June 1, 2018
The Real Sicily
Our cycling legs are calling us for a good ride today after two days off the bikes so our plan is for an unloaded ride into the hills north of Taormina to re-acquaint ourselves with the real Sicily. You see, as gorgeous and authentic as Taormina is, it’s driven by tourist dollars and cruise ships so naturally it is more polished than most of the rest of Sicily. It’s time to see the gritty side again.
The breakfast at the Hotel Victoria is generous and delicious so we fill up on cappuccinos, fresh squeezed orange juice (David filled our glasses with the juice from 8 oranges!), cakes, croissants, fruit, and yogurt. Then we set off in a northerly direction out of Taormina which took us downhill along the main road, past the gondola that transports bus passengers to and from the city, to the coastal SS114 highway. Fortunately for us there is a much larger road along the coast which most people choose to drive on so we expect light traffic today. For those who prefer to travel by train over driving in Sicily, rail appears to be a good alternative here.
We had gorgeous weather to start the day, not too warm and just a light breeze. We soon came to the first bump in the road, meaning the first hill of many to come. Atop the hill we could see a tower which apparently is part of the almost 1000 year old Castle of Sant’Alessio. It’s in a very strategic location and was last used by the Germans as a place to gun down aircraft in WW II. Nowadays it is privately owned.
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Sant’Alessio Siculo is a beach town and will almost certainly be busy in the summer but for now, we’re almost the only ones here. There are beachfront condos and apartments all along the beach.
We always take the opportunity to ride along the shoreline when we’re cycle touring and this time when we turned toward the shore we came upon a full blown end-of-school party in a roadside parking lot. The kids were having a great time dancing and splatting each other with paint, egged on by three enthusiastic DJ’s playing techno-pop music on a turntable. We stopped and watched the spectacle for a couple of minutes, staying just far enough away to avoid getting painted ourselves. I couldn’t help but wonder how on earth they were going to get home without spreading paint on everything and everyone along the way.
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Along the promenade we came upon a large steel sculpture that looked abstract-random at first glance but then we realized it as was an interpretation of a prawn. We later found out it was one of Nino Ucchino’s steel sculptures and that his studio is located in Savoca.
Our planned route today is a variation of the ride that Scott and Rachel Anderson did here in 2016. We hung a left from the SS114 onto the SP19 and rode up the valley to Savoca, the town made famous by Francis Ford Coppola. This is where The Godfather was filmed even though it was said to be in Corleone. Apparently Corleone looked a little too modern for the era of the movie. We will check it out later in the tour. These days, Savoca and nearby Forza d’Agro are major stops on the popular Godfather tours of Sicily. I confess I’ve never seen the Godfather or any of the sequels but I am more intrigued to do so when we return home.
Along the way up the hill, we rode through a grove of oranges. I could only look longingly at the fruit as it was out of reach, besides which it would be theft and I don’t fancy getting on the wrong side of the law here.
To make the necessary elevation gains in tight terrain like this (Savoca sits at 300m), the road builders include lots of switchbacks. This makes for great cycling and it also reduces the amount of car traffic as drivers don’t usually relish this sort of terrain.
A life sized stainless steel donkey, by Nino Ucchino, sits alongside the road as you enter Savoca. I believe it is actually perched on the roof of the artist’s studio/museum. The sculpture was originally positioned upside down with a pyramid balanced on his hooves but nowadays the pyramid sits separately, nearby the ass. We inquired from a local vendor who was strolling past what the message might be if we inserted our coin but she just shrugged and said she had never tried it. Not that we would have understood it anyway. I had a hunch it would only prove us to be the donkeys for paying to hear a recording in Italian!
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We took a short break for a cold Fanta in the Piazza Fossia where the Francis Ford Coppola sculpture adorns the railing. (Now that I’m seeing this photo on a larger screen, this would have been an opportunity to get creative with the reflections on this particular sculpture. David’s legs are visible in the lower part and the blue swirls are his jersey. Cool.)
We continued on the SP19 inland as the road wound its way up and down the hills flanking a deep valley. The landscape was mostly wild with small villages and farms dotted here and there growing olives, lemons and oranges and grapes. Goats and cattle grazing on the scrubby brush made their presence known with the bells hanging from their necks.
We came upon a tile mural depicting the agricultural way of life that has dominated this region throughout its history. The mural was built on the wall behind a large water trough that was fed by springs in the hillside. There was little water coming from the pipe today and the water in the trough looked very suspect but I can envision the locals flocking here with cans and jugs to fill up in the wet season. Unlike France they do not manage their water here and do not mark it as to its potability so this water is not on our menu.
Interestingly, the poster on the notice board was a sign for a funeral service that took place some time ago. I’ve seen several of these on our ride in various locations. They are similar to a poster you might normally see for cultural events and concerts. It struck me as unusual to see such a poster, especially in such a sparsely populated area. I’ve since learned that Italian funerals are traditionally open for everyone in the village or town to attend. A poster is prepared of the deceased and hung throughout the town to alert people of the deceased's passing and details of when the funeral will be.
