SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

1. Though geographically small when viewed in context to the globe, it is the largest region of Italy, nearly 10,000 sq. mi. and has a population of just over 5 million. Sicily is also the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its highest point is Mt. Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe.

2. Major economy today is based on agriculture (olive oil, wine, citrus fruits) and tourism. Agriculture is based on the fertile soil from volcanic eruptions and great weather (except when you want to climb Stromboli). When Sicily was a Roman colony, it was known as the Roman Empire’s granary because of its high output of wheat production. Most important wines are Marsala from the area around the town of Marsala in the west, and Nero d’Avola, a great red wine from Avola near Syracuse in the East.

3. The 1^st known inhabitants were the Sicani perhaps coming from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). There is fossil evidence from 8000 B.C.E.

4. Because of its strategic position between the Middle East, Greece, and the west, Sicily has been colonized and ruled by multiple civilizations including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Holy Roman Empire, Austria, and finally Italy with Italian unification under Garibaldi in 1860.

5. Best to know some ancient history before you go. Ruins are everywhere.

6. Though there are excellent limited access highways in many areas linking major cities, driving in the countryside can be challenginging due to steep windy roads and crazy drivers. Parking in both large cities and small hill towns can be next to impossible.

7. Sicily is not very handicap accessible, so if you can’t walk a lot, and climb stairs (especially I hotels with no elevator), I would consider passing on this as a destination.

8. If you travel to Sicily, be prepared to EAT (mange!). Gelato and granita (“Italian ices”)is everywhere and eaten any time. A common on the run breakfast is brioche con gelato a gelato stuffed brioche). The pasta is amazing, best with simple preparation- olive oil, garlic, basil alone, or with mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, clams, or shrimp. It will be hard to go back to boxed pasta after eating freshly made. Pizza can be really good or really bad. Be careful of your choice in establishments. Quick, fast food pizza from a pasticceria is kind of like frozen pizza at home reheated. The freshly made pizza’s we had were for the most part pretty good.

9. Remember to ask for the check (il conto, per favore). Otherwise you will sit all night at the restaurant. Check to see if there is a service charge added. Many restaurants will add this as well as a per person cover charge to pay for the napkins, silverware and plates (3+euros). Tipping is not mandatory and you should not tip more than 10%.

10. The people, especially in the small towns were very friendly, and were patient with my attempts at speaking Italian. Many people speak some English, but don’t count on this in the smaller villages. Since Italians use there hands a lot to speak, they are pretty good a charades, so you can usually get your point across.

