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A popular family visit - guaranteed to have no cultural content (unless
you are a geologist). The Gorge of Alcántara is a narrow cleft
through which the Alcántara river forces a passage. The water is
freezing cold, even in July. The natural resource has been most pleasingly
exploited - you hire a pair of thigh-length waders (unless you've brought
your own wetsuit - I might if I was going again). Wearing these you go
down in a lift (!) to a kind of beach where the river emerges from the
rocks. Then you wade upstream as far as you dare - even for a tall person
the water soon comes over the top of your waders - and it's now impossible
to swim (and very difficult to walk). There are waterfalls to add to the
excitement. Eventually you'll give up, and join the locals who just come
here to sunbathe and picnic on the rocks. But this is a truly refreshing
summertime experience.
 On
the way back to Giardini-Naxos you could divert to the tiny hilltop village
of Motta di Camastra. I guarantee you will be the only tourist (probably
the only one this year). This was the base of Don Ciccio, who wooed Daphne
Phelps unsuccessfully when she first came to Sicily in 1948 - then a dashing
young Don with a motorcycle, the ultimate postwar status symbol. The legend
is that when visited by some wealthy foreign friends of Daphne, who had
a car, he reassured them about leaving it parked in a remote spot
in the hills. All he needed was to leave his hat prominently displayed,
and this prize target for any Sicilian would remain untouched. I fancifully
imagined that the portly gentleman in his shirtsleeves snoozing outside
the only bar in the village in 1993 was actually the very same Don Ciccio.
Why not?
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