We had been planning this trip for more than two months, and finally the time had come to set out on our Sicilian adventure. First the question that almost everybody asks me, "why Sicily"? It happened almost by accident, but it was really love at first sight. When we started planning the trip, we were thinking Rome, Naples and Amalfi coast, then my friend R mentioned Sicily to me, and we started reading about Sicily with the intention of spending a few days of our vacation there. But, soon it became clear to us that we wanted to spend more than just a tiny part of our vacation there. And, Sicilia (Si-chee-lia, as the locals fondly call "her") did not disappoint! It really was our kind of destination. Not very touristy, off the beaten path, awe inspiring outdoors, lots of interaction with locals, learning about the culture, and of course, the mouthwatering food did not hurt.
We left for Sicily on April 26, 2012. It was a long flight to Rome, and like many travelers had warned us, our luggage did not make it to Rome with us. The airport reminded me of India right away, chaotic and noisy. We spent some time filling out some forms and off we went to take our local flight to Catania, Sicily. We waited at the car rental office for an hour and a half, while the employee took a break to get a snack, walked away casually asking us to wait while he chatted with a colleague, spent way too long with a customer because he couldn't find his reservation. This was our acclimatization to the Sicilian lifestyle. People seemed more relaxed, things moved at their own pace (you cannot speed up time, or the rental car employee, as it turned out!), and you just need to have some buffer room in your travel plans. After the long process, we finally got our car and we started driving towards Taormina, our first stop, sans our luggage.
Day 1: As we drove out of Catania, it was not long before we were introduced to the white lady of Sicily, Mt. Etna. Beautiful, majestic, awe-inspiring, I fell under her spell immediately. Till the minute we left Sicily, I found myself looking around to see if I could catch just another glimpse of her. As we entered Taormina, the landscape changes from lush, green, flat lands to curving roads up the mountain. We reached a toll and realized we didn't have any change. We had hoped to stop at an ATM as soon as we reached Taormina. We tried to explain to the toll operator in our very limited Italian that we didn't have any change on us, he just laughed and let us go. We had met the first among many, many large-hearted Sicilians we would meet during our stay.
We reached our little B&B in Taormina, Villa Sara, where Elena, our lovely hostess, directed us to our tiny little parking spot in her garage. We had remembered to pack one extra set of clothes in our hand baggage, which served us well, because our luggage only arrived two full days later. After a quick shower, we set out for a little walk in the town. Taormina is a very chic, little town that has a great view of Mt. Etna and the Ionian sea. There were a long set of stairs that we could take to get to the main street in the town, Corso Umberto. This street has lots of restaurants, stores (one side of the street are upscale stores, think Gucci/Armani, the other side has nice, little street shops), cafes (great place for people watching, and believe me, you want to people watch in Taormina), waffle and crepe carts, gelato shops (pistachio, yummmmmmm), and lots of very good looking people. We spent the evening walking around the streets, and ate a wonderful dinner in one of the traditional restaurants in Taormina, Al Duomo. We walked some more around the city and headed back to Villa Sara. The walk back up the hill on the stairs seemed so much harder now that we were a few pounds heavier with all the yummy goodness.
Day 2: We woke up early the next morning to the most extraordinary view of Mt.Etna right from our window. We literally walked straight out the minute we opened our eyes, sat there for a few long minutes admiring the view. Its the spell I was telling you about, hypnotizing! Today was our date with the lady herself. We got ready, had the sumptuous breakfast that Elena made for us, sausages and some other meat for N, local cheese for me, eggs, tomatoes, fruit, homemade bread, the list goes on.. When she learned that I was a vegetarian, she made sure to bring different varieties of local cheese for me to try every day. She was such a wonderful hostess, and N was very amused with our conversations. She spoke as much English as I did Italian (very, very little), but we had long, meaningful conversations every morning. :)
Our drive to Mt.Etna was beautiful, we drove through some little towns, beautiful churches, green lands, and finally we started our ascent. In almost a few minutes, the landscape changes dramatically. The volcano rock makes the mountain looks like it is alive, it had started to drizzle a little and that added to the mystique of the land. Once we reached the top, we saw a tiny little gift store, and we went in to talk to Alejandro, who would soon become our guide on our adventure. Alejandro lives in the closeby town of Lingaglussa and owned a restaurant across the street. The restaurant was wiped out in the last eruption around a month before we visited. So, his family put up a gift store. Relentless spirit! He said they never considered giving up and leaving the mountain, because it was home. Anytime you look at Mt.Etna, you can see the volcano brewing, and you see white smoke. He said that when the smoke turns black, its a premonition of an eruption, so they pack up and get out of the mountain as soon as they can. We, then, got in his 4x4 and went on a little tour. We went on a hike to see some of the minor craters, and then we rappelled into a volcano cave. It was a great experience, and it gave us a peak into the life of a volcano and the many lives that are literally wrapped around it.
After our drive back to gorgeous Taormina, we visited the spectacular Teatro Greco that overlooks Mt. Etna and Taormina with the sea below. We spent a few hours there imaging the visuals that this theater must have brought, and the hard work it must have taken to assure the perfect backdrop. We walked around town, got some pizza and arancini (deep fried risotto stuffed with either cheese, veggies or meat) from a hole in the wall, takeaway-food place. I was addicted to the arancinis and had to try them everywhere. We had a little picnic in the town square, by the fountain, with our food and drinks, while watching people walk by. The beautiful people in Sicily!
