Days eleven and twelve: Arrividerci Italy!

       On our last morning in Taormina we walked down to the public gardens where several paths led us among a variety of trees and plants. The flora of Italy reminded me of California where we saw olive and lemon trees, cypress, and birds of paradise a couple of years ago.  

       After checking out of our room we drove to Catania to return our rental car before the 1:00 deadline so we wouldn't have to pay for an extra day. While driving through Sicily we remarked on the irony of the Italians' fast and crazy style of driving considering that everything slows down or closes for the siesta every afternoon. As motorcycles sped past us I said to Mark: "They must be in a hurry to get to their siesta!"

       After lunch at the airport we checked in at the Catania International Airport Hotel and decided to spend the afternoon there rather than take a bus into the city. By that time we were tired of travel and didn't mind a quiet afternoon in the hotel lobby with cappuccino and our books. 

       We arose at 6 the following morning in order to check out and catch the shuttle to the airport for our early morning flight to Rome. As the plane broke through the clouds we caught sight of Mount Etna's peak which had been hidden from view for the past few days. 

Etna with her head above the clouds.

       Twenty-four hours later we would enter the driveway of our home in Oneonta, New York. It was 3:00 in the morning here and 9 a.m. in Italy! Now we've been home for nine days. We've recuperated from jet lag and remembering the highlights of our trip impels us to think about where we might like to go next year! 

Day Ten: Sicilian Countryside

       When members of the Lissandrello family visit Sicily, they usually go to Ragusa where our grandparents came from. When researching places to stay I chose Taormina because it is a smaller city, it looked prettier, and it's closer to the sea. We didn't get as far south as Ragusa, but there was a Ragusa pharmacy in the Duomo Piazza near our villa, so Mark took this photograph for my father: 

For Dad

       On Monday we decided to take our rental car and explore the countryside without any particular destination in mind. We discovered that most of the countryside is mountainous, so driving involved a lot more of those hairpin turns. We stopped in the little town of Rangazzo and had more pastries at the Ristretto Bar where the owner boasted that he had the best arancini. We promised to be back for lunch. Then we were off to see more countryside. 

Photographer: Mark VanLaeys

       We drove to the base of Mount Etna where we saw a lot of black lava which wasn't very picturesque and decided not to drive up the mountain where so many tourists go. We explored a lot of back roads and a mountaintop village, then headed back to Rangazzo for lunch. It was about 1:00 and all of the arancini was gone, so we had to settle for scaccia which was pretty good, too. 

       We were back in Taormina on time for a siesta before dinner, thinking that we should eat early so we could get good seats at the opera house. As I mentioned in the previous blog, we didn't make it to the opera due to my digestion issues. Which brings me to the topic of Italian toilets and how many of those in public places do not have seats. I will say no more about this, but you can use your imagination when deciding whether or not this is something you want to deal with while subsisting on a diet your system is not used to. 

       Finding public rest rooms in Italy, with or without seats, can be a challenge. The funniest experience was taking an elevator in a Taormina restaurant to get to the rest rooms in the basement. The elevator was packed with people going to use the facilities, which it turned out consisted of just one stall for each sex. Since there were more women than men in line, some of the women used the men's room. While waiting for the elevator to take us back upstairs, a Dutchman who knew some English, informed the rest of us that he had spotted a camera in the men's stall. What was that about? Maybe another Italian surprise . . . .

Day Nine: Exploring Taormina

       We planned to spend all of Sunday exploring Taormina and we knew that would tax or energy reserves, so we fueled ourselves with a healthy Italian breakfast. 

The cannoli is Mark's. I had a delicious almond cookie.
Maybe my cousin Joyce knows what it is called?
Notice the ash tray on the table.

          Our main destination was the ancient Greek amphitheater for which Taormina is famous, but on our way we stopped to appreciate some of the shops and medieval churches that lined the streets. 

Mouse house - just one of the things I loved in the toy store!

Inside the church where I prayed for world peace.

Greek amphitheater built in the 3rd century B.C. (Phtographer: Mark VanLaeys)

Tourists leaving the amphitheater after it started to rain.

       It rained a lot while we were in Italy, but it was off and on as the sun never gave up it's struggle to emerge from behind the clouds.  

We ate lunch across from this plaza where children rode bikes
and people gazed at the view beyond the wall.

View beyond the plaza wall.

      We saw many of these opera posters and walked all over, asking directions, and finally locating the opera house. We planned to attend this program on Monday, the following night. I thought it would be thrilling to hear these famous arias sung in Italy, but alas, we would not make it due to some digestive issues I would have the next day. Only to be expected when eating an entirely different diet than usual for nine days!

Day Eight: Sicily

 

       As the ferry neared Cantania port in Sicily on Saturday morning we had our first glimpses of Mount Etna. As it turned out, this was the only time we would see her when she didn't have her head in the clouds.

