My Tax Return: Part III of III

summer vacation bliss

I feel like this title doesn't exactly convey my enthusiasm for the true life tale you're about to read.  Talking about taxes makes everything seem sort of bland (sorry Roy!), but this trip was just the opposite.  I must write immediately about the memorable week-long adventure I just had on the picturesque island of Sicily.  For those of you who feared I was actually venturing into North Africa, worry not!  Although I remained within the country, I can tell you it seemed as though we entered another world.

piazza pretoria, palermo

One thing that continues to render me awestruck about Italy is the diversity within each region: the dialects, the patrimony, the people, the food.  There is always something to discover.  Sicily is unique in that it's the biggest island (the one the boot of Italy seems to be kicking) and is among the most well-known regions, albeit for mainly negative reasons.  Obviously Sicily is most closely associated with the mafia, and although we are only familiar with Lucky Luciano, the Sopranos and the Godfather, the long-reaching crime organization continues to influence politics and threaten the economy.  In college I (brilliantly) played a small part in an Italian drama production about the first man killed by the mafia in Sicily.  When I took a Sicilian Literature course I never imagined I'd be able to visit the land the famous Italian writers simultaneously lauded for its beauty and cursed for its hopelessness.

san giuseppe teatrino, palermo

So we found cheap Ryanair flights from Turin to Trapani, Sicily and I arranged CouchSurfing hosts in all our desired cities.  Due to the war in Libya we were supposed to be diverted to Palermo but a day before we flew out they decided to reopen Trapani.  This meant we'd be arriving 1.5 hours from our first host's city at midnight.  We arrived a little past midnight on Saturday at Trapani airport and alas, there were no buses to Palermo.  What's a girl to do?  You guessed it.  Hitchhiking.  What were my other options?!  I asked a couple from our flight if they were going to Palermo, they said yes and I boldly asked if we could get a ride with them.  They agreed, telling us they had a daughter our age and wouldn't want to leave her somewhere without a ride.  They were a couple from Turin going to visit friends for a week and as it turns out they were on our flight back home the next Saturday.  We talked the whole way to Palermo, in Italian, and they were telling us all about the beauty of Sicily - what to see in each city on our list.  When we arrived 1.5 hours later they insisted on taking us for a cornetto (nutella-filled croissant) and beer at 1:30AM.  It was a great experience, and such a perfect example of Italian hospitality.

late night arancina run!

They dropped us off in central Palermo where we met our host, Carlo.  An architect/music aficionado with an amazing apartment.  The shower had rocks on the bottom, kind of hurts your feet, but super fancy.  He was with several people, a few CouchSurfers from America, and we all went dancing until 3:30AM, we were so tired!  Sunday we wandered around Palermo looking at monuments and churches, then Carlo called to say he'd make us lunch.  Can't say no to that.  

i could get used to this

We had a delicious meal on his private terrace and talked with him and his friend Filippo all about Sicilian culture.  Later in the evening we went for an aperitivo with Carlo and his friends, then searched for a late-night arancina (tasty deep-fried rice/saffron ball with cheese and meat inside, the size of a softball, super heavy!) and he helped us plan the rest of our trip.  So far we'd just had one problem with a host saying he changed his availability, so I was quickly trying to find a remedy by changing our itinerary.  It all worked out.

on the beach in cefalù - ultimate relaxation

Monday we got on a train to Cefalù, a small touristy town with a beautiful beach and I was happy to relax and feel the sand between my toes.  After spending a few hours there we took the train to the northeastern city of Messina.  Surprisingly it started raining there and luckily we just had to switch trains again instead of getting wet (we hadn't brought umbrellas!) and we were off to Taormina!  There we were picked up at the station by Andrea, a 1/2 Spanish 1/2 Italian naval officer who lived in a nearby town.  He made us dinner, offered us some Malvasia (sicilian white wine), and took us up to Taormina to see the city by night.  Taormina is located up on a hill, so if you don't have a vehicle you have to take a cable car.

view from atop taormina; isola bella

That night we hung out for hours with Andrea and had great conversation, philosophized and theorized on the meaning of being happy and enjoying life to the fullest.  That is what makes CouchSurfing so priceless, experiences and memories like those!  He even showed us the "galateo" (etiquette) he has to use on the ship while eating in front of the Commander.  So funny!  Tuesday morning he left early but gave us the keys to lock up when we wanted to leave.  We had an amazing breakfast of coffee granita (sort of slushy with whipped cream) and brioches by the sea.  Ahh, this is what I imagined Sicily would be like.

granita al caffè and brioches in sant'alessio near taormina

We tried to take a bus into Taormina, but they weren't coming for another 2 hours.  So what did I do?  What anyone would've done, I'm sure.  Hitchhiked again!  (You don't have to start praying for me, guys.  I knew Georgina could've taken any of them.  Plus I'm convinced it's safer in Europe.)  We got a ride into the city with an insurance salesman named Letterio, he not only took us up the hill to see Taormina by day, but he told us that he had to do some errands but would pick us up in an hour to take us to the station.  I wasn't exactly convinced he would return, but sure enough an hour later there he was!  He even took us to his client's bakery and ordered us some arancini, then helped us buy tickets to Catania.  Only in Italy do you find this kind of hospitality.  Only in Italy.

