Caltabellotta, Italy

Our second day of outings was to the city of Caltabellotta, which is located about 40 minutes north of our hotel. You can actually see the area from our hotel and Jason had made a comment on the first day that he wanted to go up there and wondered how long it would take - little did we know!!

The town is 3,100 feet above sea level and is an ancient village with a medieval center. Just a little history -- in 1090, the already fortified village was taken from the Arabs by the Norman king Count Roger, who built the Chiesa Madre and fortified the now ruined castle. It was in this castle in 1194 that William III, heir to the Norman throne, and his mother were imprisoned and probably murdered by Emperor Henry VI; it was also the site of the signing of the 1302 peace treaty between Frederick II of Aragon and Charles of Valois, putting an end to the Sicilian Vespers.

It was such a beautiful drive through the town.

The roads are so small that at one point, with all the cars and our little tour bus trying to get through at the same time, we had to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way. I loved it!

Jason was in charge of the camera so there were lots of photos taken.

This is the "hill" you could see from our hotel and it was the remains of the castle.

But first we visited this old church.

Stunning views all around us.

Looking down onto the town of Caltabellotta. You could see and hear all the sounds of the town.

It was very peaceful.

I just loved the way they are all close together like this.

Then Jason said, let's climb the "hill" behind you." My response was - NO!

But I did it.

And was rewarded with this beautiful view.

Time to head back down.

And get some lunch!

Out of all the meals we had on this trip, this one was by the far the BEST. I don't know what it was but everything was so delicious. Here in Caltabellotta they make homemade ricotta cheese and it was so delicious. I could have probably eaten a whole bowl of it. We had so many courses and so much food we couldn't finish it all and I guess we insulted Mama, who was cooking all the food for us while the son served us!! We had a wonderful meat at the end served with a wonderful gravy. I am not a gravy fan and never add it to my food but this gravy was AMAZING and I couldn't get enough of it. Seriously, every one at lunch said the same thing.

I really wish we could eat like that here at home. So much harder when you can get such good fresh local food as easily. But I'm determined to do better.

Once we returned we had some time to relax before we had massages and then our gala event. So we walked down to the beach so Jason could take a dip in the sea.

If you look up in the distance you can see the tall hill that was the castle we visited earlier in the day. We had a lot of fun, when people asked us what we did that day (everyone got to pick from several different excursions), pointing up there and saying we climbed up that hill.

He lasted about 15 minutes - it was quite chilly!! But he had to at least take a swim.

While Jason spent some time collecting rocks for Jack, I walked around the resort and took pictures of the landscaping, since I loved how they did their plantings.