hire while we were out.
Darlek bin evidently!
Big old church
I thought about going to confession but we need to leave by April so I decided against it.
This is where the "others" go
We had valentines day here of course so I treated my favorite person to pancakes and I also bought Linda a nice card.
Obviously Mount Etna realised it was now safe to erupt and spill loads of boiling lava over everybody, no idea how a volcano knows it's a yellow zone. Unless it's not real and it's operated with a switch, a tourist attraction maybe. Any way no big deal, back to the freezer insulation. I decided to cut some inspection hatches in the boat so I could take a better look.
I cut a piece out behind the cooker
Now back in place
Inside the back of the freezer
Now the other side
Had to take the boat apart
Now back together with some insulation on top
I ordered the extra insulation this week. Hopefully I will be able to wriggle it in through the new access hatches and it will keep the freezer a little cooler in the summer months.
Sometimes the evenings are boring
Thursday 25th February... Linda... Three eventful things happened this week...1. I put my left leg through the open window hatch on deck whist I was getting the washing in, and have a massively massive bruise the size of a small plate.... 2. Dean's roll of fantastically wonderful bees knees insulation arrived... and 3. We hired a car with Ant & Cindy and went all over the place! I don't know which one of these was the most exciting... So we thought this week would be a mega photo blog week.... Here goes...
Dean with his new arrival...the freezer insulation
SATURDAY outing - a short trip along the coast to Marina di Palma, and Mollarella beach
The hire car just arriving
Saffy and Oscar getting their places ready in the car boot
Looking for a beach bar in Marina di Palma
Saffy in the doggy trolley
Beach bar cafe with fancy cups
Back to the car now
Waveside at Mollarella beach
Living dangerously 😀
A fabulous beach, and clean too.....almost
SUNDAY outing.... Inland 50 miles to Caltanissetta
Arriving at the car park in Caltanissetta
A fabulous authentic coffee stop in town
In the main square the Cathedral of Saint Mary la Nova
Church of San Sebastiano
Fountain of Triton
Shoe shiner
View of the dome at the rear of the Cathedral
Countryside picnic stop on the way back to Licata
TUESDAY outing - Valley of the Temples, Agrigento
Temple number1 - Temple of Juno
Views from the temple
Redundant ferries anchored out in the bay
The gang.... still at Temple of Juno
Pretty flowers all around
...and almond trees in blossom
Temple of Juno... looking back this time
The south walls of the ancient city of Akragas
Walking the route to the next temple
It was perfect weather
More old walls
Dean holding up the Temple of Concordia
...even though it isn't leaning!
We don't say 'Cheese' we say 'Mozzarella'
A different view of Concordia
...and again as we pass on through the route
Further on, this old doorway needs some new style support
Here now at the Temple of Hercules
Not much left of this one
Next stop.. the remains of the Altar of the Temple of Olympian Zeus
The stone figure laying down is called a Telamon
They were part of the temple support structure
The temple itself was just a mass of stones on the ground
Next up, the Temple of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux)
What a time to visit with the trees in full blossom
Only a handful of visitors meaning we had perfect
uninterupted views of the temples
This is the Garden of Kolymbethra
Full of centuries old olive and almond trees, along with ancient citrus groves
Lemons galore on this tree
Oranges
and more oranges
The water comes through the rocks, and into the valley
All sorts of Mediterranean fruits growing including artichokes
Water gulley system
One more look at Temple of Concordia
The poor fella is Icarus... the one whos wings melted
Last pose at the Temple of Juno
On the way home Dean even agreed to have a McDonald's!
WEDNESDAY outing - East to Ragusa, and Marina di Scoglitti
The countryside along this way is much more low lying
First view of Ragusa Ibla (old town)
We got there eventually after a few wrong turns
Entering Piazza Duomo
The spectacular Church of San Giorgio
More fancy coffee cups
Looking back down the piazza,
the tourist season yet to get into action
Close up of San Giorgio
... and from behind
..another Church, can't even remember the name of this one
Oh yes, Church of San Guiseppe
We found a quaint street with a pub.... closed though
Moving on into the Gardens of Ibleo
More Churches here
Very nice gardens with amazing views
Unfortunately we had already eaten our picnic
Dean and Saffy had a rest anyway
Some of the gardens
... and the views
...and the blossom (and another Church)
I think this one was San Francesco all' Immacolata
On the way back we took the coast road through Marina di Scoglitti
Our chocolate and cream crumble cake, yum yum
There's a nice piazza here, and a marina that we stopped at last year
THURSDAY outing - San Leone, Porto Empedocle, Scala dei Turchi, and Naro
This is the white cliff promontory known as
Scala di Turchi (Stair of the Turks)
near Realmonte
It's one of Sicily's tourist attractions.... quite unique
I found a description on Wikipedia...
The Scala is formed by marl, a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white color. It lies between two sandy beaches, and is accessed through a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name. The latter part of the name derives from the frequent raids carried on by Saracen or Barbary pirates.
There was a super viewpoint so we sat and ate our picnic here
Looking the other way
Our final destination was inland to a hilltop town called Naro
We headed to the castle and again found it after a few wrong turns.
This was the view from the castle.
Castello dei Chiaramonte
There was a big heart in the grass
We think the words say 'Benvenuti a Naro' - Welcome to Naro
It's pretty high up here, with a cold breeze
It's only a teeny castle this one
Time to head back to Licata
if we can find our way out of this town
The rooftops
So it's been pretty non stop this week, the weather has been perfect for sightseeing and there are a few people about but on the whole, we had the place to ourselves. Now time for a rest and a few morning lie ins.
The next post will be called 'Spring has sprung'
