Phil and Anthea have fun in Sicily!

So here we are in Sicily. We had a fairly uneventful flight from Manchester, arriving at Catania at around 8.00. Or maybe later; I seem to have lost my sense of time. After messing around for a while waiting for some of our group to collect luggage from the carousel, we eventually got in a minibus to travel to Ragusa. We knew we would be arriving late and so we had all snacked en route but had been told that fresh fruit would be waiting for us on arrival.

We were split into two hotels, of which we seemed to have won the prize. Not only was there fresh fruit, but also a bottle of fizz and a homemade apple pie, made by the wife of our tour guide. Service above and beyond the call of duty.

So after feeding our faces in moderate fashion, the five of us staying in this hotel went to our separate rooms at somewhere around midnight. Before settling down to sleep I felt the need to unpack. One little bit of madness. Then I decided to put the passports and the English cash and the spare euros into the safe in the bedroom. A serious mistake. I worked out how to set a code and close the thing and then discovered I could not open it again! The phones needed charging but, lo and behold, our adapters would not fit into the sockets!

Altogether a brilliant start! And we had agreed to meet at 10.00 this morning to begin our cultural events programme! So this morning, having had some breakfast at a nearby cafe - the arrangement is that we have “vauchers” (Italian spelling) for the cafe, entitling us to a coffee, tea or chocolate and a croissant - we had to sort out these problems.

The adapter thing was easy. Unplugging the kettle in the room - yes, we have a kettle!! - we found an adapter into which to plug our adapter into which we could plug our English electricals. It’s a good job Inhave one of those handy gadgets which allows you to charge more than one device at a time. 

The safe was more problematical. The hotel chappie did not really know how to follow instructions either. In the end he had to resort to a master key and open the safe. Then we decided together to use the default setting instead of a personally selected code. I have some doubts about the security but I have given up on worrying about it. The place is small enough for us to feel that everyone knows everyone.

This might be a case if famous last words.

Anyway, we have done a tour of Ragusa, seen sights that we did not see last time we were here and generally feel much better informed. Not only that but we have spoken quite a bit of Italian. And we have all agreed that having mentioned the date of the famous earthquake, 1693, which flattened the area and led to some splendid rebuilding, we will not mention the date again, this is because last time we were here our guide repeated it over and over accompanied by gestures involving ten fingers, then six finger, then nine fingers and finally three fingers.

Lunch was good for me - a fruit cocktail and a selection of Sicilian delicacies - while Phil’s choice of a chicken salad was less pleasing.

After lunch we took a minibus ride to Donnafugata. The castle and gardens are splendid.

Our guide assured us that some parts of the film Il Gattopardo with Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale were made. We had some doubts about this and so I googled it on our return. This is what I found:

 “The location for Luchino Visconti’s lavish version of Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s epic novel could only be Sicily, and it is – mainly around Palermo. Visconti initially wanted to use the medieval village of Palma di Montechiaro to represent ‘Donnafugata’, the family home of the princes of Salina, but this would have meant building a road, and that’s where the men in dark glasses stepped in (allegedly) to ask for their piece of the action.

Wisely, Visconti moved the production to the decaying village of Ciminna, 30 miles south of Palermo. The Piazza of Donnafugata is Ciminna’s square, and it’s here that the façade of Salina’s palace was constructed. The family mansion is the gorgeous palazzo of Villa Boscogrande, Via Tommaso Natale 91, in Mondello, a seaside resort north of Palermo. If you like the look of the villa, you can rent it for your wedding or, less romantically, that corporate event.

The grand ball was staged in the Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi, Piazza Croce dei Vespri in Palermo itself. The famous ballroom can be hired for functions, but the remainder of the house is a private residence.”

No mention of Donnafugata! Oh dear! But we had a lovely visit and saw some splendid old clothes. 

More adventures tomorrow,