Eraclea Minoa Addendum and Menfi
OK. I didn't include this in yesterday's blog. After all those photos of exhibits and excavations I had run out of patience and it was getting time to finally go to bed. So,,,, this morning I decided to add some more on our experiences. I hadn't written up the restaurant we found for lunch.
Restaurant Garibaldi is another great spot. We'll be taking Toto and Pascale there after we get back from northern Italy. They were surprised that a restaurant down here was open since it's winter and the local village is nearly deserted since it's almost all summer homes or rental villas. Usually at this time of the year the restaurants are closed for renovation. In fact, the first one we tried was closed, despite the signs stating it was open tutti anno (all year). We had to back-track a short stretch to this place at Lido Garibaldi (Garibaldi Beach) in Eraclea Minoa.
The place was quite full of folks. Families having Sunday dinner, per custom. Although in this case it was eating out rather than at momma's house. For the most part the fish was fresh. There were a few items that were frozen, so we passed on them. I had a fresh tuna, lightly seared with a cold lightly pickled mixed carrots and zucchini and mashed potatoes. Cath had a mixed fried seafood plate with baby calimari, sardines, and the little orange fish common to the Mediteranian that I've had in Venice and Istanbul as well as Sicily. It was a really nice restaurant.
There was a table with two women and a man a little further down in the restaurant. As we and they were leaving we heard them talking. They were American and we spoke with them. They live in a small hill town, Cianciana, about a half-hour away and come to Restaurant Garibaldi often to eat. One of the women was from San Francisco, now with a US place in Arizona. The other woman was from Boston and had an Irish passport, obtained like I'm working on via ancestors. The lady from Boston lives on the main square in Cianciana and was interested in Verdetecnica because in August, when it's hot like Phoenix here and everyone comes home to visit relatives during the vacation month, the square is full of people who stay up late and hang out in the square because it's cooler. She can't get any sleep because of the noise. She took a phone shot of our Michelin guide book's paragraph on Verditecnica so she can contact them for a place to stay that month.
On Monday we headed to Menfi. It's only 20 minutes west by SS 115. We wanted to go to Mandarossa winery to get some vino. Toto told us that they give you a 20% discount if you go for a tasting. I checked their website and there was no information on hours of operation. I sent an email via their website in the morning and then decided that since it was close, and I hadn't gotten a response after an hour and a half, we'd just drive over to Cantine Settesoli, the winery's wine shop and distribution point. We were lucky that it's open Monday through Saturday with standard hours, 9-1 and 4-7. We picked up 5 bottles of Mandarossa for 31 euro. Hell of a deal. The Settesoli label is less expensive by almost 2 euro a bottle but we wanted the Mandarossa, it's a bit better even though the Settesoli is pretty much the same wine. That's like Fuedo Arancio which has the Stemmari label. They started a new label because their marketers found out that Fuedo Arancio was too hard for people to pronounce(!?). For Stemmari the wine IS THE SAME. Only the label is different.
After loading the wine we decided to look for the Da Vittorio hotel and restaurant in Porto Paulo, near Menfi. Rae found out about this place in Conde Nast. It's one of two places they have in Sicily and we have reservations for lunch on Christmas Eve that she's set up via email. Our friend Toto told us earlier that it was one of the best in southern Sicily. He also said that since it got written up the proprietor had jacked his prices. How typical! Also, since we were in the area we wanted to find the Planeta Estate resort, La Foresteria. We thought we had driven past it when we were here in 2013 with Rae after her graduation in Malta. We were right then, as we found out. Rae's friends in Malta, Mike and Jess, have stayed there a couple times and each time they did they were the only ones there since it was off-season. They reported that they were treated like royalty, with tours of the winery, fields and tastings. Maybe we'll set up a night or two while we're here.
Today the weather is unsettled. Rain, clouds, and a little sun. We're going to drive to Caltabellotta, about 20 km northeast towards the mountains. Toto had recommend that we look at this town, as well as Cianciana, as possible house sites. The houses are a lot less expensive than Sciacca, since they are not on the coast, and he knows an elderly Englishman who has a 3 story home in Caltabellotta that he's looking to sell. He's in his 80's and has a villa in Tuscany as well as a boat in the Sciacca harbor. He and his wife plan on living on the boat when in Sicily and he's asking around 50,000 euros for the house that is completely remodeled. Cianciana is an hour or more away, depending on which route you take. We can go via the coast road, SS 115, or through Ribera then to Cianciana by 2 routes, one of which is the way we came back from Bolognetta. I think when we go we'll take the coast route and return via Ribera in order to see some new countryside. We can get to Cianciana from Caltabellotta but it would mean a long round-about way back to the Palermo-Agrigento highway or cross country via backroads. On this island the backroads are really backroads. Often one-lane of questionable condition. Since that part of the island was the one hit by that terrible storm and the highways we did use were just recently cleared I think I'll pass on country roads that are not Strade Statale or Strada Provinciale level. I want to be able to get back....not find ourselves at a dead-end due to washout. We were close enough on SP 386 between Bovina and Ribera last week. At least we got through the wash-out because it wasn't too deep or long.
Time to hit the highway. Ciao for now.
If you're wondering why Bozo's been missing lately it's because he's acquired a small leak. Apparently there's a small delamination between his skin and the air valve. He loses substance and we don't have any silicon seal to try and fix him. I'll check w/ Toto to see if he has some. Otherwise we'll have to use him sparingly till we get home and can get a small tube to use.