Day12-Castelbuono and Home Tomorrow

Jeri cycling in the hills around Castelbuono

Dave's bike was a bit too small

Molly still smiling

A downhill rest

Abbazia Santa Anastasia Winery

Vineyards of Abbazia Santa Anastasia Winery

Craig and Dave after the ride from Hell

Craig doing a victory lap at the winery

The four of us dirty and smelly in the winery restaurant

Olives ready to pick

Abbazia Santa Anastasia Winery

Castelbuono for pastries and pistacchio liqueur

Fiasconoro patisseria

Tasting panne cotta with almond spread

Our fears were well grounded. We got a message at breakfast from Angela telling us that cycling was off for today because the trails were flooded. She was planning on picking us up at 11 AM now to go straight to the winery for a tour, wine tasting and, yes, lunch. But when she finally arrived, she told us we might be cycling and trekking. So we were off to Castelbuono in the Modernie Mountains. When we got there, we made our way to the guide’s office where we met Mario, a twenty-something year old, built for hiking and cycling (<1% body fat). He suggested a short cycle followed by some trekking in the mountains. Sounded good, except for cycling through the narrow, crowded, cobbled streets of Castelbuono, but we were assured that this was only for a kilometer or so. So off we went. We should have realized immediately that there was going to be some REAL hill work to be done, especially as we descended, and descended, and descended. I would guess the average grade was 10-15% (about the same as my driveway). I was a bit nervous, so you could imagine how Molly, who hadn’t been on a bike in years, felt. Then the pavement ran out and we were on washed out, slick, rocky class V roads. I’m glad Jeri and I had a little mountain biking instruction in NZ, and had recently bought bikes. Even so, it was slow and scary. We were all having a bit of a tough time (except Mario), but the last straw for Molly was having to ford a small stream. She nearly made it, but slowed down just a bit too much. She tried unsuccessfully for a foot landing on a dry rock and wound up with soaked sneakers. At this point we called for the sag wagon, and Jeri and Molly took the smart way to the winery. Macho Craig and David wouldn’t give up. Boy, were we stupid. The roads we were on improved significantly, but the terrain became impossible. The hills kept coming and coming at the same grades that we descended (or worse). I’m embarrassed to tell you that Dave and I had to walk up some of these hills pushing our bikes. Even walking was difficult on these hills. We stopped at one point mid hill where Mario stopped to steal us some prickly pears. They were delicious, especially in our state.

We finally reached the winery after stopping briefly to play with a 3 foot long milk snake (Mario assured me it was not poisonous, but seemed very unhappy to be lifted by its tail by Mario). When we arrived, Jeri and Molly met us at the gate, looking a lot better than we did.

We went into the restaurant at the winery feeling a bit underdressed. It was quite a formal dining room and here I was dripping (and stinking) with sweat and my hiking boots covered in mud. Everywhere I stepped I left little clods of mud. We had a 4 course lunch with 4 wine pairings. I think Mario expected us to ride back with him, but between the wine, the food, a bit of rain, and the reverse of the terrain we just left was enough to allow Dave and me to wimp out. We said goodbye to Mario and left the bikes at the winery for someone else to retrieve. We had a brief private tour of the winery after which Angela with her dad as our driver, picked us up for the easy ride back to Castelbuono. Even the car had trouble getting up and down the hills.

When we got to Castelbuono, we found stalls being set up for a mushroom festival that would start tomorrow-too bad we’ll miss it. The weather was pretty crappy with a light misty rain and cool temps in the 50’s. We walked through the town to another famous pasticceria, Fiasconaro. One of there more well known products, a pistachio spread was taken to the moon on the Apollo mission. It was very tasty, but we preferred the almond (though not enough to buy it and schlep it home).

We left Castelbuono for the two hour drive to Terrasini, a town just outside of Palermo near the airport. When we finally got there, we were exhausted and surprised to find the accommodations a bit subpar for the quality for the rest of the trip. It was a small B&B with very sparse amenities. Dave and Molly were only spending about 6 hours here since they had to leave about 4:30 AM for their flight home. Jeri and I were able to sleep until 6.

DAY 11- CEFALU AND POLIZZI GENEROSA

Hiking la Rocca

Taking a break at the 1st wall with our guide, Rosaria

Mandrakes on la Rocca with stray sheep

Hiking to the 2nd perimeter wall

Upper wall

Dave and Molly at the top of la Rocca
Jeri on her way down

Entrance to our farmhouse B&B

Views from the B&B

Jeri sampling the hazelnut cigarette in Polizzi

Same for Molly

Final cannoli products with the chefs

Street in Polizzi Generosa

Audience with the mayor

Getting our marching orders from Maria (through Angela)

Proper technique- create a well for the eggs

Jeri learning the right way to make pasta

David trying his best

What a mess!

Maria fixing the dough

Fially dough to work with

Jeri, Craig, and Maria, our teacher

Molly intently making arancini

Assembly line

Working the pasta

More pasta flattening

Craig separating the raw pasta with Maria
Michele with our arancini (stuffed rice balls)

David giving tennis lessons to Angela's husband in the kitchen

Getting ready for dinner
Molly, Jeri, and David with our hosts

Another beautiful, sunny morning. Today we planned to hike La Rocca, the 1800 ft. promontory overlooking Cefalu. The hike began on steps up to the 1^st perimeter wall of the fortress, but soon turned to a rocky footpath that at times overlooked sheer vertical walls. Along the walk we found ruins of the wall, huge cisterns, and guard towers. Mandrake flowers (not the screaming ones from Harry Potter) lined the trail to the upper perimeter wall. We finally felt like we were walking off a few of the several 100,000 calories we’d consumed over the past 10 days.