Day 3: We had our last breakfast with Elena :( , packed our bags and checked out of the B&B. We had to make a little stop, before we bid farewell to Taormina. We had to take the funivia (cable car), down to the beach. We did that, walked around the beautiful beach, and to Isola Bella, which is a small island, that sometimes (on low tides) has a small path that connects it to the beach. It was once privately owned, but has since been converted to a nature reserve.
We had to stop at the Catania airport to pick up our bags (which didn't make it to us in the past two days, if you were wondering), and then continued our drive to Siracusa/Ortygia, the home of Archimedes! Siracusa is the main town, and Ortygia is a tiny, charming island that is connected to Siracusa through a bridge. We had a little trouble finding the tiny, little B&B, and when we did, the lady at the desk told us that they were moving us to another place because they had some plumbing issues. We tried not to let that dampen our spirits, Antonia said she would drive there with us, and off we went. Lo and Behold! The other B&B happened to be this beautiful place in Piazza Archimede, the central plaza in town, with our window overlooking the fountain, Fonte Aretusa. We absolutely loved the location. We could stay out till very late at night, and walk back feeling safe, since there were always people around the piazza at any time of the day. It was also here that we met our favorite person of the trip (this was a very, very tight race, mind you). Like you might have noticed, I talk a lot about the people we met in Sicily. This is always one of the most interesting parts of traveling for both N and me, meeting the locals, and understanding their way of life. The Sicilian people do NOT like to be called Italian. In their minds, they are a different region, and a very different people. They are warm, happy, welcoming, helpful, love their families, food and fashion, and curious! They want to know you better, and they do not consider language a barrier. Most authentic restaurant owners/servers do not speak English, but will use gestures, or even bring something out to you to help you pick your meal. The other locals around would often chime in, using their phones to translate things for us. Annnnyway, coming back to possibly our favorite person in Sicily, Giuseppe, the epitome of hospitality. He spoke lesser English than Elena, our hostess in Taormina, but his assistant, Antonia, was pretty good with her English. We had some trouble with the shower in our room, and Guiseppe promised us it would be fixed the next morning. We went the next morning to ask him when, so we could go get breakfast while that happens, and he gestured with his hand, saying 5 minutes. Five minutes later, Guiseppe, impeccably dressed in a suit, walked into our rooms and asked us to show him the problem, we figured he needs to explain it to the handyman, and showed him. Before we could bat an eyelid, he took his shoes and coat off and got to work, fixed it in a few minutes, and left, while we watched baffled. The endearing part about this place was that it was like home. It wasn't perfect, there were lots of little issues, but Guiseppe and his staff tried their best to make it great for us. He even had Antonia go to four different phone stores with us to help us figure out why the sim card wouldn't work on our cellphones. The lady who made us breakfast everyday, Maria, she always brought N his second cappuccino, hot, right when he finished his first one (never had to ask), because he loved the way she made it. This, to us, was home away from home, and a great way to get to immerse in the culture.
Ortygia is one of the most charming little places we visited in Sicily, it was one of our favorites. A block away from our B&B was the piazza where Siracusa's duomo is located. This is one of the most beautiful sights, and we spent a lot of time just sitting around there and admiring it. The duomo has a long history, used to be a greek temple and had a large gold statue of the goddess on its roof. It is a magnificent example of baroque architecture (redesigned after the earthquake, was originally Norman), and also has many of the ancient doric columns still visible, though shaken from the earthquake.We spent a lot of time there, we even ate pizza at the piazza one day, so we could just stare, and then came back at night, because N wanted to take some night-time pictures. It was magical!
Day 4: We peeked outside the window first thing in the morning and saw a bakery/cafe that seemed pretty popular. I bribed N to go grab up some croissants from there and in return, I went to the kitchen and had Maria make him some capuccino. It was refreshing to wake up to the clitter-clatter of a piazza coming to life, as people were starting their day. We got ready and headed to explore the historically relevant Neapolis Archaeological Park, this contains a Roman amphitheater dated to the 3rd century A.D and the well-preserved Greek amphitheater dating to the 5th century A.D. It is also said to house the tomb of Archimedes, although this is widely disputed. A popular spot to stop and maybe hear someone singing opera is the ear of Dionysius. This limestone cave was originally dug for water storage, but legend has it that the Tyrant Dionysius kept his prisoners in here because of its unique shape that gave rise to excellent acoustics. That way, he could hear their screams!
In the afternoon, we drove down to Noto. Noto was known as the "ingenious city" due to several intellectual figures in the 16th and 17th century that it was home to. However, all the fruit of their architectural labor was destroyed in a massive earthquake (a 7.4 in 1693). The new city, born from the ashes, was stronger and more spectacular, and true to the name bestowed on it, was planned on an ingenious grid system. This city really is a masterpiece of baroque architecture, and the best time to get a pigeon eye view is at sunset from one of the rooftops. Everything glows with a golden hue and the city looks like it has a life of its own. There is something very magical about that view, makes you very aware of the city's phoenix-like identity.
