leaving Sicily and heading west to ???

Funny how the best and biggest Greek ruins we've seen are not in Greece.  Turkey's Greek ruins were best, followed by the Valley of the Temples we visited this past week in Sicily.  Really gave us a feel for just how widely the ancient Greek world spread.  And a nice drive through the Sicilian countryside, past old stone walls and fields full of harvested winter wheat.

Speaking of spreading...it's amazing how far the Sahara dust spreads when the wind blows from the south.  All across the Med, from Israel to Turkey, Greece and Sicily, we could always tell when the wind was blowing from the south by the warm wind and layer of red dust it left all over the boat.  Yesterday it was so hazy, you could look right at the sun at sunset with binoculars and see dark sunspots.  And the winds that accompanied the dust were so strong, it would have impossible to come into the harbor through the breaking waves.  

Looks like the wind is finally starting to turn around and will blow from the east, so we leave tonight to sail to the western tip of Sicily, and then west as far as the weather will comfortably allow...likely either the Balearics or Cartagena, Spain.

One of several temples in the ancient Greek city

of Akragas, built in the 5th - 6th century BC



Breaking waves at the entrance to Marina de Ragusa

Saraha dust at sunset