My generous tour guide, Accursio, once again offered to bring me to see the sights/sites on his motorcycle.  We started in the morning and made our way to Agrigento to the Valley of Temples and he strategically brought me from one location to the next with the plan to end at the reconstructed Temple of Concordia, the large temple on the hill.  His dream job is to be a tour guide and with his wealth of knowledge of history and archeology, he makes an informative guide.  If you need a guide when in Sicily…he’s the guy!  He’ll be taking clients soon! 😉

On the way home to Sciacca we stopped at Scala dei Terchi, a white clay cliff on the ocean where Accursio explained how the Arab ships once landed and overlook their enemies, unloading their horses to ride up the cliffs out of enemy view, circling around behind to make their capture.  We reached this surreal place at sunset which made for good lighting on the backdrop of white clay, now turning to warm hues in the sunset glow.

On the way to the harbor we took a detour to find an open “barr”, or coffee shop.  We found one open at 5 am and the place was full of men standing around socializing and drinking their morning thick, black coffee.  I have decided to dub Italian coffee, “Black Magic”, thick and strong.  Giacomo ordered espresso and I opted for a cappuccino since it was a bit larger and the steamed foam looked good.  I watched as Giacomo stood at the barr, holding his dainty espresso cup in his large hands, drinking and socializing.  I sat and ate my lemon filled croissant and sipped my cappuccino beside Michelangelo enjoying his.

We made our way to the boat in the dark, climbed aboard and headed out to sea.  It wasn’t soon after that I went below to sleep.  I woke to sunny skies and clear turquoise waters, the island shore muted in the distance.  It looked like a painting from my perspective and I felt that familiar urge to capture the image with my pastels but figured spreading colored dust onto the white hull of the boat would be an unappreciated mess!  Instead, I examined the view and appreciated the values and hues.  It was then that I realized that these days, I “paint” in my mind…imagining the process instead of actually doing it.  And maybe that’s satisfying enough and is why I don’t paint often anymore?  I’m not sure. There are many facets to this.  The other is that I’m tired of collecting more “stuff”, and want to lighten my load instead.  Art requires lots of “stuff”.  I don’t feel the desire to frame paintings and look for galleries.  All that seems to be a thing of the past for me. 

We had to motor the entire way to Siracusa due to poor wind conditions.  Giacomo set the autopilot and we took turns keeping watch.  The rocking of the boat made us sleepy and I must have had about 5 naps per day during this two day, 25 hour journey at sea!  While awake, we kept our eyes pealed for dolphins but only came across a few buoys now and then and saw some passing fishing boats.

Day 2 brought many “medusa” or jellyfish and the only other sign of life on the sea were some shearwaters skimming the surface for fish.  I was helping Giacomo with some English and the two of them helped me with my Italian.  “Jollyfish?”  “No, jellyfish” and then explained the word jelly, “like marmalade but clear”.  I love the back and forth explanations!  It makes for many laughs.

We spent the night in Ragusa Marina harbor and went to dinner on the waterfront.  Many people were out socializing, the way the Italians do at night….all dressed in neat clothes and the women in their heeled boots.  It seemed to me there was an evening event happening, a show perhaps, but Giacomo told me it’s just what the Italians do at night…they come out to socialize and mingle, not necessarily going anywhere in particular.  I imagined Americans out and about doing the same and made a mental comparison…. the Italians seem to be more cultured and finely dressed for such a casual occasion.  In America, we find mainly young people “hanging out”, looking for something to do and usually not dressed so elegantly. 🙂  One more interesting cultural difference that makes traveling so interesting….comparing social norms and behaviors.

We pulled into Siracusa harbor late in the afternoon, too late to catch a train or bus north.  Some family friends of Michelangelo’s waved to us from the jetty and as it turned out, they run a small B&B in Siracusa and offered me a room for 20 euros, which I gladly accepted.   We were also met by Giacomo’s boat partner, a friendly bright-eyed man with a big smile, who drove us over to the B&B.  There we said our goodbyes…my least favorite part of this traveling life.  I was given big hugs and an invitation to return to visit, a promise to sail again.  🙂