Day 5: With great sadness, we checked out of our B&B this morning, with hugs and farewells. Today was our tryst with Agrigento, the marvelous 'Valle dei templi', the valley of temples. It actually lies on a ridge, so a bit of a misnomer here, but unless you are a vocabulary nazi, you won't care when you are there! Ridge of temples doesn't sound as divine anyway. Only a small part of the area has been excavated so far, and the two best preserved temples are the temple of Juno and the temple of Concordia, build in honor of the goddesses. Temple of Concordia is surprisingly almost perfect, not much damage at all. Surprising, till you realize why. It was turned into a Christian church in 597 AD, by moving the door to another side, and a few other minor changes. The Greeks were masters of illusion and beauty and temple of Concordia is an exemplary masterpiece of their vision. But, it was a science as much as an art. There were ratios of perfection, and the pillars were built to be wider on top than at the bottom such that when you look at it from the ground it looks straight and perfect and not tapering. At the other end of the archaeological park is the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, or what's left of it. This was the largest Doric temple ever built. The temple walls were held up by telamons, basically the statue of a man in place of a pillar. One of these fallen telamons has been meticulously put together to give you an idea of how it looked when it held the temple up.
I have to get in another wonderful people story here. There was a little vending machine at the entrance, where you could put in some coins and get a little pamphlet with information. We didn't have any coins, so I took a Euro to the food cart outside and asked for some change. We chatted about how much we had loved the temples and exchanged some stories and before I knew it, the kid from the cart had run up to the machine and grabbed me a pamphlet. I begged them to break my Euro, so I could pay for it, but they wouldn't hear of it. They said they had such a great time talking to us, "few money is not important". What a great message to remember every single day! In fact, this should be the deciding factor for all decisions in the world from now on. Anyway, I digress! But hey this is my blog, so I can digress all I want. ;)
We spent almost the entire day here, and it was well worth it. You could spend as much or as little (just the temple of Concordia is what some people visit) time here. One thing to note is it does involve a lot of walking, and there is not much shade. It was dusk when we started driving down to Selinunte. We checked into our hotel and went to find some dinner. I had the best omelette of my life that night. It wasn't fancy, very few ingredients, but it was the salt, not too much, not too little, just perfect. Anyway, one of the many things I ate in Sicily that I dream about sometimes.
Day 6: We ate breakfast on the terrace with the view of the archaeological park overlooking the sea. It was a quick breakfast once we saw where we were headed that morning. Selinunte is on the southwest coast of Sicily, and consists of five temples on an acropolis. It is believed to have been destroyed completely by the end of the First Punic War (~250 BC) and was probably never rebuilt after. One of the temples, Temple E, has now been re-erected, but you can walk among the ruins of the rest of the temples as well. There weren't too many visitors, so early in the morning, we had Temple E all to ourselves. Surrounded by wildflowers, and a view of the sea in the distance, it felt... alive! There was a trolley train that you could take around the park if you didn't want to walk, but if it is physically possible, I definitely recommend walking. From an architectural/historical perspective, Agrigento is a treasure trove and if one had to pick between these two, I would have a really hard time suggesting skipping it. However, Selinunte was hands-down, the more magical of the two. I was so glad that we made time to stop here.
We grabbed some food and started driving to Erice. The town, Erice, is located on top of Mt. Erice, at around 2500 ft. above sea level, overlooking the town of Trapani and the western coast. There are two ways of getting to Erice from Trapani - you could drive or you can take the funivia (cable car). The funivia does not run from January to March, I believe, but if it is running, it really is quite a trip. It is a short 10 minute ride, with a spectacular panoramic view of Trapani and Egadi islands. Stepping off the funivia is like stepping into a different world. It takes your breath away! You are among the clouds, walking on cobble streets, with colorful pottery and lots of other artwork on the sides of the streets, you can hear the distant bells, when the clouds separate, you are surprised by what you see, every single time, and there is food, heavenly food! We did the recommended walking tour of Erice, walked up to the rooftop bell of this beautiful, old church, and then just wandered the streets admiring all the art (we bought quite a few trinkets to bring back), ate lots of food, and drank some coffee. It is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever visited, I can close my eyes and retrace our walk there, it is spooky!
We took the funivia down to Trapani, and drove to the closest car rental to drop off our car. Our next two days are going to be in Palermo, which is a busy, working city and we wanted to experience it on foot/public transport as much as possible. We took the bus down to Palermo, and a few minutes after we got off the bus started the most panicky 20 minutes of our trip! We got to Palermo around 10PM, it was pretty late, and the street sweepers were cleaning the streets, there were several of them as we exited the bus at the main terminal in Palermo. Our hotel was around 10 blocks away, so we started dragging our luggage and walking down there. N was wearing our passports and valuables in a waist pouch, and for the first time in our trip, I turned to him and said you have the pouch, right? And, N, without even checking said "of course", and we took another step when he reached for it and his eyes opened really wide! I thought for an instant that he might be kidding, but knew from the look on his face that he is not. He just dropped the bags and started running back to the bus terminal. It had already been 10 minutes since we had started walking, we had no idea how to get in touch with the bus driver who had dropped us off, and my mind was racing as I pulled our luggage to the side of the street and waited with bated breath. Our stars were probably aligned, because N returned 20 minutes later, with the pouch in his hand. It turns out the strap had snapped WHILE we were getting off the bus and falling on the street. There was also cash in it, so someone could had easily picked the cash, and discarded of the pouch, but phew!!! That was a close one. We were exhausted at the end of this, so we got to the hotel and crashed for the night.
