Zafferana and Etna

Greetings:

For those of you who have been following the blog you can put your own caption on this one of Chris rapturing in the Kictken:


Well, it is the second week and our heroes still cannot get it together for touring early. The sun is shining on the terrazzo; Etna is very clear; is the laundry dry yet on the clotheslines; let’s have some breakfast; are you done with the bathroom yet?

Upon posting the next chapter of the blog in Giarre we have hit prime time in Sicily – 1PM – everything is closing – you can talk to God later. Never-the-less we headed for Zafferana Etnea to boldly head for Gini and Chris versus the volcano. (Gini-“We want to increase our…height? What is it?”; Chris: “Width?! No? Ah, altitude; Gini:”Yeah, that’s it!””)

Zafferana was bigger than we expected and boasted a fine duomo on Piazza Umberto:


As you can see this is looking uphill, while if you turn around and look down the hill you will see the town’s public garden:



The tourist office was of course closed for midday rest so we decided to fill the remaining hour with some lunch; maybe some pizza. Well we fell into a nice restaurant and the next thing you know we were being served some house wine with macaroni, tomato sauce with meat and mushrooms and some excellent bread. This was followed by some delicious lamb chops grilled with rosemary and some kind of wonderful sauce. Of course we had to finish with a strawberry tart and some coffee.

The waiter congratulated Chris on his Italian while Chris denied he understood anything. We noticed that one went up to the cash register to pay. However of the three parties that had been eating, the first party had spent about a half hour at the cash register immersed in lively conversation and the second party was well into their half hour. We waited patiently after we asked if we could pay and they brought the bill over but did not take any payment because, of course, you did that at the register.

The major domo was a twin for Skip Hull. He and our waiter had befriended us at this point and when Chris went over to the register to pay, the waiter poured Chris an orange liqueur in appreciation of our business. Chris said he thought the waiter said it was made from oranges that were not used for eating. As Chris brought it over to Gini to try the previous party caught our eye and Chris said good afternoon in Italian. The next thing you know it is now our turn to be immersed in lively conversation. One of the couples spoke English very well and exchanged stories with us about the United States and their three visits centered around visiting his sister in New York as a launching point for San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He really liked Las Vegas.

It felt great to just hang out and chat with everyone; mostly in English but also with a lot of broken Italian thrown in. When Chris began to question our dedication to investigating historical sites Gini summed up the situation with f--- the historical sites this is too much fun!

Eventually we did hit the tourist office and headed further up the slopes. Again pictures cannot describe the experience. After about five or six kilometers of winding road all vegetation disappeared and there were only lava fields:


The most recent eruption had been 2002 and not 1993 as we had first thought. It wiped out the ski area and some of the road to Zafferana. The up side of all this is that they grow an amazing variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and support sheep and cattle.

The temperature quickly reminded us of New Hampshire as we approached about a mile in altitude.

Here are two pictures taken from the same spot. One is looking up and then Chris turned around and took the opposite view.

There is a better sense of the lava fields in this shot. The downward perspective shows why the sun is shining so brightly since we were above the clouds:

Darkness set in as we spiraled down the mountain into Giarre’s rush hour. A simple meal of caprese and lemon risotto will have to suffice tonight.

Buona notte.

Taormina and Etna

Greetings:

As promised, here is what we saw as we came to the end of our street and turned left, ecco Etna:


Just a bit dramatic. It reminds us of when we were with Rick and Hanna in Bellingham, WA and Mount Baker was close by. This time it is the same size mountain but less than three miles away from its slopes. Oh yeah, it is also an active volcano. Last big lava flows in 1991 and 1993. It does make for amazing soil.

Our agenda took us north today to Taormina. This is one of the top tourist spots in Sicily. We tried to capture the town in pictures but we reached the limits of our talents with a camera and have just meager glimpses. It was just stunning.

As you approach from the south you marvel at how the Sicilians have been able to make a town adhere to the hills. Castelmota is literally capped on a hill.

At this point we were able to get a sense of the presence of Etna:


By dusk most of the clouds had dissipated except for the one that looks like Etna is smoking just a bit. If it was smoke the Sicilians did not seem to pay it much attention. TV news did not mention it either so let us just presume it was just a cloud.