When we reached the bottom, we were at the Piazza Duomo where we had been told the best gelato in all of Sicily could be found. So, after using the bar/gelatteria’s bathrooms, we felt compelled to try out there gelato. It tasted pretty good after hiking! From here we walked to the fishermen’s quarter for lunch. Angela had arranged for us to have a 4 course lunch, but fortunately, we didn’t get the message before we ordered 2 pizzas and 2 salads to share. That was more than we needed, given what was planned next for us.

We left Cefalu in the late afternoon for a drive to Polizzi Generosa, Angela’s home town, in the hills in the Madonie Mountains. Plizzi Generosa got its name because of its magnanimity to Charlemagne when he visited the town. In the city hall there is painting of Charlemagne receiving the key to the city from the city fathers. Our first stop was a visit to the Pasticceria del Castello, Angela's favorite pastry shop. Polizzi is known for their hazelnut pastries, which were sampled by all but yours truly. I had my epi pen,though, just in case. We then made canollis in their bakery using ricotta made from ewe's milk direct from the shepherd in the nearby hills. It was really organic, no pasteurization, no additives or preservatives. The ricotta filling was REAL GOOD! We packaged up our cannolis for later eating at Angela's parents home.

Angela was apparently well known in town, getting us an audience with the mayor, dragging him out of a council meeting to meet us. We then walked to Angela’s parents’ house. Her parents were very welcoming opening their home to us and patiently teaching us the art of Sicilian cooking. We learned proper technique for making homemade tagliatelli (like fettucini), and arancini, fried rice balls with a variety of fillings. While we waited for dinner to cook, Dave gave tennis lessons to Angela’s husband.

We eventually sat down to all eat and drink. Boy did we eat and drink. The 1^st course was appetizers that included fried chick pea flour, fried artichokes, fried ricotta, and an asparagus omelet. The 2^nd course was the arancini that we made, followed by a fantastic pasta dish (with our hand made tagliatelli) with mushrooms and wild asparagus both picked in the woods by Angela’s father (he obviously knew which mushrooms were edible since we lived to tell the tale). The final course (we thought) was the chicken dish we prepared earlier, rolled chicken filled with a mixture of vegetables and spices and for the others, prosciutto and cheese. We were now quite stuffed, anticipating the cannolis we had made earlier, when our next course was fruit. We felt like we were at Milt and Rhonda’s table. The fruit, though, was fresh picked prickly pears. We had seen these in Israel (sabra cacti) but had not eaten it. They were delicious, but full of hard tiny seeds that Jeri and Molly could not quite get past. Then we had a pre-cannoli dessert, a milk pudding that was also quite good. Throughout dinner we drank a local red wine, and now Angela’s mom brought out home made lemoncello. I had had this before in the states and thought it was horrible. The home-made lemoncello, on the other hand, was amazing. We got the recipe for this as well as all the other food that we ate. Then, espresso, cakes and more home-made liqueur, this time walnut liqueur that Angela’s dad made from walnuts he again had picked in the wild. It was now time for the cannolis, but no one had any room left, so we decided to save them for tomorrow. After a brief tour of their home, and final photos, our hosts bade farewell to us and we made our way back to our farmhouse to get ready for our last day in Sicily.

Though the night was crystal clear when we arrived back at the farmhouse, some time after midnight we awoke to rolling thunder that was quite impressive. We had some concerns for our cycling and trekking plans for tomorrow.

