Before I tell today's story of cars and coast, I want to close out our first visit to Siracusa --
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| Adjusting my bike |
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| Building Bettina's bike |
In the afternoon, our B&B host called ahead to Gallardo bike shop to let the owner know we were en route. When we arrived four Trek bikes were ready for us . . . almost. The bikes for Cliff and Axel took only minor adjustments and changing out pedals for clips. Then Bettina and I were presented "women's" Treks, complete with drop cross bars and small frames (say what?). Bettina quickly determined that her bike would not work at all. And, after a look of incredulity and a slight shake of disbelief, the bike shop owner presented a third men's frame -- and engineered a near rebuild cannibalizing Bettina's first offer for bits to outfit the new frame. With some adjustments, I accepted a slightly too small frame, which has me perched a bit Mary-Poppins like as I travel along. As I like to say: "Not good, but good enough." (and it was pretty clear this man was not going to be able to produce a fourth larger frame, so hey).
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| The Temple of Minerva in Ortygia |
After a delightful dinner of Sicilian seafood stew and grilled tuna in Siracusa, we undertook a rather lengthy return walk to our B&B (imagine lots of: "Have we seen this before?" and "Which way now?"). The opportunistic night photos here are a result of our tripping across the Duomo (Temple of Minerva) in Ortygia at night.
And now to Noto: Whoever thought the Sunday not-quite tourist season traffic would be light for the 28 miles between our lodging on Ortygia (actually a small island linked to Siracusa by two bridges across a harbor) and Noto had no faith in the Sicilian determination to enjoy a blue-sky Sunday before their island is clogged with tourists (from 1 April - 1 October, the locals tell us). It took some time for me to gain confidence joining the vehicular traffic flow of the locals as we maneuvered junctions and roundabouts along the way.
With firm resolve not to get caught up (or killed) between Siracusa and Noto, I learned courageously to tailgate the cars in front of me (commanding false bravery through rights of way) and to stop for pictures without constantly fretting the ongoing progress of Cliff, Axel and Bettina. And this approach made all the difference:
The road to the coast was lined with green houses bursting at the seams with tomato plants drooping under the weight of the super sweet pachino tomatoes grown here, grove after grove of citrus trees (mostly lemon), stands of olives trees not yet in fruit and fields of artichokes with hairy stemmed necks struggling to hold the bulbous purple heads up to the late winter sunshine. Growing wild and in hedges were plants I recognized from Florida to include Bougainvillea and Honeysuckle, and New Mexico (think cacti of every shape and size). With a climate quite Florida-like and a latitude very nearly the same as Santa Fe, this sense of the familiar at least in the vegetation, I really should not find this surprising. Still it seems to be at least a tad so -- and totally delightful.
Cycling still with a pretty constant flow of traffic, we kept the Mediterranean coastline (and ostentatious beach homes) to our left, and the gentle rise of the interior (and many abandoned villas and ruins) to our right. With only a short stop for espressi (and a toilet break) along the beach in the resort town of Avola, we rolled into Noto early in the afternoon under cerulean blue skies with only the slightest breeze and temps in the mid sixties. Just before Sicilian siesta (roughly between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.) we grabbed foccacia and calzones before heading in for our own siestas. The first day of cycling had been a great success (thank you weather gods).
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| The Red Bike Team with Noto in the background |
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| A & B |
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| C & D |
After a delightful dinner of Sicilian seafood stew and grilled tuna in Siracusa, we undertook a rather lengthy return walk to our B&B (imagine lots of: "Have we seen this before?" and "Which way now?"). The opportunistic night photos here are a result of our tripping across the Duomo (Temple of Minerva) in Ortygia at night. 
The road to the coast was lined with green houses bursting at the seams with tomato plants drooping under the weight of the super sweet pachino tomatoes grown here, grove after grove of citrus trees (mostly lemon), stands of olives trees not yet in fruit and fields of artichokes with hairy stemmed necks struggling to hold the bulbous purple heads up to the late winter sunshine. Growing wild and in hedges were plants I recognized from Florida to include Bougainvillea and Honeysuckle, and New Mexico (think cacti of every shape and size). With a climate quite Florida-like and a latitude very nearly the same as Santa Fe, this sense of the familiar at least in the vegetation, I really should not find this surprising. Still it seems to be at least a tad so -- and totally delightful. 
Cycling still with a pretty constant flow of traffic, we kept the Mediterranean coastline (and ostentatious beach homes) to our left, and the gentle rise of the interior (and many abandoned villas and ruins) to our right. With only a short stop for espressi (and a toilet break) along the beach in the resort town of Avola, we rolled into Noto early in the afternoon under cerulean blue skies with only the slightest breeze and temps in the mid sixties. Just before Sicilian siesta (roughly between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.) we grabbed foccacia and calzones before heading in for our own siestas. The first day of cycling had been a great success (thank you weather gods).
Looks wonderful! I think the weeds in Italy are prettier than the flowers at home. Be CAREFUL in that traffic and as Reis always says, "Keep your head on a swivel"!
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