The resplendence of cacti is amazing. The winding road was continuously edged by it:



The sea has calmed enough so that it is back to its regular color. Check the color of the Greek flag and you will get an idea of Mediterranean blue.

As for the roads-yikes! Thankfully there are some low stone walls to give the impression that something will stop you from going over the edge. Favorite moments are buses suddenly appearing from behind steep s-curves on these narrow roads along with motor scooters and motorcycles shooting through any available space. Most of this is done by Sicilians who are constantly talking on their cellphones while driving.

Stores abound here. There are pedestrian walkways all through the center of town but you have to constantly keep a lookout for the lone auto piloted by a Mike Lewicki-like entity. We decided to really break the budget (it was Gini’s idea) by requiring that lunch had to include a spectacular view even if it meant crashing a five star hotel’s terrace restaurant. We settled on the Bella Blue restaurant where we were waited upon by a young, sweet Moroccan waiter who confessed his weakness for tall Norwegian women. He felt that you could not have a relationship with a Sicilian girl because of the close cultural and family ties. The food was excellent for a fixed price of 18 Euro apiece. The seafood risotto was outstanding. Best of all was the view from the table:

Those are gondola cables at the top of the picture.

We spiraled our way through the steep streets. You could choose to go directly up or down:

Gini thought that this reminded her of Lombard Street on the hills of San Francisco.

There will have to be a return to Taormina for shopping since Gini has fatefully succumbed to the allure of the stores and restaurants which are without end:


Chris will have to entertain himself with the view from the streets:

However if you are thinking of staying here (good idea!) during the regular tourist season there are several reasons to not include a car rental. One is the streets and their Escherian nature but it also would be teeming with traffic when this place starts happenin’. It would not seem, though, that you would be bored ‘trapped’ here in the town.

There is a famous ancient Greek theater here which we were not able to enjoy because we lolled around too much at lunch and arrived five minutes after closing. Another reason to return!

For you literary buffs this where DH Lawrence once lived and the Taorminians are appreciative:



It looks like Sunday will be a day of rest. Va bene. Take care.

It's "Aci" Day

Greetings

Today was “Aci” day: Acitrezza, Acicastello and Acireale. All are towns on the eastern coast of Sicily. We had been to Acireale and it is a good size city. Acitrezza and Acicastello are resort towns. They all are built into hill and cliffsides overlooking the Ionian Sea,

Acitrezza harbor boasts the Island of the Cyclops (Isole Ciclopi).




This is also a fishing village along with its appeal to tourism. Rockport, MA comes to mind. Of course it being January it is fairly quiet here. The waterfront is filled with condos, apartments, hotels and restaurants. During a short rain squall we stopped and had pizza in a small place where the guy serving showed us a souvenir from his trip to Galveston, TX. The pizza reminded Chris of the kind his grandmother made. The dough was very substantial like Grandma Rienzo’s. She used a scissors to cut it.

Here is an attempt to capture Acitrezza in panorama:


The streets, of course are extremely narrow and those climbing the hillside are very steep:



Gini and Chris have found a little pensione that needs a little refurbishing only a block from the harbor: The car is included if you buy now.




The streets, so far, in Sicily are not the clean byways that we remember from Tuscany. There is a lot of stray trash. There are ubiquitous recycling bins. These bins stand about five feet tall and are color coded for the appropriate deposit. There are ones for paper plastic, glass and other trash. This is similar to many places in Europe. However most of the bins here are overflowing and seem to be spewing the overflow to their immediate surroundings. Many places along the country roads seem to have generated Alice’s Restaurant logic with garbage whereby many small piles have joined one big pile because it was easier.

Ironically people are constantly sweeping their steps and walkways. The assumption being, well my space is clean, what about yours?

In the harbor we ran into soccer buoys that would definitely appeal to Yankee ingenuity:




Further down the coast, almost in Catania, is Acicastello. Perched on the water along the waterfront is the old castle. We did not take a tour so we can make up whatever history we want about it:



If you look north up the coast you can look back on Acitrezza:




Funerals seem to be a big deal here. Each day as we drive into Riposto there seems to be a funeral happening. Today in Acicastello we encountered mourners in a drove moving slowly through the narrow streets, stopping all traffic. Our New Orleans funerals would be quite similar.