Day 7: The hotel served baked goods and coffee for breakfast on the terrace. It was a beautiful view. Birds chirping, hustle bustle of a busy city where locals were heading out to work, in the middle of some beautiful architecture. We had a very early, relaxed breakfast, and headed out. Since we did not have a car here (by design), it was nice to wander around the city and explore, as we moved towards our first stop, Palazzo dei Normanni (Palace of the Normans). The first structure (the castle, al-Qasr) was started sometime in the 9th century. When the Normans conquered Sicily (1072), Palermo was chosen as the capital city of the Kingdom of Sicily. The palazzo, now, became the center for administration and residence for the kings. The Palatine Chapel here, is a marvel, one of the best examples of Arab-Norman-Byzantine architecture that is unique to Sicily for its history. A side note: this is a very popular attraction, and Palermo is more crowded than the other towns we were in, which meant we had to wait in line to enter the chapel. One of the wonderful side effects was that we were forced to while away time and notice things outside of the main spots in the palazzo, that we otherwise might have missed. The architecture and the door styles are Norman, there are Arabic scripts adoring the walls and Byzantine mosaics decorating the dome and ceiling. There is a cross on one of the ceilings that is formed by eight-pointed stars, which is typically a part of Muslim art/design. The melding of different styles, religions, visions was breathtaking.
We got out of there, stopped at a little restaurant for lunch and here I ate, one of the other amazing bites of this trip. Involtini! These are very thinly sliced veggies like eggplant and zucchini, stuffed with some cheese and spiced stuffing. Absolutely yummy and the first thing I tried to recreate when we got back home! :)
Our next stop was the Catacombe dei Cappuccini. Macabre, but definitely interesting, and in my mind, one way to experience this place was to view it as a museum for the conserving methods over the centuries as well as to get a glimpse into the prevailing culture of death around that time. You see the catacombe being viewed as a status symbol, a way of preserving the memory of a heartbreakingly short life, an homage to someone very respected in the village, a decision to spend the "rest of their time" together and immortalized, and each of those gives you a window into their lives, and the times. I was surprised that I found this to be very interesting, but I don't think this is something I would do again, when I am on vacation. I find it very hard to separate the person from the story most of the time, and in this case, where you already know the end of the story, those couple hours were a tad too draining for me.
We were pretty tired after this and decided to ride the bus back to the hotel (we had walked quite a few miles to get here). Of course, we got on the wrong bus and actually had to walk about half the distance back, but we stopped to get coffee at one of the piazzas that was bustling with energy, so all was good. While we had coffee, we noticed how many Bangladeshis there were in Palermo. A lot of the high school kids we saw on the buses were Bangladeshis, as well. We ended up chatting with one of the Bangladeshis who was selling some stromboli in a cart, and picked those up for our dinner to eat back at the hotel with a couple Peronis (Italian beer).
Day 8: We had breakfast at the hotel again (mostly for the view, and we planned our day while we were at it) and went to the Oratario del Rosario di San Domenico. (This place was open only for a couple hours every day, so we wanted to do it early that morning). This was one of the most memorable few hours for me. This is at an obscure location, a bit off the main roads, we actually had to navigate some very narrow streets to get there, and we probably spent around 2 hours there, during which we saw just one other group of ladies who walked in. Two of the most prominent members of this oratory were Giacomo Serpotta and Pietro Novelli whose genius is on display here. Serpotta spent around four years, from 1714 to 1717 decorating with stucco of delightful putti (cherubs). We spent a few hours marveling at the achievement of bringing expressions and life to material objects. We had planned on spending an hour here, and after that, one of us would signal to the other to say lets leave in a few, and then the other would discover a part that would blow our minds! After this happened around 15 times, we gave up and just spent all morning there. :) This was a magical day to me, because we had the place to ourselves, and also because this wasn't the work of artists that I had heard of before, so it made me very appreciative of the diverse, artistic genius of the time.
We took a bus to Monreale, the home of the crocifisso Monreale processione, which happened to be on this very day. We really wanted to witness an event while we were there, so we planned to be on Monreale on this day. This is the last day of a festival to celebrate SS Crucifix, the patron saint of Monreale. It ends with a procession that transforms the streets of Monreale into a spectacle of candles and flowers. We first visited the cathedral of Monreale that was to close early that day, to prepare for the Archbishop placing the effigy outside, which announces the start of the procession. This cathedral looks like a local church of a small town, peaceful and rather modest from the exteriors, but the Norman architecture and the mosaics in the interior are spectacular. There is a brilliant figure of Christ adorning the half dome in the center that has a eerie yet strangely calming, watching-over-you feel to it. The procession itself is very fun and festive. The streets are decorated with flower art, there are stalls selling food and trinkets on one end of the procession route, and there are people sitting on the streets (us), sitting in their balconies and the ones who are actually a part of the procession. Each group of participants seemed like a large family to me, a few kids, a few old grandparents, and everybody in between. They were all different, mostly color-coordinated, some had fancy, custom clothing, some were sombre, some were dancing, perhaps traditions that were passed along through generations.
It was pretty crowded, so we didn't wait till the end of the procession, hoping to catch a bus back, without having to wait very long. Many others had the same idea, so we still had a wait a couple buses till we could get on one. Once we got back to Palermo, this was to be our last night in Sicily, so we found a traditional restaurant on the main piazza, with outdoor seating, so we could people watch and eat more yummy food!
Day 9: Our flight was in the afternoon, so we started early, took a walk around, grabbed some coffee and breakfast, and visited a galleria for a few hours before we checked out.
