Days out

I have got behind with blogging as I'm sure there are lots of things I wanted to blog, but have not got round to.  For example, I spent a lovely couple of hours at the Botanical Gardens (finally got there) and enjoyed looking at the fat cacti, the palms, and some pretty flowers. Naturally there are lots of photos for the family to sit through when I am back (get some comfortable cushions, we will have to do the photos in a few sittings haha).

botanical gardens

from Giardini Naxos 

Jo and I have been escaping Catania at every opportunity with our favourite getaway being Giardini Naxos, which is the beach before Taormina. You can be there on the coach after about 45 minutes. I say that but yesterday's getaway was not so straightforward. It was the May Day bank holiday so, in Bank Holiday tradition, most people had had the same idea and were heading to either Giardini or Taormina. The first coach sailed past, full. We waited for an hour for the next one. Luckily we were by a cafe.  The next coach let us on but it took ages to get there as you've guessed it, Bank Holiday queues meant we went at the pace of a snail.
Anyway the beach wasn't that full and we began our now obligatory "Dolphin Watch" - a couple of weekends ago we were lucky enough to see some fins poking out of the water - Jo spotted one first and I was a bit doubtful until I saw it myself. But then, to the accompaniment of loud squeals, one dolphin came tantalisingly close to the beach and we could see its grey skin and we knew beyond doubt it was a dolphin. That was very exciting. We're hoping to have a repeat of it one day.

So today we also fancied a trip out, but having looked at all the options, we decided to stay local. It is one of the downsides of Sicily that public transport is not that great (you might like to guess why). Trains are apparently very slow and although buses are okay, they don't go everywhere. I really want to go to Palermo again to see the mummies and some other things, but a bridge has broken on the main route and so the bus has to go on a massive detour. A trip of 2 and a half hours now takes 3 and half to 4. Neither Jo nor I fancied spending our entire day on a bus.  I would love to go and see some really amazing mosaics not too far from here. We can get to Enna on the bus. But the mosaics are in a town 5km from there. Not even in the town. So there is no easy way to get there. Buses are not regular and taxis apparently cost a bomb and as we are all trying not to return to the UK penniless, it doesn't seem an option. We don't know people with a car, or at least, not to ask to ferry us around Sicily. It really is a shame, but it's too bad. Even flights to nearby Malta are extortionate (although I've not heard a good word about the place).

Etna again but from Taormina

So today we thought - the beach near Catania. (The coast near us is all volcanic lava). The beach with sand is out near the airport. The airport bus! we thought and headed onto Corso Italia. Turns out it doesn't stop there after all. So a woman at the bus stop suggested Acicastello. That has a beach, she said. We waited for a bus for ages without any luck and eventually walked to the train station. Apparently trains don't go to Acicastello, so back to waiting for a bus. We encountered an English couple at the bus stop, just arrived in Sicily for ten days - they had had the same idea and the same problems as us. Eventually after we'd told them our story, the bus came and we all clung on for dear life as it hurtled to our destination. So Acicastello doesn't have a beach after all. Just lava rocks. But it does have a castle (hence the name).  We clambered over the crocodile-skin-like rocks (they really hurt) and sat near the water, which was a lovely turquoise near the edge. There were little rock pools and we were delighted to see little dark crabs scuttle out into the sunlight and then hastily run back into a crack in the rocks. No dolphins though, but there was a weird cloud in the sky, which must have come from Etna.

the castle

cacti garden

Once it got too windy to sit there, we gave up and went back to the piazza for a (by now) essential
coffee. By coffee I mean espresso - they are so dark and rich and addictive, we both think we'll miss them and actually have withdrawal symptoms back in the UK, and both say we don't sleep properly. But there's not much else to do apart from sit and have coffee at the cafes. Of course, we saw the English couple there doing the same thing. I managed an ice cream (melon and peach). There was even grass and kids playing, something you don't see in Catania.  The castle is quite old but it looked a bit dark and as though there would only be a few damp walls to look at. But we had a pleasant surprise! It had a friendly ticket man and he promised us there was a garden there. Lo and behold, through a doorway there was a lovely secluded cacti garden with some fabulous plants and a great view over the sea, with swifts swooping overhead. There was also a great view out to Acitrezza (where a giant threw the rocks into the sea, apparently) and over the rooves of Acicastello. So a nice end to the day, and the ticket man even told us where to get the bus back.

Acitrezza from Acicastello castle

Frome, Nunney and Pen Selwood

St John the Baptist church in Frome holds an unexpected delight in the shape of a Saxon carving set in the wall, with the now familiar intertwining lines (foliage? who knows?) and a serpent-like creature. It reminded me of those at Colerne and Ramsbury, our last trip. The pattern is worn at one end so it is hard to make out what is going on but the serpent creature had the same zig-zag markings as the ones in Ramsbury. A challenge to draw. Underneath they had set a seemingly Norman beast with four legs and the characteristic tail coming up from beneath. This one was like one in Ditteridge. We are now beginning to see simiarities and recognise distinctive features of both Saxon and Norman work. Oddly, the organist in this church was also practising, but not as uplifting a set of tunes, and we were glad to leave the gloomy atmosphere, although not glad to be leaving the jaunty creature.

Our second stop, Nunney, held two surprises. One good and one bad. There are the remains of a large, solid castle, which everyone had decided to visit on the same day, but it was fun to look up and imagine the rooms as they might have been. Just over a small bridge was the church and it was inside that the horrible surprise occurred. Hoping to find some fragments of Saxon carvings, we looked around in anticipation, but it was only when we consulted their leaflet that we discovered some bastard (let's not beat about the bush) had stolen three Saxon fragments in 2002.

We were quite appalled. There were drawings of them in the leaflet so we could at least see a sketch of how they were. One has a creature biting its own tail which would have been fabulous to see and draw. We drove on to our next village in utter disbelief, trying in vain to work out who would steal such things and why. It can only be for money and presumably these stones are now in some ignorant person's back garden, to make it "look nice." Those people who appreciate Saxon carving would not steal them, for they would appreciate their value as an object and their historical worth. They would want everyone to be able to enjoy them. So if you do not appreciate them for what they really are, why would you want them in your possession? It makes no sense to me. My sister investigated on the web and discovered that many carvings have been stolen and that one was up for auction for a ludicrous figure. I think that the more we publicise stolen artifacts, then perhaps there is the tiniest chance that one day someone will see them and realise what they are. It is really sad that people think their own wealth is more important than respecting what has been there for over a thousand years, which everyone should be free to enjoy. Luckily the majority of things we have seen have been too heavy to move (such as fonts) or fixed into the wall. If I was religious I would wish that Jesus would strike them down for taking it, but it is not to be. So keep your eyes peeled...

Happily nothing had been stolen from Pen Selwood, and try stealing a door lintel if you can, this one was a beauty. Two long bodied creatures facing each other with a dear lamb of God in the centre, in its own circle, carrying its own bag or notepad, who knows - it might be an artist too. The creatures were reminiscent of others with long claws, long bodies and curling tails, namely Ampney St Mary and Ditteridge. There were two human faces facing inwards over the door which were almost identical in style to the ones at Ditteridge - surely the same person. The Lamb of God was similar to that at Berwick St Leonard, which was not so far away.