Serendipity winery

The best laid plans fail, then get better.  We get to our Hotel Villa Michelangelo early in the afternoon. Plenty of time to get settled in then consult with Google on a nearby winery to get a tasting of these Mt Etna wines we heard so much about.  

Our view of Mt Etna from the balcony of our room

Wow! The reviews of Biondi winery out of this world. Google maps says it's a 15 minute drive and the winery is open from 4-6. It's 3 o'clock now, so that's perfect.  We enjoy the view from our balcony for a bit, then get ready to go. Thankfully the route is all on country roads rather than taking us thru the town's narrow streets with cars parked along the side. In this places, when you see a car coming in the other direction, one of you needs to find a place to pull over while the other passes.  You have the parked cars in one side, a rock wall on the other, and sharp curves so you can't always see if there are cars coming.  It's nerve wracking, and I wasn't even driving!

Any way, the country roads are nicer. In some places they were even as wide as in the US. There were very few cars in the road and Google maps was doing a good job at navigating. We could enjoy the scenery. 

We made the last turn down a much narrower road and found the driveway to the Biondi winery.  It had a gate closed across the driveway and a padlock in the gate. 

OK, on to plan B. The Nicosia winery was just a little further according to Google maps so let's go there. Woh, talk about a narrow road! We made it and see a big sign on the buildings rock wall for Nicosia winery but no one is home.  I'm afraid the driveway doesn't have enough room to even turn around, but Jim says he can do it. 

I get out of the car to watch and guide him (and take pictures!) He executed a perfect 3 point (or maybe 5) turn and we're on our way back, there is no plan C. We tried. We saw some of the Etna vineyards, we can get wine back at the hotel. OK Google take us back to the hotel. 

Wait - what was that? 

I saw a rock wall marking the entrance to something inviting and I think the sign said Nicosia. Isn't that the name of the winery where we just turned around? Jim says yeah, and I think I remember that as the name of the winery I saw when I first researched for the hotel.  We happened to be in the widest part of the road that we had seen all day and there was a gas station on the left so Jim made the split second decision to turn around and go back to that driveway. Sure enough, it said cantine Nicosia. Not sure what cantine means but it sounds like something good. 

Oh yeah😀 🍷 

Serendipity is the best.