WC 1M Post Challenge - You Ready?!

[MSFTisMIA]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

I want to comment on this. I want to stay out of Laura's doghouse if I comment on this how I want to.

I often semi joke with the GF that 'Murica is having a Handmaid's Tale feel to it slowly but surely. When I see stuff like this, it reminds me of how much some in privilege wouldn't mind that restrictive nature to be in society.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/us/politics/trump-immigration-policy.html

 

[raycpl]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Just reached Penang last night. I can see some of the damages caused by typhoon Lekima last Friday. Uprooted trees, blown off awnings and roofing. We were hit by just the outer spiral of the storm... recorded winds over 100kmph...
it's like a mosquito bite compare to countries that were hit directly. Its just that big storm's and natural disasters very rarely occur and we are not prepared for these things.

 

[libra89]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Work has been a bit crazy so I haven't been as active here.

I am off to India on the 20th and back on Sept 3. I am probably in China in September so I will be scarce for the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Safe travels!

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

So I'll finish the Sicily thing first before I move onto the 3 R's thing.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Agriturismo – this type of place is found across Sicily and generally is what the name suggests. It’s an agricultural place that has accommodation. In our case, wine. They typically have restaurants too. The bad part of this place though it was nice was that the bed was a rock. The restaurant wasn’t great either. It was a bit out of the way and good for families as it had a nice pool. On our way there we stopped off at a sea side town to check out some interesting rock formations.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

I want to comment on this. I want to stay out of Laura's doghouse if I comment on this how I want to.

I often semi joke with the GF that 'Murica is having a Handmaid's Tale feel to it slowly but surely. When I see stuff like this, it reminds me of how much some in privilege wouldn't mind that restrictive nature to be in society.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/us/politics/trump-immigration-policy.html

I'd have to ban myself if I posted what I truly thought of that policy.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

I want to comment on this. I want to stay out of Laura's doghouse if I comment on this how I want to.

I often semi joke with the GF that 'Murica is having a Handmaid's Tale feel to it slowly but surely. When I see stuff like this, it reminds me of how much some in privilege wouldn't mind that restrictive nature to be in society.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/us/politics/trump-immigration-policy.html

Immigration has been one of his main talking points the whole of his presidency. I'm not surprised by this at all sadly and I'll keep from getting banned by not saying exactly how I feel about this BS.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Mt Etna - We chose this agriturismo place due to its proximity to the south side of Mt Etna which has the cable car and jeeps up the mountain. We went up to 2900m, but you can get up to 3300m if you like hiking and are willing to pay for the guide (about three hour hike to the top and back from 2900m). You can also hike up the mountain from the car park if you’re keen.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Tip 3 – Parking in Sicily, even at tourists’ spots, can be very problematic and stressful. Get the smallest car you can. If you can drive a manual car (stick shift) even better. Mt Etna parking was painful but not compared to Taormina. Keep in mind in the winter season people ski down Mt Etna.

Taormina – this is one of those tourists’ towns that’s popular because it’s pretty. If you can get here by public transport, then I’d recommend going however I’d avoid driving in if possible unless you happen to be there in a very low season (not sure that really exists). We went to a nice restaurant for my wife’s birthday and the view was worth it, but the drive sure wasn’t.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Palermo – It got ridiculously hot when we got to Palermo. It made sight seeing very difficult. But we managed as best we could. There’s lots to see here and we barely scratched the surface. We had great experiences with food though and did enjoy what we saw. I think if we were to do things again, we would’ve picked a B&B in the old town. We were only a short distance out but in the heat is was exhausting.

Tip 4- Because the drive between places is so short it’s easy to add side trips into your journey. The drive between Catania and Palermo for example is under 3 hours.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Of course food...

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Mangiapane Cave – this was a side trip on our way to Agrigento. This is a group of caves that hold some of the earliest examples of humans on Sicily. There was also a family, the Mangiapane’s, who lived there prior to it being abandoned after the second world war. There’s now an outdoor museum here.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Steps) – Another stop on the way to Agrigento is a limestone section on the beach that looks like steps. It was named the Turkish Steps due to the invading Turkish armies of the past that seemed to use this to come in from the sea.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Agrigento – We stayed here one night and unfortunately though our B&B host was nice and the view amazing, the actual room was quite average. Glad we only stayed one night. It’s in a town near Agrigento (where our B&B was) that we had the gelato and brioche sandwich. We stopped here to get to the Valle dei Tepli or Valley of the Temples on our way back to Catania.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

These are the remnants of the Greek temples that dotted the landscape of Sicily at one point. Here you will find the best preserved Greek temple. It’s a great place but there are some typical, what I will call, Sicilian issues. A bit disorganized at the ticket office. The plaques at the temples were worn, lack of good maps in the grounds. A few other things. Again, another place to avoid in boiling heat as there’s not much shade. However well worth it if you like this type of thing. It’s difficult to take pictures of the temples outside the place unless you have a very good camera and a zoom lens and know where to stop.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Villa Romana del Casale – As I mentioned before it’s easy to add side trips in, so we stopped at this Roman villa to see the best preserved mosaics from the Roman era on our way back to Catania as well. They are quite amazing. The place is well done however it’s not really set up for large groups. We unfortunately ran into two. They seem to be gearing up for this though. Makes for a bit of a painful trip through the place. Still highly recommend.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Our last night was as close to the airport that we could manage but just happened to be by the beach. Just a standard hotel type place. The beach was across the road and there were some decent food options. The only thing that let this place down was the air conditioning which we found out during checkout that we needed to ask reception to turn down and we had a noisy neighbor up to 2am.

Tip 5 – When it comes to food there are several levels of what you can get. To get a decent meal at a decent price you can go to a trattoria or a café for a light breakfast, lunch or dinner. Of course, there are pizzerias serving Sicilian style pizza.

Overall very happy with the trip and had a good time. We probably did too much in a short time but that’s what happens when you have a short time and want to maximize your travel.

In general, food is good and there’s lots of inexpensive options available. Accommodation is average price for the most part but like anywhere it comes down to how much you want to spend. The car was not that cheap but that was partially due to booking late and due to wanting two drivers. We also used Budget which isn’t the cheapest company and we wanted an automatic which is not the standard car in Europe, so you pay more for that.

 

[raycpl]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Looks like you're having a super time, Rue.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Looks like you're having a super time, Rue.

'Had', unfortunately....

 

[raycpl]

Re: WC 150K Post Challenge - You Ready?!

Night and day