About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Saturday Photo Hunt Theme - HIGH


To see other contributions to the Saturday Photo Hunt, see tnchick's site.
In honour of my blogging friend Welshcakes Limoncello who writes "Sicily Scene," I decided to show some photos of her adopted land - Sicily.

I had already spent three weeks on mainland Italy, travelling north from Rome to Lerici, across to Florence and Siena, down to Orvieto and back to Rome, then on to Pompei and the Amalfi Coast. We took the overnight ferry from Naples and landed in Palermo. We didn't stay there, but drove to the hilltop town of Erice on Sicily's north-western coast. This town is 750 meters above sea level overlooking the city of Trapani. It was here that one would have found the most famous temple of the most famous goddess...Venus. Unfortunately, on the day we arrived I fell desperately ill and was not able to leave my hotel bed. Fortunately (for my fellow travellers), we stayed an extra day on my account and they were able to travel down to the seaport cities of Marsala and Trapani to see the mountains of salt being harvested. Click here for more information about the history of salt in Sicily. Trust me, it's a good read and not long.

As we were winding our way down the mountain on the day we left Erice, I managed to get this shot of the land and village below. It's one of my favourite shots of all the photos I have from this trip. Click to enlarge.

We also visited Segesta, not far from Erice, where we saw the first of many Greek temples. We had to take the bus up the hill to see the amphitheatre, which naturally is in ruins now. On the bus ride back down, I caught this shot of the temple far below. Click to enlarge.

This shot reveals just how HIGH the temple pillars are! If you look to the bottom of the photo about in the middle, you'll see a friend (in blue) sitting. I asked her to stay there to show the immensity of that temple. Click to enlarge.

We drove all across Sicily - covering Selinunte, Agrigento, Piazza Armenario, Siracusa, and other smaller places until we reached Taormina on the eastern coast of Sicily. We stayed at the San Domenico Palace Hotel (you must check out the pictures!), a reconverted monastery dating back to 1430. This was pure luxury overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

One day, we took in the Teatro Greco. You can see from this shot how HIGH up we were. And yes, that is Mount Etna in the background. It actually erupted the night we arrived and we saw flames and smoke coming out the top. (Unfortunately, the rest of the photos won't enlarge.)

Turning towards the city, I got this shot of the Mediterranean from the top of and behind the Teatro Greco.

Looking the other direction, we could see in the distance the town of Forza d'Agro where some scenes of the movie The Godfather were shot. Because the town of Corleone was so developed in the '70s, most of the filming was done here and in the town of Savoca. Here you'll find Bar Vitelli and the church Michael was married in.

I hope you've enjoyed some of the spectacular views I experienced from on HIGH in Sicily. But if you REALLY want to see something HIGH, come on over to Canada and cross the Rocky Mountains. Stay in Vancouver, BC, and go up the Skyride to the top of Grouse Mountain to see the city below. Or you can cross the Capilano Suspension Bridge for the scariest walk ever!

42 comments:

Smalltown RN said...

Oh Leslie those are amazing photos....thank you for sharing....mine are up as well...but no where near as spectacular as yours...

Annie said...

Someday, Leslie, I hope to see firsthand what you have just shown me here today. Beautiful, ancient, mysterious, wonderful Sicily.

Smalltown RN said...

ps....I did my meme that you tagged me for...look past the photo hunt...

Janice Thomson said...

Beautiful photos and enjoyed the links! Thanks for showing us these Leslie.

Small City Scenes said...

Beautif scenery there. I will probably never go there so I will just enjoys these pics.
We have had good ole West coast snow for the past 3 days.
Your cloud photos are great. MB

eastcoastlife said...

Wow Leslie! These are very lovely pictures of your trip. I would love to see the ancient ruins myself.

Butchay said...

those pictures are pretty.,..happy weekend!

Napaboaniya.Elaine Ling said...

Amazing shots.... eye-opening pillars!! Happy weekend :)

YTSL said...

Amazing photos -- and I can definitely see why the first one is your favorite! :)

Casdok said...

Stunning!! :)

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

What fantastic trip you had!!! Great photos. We had a brilliant trip when we went, only went to near Syracuse but did manage to drive up to Mount Etna and go up in the cable car..we then got out and took in the views.

Liz Hinds said...

THose are wonderful photos, leslie. It always amazes me, when I see ancient architecture, how it was built without the machines we have these days to help.

Neva said...

That was a wonderful trip! Thanks!

Katney said...

I visited Sicily years ago. That is a tale I could tell someday. I have also been on the Grouse Mountain skyride--also years ago. It was January, it was nighttime, it was so clear we could see the lights of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. By the time we got up in the morning, there was so much snow it took us hours and hours to get back to Seattle traveling about 20mph the whole way.

threesidesofcrazy said...

Beautiful and dramatic!

mommanator said...

wow! fantastic pics! you do have quite an eye with that camera of yours! They look like post cards. I had some great pics one time I enjoyed so much of a trip. I enlarged and hung on the wall!

jenny said...

Those were just so lovely! I hope to see those in person some day.

Have a Great Weekend!

Randi said...

Wonderful photos of a beautiful Sicily.
Thanks for showing them.

JaamZIN said...

this is really great series!:) My favorite is the last one!

Anonymous said...

They are all amazing shots! WOW!!! Hope to be there soon:)

Anonymous said...

beautiful photos! great take on the theme too. thanks for stopping by ;)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures, so beautiful :)

Unknown said...

What gorgeous photos! Great choices for the theme this week. I love the second one!

Molly said...

beautiful pictures. :o)

Laura said...

goodness! these are all *amazing*

Dragonstar said...

How beautiful these photos are. I'd love to visit Sicily one day, but I'm not likely to travel any more.

Barbara said...

Amazing photos, what a great place to visit.

Colin Campbell said...

Fantastic story and great pictures.

Unknown said...

What fantastic trip you had. Thank you for sharing...

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Oh, thank you, Leslie! I am honoured, indeed. And those are wonderful pictures of this beloved island. xx

Kostas said...

Splendid travel round the beautiful Mediterranean, in amazing parts and countries with rich ancient history!
The photographs testifying!

Claudia said...

Leslie...how wonderful to have had to opportunity to visit there. It is truly breathtaking!

denz said...

Wow! I love your picture, just keep it up and enjoy!!!

check mine also:
PHOTOHUNTER-1
PHOTOHUNTER-2

Happy Weekend guys!!!

Everyday Healy said...

I love the shot from Teatro Greco. The skies is so blue and can clearly see the beautiful monument and the interesting surroundings.

Flo said...

These photos are gorgeous!!! The colors are unbelievable.

Mine's up over at Flo's Place

jmb said...

Lovely shots of one of my favourite places. I spent two weeks in Taormina and Mt Etna erupted the day before I arrived too. We could not go to Stromboli either because it was acting up!

meggie said...

Great post Leslie!!
Thsnks for your encouragement on my blog!
Hugsxx

Sarge Charlie said...

we were in Sicily this past October, I loved it, the fresh conolli's were the greatest.

Katney said...

I've already commented but I have come back to say that I have listed you for an award. This post has been an example of one of the reasons why. Stop by my blog to see the details.

Mauigirl said...

Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing!

Ellee Seymour said...

I want to visit more than ever now. I was thinking about going there with my mother. The difficulty is you can't fly from Stansted and I'm totally fed up with airports at the moment with smaller luggage and delays etc.

Carver said...

Those are amazing views. Thanks for sharing them. I'm glad I got to see them even though I didn't do PH this week. I also love your shots of all the kisses in your post today.