Enna

A few weeks ago, Mike and I found ourselves with a day with no kids.  Sam was in Venice and Tommy was in Naples.  So we took the day to do some exploring minus the whining children.  We headed out toward a small town called Enna.  It is in the center of the island, and I think the highest city in Sicily.  Along the way, we stopped at a really nice outlet mall.  I would have taken pictures, but there were signs all around saying no pictures allowed.  It had stores like Nike and Adidas, as well as Versace, Prada and other high end Italian stores.  There were also playgrounds, cafes and cooling misters all around.  It looks pretty new and there are still shops yet to open.

After walking around the outlet mall, we were on our way to Enna.  One of the sites that is not uncommon is a solar farm like the one below, which makes complete sense here is sunny Sicily

Up on top of that hill is Enna.  Beautiful to look at, but I hate the roads that get you there and back down again!

This is just an example of the signs here in Sicily.  At just about every main intersection you will see a million signs pointing you to just about anywhere on the island.  If we were around an area with shops, there would be more signs telling you which way to the different stores.

One of the cute roads in Enna.  The pictures of the street views just don't look as good as in real life.

We walked up the road, with the cliff on the side, to the castle at the end (the tower)

So, I wouldn't call this place a castle, or at least not what I think of as a castle.  I guess I expect more of a palace.  But this place is old and I guess it was a castle.  Mostly we could just walk around the grounds, but we were able to climb up the tower.

If you don't like small spaces or heights, then this is not the place for you?

I think I was at the half way point here.

Once you got up to the top, it was a beautiful view of the city.

Like I said, if you don't like small spaces, it would not be fun.  Mike barely fit in the staircase.

I was on an upper landing looking down, with still many narrow, steep stairs to go!

This is the castle.

Then we went to this other ruin just behind the castle.  There was no name to tell us what we were looking at, but it was definitely old, and probably should not be a place for people to climb, but climb we did.

Once at the top, there wasn't a whole lot to keep you from falling.  Mike braved the edge,  I was happy in the middle.

On the other side, they did have a railing, but as you can see, when it breaks, that is it.

Not exactly my favorite set of stairs.  There was a railing only partway down.  

Then you had a few more stairs, and I use that word loosely before it is more like a rock climbing adventure!

It was a cute town and like all of our adventures, we ended it with ........

that's right, gelato! 

I am not double fisted, but someone had to hold Mike's so he could take the picture!