We stopped in Rome for a couple of days, but I don't plan on writing about Rome here. This post is a love letter to Sicily, one of the most hospitable places we have ever been on vacation together. The architecture and art slows down the clock, takes you to a different time and age, the food takes you into the homes of the wonderful Sicilians who make them, and the people, the warm, welcoming people, teach you to open your heart, be less cynical about the world, and instantly make you feel like family! Sicilia, we can't wait to meet you again! :)
We left for Sicily on April 26, 2012. It was a long flight to Rome, and like many travelers had warned us, our luggage did not make it to Rome with us. The airport reminded me of India right away, chaotic and noisy. We spent some time filling out some forms and off we went to take our local flight to Catania, Sicily. We waited at the car rental office for an hour and a half, while the employee took a break to get a snack, walked away casually asking us to wait while he chatted with a colleague, spent way too long with a customer because he couldn't find his reservation. This was our acclimatization to the Sicilian lifestyle. People seemed more relaxed, things moved at their own pace (you cannot speed up time, or the rental car employee, as it turned out!), and you just need to have some buffer room in your travel plans. After the long process, we finally got our car and we started driving towards Taormina, our first stop, sans our luggage.
Day 1: As we drove out of Catania, it was not long before we were introduced to the white lady of Sicily, Mt. Etna. Beautiful, majestic, awe-inspiring, I fell under her spell immediately. Till the minute we left Sicily, I found myself looking around to see if I could catch just another glimpse of her. As we entered Taormina, the landscape changes from lush, green, flat lands to curving roads up the mountain. We reached a toll and realized we didn't have any change. We had hoped to stop at an ATM as soon as we reached Taormina. We tried to explain to the toll operator in our very limited Italian that we didn't have any change on us, he just laughed and let us go. We had met the first among many, many large-hearted Sicilians we would meet during our stay.
We reached our little B&B in Taormina, Villa Sara, where Elena, our lovely hostess, directed us to our tiny little parking spot in her garage. We had remembered to pack one extra set of clothes in our hand baggage, which served us well, because our luggage only arrived two full days later. After a quick shower, we set out for a little walk in the town. Taormina is a very chic, little town that has a great view of Mt. Etna and the Ionian sea. There were a long set of stairs that we could take to get to the main street in the town, Corso Umberto. This street has lots of restaurants, stores (one side of the street are upscale stores, think Gucci/Armani, the other side has nice, little street shops), cafes (great place for people watching, and believe me, you want to people watch in Taormina), waffle and crepe carts, gelato shops (pistachio, yummmmmmm), and lots of very good looking people. We spent the evening walking around the streets, and ate a wonderful dinner in one of the traditional restaurants in Taormina, Al Duomo. We walked some more around the city and headed back to Villa Sara. The walk back up the hill on the stairs seemed so much harder now that we were a few pounds heavier with all the yummy goodness.
Day 2: We woke up early the next morning to the most extraordinary view of Mt.Etna right from our window. We literally walked straight out the minute we opened our eyes, sat there for a few long minutes admiring the view. Its the spell I was telling you about, hypnotizing! Today was our date with the lady herself. We got ready, had the sumptuous breakfast that Elena made for us, sausages and some other meat for N, local cheese for me, eggs, tomatoes, fruit, homemade bread, the list goes on.. When she learned that I was a vegetarian, she made sure to bring different varieties of local cheese for me to try every day. She was such a wonderful hostess, and N was very amused with our conversations. She spoke as much English as I did Italian (very, very little), but we had long, meaningful conversations every morning. :)
Our drive to Mt.Etna was beautiful, we drove through some little towns, beautiful churches, green lands, and finally we started our ascent. In almost a few minutes, the landscape changes dramatically. The volcano rock makes the mountain looks like it is alive, it had started to drizzle a little and that added to the mystique of the land. Once we reached the top, we saw a tiny little gift store, and we went in to talk to Alejandro, who would soon become our guide on our adventure. Alejandro lives in the closeby town of Lingaglussa and owned a restaurant across the street. The restaurant was wiped out in the last eruption around a month before we visited. So, his family put up a gift store. Relentless spirit! He said they never considered giving up and leaving the mountain, because it was home. Anytime you look at Mt.Etna, you can see the volcano brewing, and you see white smoke. He said that when the smoke turns black, its a premonition of an eruption, so they pack up and get out of the mountain as soon as they can. We, then, got in his 4x4 and went on a little tour. We went on a hike to see some of the minor craters, and then we rappelled into a volcano cave. It was a great experience, and it gave us a peak into the life of a volcano and the many lives that are literally wrapped around it.
After our drive back to gorgeous Taormina, we visited the spectacular Teatro Greco that overlooks Mt. Etna and Taormina with the sea below. We spent a few hours there imaging the visuals that this theater must have brought, and the hard work it must have taken to assure the perfect backdrop. We walked around town, got some pizza and arancini (deep fried risotto stuffed with either cheese, veggies or meat) from a hole in the wall, takeaway-food place. I was addicted to the arancinis and had to try them everywhere. We had a little picnic in the town square, by the fountain, with our food and drinks, while watching people walk by. The beautiful people in Sicily!
Day 3: We had our last breakfast with Elena :( , packed our bags and checked out of the B&B. We had to make a little stop, before we bid farewell to Taormina. We had to take the funivia (cable car), down to the beach. We did that, walked around the beautiful beach, and to Isola Bella, which is a small island, that sometimes (on low tides) has a small path that connects it to the beach. It was once privately owned, but has since been converted to a nature reserve.