We’re in our glory riding this hilly terrain with all its twists and turns. Each swooping corner on a downhill is a challenge to find its sweet spot and experience a few G’s (the centrifugal kind). It’s sort of like the perfect golf swing...every once in awhile you effortlessly nail it and the ball goes just where you want it. Same thing here. You lean into it, reading it with all your senses as you and your bike flow through the corner, always seeking the perfect line into the curve and out the other side. It sure doesn’t happen on every turn but it’s a small thrill when it works out.
The challenge on the uphills is to keep the heart rate, respiration and perspiration in balance while riding the hill and that requires matching effort and cadence with the right timing and sequence of gear shifts. Our Bike Fridays have Shimano components and in technical terrain like this my fingers work on autopilot tinkling the shifters to keep the heart and lungs ticking along efficiently. While this is going on, there is constant adjustment for weather, traffic, and road surface conditions. So you see, there’s a lot going on upstairs when you’re riding a bike! No wonder we love eating good food and are asleep when our heads hit the pillow each night.
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We made our way through Limina and up to Roccafiorita. The day was very warm by this point but we’d managed our fluids well and were heading back towards the coast now where it would be a little cooler.
Roccafiorita is a lovely little village perched on the hillside just below the summit of Mt. Kalfa. We found its small splayed cobbles easy to ride on. David called these decorative roadway patterns ‘parachutes' but as a died-in-the-wool quilter they’ll always be clamshells to me.
There was a pathway leading to the sanctuary on the top of the mountain but we were both satisfied to have climbed up to the town at 723 meters and so it was enough to have a peek up at the sanctuary from a shady spot in the piazza. To exit the village, we navigated down a hairy steep street back onto the SP12. From there, we enjoyed a nice glide downhill along the hillsides, some with neatly cultivated vineyards.
The downhills really are fun but in Sicily they always require 100% attention. That crack in the road doesn’t look like much but it was enough for me to take some unexpected air as I flew around the corner and over it at 35 km/h.
A little further on down the hill we saw another section of road that had dropped away so much and so long ago that the landscape had grown completely over it. Notice the guardrail down in the bushes in the photo below.
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We had done quite a lot of climbing at this point in the day and were enjoying the downhill section but as we came around the last corner above Monguiffi Melia, another rise appeared across the valley on the route ahead of us. But first we'd have to descend down to the riverbed to cross the valley so we did a quick check on the map and noticed another route down to the coast. After some humming and hawing, we consulted a mailman who indicated that he drives that route. But he described it by wiggling his arm and hand around wildly which suggested it might be more risk than we needed at this time of day. OK, decision made... off we go on for our final ascent.
As we made our way down through the centre of the village we came across the steepest cobbled street of our trip. It was easily in the 20% range and I would have had to take my shoes and socks off to walk down the street safely with my bike. The cobbles were simply too slippery to navigate in my cleats, so I stood there like a maiden in distress at the top of the hill. David made his way down to the bottom and then came back to get my bike as I gingerly and nimbly navigated down to the lower road.
We rode down to the valley floor and as we approached the small concrete bridge we came upon a work crew, something we have not yet seen in Sicily. Workers were replacing the railings of the bridge. At home, we would have flag people, temporary railings and warning signs in place but we rode through their construction site with barely a blink. I’m sure the locals will be thankful to have their bridge repaired.
After leaving Melia, it was downhill with a mix of twisties and straight stretches all the way to the coast. Along the way we came upon but this hanging guard rail...it was a show stopper. The amateur detective in me sensed this had happened quite some time ago because the weeds had grown up and totally buried the warning sign. I dug it out of the dried weeds to take this picture. We didn’t see a vehicle down in the valley but it may have been grown over by now as well. There had been a small slide so some helpful person had patted some concrete along the edge of the broken pavement. Beyond that was a big hole that someone saw as a perfect place to deposit their garbage. Oh, Sicily!!
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The beach at Sant’Allessio Siculo eventually came into view and we glided all the way back to the coast, carefully navigating the sagging and broken pavement as we went.
Once we reached the coast we rode over the lump by the castle and up the SS114, past the gondola and back up the 300m climb to Taormina. It had been a great and satisfying day of unloaded riding. When we explained to Pietro at reception that we’d been up to Roccafiorita his face lit up with a huge smile. He was so pleased that we’d been out exploring the real Sicily. We returned our bikes to their storage spot on the 2nd floor landing and sat out on our balcony to replenish some fluids and survey the ebb and flow of tourists on the street below.
After a cleanup and a nap, we went strolling to poke around some of the streets we hadn’t already explored. There were many beautiful restaurants to choose from but we felt like something really simple so we ordered a take-out pizza and ate dinner on our balcony.
We took a final evening stroll for a gelato and to take in the sights after dark. Taormina will always hold special memories for us, as it does for so many others. If you do visit Sicily, I recommend putting it on your itinerary.
Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 753 km (468 miles)
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I’m so glad you’re keeping at this journal, Anne; and a bit envious that you can pull it together so we’ll after the fact. Two days after a ride, it all starts blurring together for me.
5 years ago