Caltagirone

Our trip to Caltagirone would be Heather and My last adventure on this visit to Sicily. We knew that we did not have much time, because we needed to be home for Riley to get home from school. When we started out it was a beautiful sun shiny day and Heather was able to take a few wonderful photos for her Digital Art work. We arrived in Caltagirone and it was really crowded with School children. They were on a school trip to see the nativity on the famous 142 steps of Caltagirone. Again there was a parking problem, finally we parked and started to walk to the steps and it started to rain. We made it to the steps and it started to sleet. Our picture taking of the steps and the town was differently going to come to a stand still.
Here is a little history about Caltagirone. This town is built on hill top. The city is known for the ceramics and pottery. The famous steps were built in 1608 to connect the lower part of town to the center of town. At the top of the 142 steps is the former Cathedral of Caltagirone , the steps are called Santa Maria del Monte stairway. The beautiful majolica tiles were added in 1953. I hope you can see the tile in the picture. One picture was taken earlier in the year and the other was taken while we were there with the nativity displayed on the steps.

More Pictures taken at Cefalu

Cathedral of Cefalu

This Cathedral is one of Sicily's major Norman monuments. It has two massive Bell Towers and the unique thing about the inside was that it has 400 columns and our guide said that it is called the Cathedral of Columns. There was so much that was interesting about this Cathedral. Over time there were several different cultures that helped to complete this amazing Cathedral. It defiantly dominates the town of Cefalu.

Medieval Fountain

In Cefalu there was a medieval stone fountain that had recently been restored. In not to many years past it was used for washing clothes for the local people. Heather and I found this very interesting.

Cefalu

We next visited Cefalu with its amazing coastal views. Our time there was short, because of our accident early in the day that took time off our tour. We did get a few beautiful pictures and it is a must to go back to. Our guide told us that it is the place to go to in the Summer months.

Collesano Cheese Factory located in Madonnie Park

For this tour we started out from the Base in two Mini buses. Everything was going along fine when a young dog ran in front of the car in front of us. The car swerved and missed the dog. Our Mimi Bus slowed down to avoid the car and the dog and we all sighed in relief and about then we were rear ended by the other Mini bus, thus disabling the other bus. I think nearly all the passengers had whip lash, Heather hit her head against the window and she had a mild concussion. All of us wanted to continue on , so our Mini Bus took our group on the Cheese Factory and then went back for the rest of our passengers. Lots of Tylenol, Motrin and Aleve was taken that day.
The Cheese Factory located in Madonnie Park (was like a nature preserve)was an organic cheese farm run by one Family. The cheese vats, first produces Ricotta cheese and then from that vat they develop the other cheese like Provolone, Parmesan, depending on time, spices and herbs used. We were served a light lunch of the cheeses made there, homemade bread, olives and fresh milk. This family have about 20 cows that they use for milking and making the different organic products. It was a very clean and well organized operation. Nothing like any cheese factory we have in the States with there high volume to be sold. It was very interesting the owners were very sweet and did not speak any English, lucky for us we had a lady in our group that spoke Italian and could translate for us.
After our tour was concluded the Base had sent another Mini Bus so there were sets for us all . So were off to our next destination.

Our Cooking Class and Instructor

This cooking Class was watching the food items being prepared and we got to sample the different foods as they were ready. While our class was going on they kept our wine glasses filled. After our cooking lesson we got to enjoy a delicious Sicilian dinner around a wood burning fireplace. Heather and I got a few ideas that we think the family will enjoy