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| Date | Starting Place | Ending Place | Author | Last Update |
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| 04-25-16 |
Siracusa, Sicily, Italy |
Noto, Sicily, Italy |
ray | 08-20-16 21:39:21 |
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On the previous day, strong winds has come up in the afternoon. My plan was to get up and out early to try and arrive before the winds got strong. As a result, I about 6am. In addition, today was "Liberation Day," so I was wary of traffic. The store was scheduled to open up around 6:30 and I went down there to get my supplies for the day. They hadn't received their bread yet so I asked about a place to get coffee and a cornetto. The cashier said up near the Duomo so I walked around but didn't see anything open. Finally, I saw a place getting ready and I went in, got some coffee, and a cornetto after it was warmed up. The guys from the store came in and remarked that I had found the place for "colazione." When I finished there, I returned to my room, packed up, and hit the store for my supplies. I was off just after 8am. There wasn't much traffic getting out of Siracusa, at first. The circus was in town for the holiday and I passed the circus encampment and watched some of their lions walk about. They are some big animals!  I continued riding on the main road out of town and more and more traffic passed me.  After about a mile, I turned off the main road to one that went along the coast. I got several "over the water" views back toward Siracusa.  I rode through orchards, homes, some industrial areas and farm fields.  I got this pretty yellow view in an empty field.  I also got views of the inland hills I'd have to climb to get to Noto, today's destination.  I rode along the coast along some beautiful beach areas with pretty homes.  This pretty deserted cove took my breath away when I crested the hill and looked down on it.  I also got this quintessential Southern Italy view: arid hills behind an orange orchard.  The seaside town of Avola was starting to wake up and people were out and making their way onto the beaches. I saw a walkway into the water and got this watery vista.  The clarity of the water always amazed me. The coast road ended and I turned inland. As the day wore on, the holiday traffic got thicker.  As I began climbing up toward Noto, I passed through citrus and almond orchards with views of scrub covered uplands in the distance. But, what caught my eye was the wildflowers.  The traffic on the road to Noto, especially after I passed the Autostrada exit, got heavier with several cars passing every minute. While the drivers never hit me, they sure get close, which was a bit unnerving. The ride from the turn inland to the turn off to Noto took about 25 minutes to ride. I arrived around noon and eventually found my fabulous one bedroom place which was down a twisting alleyway.  I ate some food, cleaned up, and did a quick walk around the town, Noto is a world heritage site known for its baroque architecture. I was staying just down the hill from the main street which is lined with cream colored stone buildings.   I bought some fruit and came back to my room and ate some more. I rested for a couple hours before going out again about 5pm. Lots of people were walking around celebrating the national holiday. I walked to the end of the road, which afforded this view over the countryside and all the way to the sea.  Virtually every building there in Noto was made from or painted to look like the same colored stone.  While the only places open were restarants, I did eventually find a farm stand where I bought vegetables for dinner. I brought those back home and went out to walk around the other parts of the town. I again decided that the best way to get people-less photos would be to take them early tomorrow. Instead of taking photos, I set on a bench watching people walk by for about 30 minutes until it got too cold and then I went back to my place, made dinner, and went to bed. |
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