We had to stop at the Catania airport to pick up our bags (which didn't make it to us in the past two days, if you were wondering), and then continued our drive to Siracusa/Ortygia, the home of Archimedes! Siracusa is the main town, and Ortygia is a tiny, charming island that is connected to Siracusa through a bridge. We had a little trouble finding the tiny, little B&B, and when we did, the lady at the desk told us that they were moving us to another place because they had some plumbing issues. We tried not to let that dampen our spirits, Antonia said she would drive there with us, and off we went. Lo and Behold! The other B&B happened to be this beautiful place in Piazza Archimede, the central plaza in town, with our window overlooking the fountain, Fonte Aretusa. We absolutely loved the location. We could stay out till very late at night, and walk back feeling safe, since there were always people around the piazza at any time of the day. It was also here that we met our favorite person of the trip (this was a very, very tight race, mind you). Like you might have noticed, I talk a lot about the people we met in Sicily. This is always one of the most interesting parts of traveling for both N and me, meeting the locals, and understanding their way of life. The Sicilian people do NOT like to be called Italian. In their minds, they are a different region, and a very different people. They are warm, happy, welcoming, helpful, love their families, food and fashion, and curious! They want to know you better, and they do not consider language a barrier. Most authentic restaurant owners/servers do not speak English, but will use gestures, or even bring something out to you to help you pick your meal. The other locals around would often chime in, using their phones to translate things for us. Annnnyway, coming back to possibly our favorite person in Sicily, Giuseppe, the epitome of hospitality. He spoke lesser English than Elena, our hostess in Taormina, but his assistant, Antonia, was pretty good with her English. We had some trouble with the shower in our room, and Guiseppe promised us it would be fixed the next morning. We went the next morning to ask him when, so we could go get breakfast while that happens, and he gestured with his hand, saying 5 minutes. Five minutes later, Guiseppe, impeccably dressed in a suit, walked into our rooms and asked us to show him the problem, we figured he needs to explain it to the handyman, and showed him. Before we could bat an eyelid, he took his shoes and coat off and got to work, fixed it in a few minutes, and left, while we watched baffled. The endearing part about this place was that it was like home. It wasn't perfect, there were lots of little issues, but Guiseppe and his staff tried their best to make it great for us. He even had Antonia go to four different phone stores with us to help us figure out why the sim card wouldn't work on our cellphones. The lady who made us breakfast everyday, Maria, she always brought N his second cappuccino, hot, right when he finished his first one (never had to ask), because he loved the way she made it. This, to us, was home away from home, and a great way to get to immerse in the culture.
Ortygia is one of the most charming little places we visited in Sicily, it was one of our favorites. A block away from our B&B was the piazza where Siracusa's duomo is located. This is one of the most beautiful sights, and we spent a lot of time just sitting around there and admiring it. The duomo has a long history, used to be a greek temple and had a large gold statue of the goddess on its roof. It is a magnificent example of baroque architecture (redesigned after the earthquake, was originally Norman), and also has many of the ancient doric columns still visible, though shaken from the earthquake.We spent a lot of time there, we even ate pizza at the piazza one day, so we could just stare, and then came back at night, because N wanted to take some night-time pictures. It was magical!
Day 4: We peeked outside the window first thing in the morning and saw a bakery/cafe that seemed pretty popular. I bribed N to go grab up some croissants from there and in return, I went to the kitchen and had Maria make him some capuccino. It was refreshing to wake up to the clitter-clatter of a piazza coming to life, as people were starting their day. We got ready and headed to explore the historically relevant Neapolis Archaeological Park, this contains a Roman amphitheater dated to the 3rd century A.D and the well-preserved Greek amphitheater dating to the 5th century A.D. It is also said to house the tomb of Archimedes, although this is widely disputed. A popular spot to stop and maybe hear someone singing opera is the ear of Dionysius. This limestone cave was originally dug for water storage, but legend has it that the Tyrant Dionysius kept his prisoners in here because of its unique shape that gave rise to excellent acoustics. That way, he could hear their screams!
In the afternoon, we drove down to Noto. Noto was known as the "ingenious city" due to several intellectual figures in the 16th and 17th century that it was home to. However, all the fruit of their architectural labor was destroyed in a massive earthquake (a 7.4 in 1693). The new city, born from the ashes, was stronger and more spectacular, and true to the name bestowed on it, was planned on an ingenious grid system. This city really is a masterpiece of baroque architecture, and the best time to get a pigeon eye view is at sunset from one of the rooftops. Everything glows with a golden hue and the city looks like it has a life of its own. There is something very magical about that view, makes you very aware of the city's phoenix-like identity.
Day 5: With great sadness, we checked out of our B&B this morning, with hugs and farewells. Today was our tryst with Agrigento, the marvelous 'Valle dei templi', the valley of temples. It actually lies on a ridge, so a bit of a misnomer here, but unless you are a vocabulary nazi, you won't care when you are there! Ridge of temples doesn't sound as divine anyway. Only a small part of the area has been excavated so far, and the two best preserved temples are the temple of Juno and the temple of Concordia, build in honor of the goddesses. Temple of Concordia is surprisingly almost perfect, not much damage at all. Surprising, till you realize why. It was turned into a Christian church in 597 AD, by moving the door to another side, and a few other minor changes. The Greeks were masters of illusion and beauty and temple of Concordia is an exemplary masterpiece of their vision. But, it was a science as much as an art. There were ratios of perfection, and the pillars were built to be wider on top than at the bottom such that when you look at it from the ground it looks straight and perfect and not tapering. At the other end of the archaeological park is the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, or what's left of it. This was the largest Doric temple ever built. The temple walls were held up by telamons, basically the statue of a man in place of a pillar. One of these fallen telamons has been meticulously put together to give you an idea of how it looked when it held the temple up.
