Day 42. Tuesday 28th May 2024.
Catania to Noto, Sicily.
Today was nearly a disaster. First of all, after a good, quiet night’s sleep, we were on the road from the parking area by 8:26! Yes that is AM! I think that’s a record for us where an early ferry or similar isn’t the reason for the crack of dawn rising.
So, we headed for Noto and mingled with a few hundred Italians on the Autostrade driving to work! Haha, another first, we normally meet them breaking for lunch 
.
As you can guess we were really pleased with ourselves, especially as we hoped to get to our camping spot nice and early so we could visit the town before the day’s heat was at it’s worst.
Just minutes from our stop it all started to unravel. Signs for a very low bridge forced us to take an alternative road, not via Google maps, I was winging it as navigator when our plans were once again scuppered! The road was a’ no entry’. For flips sake, we had to do a very tight 3 point turn and drive out of Dodge 
.
At the town below there was a camper wash and a launderette we had spotted earlier. Off we headed to regroup!
So with a clean van and clean washing, we thought we’d give the camper stop another try on a different road. Yes, success was finally ours .
This sosta is on a private home and called Area Sosta Camper – Noto Parking. The spaces are amongst the lemon trees, so there was welcome shade. They also do a free shuttle up to the town of Noto saving us a walk in the heat. The transfer goes every hour and we chose the 16.30 slot which we shared with a German couple.
Noto has a delightful old town, most of it rebuilt after the devastating volcanic eruption in the 1600’s, and in the Baroque style. The buildings are all big and imposing with the most gorgeous balconies – not just the metal railings but what is under the balcony supporting it.
The town is on a hill, so the main streets are like terraces, and all adjacent roads lead up to them. The side roads boast beautiful balconies too, and some of the bars have cleverly heeled their dining tables and chairs so that they are level.
There was also a street market just before the lovely Porto Reale. Looks like it’s there every day and was very busy even at this time of day.
Apparently we had just missed the flower festival 
,where flower pictures are laid on the side road leading past Palazzo Nicolaci. Seeing pictures of what it looks like, we were sad to have missed it. This road is also famous for the amazing balconies on both sides.
We didn’t find the chocolate shop, not sure but it may have been a good thing .
Waiting for the transfer back we met a Belgium couple from our site with an 8yr old retriever called Oscar 
. They had taken the ferry from Genoa to Sicily with Oscar and rated it well. Good news 
.
There’s a lovely clean swimming pool at this camper stop, it’s a €5 entry fee which I didn’t think was bad at all. Had we been staying longer I would definitely have used it.
Something unheard of happened here though. Those that know me personally know that I don’t much like cold water – for showers or for swimming, but I was so hot I just went for it – a cold shower! And it was the best thing , it cooled me down for the rest of the day .
We’ve discovered by accident a new food delight. Potato salad with asparagus tips.
Yum yum. Now it’s any excuse for a salad with potato salad .
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