Randazzo to Troina

April 18, 2023

Let’s start with last night’s dinner. On our walk around town yesterday, we came across the former San Giorgio monastery. I took this photo about its history but didn’t include it in my post but I will now. Why? Because it’s on the wall by the door of a restaurant that wasn’t open at the time but which was emitting very good odours. We couldn’t see its name but we found out by its location that it’s called Ristorante San Giorgio e il Drago. We came back at 7:30 for dinner and enjoyed every bite!

History of the monastery and how it got its name.

My primi: orecchiette with flowering zucchine. Fantastic buttery sauce! Al had a pasta Norma dish.

Shared secondi: veal(?) steak, the best steak we’ve ever had in Europe, I think.

We had ordered roasted potatoes to go with the steak but they weren’t available so we were given these delectable little potato pancakes instead.

The older part of the monastery, we think.

It was drizzling throughout the evening and the streets were wet, so still no regrets about not riding yesterday.

This morning the streets were still wet but the sun was shining and, despite threatening clouds, we stayed dry all day.

It was a pretty ride to Troina but sadly not as colourful as when Team Anderson did it in 2016. One thing we noted that they presumably didn’t see was all the flattened toads on the road in the last 5 km approaching Cesarò. They were fairly large, up to maybe 6” nose to tail. Why? No idea. No, I didn’t take a photo. I did take a few scenery photos:

Actually, Al took this one as we left Randazzo

Every time we look back, Etna is peeking through her clouds

The two climbs, to Cesarò and then Troina, were quite manageable, one of the advantages of SS 120. The other advantage is the smooth road surface. Once we reached Troina, though, it was a different story!

My RWGPS route had us on a street that was one-way in the opposite direction, though it looked like it had only recently been changed to one-way. That was okay, we just went carefully because it was wide and had almost no traffic. But then the route took us up some very steep switchbacks and then… stairs!

We unloaded the panniers and portaged; Al carried the bikes and I took the bags.

When we finally reached an actual street again, our accommodation was right there. Our host had been watching for us and when we explained we had come up the stairs, he seemed to indicate that Google Maps often did that to his guests.

Where we’re staying. Up the stairs and left.

Some pics from our afternoon explore. Troina, at least the historical centre where we are staying (basically one street and a lot of stairs) is the cleanest town we’ve seen in Sicily. It’s very proud of its status as one of the most beautiful villages…