A common sight in the streets, on the roads, in yards are fruit trees. Here along the streets of Acicastello we encountered another nymph displaying her wares:





At the end of our waterfront walk we looked north at both sites along the coast:



Now if you can imagine Mount Etna breathing over your shoulder to the left you can imagine the visual drama here. Ah, a picture you say, well when the clouds and traffic behave there will be one forthcoming.

Our ride home brought us through Acireale where we patiently waited for workers to return from lunch at about 5pm. Presumably the stores had been closed since 1pm. The guys in the delicatessen were kind to Chris when he said, in Italian, how bad his Italian is. We were successful in obtaining freshly sliced prosciutto, salami and asiago cheese. Meanwhile Gini collected the rest of the groceries and we were able to put it all on a credit card. What, money? Ha!

Our foray to a butcher was only somewhat successful when our veal really turned out to be some less constrained beef. However on the ride home we stopped in a tiny town for our fifth attempt to find cannoli. As we entered we were again disappointed to not see any cannoli displayed. Chris spoke up since everyone in the place was looking at us and explained we wanted cannoli. In a few chaotic minutes he realized the reason they were not displayed was because they made them fresh for you while you wait. Caitlin would be jealous. Eventually we were safe in our apartment with our pictures and our purchases. Now to enjoy Gini’s caprese, stuffed beef and eggplant extravaganza. And then – cannoli!

Siracusa? Ah…domani! Buona sera and buona notte.

Ecco Etna

Greetings:

So far we have had sex 12 times today. It’s very cool, you just take your time until it’s right and then go for it. Wait a minute – Gini says that we should not refer to correctly placing a puzzle piece in place as “having sex”. Well, alright – so it’s a quieter day today. Our first sight, however, was a better view of Mt. Etna from out terrace:


This is a bit of contrast to the cacti and various flora right next to the terrace:



We did have a very good cooking day. Chris changed his omelet routine a bit to try a more Italian fritatta, oven-baked, with peppers, onions and cheese. Gini continues to squeeze those blood oranges for juice! This made for an excellent repast to enjoy Mt. Etna on the terrace before it was once again covered in clouds. After our cappuccini at Skipper’s we set off for Riposto/Giarre where our fish-seller had saved us a kilo of vongole (clams).

We were able to post another blog entry at the internet point and check email. Thanks for the comments. The settings have been changed so that you do not have to register to post a comment.

After returning to our apartment it began to rain so we decided to stay in and “do a puzzle”…..

So here are some of the frames from the powerpoint that we were originally sent by the owner.










Hopefully we will be back on the road tomorrow to investigate Siracusa. Arrivaderci!

The Sun and Acireale

Greetings:


Gini announced it was 10 AM as we woke up on Wednesday. Since we had seen a beautiful moon and stars last night we had hoped the weather had changed and we could do some touring. So we sprang (sic) out of bed thinking we had a late start. Chris made his breakfast and turned on the TV. He noted that the show he was watching must be from the Canary Islands or some time zone west of Greenwich. Sheepishly the realization emerged that it was really 8 o’clock.

However the sun was out and we could see most of Mount Etna from our second floor veranda. (We are hoping we will get a picture of Etna without any clouds hovering around it at some point). Gini did achieve Siciliano Paradiso:


as we enjoyed our lunch al fresco.

We were a little disappointed when we walked to the piazza next to the sea and found our gelateria/café closed on Wednesdays but were amazed at the debris the storm had depostited:



The sea was still pounding the shore. At times it seemed we were in Hawaii.



How about a little video?




Ah, the soothing and calming Ionian Sea. The stories associated with Ulysses and Aeneas do have some truth in them, however. Amidst the debris was an Alexandrian sea nymph, not often seen on these shores:



It was then on to Riposto/Giarre where an internet point was found where Chris could just plug in his own computer. Va bene.