Majestic Mount Etna

       The ferry docked at 11:00 a.m. Other than a young father and his son, we were the only ones allowed to disembark early because we didn't have luggage! The padre and his 3-year-old bambino rode with us on the shuttle that took us out of the docking area. The father was a farmer who knew enough English to carry on a conversation, and when we got out of the shuttle he walked with us to the bus stop to show us how to get to the airport where our rental car awaited us. Mark and I took turns walking with his little boy who was trailing several yards behind his dad on the side of a busy highway. His father wasn't worried about him, but I was! He chattered away to me in toddler Italian and all I could say was: "No capisco Italiano." 

Our Catania Friends

       After our friends left us we searched for the bus that would take us to the airport. We met a young couple from Canada who were waiting for the same bus, so we chatted with them until we arrived at our destination. We found that any time we met other English-speaking tourists in Italy, they were eager to strike up a conversation and compare travel experiences with us. Sometimes we got some good tips, too, like when an Australian couple in Praiano told us where to find the best gelato in Amalfi.

       I was happy to let Mark be the sole driver of the rental car, knowing that driving in Italy was a challenge I wasn't up to. Acting as navigator wasn't easy either, and it took a couple of false starts to find our way out of Catania and on the right road to Taormina. We tried to find a lunch spot in one of the little villages along the way, but it was siesta time, so the only thing we could find to eat was gelato - an opportunity to try more flavors!

       As we drove closer to Taormina we saw a mountaintop city on the skyline ahead of us. I was astonished that anyone would have built a city that high up on a mountain. How and why did they do it? I later learned that the town is Castillo de Castelmola, a medieval city that overlooks Taormina. What I didn't realize when I booked our room is that Taormina is about halfway up the mountain! As we followed the directions of our GPS we found ourselves going higher and higher on hairpin curves, barely squeaking past the cars coming down on the other side of the narrow road. I was so relieved when we found the Villa Floresta where we were going to stay, but after we checked in, our host told us that we had to take our car back down the mountain to a parking garage! Just finding the garage and figuring out how to walk back to the villa was another adventure . . . .

Stairs leading to the Medieval villa where our room was.

View from Taormina

       After settling into our room we had time to explore Taormina. There was a wedding taking place at the church right across from our building and lots of medieval buildings, shops, and restaurants to see. Not to mention the views of the Ionian Sea from this lofty setting!

Taormina Wedding

Inside one of the many medieval churches of Taormina.

Waiting for dinner. I think my mouth is full of bread!

This young girl was dressed to the nines,
posing for a professional photographer in front of a church.
Does anyone know why?

       

View from our balcony

Day Seven: Amalfi and Ferry to Catania

       In planning our three Italian destinations it didn't occur to me that getting from Praiano to Sicily could be difficult. After considering train, plane, and rental car, I decided on the all-night ferry from Salerno on the Amalfi Coast to Catania in Sicily.  (I say I because I am the travel agent in this family.) On Friday morning Ivan drove us to the bus stop from where we traveled back over the perilous road to Amalfi where we would spend the day while waiting for a ferry to Salerno. 

view from the bus

       Amalfi is a crowded tourist town with plenty of eating establishments. During our time there we finally found a good gelataria where we were able to sample some typical Italian ice cream flavors like tirimasu and pistacchio - and of course I had to try the dark chocolate. (You always get at least two flavors in your cone or cup!) We also took a tour of the Cathedral of Saint Andrew which included a museum and a courtyard garden. 

We ate our gelato on the church steps.

This statue in the piazza seemed an odd combination
of religious and obscene symbols.
But perhaps the woman is blessing passersby
with the holy water of her body.

       After spending a few hours at the piazza we found a beach where we waded in the icy water, and then had dinner at an outdoor restaurant. I had a salad to make up for all the pasta and pizza I'd been eating, and Mark discovered that an Italian hamburger may not be a good choice. 

       We had tickets for the 7:00 ferry to Salerno but we went out to wait on the pier at 6:30 to make sure we got good seats. Mark took this photo from the pier:

       There was a large group of children, apparently on a field trip to Salerno, who were waiting on the steps behind us. When they saw the ferry coming in to port they streamed toward it, pushing us out of the way to get ahead in line. I was quite annoyed by their rudeness, so I pushed my way through them, saying, "scusi, scusi" as I went with Mark behind me. Some of the girls got mad and tried to block our way. Mark looked up the translation for "We were there first and you pushed ahead." He showed them the Italian translation on his phone and they stopped complaining. Later on the ferry Mark made some friendly remarks to some of the kids to try to make amends. 

Some of the children on their field trip.

