Chestnuts and Etna

On Saturday we went to Trecastagni, which is not far away and had some nice winding streets and a church high up with a fantastic view (it was night) across the city and up towards Siracusa (Syracuse). We went to see a festival where there were some traditional singers, one playing the accordion and one singing in Sicilian. There were some huts like you have at German markets, with crafts and fruit and vegetables and other nice things. There were supposed to be some horses with traditional Sicilian carts, but sadly they were not there on that evening. Perhaps another time.

The next day we went on a trip by car to the places on the slopes of Etna - I'm not sure exactly of our route but I think we basically drove a long way around the volcano and took in lots of different places. There are lots of local food festivals taking place at this time, so it was very busy - the Sicilians obviously enjoy celebrating their produce and good for them - we saw some lovely olives growing, citrus fruit, and we have seen lots of lovely sweet chestnuts growing on the slopes of Etna.

Since it rained last week and has gone colder, Etna's peak is covered in snow! It looks so amazing. We went to the valley of the Alcantara river - Gab told me there are very few rivers in Sicily. This was amazing because the rocks there are (of course) volcanic and look exactly like something from a film set - the light grey colour and the "blocks" of them look like they are plastic or manufactured. It was quite distinctive and quite unusual. We clambered about over them, with Whiskey the dog leaping around with the usual agility of someone lucky enough to be on four legs when we are teetering on two. There were also many interesting plants including wild cyclamen, wild artichokes, wild fennel and some things which Jo and Gab had fun sticking to each other's backs. There were some amazing stripy leaves that looked like they had been painted. I also saw some black beetles - and the ants seem larger here.

This was west of Taormina, and north east of Etna. We also went to the the village of Lingua Glossa, where there were some nice paintings on many of the walls, and a nice cake / pastry shop.

Afterwards we drove higher up the side of Etna to a place where there were many sweet chestnut trees - most of the chestnuts had already fallen to the ground and been taken by people or creatures - we had fun trying to get them out without stabbing our hands. I have just been eating some and they are very nice. We saw a massive four hundred year old tree (not a chestnut?)

I finally got to have a prickly pear fruit - they have soft, watery orange flesh with big seeds in. They were okay - an acquired taste maybe - not unpleasant but they would be better without the seeds. They were not unlike watermelon, that is the closest I can think of.

If you squint you can just see the snow on the left...?