Also discovered was a good fish market where clams were reserved for tomorrow along with a nice vegetable vendor where we selected oranges, pears, squash, and tomatoes – oh so fresh!

Our lunch on the veranda emboldened us to become auto-turistas and we headed south for Acireale. The coast is spectacular:



Acireale, itself has a long history as do so many Sicilian towns. This island has been habituated by Moors, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, New Hampshirites… you name it. All the towns have buildings right up to the edge of the road whether it be rural or urban. Here is a wending downhill street in Acireale with the sea in the distance:



This joined the major thoroughfare which contained at least two duomos. One of them boasted a display of a piece of the Shroud of Turin…well, well, well … relic me.

The duomo piazza was filled with roaming pontificators each looking like a Corleone with a consiglere or two for appendages. We took it all in on a bench feasting on our first gelati. Here is a meager attempt to use the camera’s panorama feature on the piazza:



The drive home along the coast was adventurous as the sun set. Leftovers await us along with our mandatory fresh caprese and some fried zucchini.

Andiamo a Sicilia

Greetings:

When we last left our heroes they were returning from a fine sojourn in Northern Ireland. We finally had to bid fond farewell to Noreen and Peadar and their wonderful home in Black Rock.




Noreen has set quite the culinary standard. Upon return from the Giant’s Causeway we were treated to a pasta with shrimp, smoked salmon, mushrooms and a pesto cream sauce. Salmon in Ireland is highly recommended. Our last night was a pork roast with roasted potatoes and vegetables. Needless to say Jameson’s was the appropriate nightcap each evening.

Before leaving the Emerald Isle, we would like to show what a well-dressed charwoman in Ireland would look like:











So on to Sicily.

We will not quite describe the experience as the journey through hell or even purgatory but Dante knows what we’re talkin’ about. It all seemed so wonderful…at first… We had to travel in two segments. First to Milano, via Paris, a night’s stay and then to Catania, Sicily via Roma.

Each time I surrender my luggage instead of carrying it on board I keep thinking of the Henny Youngman anecdote: A man goes to the airport with three pieces of luggage. He goes to check them and says “I would like this one to go to Cleveland, this one to Detroit and this one to Chicago”. He was met with the response: “I am sorry sir but we can’t do that.”. Whereupon his reply was: “Why not? You did it last week!”.

Upon successfully arriving in Milano, with our luggage, we were a bit anxious as to how to get to our hotel (being too cheap to cough up the $100 for a taxi into the city center). We did find a nice train to make the forty minute trip and upon arriving decided it was time for a cab since it was already 8:30 at night. The Rafaello is a four star hotel:



Our room was small but comfortable and we were directed to the Oasi pizzeria. We decided to have some bruschetta and a dish for two that had seafood and spaghetti baked in a casserole with a “lid” of pastry. It was ceremoniously served and accompanied with a liter of the house wine. Complimentary limoncello followed. Life seemed good.

The next morning began at 6 AM as we prepared to get to the airport for seven. Our taxi arrived as per our request the night before. However, contrary to our conversation the night before, the fare was 5-10 Euro more … because of the early hour…hmmm. This was a bit of an omen. We said farewell to our luggage and stopped over in Roma. Little did we know that Air France was in heavy negotiations with Alitalia much to the agitazione of the Alitalia employees. Their response was to go on strike halfway during the loading of our flight to Catania. We did not realize this until we had waited for more than an hour for our bags.

Unhappily we then went to pick up our rental car. Foolishly we had decided to bring internet directions to our apartment in Catania. Somehow the internet does not understand the centuries old development of Sicilian towns and the ladders of signs simultaneously indicating the 18 destinations you could pursue had you the time to read them since one must travel at a minimum of 30 mph through the narrow, winding roads or suffer highway excommunication. (Adding to the ambiance: as I am writing this the power has gone out in our Eden-like (they had no electricity either) existence).

Eventually we found Torre Archirafi, just outside Riposto but could not find the aprtment. Chris had managed to purchase a Telecom phone card that you insert into a pay phone once you figured out that you had to tear off a triangular piece on the corner of the card. So we called Fabrizio Rompineve and let him know that we were in town. We had previously called him from the airport to let him know about the luggage. (“Did you fly AlItalia? Yes, that happened to our last guests also”).