       As we approached the port in Salerno Mark saw the Grimaldi Lines ferry that we would take to Sicily which was docking several miles from the Travelmar dock. When booking our tickets I had foolishly assumed both ferries would be at the same dock. The Travelmar ferry arrived in Salerno at 8:00. We were supposed to board the Grimaldi ferry at 9:00 for our 10:00 departure. It looked like we'd have plenty of time to make it by foot, and we started walking toward the other dock through a pretty park. But the park ended at a dead end and we had to walk away from the water and our view of the ferry in order to go around a large industrial area. We walked faster and faster as our destination seemed to get further away and we started to wonder if we would miss our boat. Nearly running with our backpacks, we were both sweating profusely. We finally arrived at a ticket booth where we had to show our passports and were then seated on a shuttle that would take us to the ferry. 

     Grimaldi ferries are mainly freight carriers that also have a section of cabins and a restaurant for passengers. We watched dozens of huge trucks drive onto the ferry while we stood outside on the deck. 

 

Made it! Safely on the way to Sicily.

       We were pleasantly surprised by the nice, clean cabin we were provided for our overnight journey. There were two bunk beds in the room, so we each slept on a bottom bunk. We spent as much time as possible on deck, looking at the view, but there was a strong smell of diesel outside. Also, a lot of the other passengers went outside to smoke . . . .  Which brings me to an observation I want to comment on, that there seem to be a lot more smokers in Italy than there are in the States. Smoking is prohibited inside public buildings, but whenever we ate outside, which we did much of the time, people would be smoking nearby. Ash trays sat on the tables - something I haven't seen in a long time here in the States. And cigarette butts littered the cobblestones in many of the otherwise scenic spots. So this was one of the less pleasant surprises of our trip.  

Day Seven: More of Priano

       We never found a pastry shop in Praiano, so we bought a few breakfast items at the mini market on our street, and Mark made our espresso. We ate breakfast on the balcony again while planning our day. Other travelers had told us we must go to Pompeii, but that would have required two bus rides each way, so we decided to spend another day exploring Praiano. 

       On the way out of our building I had to pluck a couple of kumquats from this shrub. So sweet and tart! I think it's my favorite fruit, and I never see it in our stores. We descended the many flights of stairs leading back to the main street, and then down again until we finally reached the water's edge. Mark counted 394 steps between the main street and the water. Here are some pics I took along the way.

              We also saw the Church of St. Gennaro on this walk: 

I had this beautiful strawberry cocktail with the pizza we ate for lunch at an outdoor restaurant where the tables are set up on stairs. Mark and I always shared a pizza, but most patrons ate a whole one themselves!

       Oh - we also found a little shop on the main street where Mark was able to buy an Italian T-shirt. We traveled light, Rick Steves backpack style, which was convenient at times but also meant we could run out of clothes when damp weather made air drying take a bit longer than needed!  

Day Six: Exploring Praiano

Sunrise from our Praiano balcony

       Apparently it had been cloudy and rainy in Praiano for the past few days, just as it had been in Rome. So when the sun rose on that bright, clear Wednesday, everyone we met remarked on what a beautiful day it was. Mark and I ate breakfast on our balcony, watching the village come alive on the street below. Before we brought our cameras out we watched a caravan of donkeys go by with empty bins on their backs. We never saw them again nor found out what their job was. Here are some of the pictures we took from our balcony:

Drinking the espresso that Mark learned to make.
He wants an espresso maker for Father's Day!

A parking lot for people who don't have a
place for their car or motorcycle near their home.

The school bus had Frozen pictures on its sides.
Our granddaughter would love to ride in that bus!

There was a garden store below our apt.
The owner put his wares outside each morning. 

       

       Having spent five days on planes, buses, trains, and a ferry, we looked forward to spending a day exploring this little village on foot. This meant climbing and descending hundreds of stairs, and trodding narrow passageways, with no particular destination in mind. 

Bob Art is sold in shops all over the Amalfi Coast.
We happened to come across the artist in his shop
and bought ceramic espresso cups from Bob himself.

       Our wanderings brought us to a breakfast buffet being served under a lemon arbor. It was the only restaurant in Praiano that was not on a busy road. It was definitely my favorite meal spot in Italy.

       This would have been a perfect day if we didn't have to do laundry that night. Ivan had tried to explain how to operate the washing machine in our apartment, but the computer-operated machine did not behave and we were stuck with sopping wet clothes and water on the floor. Ivan did his best to rectify the situation, but finally came to the conclusion that the ten-year-old machine was broken and had to be replaced. We spent at least two hours in the apartment, working with Ivan on the washing machine, and then wringing out clothes to hang on a drying rack. There do not appear to be any driers in Italy, which is admirable from an environmental standpoint, but Mark was completely out of clean shirts. Fortunately, one of the shirts was dry enough to wear the next morning.