I have to get in another wonderful people story here. There was a little vending machine at the entrance, where you could put in some coins and get a little pamphlet with information. We didn't have any coins, so I took a Euro to the food cart outside and asked for some change. We chatted about how much we had loved the temples and exchanged some stories and before I knew it, the kid from the cart had run up to the machine and grabbed me a pamphlet. I begged them to break my Euro, so I could pay for it, but they wouldn't hear of it. They said they had such a great time talking to us, "few money is not important". What a great message to remember every single day! In fact, this should be the deciding factor for all decisions in the world from now on. Anyway, I digress! But hey this is my blog, so I can digress all I want. ;)
We spent almost the entire day here, and it was well worth it. You could spend as much or as little (just the temple of Concordia is what some people visit) time here. One thing to note is it does involve a lot of walking, and there is not much shade. It was dusk when we started driving down to Selinunte. We checked into our hotel and went to find some dinner. I had the best omelette of my life that night. It wasn't fancy, very few ingredients, but it was the salt, not too much, not too little, just perfect. Anyway, one of the many things I ate in Sicily that I dream about sometimes.
Day 6: We ate breakfast on the terrace with the view of the archaeological park overlooking the sea. It was a quick breakfast once we saw where we were headed that morning. Selinunte is on the southwest coast of Sicily, and consists of five temples on an acropolis. It is believed to have been destroyed completely by the end of the First Punic War (~250 BC) and was probably never rebuilt after. One of the temples, Temple E, has now been re-erected, but you can walk among the ruins of the rest of the temples as well. There weren't too many visitors, so early in the morning, we had Temple E all to ourselves. Surrounded by wildflowers, and a view of the sea in the distance, it felt... alive! There was a trolley train that you could take around the park if you didn't want to walk, but if it is physically possible, I definitely recommend walking. From an architectural/historical perspective, Agrigento is a treasure trove and if one had to pick between these two, I would have a really hard time suggesting skipping it. However, Selinunte was hands-down, the more magical of the two. I was so glad that we made time to stop here.
We grabbed some food and started driving to Erice. The town, Erice, is located on top of Mt. Erice, at around 2500 ft. above sea level, overlooking the town of Trapani and the western coast. There are two ways of getting to Erice from Trapani - you could drive or you can take the funivia (cable car). The funivia does not run from January to March, I believe, but if it is running, it really is quite a trip. It is a short 10 minute ride, with a spectacular panoramic view of Trapani and Egadi islands. Stepping off the funivia is like stepping into a different world. It takes your breath away! You are among the clouds, walking on cobble streets, with colorful pottery and lots of other artwork on the sides of the streets, you can hear the distant bells, when the clouds separate, you are surprised by what you see, every single time, and there is food, heavenly food! We did the recommended walking tour of Erice, walked up to the rooftop bell of this beautiful, old church, and then just wandered the streets admiring all the art (we bought quite a few trinkets to bring back), ate lots of food, and drank some coffee. It is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever visited, I can close my eyes and retrace our walk there, it is spooky!
We took the funivia down to Trapani, and drove to the closest car rental to drop off our car. Our next two days are going to be in Palermo, which is a busy, working city and we wanted to experience it on foot/public transport as much as possible. We took the bus down to Palermo, and a few minutes after we got off the bus started the most panicky 20 minutes of our trip! We got to Palermo around 10PM, it was pretty late, and the street sweepers were cleaning the streets, there were several of them as we exited the bus at the main terminal in Palermo. Our hotel was around 10 blocks away, so we started dragging our luggage and walking down there. N was wearing our passports and valuables in a waist pouch, and for the first time in our trip, I turned to him and said you have the pouch, right? And, N, without even checking said "of course", and we took another step when he reached for it and his eyes opened really wide! I thought for an instant that he might be kidding, but knew from the look on his face that he is not. He just dropped the bags and started running back to the bus terminal. It had already been 10 minutes since we had started walking, we had no idea how to get in touch with the bus driver who had dropped us off, and my mind was racing as I pulled our luggage to the side of the street and waited with bated breath. Our stars were probably aligned, because N returned 20 minutes later, with the pouch in his hand. It turns out the strap had snapped WHILE we were getting off the bus and falling on the street. There was also cash in it, so someone could had easily picked the cash, and discarded of the pouch, but phew!!! That was a close one. We were exhausted at the end of this, so we got to the hotel and crashed for the night.
