Our last tour in Sicily was an extra excursion with Go Ahead called "Hidden Sicily" to a town the locals are very proud of because part of The Godfather was filmed there. After walking around the town for two hours I could see why it ended up as a film location. Everywhere we looked it appeared to be a quaint Italian village. Everyone in Forza D'agro is proud of this film heritage with souvenirs and photos up on every store wall. (to see the full size versions of the images just click on the photo)

 This may be my favorite photo from the trip. From the courtyard to the walls to the ironwork to the castle on the hilltop it practically screams Italy.

 Ornate doors are everywhere in Italy. From hand carved lions to intricate ironwork there are gorgeous doors everywhere but this one with the broken stone work around it, turquoise color and ancient hardware just captured my heart. 

 Castelmola is also a little quaint village but it has a bit more polish on it than the first village. The paint looks new and the shops are a bit more expensive. But not every corner was polished...like this one. I love how "real" it looks and undressed up for the tourists.

There were a few real surprises in Sicily for us. We were amazed that a lot of the terrain looks like California, that there seemed to more emphasis on wine and wine tasting than we encountered in Northern Italy, that we were able to communicate much easier with my broken Italian and their broken English to be able to have a wonderful time. Palermo felt like a big city with all of the unwelcoming attitudes you would expect to get in a big city whereas Milan had none of that feel to us. Siracusa and Taormina brought us back to the friendly welcome we had encountered in Northern Italy. I would love to return again someday and explore central Italy but I think our next excursion overseas will be to Spain.

Next week I'll start sharing our Bavarian Castle Tour with all of you so I hope you can visit back this time next week!

Cat