By the way, it was raining and pretty windy along the breakwater here in town. So we finally met our hosts. Grazia and Aldo Rompineve actually own the apartment but their son Fabrizio knows the best English.

A brief pause for what had drawn us to Torre Archirafi:

(sorry I have yet to figure out how to post a powerpoint presentation)



We learned about the apartment and then worked on a strategy for the luggage realizing that in some other world it would be delivered to our door. We found a local restaurant that was open on a Sunday in January (think Truro on the Cape). Sicilian antipasto was good. There was stuffed zucchini, green olives, incredible stuffed radicchio, unbelievable sundried tomatoes, salami and pepperoni. The pizze had sausage, eggplant, mushroom and tuna. Not too shabby – except that the whole time we were eating the rain was pummeling the roof, the wind was mad and the surf big and relentless. It made for a cozy walk home.

At 10:30 the next morning we broached consciousness. Aldo soon arrived with the news that one, count ‘em, one of our bags had arrived in Catania. We then formulated another plan to call Aldo to find out if our other bag had arrived and whether we would wait for its delivery or head for Catania and pick them up ourselves.

Now you might think an iPhone would be helpful at this point. In one of their few differences of opinion in their thirty-six year relationship it was decided because of the lack of service in the Bristol area because of the exclusive service provider and the mandatory two year contract that the iPhone purchase would be deferred. Unicel, our current cell provider did not offer European service nor could they recommend a particular SIM card that would reliably work. Chris had been trying to call his Dad every few days. We had been spoiled by an Irish phone card’s low cost, use of Peadar’s phone and easy internet access to the house. In Sicily, so far, we are not able to be contacted directly in any fashion.

So we bravely headed for the Riposto/Giarre area but, due to our late rising, were met with the one to four daily lunch hour with nothing open. We called Aldo from Giarre and found he had not heard further from the airport. We told him, in our rudimentary Italian, that we would head for the airport and pick up the one bag and discover any more information if we could.

We found the airport and behold! Gini emerged from the airport with both bags! Bless her persistent, clever soul.

We celebrated by shopping at Auchan’s, a one stop store the size of three or four football fields that had clothing, hardware, sports equipment, electronics and groceries in mass quantities. After much discussion we gave up on purchasing an Italian mobile phone or an Italian SIM card in lieu of an international calling card that would have me out on the streets of Torre Archrafi at midnight under a street lamp using a pay phone.

Grocery shopping was very successful, give or take some anxious moments in produce where you have to bag, weigh and price everything yourself. We were somewhat familiar with this process from previous visits but sale items were tricky. The ride home in the dark was adventurous, especially along the sea wall where the non-stop wind and rain had become a bit furious.







A bottle of Spumante and half a bottle of red later we had feasted on fresh caprese and tapinade crostini along with fresh swordfish and penne pasta in tomato sauce. This was followed by the mandatory Italian wafer cookies and espresso. Having our luggage made bed feel all that much better.

Awakening to the usual torrent of wind and crashing of surf, we had a basic breakfast of cereal, bananas, Sicilian almonds and local marmalade on toast with our fresh squeezed juice from blood oranges and coffee. Grabbing our ubiquitous umbrellas (always hoping to not recreate Mary Poppins) we found a local vegetable store and headed for cappuccino down by the water. From the time we had entered the market until we emerged, Archirafi had transformed into pre-Oz Kansas. The light was dim and the sea had turned yellow. Even the locals were lined up at the breakwater marveling at the ten foot plus waves.








A local butcher informed us that this was not actually normal but there was a history of water bashing the town at various times. In fact, one hundred years ago in his very building a woman and her daughter were killed in the onrushing water from the sea. Yikes!



(Rain and wind had me shaking a bit)

The power has since come back on and we have had a lunch of fresh bread, lettuce, tomatoes, salami, mortadella, prosciutto and emmenthal cheese; a beer for Chris and white wine for Gini. We now ready ourselves for another trip to Riposto and Giarre to find an internet point. May the force be with us.