Most afternoons after lunch come the siesta time. At first, I slept for 15 minutes, but knowing that nothing is opened from 1 o’clock to at least 4 thirty in the afternoon, there isn’t a rush to get up, so gradually, I slept for an hour, and sometimes 2. This is also another reason for not being able to fit into those bikinis.

Here in Sicily; like France, lunch time is sacred, everywhere is closed, and streets are calm and quiet. Only a few warm breezes sweep through the pile of litter on the street disturbing the otherwise peacefulness of a late summer afternoon. Everyone else is, obviously, snoozing. The temperature rises to 38C, it is unusual, said the locals, it should be cooler by now.

Nevertheless, we drove to Sciacca, a pretty town 50 km northwest of Realmonte. With a name bearing the meaning of ‘water’, Sciacca won its fame with its thermal baths; it has the oldest baths resort of Sicily. Besides this, since this town; as many towns here, springs from the hilltop to the sea, seafood is also another attraction. Ceramics is another thing that tourists can look out for, though personally, I didn’t find any thing particularly caught my eyes along the main road. To be fair, I didn’t have time to snoop around for more.

We didn’t come here for seafood. Like many other Italian families, we came here for a stroll in this quiet town in the famous Piazza Scandaliato, which is situated at the mid hill level, with one side the town hall and the other side the magnificent panorama of the sea with the port in view. There are certainly a lot of chiesas in Sciacca, and most well known one is Basilica of Maria SS del Soccorso from the early 12th century.

It took us a while and a few askings before we reached the little port. Not as fascinating as the others, but enough to see its charm, especially those stairs laid with colorful tiles. To the east of the city, we drove up a winding road leads up to the top of a limestone hill known as Monte Calógero (388m/1,273ft) . Here you can have a full panorama of the city and the surroundings. ( Sicily Five – On the way to Syracuse – Modica and Noto )