Over the past few weeks, I have had three separate inquiries about travel to Sicily, so clearly it is the hot spot du jour!  And just in time, I have loaded in all the photos for Part Two of our two week adventure to the island last September.  If you missed Part One, you can find it here!

For a quick review, we started our trip in Palermo where we spent three nights, touring the city, the magnificent nearby Monraele cathedral and visiting the archeological site of Segesta and the hilltop town of Erice over the course of two and a half days.  After Palermo, we were on our own for a few days traveling by rental car to our ultimate destination of Ortigia which is in the southeast quadrant of the island.  There was so much to explore along the way and we only had 2 days so we were up early to secure the rental car and be on our way…

Our first destination was Agrigento which is where the Valley of the Temples is located in the island’s south.  One of the reasons we wanted to come to Sicily is for the many ancient treasures that remain on display and this destination was a must for our trip.  There were many possible ways to travel, but since we had been to the coastline already, we came the most efficient way, through the heart of the island.  While driving, I was desperately trying to remember the name of a Michelin starred restaurant that Missy Robbins (Lilia, Misi) had mentioned in a headnote of one of the recipes in her Pasta cookbook.  But of course, despite searching my camera roll and googling maddeningly as I even remembered the recipe, I could not find it.  So, I decided to just google Michelin restaurants Sicily, and while we didn’t end up at Missy’s suggestion, we found a very special place along the way, a beach located between Sciaacia and Agrigento called Bovo Marina…

This is what we love and glamorize about the Italian life.  We parked in a random parking lot, walked a quarter mile to the beach where there were maybe two establishments on either side of the pathway.  The beach was populated with families, couples, pets, you name it.  The sun was shining and it was quite warm and we thought we had found the most delightful slice of local heaven.  There wasn’t a tourist in sight, except for us of course as we walked along unprepared in our travel clothes…

Do you see that beautiful patio in the pic below?  That was our lunch spot perched above the beach.  Oh to be back there right now as I look out at all the newly fallen snow!

We were a bit early for lunch so we took a walk along the glorious beach, toes in the water, wind in our face.  I have a note that the water temperature was amazing!

The name of the restaurant is Locanda Perbellini a Mare, just one of chef Perbellini’s restaurants.  It was magical to have found this spot honestly and it may have been a highlight of the trip…

Look at our lunch.  Gorgeous, light, beautifully plated and so colorful!  My husband has a sea bass with slivered zucchini, tomato, wasabi and pistachio potatoes…

My dish was swordfish crusted with almonds and served with a lemon gel and carrots.  I can’t say enough about this place!  If you find yourself in the area and have time, it’s worth a visit (and bring your beach clothes)…

We had just a little more driving before reaching our destination and meeting our tour guide at 4:00, but we stopped at the Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Steps) along the way which were beautiful…

The coastline has such personality in Sicily that every view has something to offer…

We arrived at our hotel, took a refreshing dip in the pool and met up with our tour guide for our visit to the Valley of the Temples.  We really enjoyed this experience although to be honest our tour guide was a bit of a tortured professor as I liked to describe him so that was a bit of a bummer.  He meandered and was long winded which combined with it being hot and late in the day was not a good combo for us!  But, it was still so worth it and we were very happy to have made this place a priority…

There are three stops in the Valley of the Temples with the most preserved temple being in the middle.  You can see it in the distance below.  The park is easy to walk through on foot, but best to bring a hat or some other protection from the sun as it’s mostly exposed despite many olive and almond trees throughout…

First stop was the Temple of Juno that once housed the cult of the goddess of fertility…

Built during the 5th century, the most well preserved Temple of Concordia is just magnificent and our second stop.  As I mentioned, this is one of the reasons I wanted to come to Sicily as it’s just such a unique part of the world that has been influenced by so many cultures over the centuries, and why many citizens consider themselves Sicilians, rather than Italian…

This photo shows you the scale of this enormous temple.  Just imagining it being built is mind blowing…

And the last stop, the Temple of Heracles is the oldest and due to war or earthquake retains only 8 of its original 38 columns…

View of Concordia at night from our hotel…

We probably should have stayed at our hotel for dinner, but we ventured out to a place named Karos instead.  We enjoyed a delicate pasta stuffed with ricotta and served in a tomato cream…

Lamb chops crusted with pistachios and breadcrumbs served on a potato pancake…

And a fish roulade with vegetables which does not look very inspiring right now!  It was not our best meal to be sure…

If you have a sweet tooth, you will especially adore the breakfast buffet at your hotel in Sicily.  This was very representative of what you will find, cakes, tortes, and all kinds of sweetness to begin your day if you choose!

