Friday, August 11

We woke up in Taormina and ate breakfast at the hotel around 8:30 AM. We drove and I slept all the way to Temple Valley in Agrigento. Ciro and Rosario dropped us off at the top of the site to explore some Greek-Roman temples. We saw many temples and walls in various states of being maintained. One was partially destroyed 40 years after it was built! Another one was the most complete Grecian ruin in the entire world! There were two wild dogs at the park. Walking from the top of the park down room about an hour and a half. We were very sweaty by the time we were finished! I bought a really cool hat at the gift shop at the end. Ciro told Erica that she looked like a lobster because she was so hot. After that, we drove straight to Sciacca, stopping at the Turkish steps, which were white cliffs with a beach at the bottom, on the way. I was very hungry when we got to Sciacca. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went to Gran Caffe for a shitty piece of weird pizza but it was enough to fill us up (Mike edit: Erica was very grumpy because she was hungry and thinking about this Gran Caffe stirs up old hungry memories). We then visited Mike's cute relatives, Pippo and Fina Indelicato. Ciro managed to track them down via a sardine factory which was very impressive. They spoke no English, and were so hospitable! We saw the two room house Mike's great grandmother and family were born in and lived in before coming to the US, and the tree his great grandmother played under. They left it exactly the same as it was from that era. Fina gave us gelato and showed us around their beautiful house! After this, we went to a church on a mountain, San Calogero, to see some views and it turned out a wedding was finishing up. We were able to walk through the church as that was finishing, which was wild! There was a drone and fireworks. We were driven back to Sciacca and we said goodbye to Rosario, and he and Ciro went back to Palermo. Rosario gave Mike a big hug and said "tanti auguri" over and over again which I think means "so many congratulations." Afterwards, Mike and I explored the market and the town square. The view off into the ocean was incredible! We got a Hugo and something with the word daisy in it (cocktails) at Tinchite'. We also went shopping a bit around town, and picked up some local goods, clothing, and walked through a street market that was being set up. After that, we dropped some stuff off at the hotel. When we left the hotel, we saw a pack of wild dogs! There were 5 dogs!! They were all different colors, except for two, which were both black and white. I think one of their names might have been Giacomo. We walked to the port and put our names in at Porto San Paolo and then ate dinner there. While we were waiting, we met a couple who were also tourists there. Mike was speaking to them in Spanish and then it turned out that one of them was from Venezuela and spoke great English, and we had a nice conversation while we waited for our table. We ate a crudo plate and some lobster and fresh pasta as well as some swordfish with tomatoes, olives and capers. I don't normally eat fish, but this was so fresh and delicious. The crudo plate included some raw, very fresh sardines. They were so, so good, and I don't think we will ever have sardines that fresh or good again, or at least not for a long time. After dinner, we walked back to town and just so happened to walk into a festival. I think it was the San Maria del Soccorso festival, which also happens in Norristown every year. It was really incredible to see that festival in Sciacca, as Mike went to the Norristown version a lot as a kid. There were street vendors for food and gifts, people walking everywhere, and Sicilian music being played in all of the town squares! We walked around until fairly late, and then we went back to the hotel to go to bed.