Fantastic Mosaics

We are able to have breakfast a bit earlier than their opening time since we want to try and catch the 0830 bus to Catania Airport. From there we have a connection bus to Piazza Armerina which leaves at 1040. After our experience coming here, we decide to try and get to the bus station at or before 0815 in case the bus leaves early and to ensure we at least catch the 0900 bus. The walk,does,not take as long as we thought and we get there at about 0805. I buy tickets and ask when the next bus is and he says about 5 minutes. Again the schedule does not match the reality. Sure enough a bus arrives and we are on our way at 0815. Not sure if we are a late 0800 bus or an early 0830 bus or just any old bus but we are going to the right place. The ride is a little longer than the one here as we hit a bit more traffic. We arrive at the airport at 0935, use the rest rooms and then go to buy our tickets to Piazza Armerina. The guy tells me it is a 1040 bus and I ask in Italian if that is siciliano time, which gets a laugh and he says maybe 1045-1050. It turns out to be 1055 and we don’t care as long as we get where we are going. I know to just go with the buses here and not to overly count on exact schedules.
We get to see the more central part of Sicily on this ride. Rolling hills, old buildings, rock formations, and some very dry looking fields.

Piazza Armerina from Below

Arriving in Piazza Armerina only 10 minutes late, I try to figure out where our bus out of here tomorrow will leave from. No signs with the company name on it or tobacco shops for tickets. I go into a gas station on the square and see it sells tickets for the company we just got here on. The man does not speak English and so I ask about bus to Caltinisetta and do I buy tickets here and he says no, on autobus and when I ask where it stops he points to the corner on the left of the square. Back in the square, I find a separate spot that has the schedule for the bus we want but again no company name on a bus stop sign. As we leave the square for our BNB, a man approaches us and asks if we need information and I just say for tomorrow autobus per Caltinisetta leaves from here and points to where I see the schedule. He says yes, so now I have two possible locations for the bus. Tomorrow should be interesting. We walk to the BNB and it is not that far and we do not get lost. The door is open, we walk in and say Ciao and Miko comes down the stairs to greet us. Our room is ready and he gives us some information on the roman villa we want to see and the old town. His English is passable and he tells us where we might catch a bus to the villa. As we are getting our things settled, he brings us down some fresh squeezed apple juice and sesame seed cookies.
We eventually find our way out the door to go see the Roman Villa del Casale which is the reason we decided to come through this town.

Long Walk

We were originally going to spend two nights but the bus schedule on Saturday was too sketchy with only one bus. That made me nervous so we changed to one night which forces us to see the villa today.
As we get to the Piazza where the bus is supposed to leave from, we see that it left 20 minutes ago and the next one is not for two hours so we decide to just walk. It is pretty hot but at least leaving the hill town, it is all down hill. At the edge of town, we are forced to walk on the road as there is no longer any sidewalk and not much shoulder. It is curvy and we cross from one side to the other as we walk so cars can see us as it is scary when some zoom by. I try putting my thumb out along the way but no one even slows down a little. In hindsight, I should have used Carol bait. The walk takes us almost an hour to cover the 3 miles as we slow our pace at times to try not to overheat. The first stop is a small stand that has granita. It is like an Italian ice and we each get one and sit in the shade, alternating between eating and waiting for the brain freezes to stop. It does cool us down though. We pay for our tickets and enter the villa. The villa was part of a 200-300 A.D. estate and the reason we are here is that it has the largest collection of preserved mosaics in the world. It is much larger than we anticipated and the mosaics are really spectacular. What is even more interesting is the different subjects in the rooms. Based on who was occupying the bedrooms determines where the more spectacular mosaics lie. The servants quarters are much more simplistic.

The Great Hunt

Then there are banquet halls and just a long corridor filled with hunting scenes. The corridor is amazing and is over 600 feet long. There are the spa and both cold and hot bath rooms. One cold room is covered in mythical sea creatures. Another hall has female gymnasts in bikinis. And we all thought that was a fashion first in the 1960s. Since the roof disappeared long ago, the area is now covered in a new wooden roof material. I had read that this was enclosed in plexiglass and can’t imagine how hot and stifling that must have been in the summer. The new roof which was done fairly recently helps make the visit enjoyable and protects the mosaics from the elements. We finish our tour of the villa and find the bus stop to return to Agrigento. The small bus actually arrives mostly on time and we talk to the driver and another passenger. Actually, They really do not speak English but ask me in Italian where I am from. I tell them and add that my grandparents came from Sicilia and they want to know where. The people here really like knowing my heritage and open up a little more when I tell them. We are just happy that there is a bus as it is really quite warm and the walk back would have been all up hill.
When we get back to Piazza Armerina, I spot a place that says granita and it seems like a good idea. We go in and the girl asks if we want a brioche. Huh! She says it is typical Sicilian to eat granita in a brioche, so what the heck, we go for it.

Brioche and Limone Granitai

The granita we had at the villa was more like a slushy made in a machine. This is hand made and scooped into an ice cream glass. You then cut the brioche and put granita inside it. It is really good and it turns out really filling. I am now stuffed and it is already 1715. Dinner may be tough tonight.
I almost do not want to go eat but Carol will have none of it so we drag ourselves out and eat dinner. We get a bruschetta appetizer, and two pasta fishes with red wine. I get a lemon pasta which with all the lemon granita I have had just makes me a sour puss. Not really, how could one be sour here? Carol gets pasta with eggplant,,tomato, and cheese. Both are good and when we finish, I am full to the brim. We stroll back to the BNB and along the way see a small truck in the piazza with people all around it. It is the fruit and vegetable man selling to people for the evening meal. It is very cool to see things still be done this way. The food and heat will probably mean a good nights sleep. No air conditioning here but the room seems like it will be cool and we have a fan. We will see how it goes. Good night.
Expenses
Bus Siracusa to Catania 11.4E
Bus Catania to Piazza Armerina 17.2E
Granita at Villa Casale 4E
Villa del Casale 20E
Bus from Villa Casale to Piazza Armerina 2.6E
Granita and Brioche at Cafe Marconi 8E
Dinner and Wine at Trattoria da Gianni 32E
La Volpe E Luva BNB 70E
Walked 8.5 Miles