DAY 10-CALTAGIRONE, PIAZZA ARMERINA, CEFALU

David running the steps of Santa Maria del Monte

Santa Maria del Monte stair risers
The Rocky dance without the music

Villa del Casale mosaics
Pre-1960 bikinis

Continued excavation at Villa del Casale
Our guide, Prof. Annofrio, cleaning off the mosaics for a better look

Approach to Cefalu

Beach front at Cefalu

Cathedral of Cefalu
Gelato in the Piazza Duomo

Narrow alleys

Fishermen's Quarter

Steps to the medieval laundry

Medieval laundry
Medieval laundry in use

We left Siracusa this morning heading northwest through the interior of Sicily bound for Cefalu on the north coast. Our first stop was the town of Caltagirone, known for ceramic production. Prehistoric pottery has been found here in the hills surrounding the town, and potters, here, have produced ceramics since the middle ages. The main attraction here is the Santa Maria del Monte staircase, a set of 142 steps each with a different majolica tile adorning the risers. It was perfect for doing the Rocky dance at the top. The steps were built in 1608 to link the seats of religious and political power, the cathedral at the top and the Palazzo Senatorio at the bottom.

From here, we continued on to Piazza Armerina, the site of an amazing archeological find of beautiful mosaics dating back to the early Roman period in the Villa Romana del Casale. This villa was part of a 3^rd and 4^th Century Roman estate. The site was initially discovered by farmers digging a well in the late 1800’s, but excavation was interrupted by two world wars, and it wasn’t until the 1950’s that work began in earnest. The mosaics that adorned the floors and walls were perfectly preserved by a layer of mud that was caused by a flood in the 12^th century. These mosaics present a good pictorial history of life in the 3^rd century. There are scenes that depict hunting expeditions as well as safaris to Africa and India to bring back animals for the coliseums (tigers, lions, rhinoceri, etc.). One of the most interesting rooms was the Hall of the Female Gymnasts, a depiction of women athletes clad in what appear to be modern bikinis! After touring the villa, we said goodbye to Jeanne and Michael Shafer and continued on to the medieval seaside town of Cefalu.

Cefalu is located half way between Palermo and Capo d’Orlando on the north coast of Sicily. It began as a Greek then Byzantine military outpost high on a promontory (La Rocca) that overlooks the town. The first evidence of a settlement here is from 396 B.C.E. We finally got to meet Angela, our travel agent, here in her hometown. The center of Cefalu, the Piazza Duomo, contains the cathedral, built in 1131 by Roger II. The cathedral had been added to and remodeled over the years and shows Islamic influence with painted beams and mosaics. The dominating mosaic is Christ Pantocrator, similar to that found in Monreale and Capella Palatina in Palermo. Cefalu has maintained its medieval center along the via Vittorio Emanuelle lined with medieval houses that face the bay. We strolled through the old city making our way through narrow alleys no more than 3 feet wide to the fishermen’s quarter and the Porta Marina, one of four gates that afforded access to the town. We began walking back to our car and driver, but first stopped at the Lavatorio, a stone fountain beneath one of the wealthy homes. Until only a few years ago this used as a communal laundry with women congregating here to wash clothes. It is accessed by a stone staircase that leads to an area where water gushes through holes in the wall and there are stone surfaces for beating the laundry. Jeri and Molly gave it a try, but were not quite ready to give up their washer and dryer.

We then left Cefalu for our B&B, a recently renovated farmhouse and vineyards in the hills around Cefalu. Our host and hostess, Carlo and Heine, were a young couple with two small children. Marco, we found out, had studied at the University of Hartford in the early 90’s, so we had a nice connection with him. He had opened the B&B this year and it was still a work in progress. The glass shower doors were not ready when he was ready to open the inn, so, consequently, the showers had no doors or curtains. While I was showering, the flexible shower head accidentally turned and nailed Jeri in the opposite corner of the bathroom. It was hard keeping the floor dry. The shower doors are due this winter.