After our breakfast, we were back in the car to head to the Baroque cities of Ragusa and Modica.  We were staying at a small hotel in Ragusa for just one night.  In fact, some of our itinerary we had to change at the last minute due to changes to the food tour we were joining for our second week.  I did not want to miss Ragusa or Modica so am very happy we squeezed in a visit!

Our hotel was perfectly located (unintentionally!) between the old and new parts of Ragusa.  Both are worth exploring but we started with the older part of the city…

The Baroque cities are named such as they were built, or rebuilt I should say in the 18th century after they were destroyed by an earthquake in 1693.  The buildings are different from those you will see in much of the other parts of Sicily and are built from a white stone that reflects the light and is most famous in neighboring Noto where the stone can look pink, white or yellow depending on the time of day/year…

We walked all around the quaint city with its narrow passageways, and decided to have a late lunch at Il Banchi which our tour guide, Elizabeth Minchilli had mentioned in one of her posts…

We shared a green tomato, onion and basil salad that we dressed at table…

My husband had rigatoni with swordfish and eggplant, two of Sicily’s most prized ingredients…

And I enjoyed a piece of Amberjack a la pizzaola, on a bed of tomatoes, potatoes and diced olives.  All were delicious…

After lunch, we took a long walk to the new part of Ragusa, passing our hotel along the way and ascending a stairway to get there.  What did we find?  Another wedding of course!

And yet another when we arrived at the large cathedral in the new part of town.  How adorable are the flower girls!

View on our walk back to the hotel for a rest before dinner…

Mind your step…

My husband found this place during our daytime walk and thought we should return for dinner which we did!  Tucked into a little dead end, Lo Steri did not disappoint.  Well done!

Love this menu…

The menu offered an Antipasti di Mare or an Antipasti di Terre which we chose.  Included were all these delicious offerings including an arancini with meat, polpette, caponata, ricotta, cheese with marmalade, salami and a pane ragusa.  We also had a green salad to balance things out ha ha!

I ordered the Spaghetti Carbonara with Tuna…

And my husband had the appetizer Eggplant Parmigiana for his dinner…

Goodnight Ragusa!

Our final stop before meeting up with our food tour group in Oritigia was in the neighboring town of Modica.  Modica is famous for its chocolate in particular so after doing some homework on where we should go to sample it, we went to Sabadi which happened to be next to another of our stops, the Church of St. Giorgio…

Here I am in front of Sabadi…

They had countless flavors of their chocolate which is made in a cold working process so the flavors of the ingredients are well preserved.  The texture of the chocolate is more grainy as cocoa butter is not added.  Their showroom is beautiful and packaging is very colorful and creative so it was fun and we did purchase a few bars to bring home…

Oh, here I am again!  My favorite flavor was the sea salt.  By the way, my top is Alice Walk and it is the most comfortable, light weight tee if you are in the market.  I just bought two more.  And my Tumi cross body bag has been on countless vacations with me and I adore it.  My Cariuma shoes are the best for cute and comfy…

After Sabadi, we went into the Church of St. Giorgio and decided to go up into the bell tower.  Now, do you check your watch before you go up in a bell tower?  Well, this is your message to do that because…

When you are this close to a bell and it starts ringing, you may not be very happy.  I’m laughing about it now but I’m not sure what was worse – the surprise of the first bell or the inability to get out of there fast enough – we were so stunned we just covered our ears!!!!

A bit more of a walk around to see more sites.  This is the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista but unfortunately it was not open…

There is a little train if you so choose…

All of the locations mentioned were in the higher part of the town.  We descended to Modica Bassa to make two important stops.  The first was at Casa del Formaggio where we tried a few of the local cows milk cheeses, Tumazzo and Ragusana.  We bought some to take with us and some more (better) dried oregano.  The shop owner knew we were headed to Adamo next which is also a must do if you are in Modica for their granita.  He suggested we try the Fig flavor, his favorite and it did not disappoint!  The fig granita was topped with walnuts, bits of Modica chocolate and some cinnamon.  One of the most delicious tastes of the trip for me…

One last look at a beautiful church in Modica before getting in the car to drive to our next destination…

Buona Sera Ortigia!  We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us!

Our home for the next six nights as we begin our food tour with Elizabeth Minchilli.  That will be shared in Part Three coming soonish!

Until next time…

One Year Ago:  Pistachio Salmon (multiplied, this could be a great entree for Easter or Passover)

Two Years Ago:  Chili-Lime Salmon with Avocado Ranch Dressing

Three Years Ago:  Tomato Bulgur Soup

Four Years Ago:  Veggie and Grain Bowl with Peanut Miso Dressing

Five Years Ago:  Sunshine Bars

Six Years Ago:  Slow Cooker Chicken Marbella

Seven Years Ago:  Turkey Larb Lettuce Cups

Eight Years Ago:  Blackened Fish Tacos

Nine Years Ago:  Turkey and Zucchini Burgers