piazza del duomo, catania

We arrived in Catania in the afternoon and our host Salvatore, a banker, picked us up from the station.  He had a fancy shirt with his initials on it.  We dropped our things at his place (he had a restored fresco ceiling!) and then explored Catania on our own.  We perused the piazzas, the duomo, the opera house, and of course made a stop at Salvo's favorite cannoli shop.  Oh damn, so good.

eating my cannolo in the park

That night Salvo invited his friend Giuseppe over and they cooked dinner for us.  Pasta, fried eggplant, roasted rosemary potatoes and Salvo's family's Nero d'Avola (Sicilian red wine).  Up until this point I was so impressed with the hospitality of all our hosts, making sure we were picked up from the station, properly fed and given a place to sleep with anything we may need.  We talked about the fact that in Sicily people think of themselves first as Sicilians, then as Italians.  In America I feel like it's the opposite, we're first Americans, then we're Texans, Californians, etc.  We discussed that this must be due to the fact that we are such a young country and we're so united, whereas Italy is still very divided (politically, linguistically, geographically).  Specifically Sicilians seem to feel closer to North Africans than Northern Italians (say from Torino) and I find that fascinating.  After dinner, we started playing games and we taught them to play Spoons, or "cucchiai" in Italian.  They thought it was hilarious and then we taught them Go Fish, or "va' a pescare" in Italian.  They taught us a few games as well and we were all having a great time - hard to believe we'd just met a few hours before!

view of the sea from the island of ortigia

Wednesday afternoon Salvo gave us a ride to Siracusa as he was going there for work.  We walked around the Island of Ortigia and marveled at the beauty of the ancient city.  That evening we got a bus to our host Lucio's house in Lentini, Sicily.  He's a retired professor whose wife died 5 years ago so he hosts many people at once to keep his house full :)  I got the impression he really just wanted people around to listen to his stories, but hey we got dinner and a nice bed for 2 nights!  While we were there he was also hosting Biza, a Korean magazine writer and David, a French guy who's been hitchhiking through Europe for 2 years!  Wednesday night was the town's saint day festival, so we took part in the festivities.

festa di sant'alfio, lentini

Thursday we headed back to Siracusa to see the city and go to Fontane Bianche, a lovely beach nearby.  We got in another good day of sunning/relaxing and I was superbly pleased.  We got back to Lucio's house in the evening and the only problem we'd had all week was surfacing - no place to sleep Friday night.  A guy in Agrigento that had accepted my request weeks ago hadn't responded to my confirmation that week.  As a result I got on CS and tried to find someone last minute.  Lucio said I wouldn't be able to do it, but within 10 minutes I'd found a place in Sciacca, Sicily.

beach in fontane bianche

Most of Friday was spent on the bus to Agrigento.  Etna, the active volcano in Sicily, had erupted the day before and there were huge traffic diversions.  In the evening we arrived in Sciacca and our host Francesco, an unemployed tourism developer, picked us up from the station.  He immediately took us to the beach so we could see the sunset and it was absolutely breathtaking.  It was so hard to believe panoramas like that were real.

gorgeous sunset in sciacca

We arrived at his mom's place that evening (haha, ohhh Italians!) and it was a really nice 3-story beach house and he made us dinner: swordfish!  We watched some movies dubbed in Italian and had some of his mom's cookies.  Saturday his mom made us breakfast (hehehe) and we took the bus to Trapani and spent the entire day on the beach, as it should be.  I got my Sicilian tan going and relaxed under a straw umbrella with my journal, trying to capture the week in words.  Georgina and I sat there and recounted the best of the week, and the results were interesting.

Best Meal: lunch on Carlo's terrace in Palermo (closely followed by the late-night arancina)

Best Sleeping Arrangement: the king size guest bed at Lucio's house in Lentini

Best Conversation: philosophizing with Andrea in Taormina

Most Fun: playing games with Salvo and Giuseppe in Catania

Most Relaxing Moment: beach in Cefalù or possibly beach in Fontane Bianche

I thought that was cool because all our experiences over the week were valued in different ways.  We had great food, splendid company, relaxing moments on the beach, and the pleasure of living la dolce vita for an entire week in Sicily.  Oh, and I should mention that this entire trip was realized in under 200 euro (about $283).  Seven days and seven nights of vacation including round trip tickets, transportation (buses, trains) around the entire island, food, etc.  Kind of impressive, right?  We didn't pay for a single place to stay nor a single dinner.  Can't beat that, and at the same time that's what made our trip so unforgettable.  Viva la Sicilia!

last day on the beach, trapani