Day 7: The hotel served baked goods and coffee for breakfast on the terrace. It was a beautiful view. Birds chirping, hustle bustle of a busy city where locals were heading out to work, in the middle of some beautiful architecture. We had a very early, relaxed breakfast, and headed out. Since we did not have a car here (by design), it was nice to wander around the city and explore, as we moved towards our first stop, Palazzo dei Normanni (Palace of the Normans). The first structure (the castle, al-Qasr) was started sometime in the 9th century. When the Normans conquered Sicily (1072), Palermo was chosen as the capital city of the Kingdom of Sicily. The palazzo, now, became the center for administration and residence for the kings. The Palatine Chapel here, is a marvel, one of the best examples of Arab-Norman-Byzantine architecture that is unique to Sicily for its history. A side note: this is a very popular attraction, and Palermo is more crowded than the other towns we were in, which meant we had to wait in line to enter the chapel. One of the wonderful side effects was that we were forced to while away time and notice things outside of the main spots in the palazzo, that we otherwise might have missed. The architecture and the door styles are Norman, there are Arabic scripts adoring the walls and Byzantine mosaics decorating the dome and ceiling. There is a cross on one of the ceilings that is formed by eight-pointed stars, which is typically a part of Muslim art/design. The melding of different styles, religions, visions was breathtaking.
We got out of there, stopped at a little restaurant for lunch and here I ate, one of the other amazing bites of this trip. Involtini! These are very thinly sliced veggies like eggplant and zucchini, stuffed with some cheese and spiced stuffing. Absolutely yummy and the first thing I tried to recreate when we got back home! :)
Our next stop was the Catacombe dei Cappuccini. Macabre, but definitely interesting, and in my mind, one way to experience this place was to view it as a museum for the conserving methods over the centuries as well as to get a glimpse into the prevailing culture of death around that time. You see the catacombe being viewed as a status symbol, a way of preserving the memory of a heartbreakingly short life, an homage to someone very respected in the village, a decision to spend the "rest of their time" together and immortalized, and each of those gives you a window into their lives, and the times. I was surprised that I found this to be very interesting, but I don't think this is something I would do again, when I am on vacation. I find it very hard to separate the person from the story most of the time, and in this case, where you already know the end of the story, those couple hours were a tad too draining for me.
We were pretty tired after this and decided to ride the bus back to the hotel (we had walked quite a few miles to get here). Of course, we got on the wrong bus and actually had to walk about half the distance back, but we stopped to get coffee at one of the piazzas that was bustling with energy, so all was good. While we had coffee, we noticed how many Bangladeshis there were in Palermo. A lot of the high school kids we saw on the buses were Bangladeshis, as well. We ended up chatting with one of the Bangladeshis who was selling some stromboli in a cart, and picked those up for our dinner to eat back at the hotel with a couple Peronis (Italian beer).
Day 8: We had breakfast at the hotel again (mostly for the view, and we planned our day while we were at it) and went to the Oratario del Rosario di San Domenico. (This place was open only for a couple hours every day, so we wanted to do it early that morning). This was one of the most memorable few hours for me. This is at an obscure location, a bit off the main roads, we actually had to navigate some very narrow streets to get there, and we probably spent around 2 hours there, during which we saw just one other group of ladies who walked in. Two of the most prominent members of this oratory were Giacomo Serpotta and Pietro Novelli whose genius is on display here. Serpotta spent around four years, from 1714 to 1717 decorating with stucco of delightful putti (cherubs). We spent a few hours marveling at the achievement of bringing expressions and life to material objects. We had planned on spending an hour here, and after that, one of us would signal to the other to say lets leave in a few, and then the other would discover a part that would blow our minds! After this happened around 15 times, we gave up and just spent all morning there. :) This was a magical day to me, because we had the place to ourselves, and also because this wasn't the work of artists that I had heard of before, so it made me very appreciative of the diverse, artistic genius of the time.
We took a bus to Monreale, the home of the crocifisso Monreale processione, which happened to be on this very day. We really wanted to witness an event while we were there, so we planned to be on Monreale on this day. This is the last day of a festival to celebrate SS Crucifix, the patron saint of Monreale. It ends with a procession that transforms the streets of Monreale into a spectacle of candles and flowers. We first visited the cathedral of Monreale that was to close early that day, to prepare for the Archbishop placing the effigy outside, which announces the start of the procession. This cathedral looks like a local church of a small town, peaceful and rather modest from the exteriors, but the Norman architecture and the mosaics in the interior are spectacular. There is a brilliant figure of Christ adorning the half dome in the center that has a eerie yet strangely calming, watching-over-you feel to it. The procession itself is very fun and festive. The streets are decorated with flower art, there are stalls selling food and trinkets on one end of the procession route, and there are people sitting on the streets (us), sitting in their balconies and the ones who are actually a part of the procession. Each group of participants seemed like a large family to me, a few kids, a few old grandparents, and everybody in between. They were all different, mostly color-coordinated, some had fancy, custom clothing, some were sombre, some were dancing, perhaps traditions that were passed along through generations.
It was pretty crowded, so we didn't wait till the end of the procession, hoping to catch a bus back, without having to wait very long. Many others had the same idea, so we still had a wait a couple buses till we could get on one. Once we got back to Palermo, this was to be our last night in Sicily, so we found a traditional restaurant on the main piazza, with outdoor seating, so we could people watch and eat more yummy food!
Day 9: Our flight was in the afternoon, so we started early, took a walk around, grabbed some coffee and breakfast, and visited a galleria for a few hours before we checked out.
We stopped in Rome for a couple of days, but I don't plan on writing about Rome here. This post is a love letter to Sicily, one of the most hospitable places we have ever been on vacation together. The architecture and art slows down the clock, takes you to a different time and age, the food takes you into the homes of the wonderful Sicilians who make them, and the people, the warm, welcoming people, teach you to open your heart, be less cynical about the world, and instantly make you feel like family! Sicilia, we can't wait to meet you again! :)
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