13-Aug-2001 --
On Aug, 13th at 0830CEST Tillman and myself left the home in Taormina by
car. We went over the Highway route A18 to Catania, continued on State Road
SS114 to Siracusa and turned right to the SS124, passed the small town of
Canicattini and 400 metres after we turned left into the SS287 (in the direction
of Noto). A few hundred meters later we turned again right into the Provincial
Road SP12 - in the direction of Palazzolo Acreide. Tillman watched the GPS and 500
metres after this last turn we decided to stop, as values became pretty
close in either latitude and longitude.
The location: is 40 km WSW of Siracusa, Sicily, see map.
We realized that it will not be too difficult to make the point, as values
on the road were already very close and the topography seemed easy.
The only scaring fact was a noise, coming obviously from animals, a
screaming like seagulls do.
But the place is too far inland for seagulls, and in all likelihood it was a
family of wild cats.
We decided to take a longer way in order to avoid making them crazy and 10
minutes later we were exactly on the point according to
our GPS.
Exactly at the point there is a natural stone.
The area around is almost completely uninhabited, everywhere are hills with
stones. Agriculture is effected in spring and winter time, now in August the
land is not fertile enough.
On the scene one sees various stone walls for marking the territory of the
various farmers, very typical for Sicily and Southern Europe.
Vegetation is dry and not abundant at this season. The prevailing flower is
the thistle and small bushes.
It was a nice excursion through Southeast Sicily and a point easy to make.