# Campari & Soda: 1, # Gelati: 1
Actual Distance Walked: 12.3km, Actual Time Taken: 2h 51m
Planned Distance: 11.5km, Estimated Time (them): 3h, Estimated Time (me): 2h 54m
Today's walk was very boring. My route followed the actual Magna Via Francigena for about 2/3rds of the way. However, when I came to that hill (beige bit) my route continued on the main road to Aragona Caldare. The MVF route turns off up that fine white line (a secondary road), skirts around the northern side of the hill and then down into Comitini before heading into Aragona proper. My route took me to the railway station, where I caught a train to Agrigento.
The route out of Racalmuto wasn't very interesting either. The suburbs of Racalmuto almost join up with the suburbs of the next town over. The only interesting bit was a farmer who was selling fruit and veg from his market garden out of his truck. The would drive around the streets, calling out his wares over a loudspeaker. If somebody wanted to buy anything they would just come out on their balcony and shout down to him. They would lower a bucket with cash and he would fill the bucket with their goods.
I said goodbye to the Canadians at the hotel in Racalmuto. They didn't invite me to walk with them. The men and Dolly were friendly but I got the distinct impression that Cheryl didn't like me. She would make a point of not including me in conversations, Deliberately talking about their mutual friends and such like. I didn't care. I prefer to walk alone in any case.
I left before they did and didn't see them again. I had to wait almost an hour for a train to Agrigento but they never showed up while I was waiting. They must have left Racalmuto much later than me, as they demonstrated yesterday they move faster than I do.
I didn't sleep well last night. At around midnight I was woken by a loud beep. It was the kind of sound a smoke alarm makes when its battery is going flat. It beeped intermittently and loudly for about 30 minutes before it stopped. Or at least, stopped long enough that I could fall back asleep. It started again around 5:30am. The poor hotel receptionist didn't know what was making the noise, but had organised for somebody to come and check it out. I hope it gets fixed soon for the sake of the next set of guests.
I got to Agrigento about 1pm. It was a nasty shock to the system. A big city with not just traffic, but Sicilian traffic. That means everyone driving wherever they want to go and no traffic lights. I attached myself to a pack of schoolgirls to get to my destination safely.
From the railway station I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to Catania tomorrow. I've decided to do the two bus shuffle to Ragusa via Catania, rather than the 3 train shuffle. Its quicker and, I'm told, more reliable. I asked the man at the ticket office, in my best Italian, if I could buy a ticket for the bus tomorrow. He looked at me like I was an idiot and said of course I could. I wish I had practiced the Italian for "I tried to buy it online using 6 different browsers across 2 different operating systems but your website doen't work.".
After my successful purchase I used a pack of schoolboys to head back to the railway station and from there walked to my hotel, the Colleverde Park Hotel. It is actually a bit over 1km out of town, near the Valley of the Temples. They let me check in early, so I dumped my backpack and then headed out to see the temples (see obligatory photo of a temple below). These are about another 1km away. With getting there and back and then all the walking around at the site, I walked an extra 6km today. I'm actually looking forward to just sitting around on buses all day tomorrow.
I had planned on eating at the hotel restaurant tonight, so I didn't have to do any more walking, but it turns out it isn't operating any more. There are only two other options nearby, both across a busy road (grr). One is a trattoria that doesn't open until the sensible hour of 7:30pm and the other is a pizzeria that is open all day. I opted for the pizzeria as I was just too hungry to wait. All I had to lunch was a arancino from a bar near the railway station and a suprisingly decent gelati at a reasonable price inside the Valley of the Temples. Although the pizzeria was more a rosticceria. It only had a grand total of 4 tables and did most of its business in takeaway. Still, I got a decent pizza from a genuine wood fired oven with a very good glass of house red. Plus, I made it back across the road in one piece!
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