A BUSY WEEK IN SICILY

You really cannot do it all in one week but we tried. Junior, Jo, Steve and I love our land so that we tried to show people as much as possible, and wore them out (and ourselves) by trying to see a sample of everything. Our schedule was over planned and we were frustrated. For example, I was upset that we did not have time to go up the hill to see the ruins of the Arab village and mosque, and the ruins of the Swabian/Norman castle which are next to the Greek theatre at Segesta. But we had just seen the magnificent temple and I knew we would see castles in Erice that afternoon. And we could spot ancient village ruins excavated on the hillside, and of course the theatre is marvellous with its view of the curving highway and rich farmlands, not to mention the temple, far below. We just could not do everything! It is Sicily’s fault for frustrating us, for having so many layers of civilizations in the same area, making us discover even more new things each time we visit the same sites. So below is what we ended up doing with many parts of the original schedule scrapped because we were just too tired. I did not put in “shopping” but in almost every instance, we found ways to do it!

Sunday-Arrive Catania, fly breathlessly close to snow-covered Mt Etna
See Enna, Enna Bassa, Pietraperzia (Mancuso home village)
Agrigento temples, Ribera and orange trees

Monday-Sciacca-port, tasting room, Enchanted Castle
Wine pumping, Paolo’s Scavolini kitchens

Tuesday-Sambuca di Sicilia, typical Sicilian town with tours of antiquarium, theatre, art
Santa Margherita di Belice-Garden, book shop of Lampadusa’s Il Gattopardo
Montevago, more earthquake ruins
Selinunte Greek temple, village, small museum

Wednesday-Segesta temple and theatre
Erice-medieval city with castles, churches, “pasta reale” sampling
View of Trapani and salt flats, cable car

Thursday-Ribera market
Agrigento-Greek temple ruins
San Leone-beach of Agrigento
San Michele (old Sciacca) pizza trip

Friday-Palermo
Palazzo Normanni
Porto Nuovo, Cattedrale,
bus tour: 4 Canti, Teatro Politeama, Teatro Massimo, Piazza Pretoria and Mataranna
bus tour-new and old Poggioreale, sheep-up-close

Saturday-Sciacca-swim at terme, ritual blood letting
Shop for murano glass and jewelry, ceramics
San Calogero (Sciacca views)

Each day we ate a tourist menu at a different restaurant and the group was able to sample typical recipes for each area. Our tasting room experience got us started because later, we learned about and tasted capanata, arancine, cous cous, panneli, cannoli, pancetta, various almond paste sweets, various sausages, and before and after dinner liquors and wines in several different restaurants. We became real gourmets about Sicilian food, and were able to rate the restaurants, and we were pretty unanimous that Sciacca’s own Desiderio restaurant was tops!! We also thought that our bus drivers were excellent, especially Salvatore #2, who spoke English and navigated us up and down the hill in Erice and through the streets of Palermo in one piece. Unfortunately, he has a girlfriend. Many of us thought our daughters would be just right for him, and some of us wanted him all for ourselves (!).
So 2005 Sicily travellers-please write and tell us how you made out with your flights and getting all that oil, wine, and ceramics back into the states. Also, since Laurie had it first and is so generous, Steve, Jo Ann, and myself all have shared her cough, fever and sore throat. So if you feel sick, don’t panic, it must be a good ‘ol US bug she caught at school. These pictures will be for awhile, but as I add new entries, they disappear to make room for more and will appear only when you click on that date. But they will be here for a long time if you want to show them to your friends next year. Remember clicking on each picture makes it bigger. And stay tuned for pictures of Sciacca Carnavale. Ciao tutti!!