4/23 Remember I told you about the sand storm and how nasty the cars were yesterday? Well our car was so disgusting but all we could do was clean the windows. Brought a bottle of water, a rag and paper towels, cleaned them and off we went. Riding in a dirty car ugh – but we were not alone. After cleaning the car, we hop in and begin our journey to Ramacca. We were on the Autostrada for a bit and when we got to one of the signs that said Ragusa (Ragusa, Ramacca — uh, confused Jim?) We took it and after a few expletives said oh well, let’s enjoy the journey. We were on the country roads which still took us to Ramacca and it turned out to be the best mistake ever. What a beautiful drive through olive and orange groves with the most amazing aromas you could imagine. Kilometers and kilometers of orange blossom aroma whipping through the car’s open windows. It’s enough when you smell one orange blossom but when you have fields and fields of orange trees with oranges and blossoms on them – you cannot imagine the beautiful aroma. My nose was in heaven. I only wish I could transport the aromas to my blog!

Driving to Ramacca on the back roads, we climbed and climbed and twisted and turned and climbed some more. Boy were my ears popping but it was so pretty and so much fun. We finally got to the town and it was hills and valleys and beautiful. A town at the top of the mountain overlooking beautiful hills and valleys and more mountains.

The town was in full ready for the festival with music, vendors of all kinds and just as festive as you can imagine. Everyone was happy and laughing and talking to us. It was awesome to say the least. We stopped for our coffee and brioche – ah here we go again with the carbs. LOL! We walked starting downhill and Jim said oh no not more climbing back up later. Yes Jim it’s the only way to get back to the car! So we walked and checked out all the vendors. Everything from clothing, toys, household goods, trinkets to the food! I’ve never seen so many artichokes in my life and the purple ones are the ones common to this area. They are BEAUTIFUL as you will see from our photos.

Now to find them cooking – unfortunately that did not happen as we thought it would but we did find one place that had them marinated, cooked as a pancake and served with a roll. It was really good and filling so that got us through lunch. After much walking around and people watching we were done for the day.

Now for the photos:

Can you imagine the beauty of this red basket surrounded by oranges and loaded with purple artichokes.

Of course there are lemons – some of my favorite.

A few alleys – did I mention up and down hills? The streets are amazing with the apartments which were all really nice.

Then there is the beautiful produce stand.

Now for the mezzo di resistenza: due uomini e una donna — in pensione. This was priceless! And how Jim keeps saying he wants to spend his retirement!

I had to include this photo of the candy vendor. Notice part of the name? 🙂 Mary Jo and Jami, I think you would have loved this one. Candy looked good but I didn’t buy any!

Time to head back home and decided the autostrada was not the way for us. We enjoy the country roads so much more and this was another great decision. It was a little different and absolutely gorgeous. Still enjoyed the aroma of orange blossoms most of the way home. Took a couple of photos along the way. Please enjoy. Just know that Jim and I are having the time of our lives on this trip. Going to have to start some new traditions when we go home, like our evening passeggiata – slow evening stroll. Hope some of you will join us!

Decided that one last meal of mussels and clams over linguini would be a really good way to end our meals and stay here in Siracusa.

Just so you know we finished our dinner and had panne cotta for dessert. Better walk, walk for sure.

Last post from Siracusa – meet up with us along the way to Agrigento where we will be making a couple of stops along the way and spending a night in Ragusa!

Buona Notte