Sicily-Piazza Armerina

Villa del Cassale-Mosaic- Erotica

Villa del Cassale-Mosaic-Boar Hunt

Villa del Cassale-Mosaic-Soldier with Swastika

March 25, 2014

Preservation Treasure

We took off in our SUV (Italians say "soov") & hoped Our Lady of the GPS (Gypsy for short) would be our salvation. We didn't get far when we made our first petrol stop. Yikes! It cost $98 (US) to fill the tank. It gave us a chance to show Judi the spread of food they serve at Autostrada rest stops: made to order pasta station, grilled meats, veggies galore & gorgeous fresh fruit.

We were going to the interior of Sicily, Enna, the only landlocked province of the island. It's called the "bellybutton" & I can tell you there were enough sheep in this rural district to create lint to fill that navel. The scenery changed from coastal to rolling hills, verdant agricultural land, fruit trees sporting their spring finery of pink & white blossoms, & farm critters out for a romp after a long winter. Wildflowers were just sprouting & added their yellow, red, & purple palette to our journey.

Piazza Armerina is the town near which Villa del Casale (also known as Villa Romano) is situated. The scholarly guess is that it was built as a summer home in the third century for an imperial family, perhaps Maximillian's. It's 1,000 foot long expanse was likely used by Arabs after the Romans. The Normans & William the Bad (don't you love it) probably destroyed it, built over it & in so doing unwittingly saved the treasures within. A landslide in 1950, finished it off. Around 1959 restoration began & it was declared a World Heritage Site.

We arrived around lunchtime & battled crowds of teens & German tourists trying to be served. We found a steam table laden with what turned out to be a delectable array of meats, veggies, & pastas. We ate heartily, but needed fuel for the afternoon ahead. It had turned cold & damp & we had to steel ourselves to maneuver our group of three around those very same Germans & teens throughout the site.

We tried to hire a private guide but there were none available. We thought about renting an audio guide, but some Canadians with whom we shared a table at lunch said the signs were very descriptive & in English. We took their advice.

There were signs, indeed, but many were faded & most were poorly lighted. David had a tiny flashlight, which helped, & we took turns reading. It became a contest of vocalization between the German guide & us. David won, hands down. At times we wondered if the translation of the Italian we were reading was even English. We got silly & began reading with exaggerated expression & mocking tone.

BUT, the place is a wonder. There are at least 40 mosaics, almost intact, showing details of the life & times. Effort was made & gobs of money spent for artists & artisans to plan & execute the laying of teeny tiny multicolored tiles depicting the culture, pastimes, fashion, & lifestyle of the elite.

The variety ranged from mosaics showing "either men & women dancing" or "kidnapping & rape" (guess the scholars couldn't decide), to women in what appear to be bikinis, to a person with what appeared to be two penises. It took all our powers of deduction to decide that the figure in question was un-bearded & probably female. After much debate, we deferred to the expert in our midst, David. He declared the two "things" between her legs to be over-sized labia. What the...?

We finished our circuit of the villa after two hours. None to soon. We huddled over our cups of tea & contemplated our two-hour ride home. It was uneventful except for finding legal free parking near the hotel. We were brain dead so headed for the restaurant we went to last night. Again, a fantastic meal. I was curious about the origin of the lovely free-form dishes so turned one over hoping to find the artist's name. I was crushed to see "Made in China" stamped on the bottom. So much for my discerning taste.

As you can see, we didn't try to go to the mikveh today. We'd read about it, seen pictures on line, & had been to several others around the world. This one was special in that it is down fifty-six steps, has several pools, & still has fresh water flowing into it from the aquifer even after the Spanish buried it in garbage during the Inquisition. But we didn't want to take the time & chance it was closed anyway so took a pass. We're Bad.

Tomorrow we go to Noto, Ragusa, Modica, & the ferry to Malta. David asked if I knew what was there. I said, "Noto." Sorry for that.

Toby

Sicily-Siracusa

March 24, 2014

Greek Column in 15th Century Cathedral

Temple of Apollo

Judi With Farmer's Salad

Finding Our Way

Last night, after dinner, we said good-bye to Mt. Etna. She was still spewing & spouting in the darkness. The clouds had cleared as she spit us a final red-plumed farewell. But it wasn't our final farewell! She watched over us as we drove towards Siracusa & we'll stay in Catania at her base on our last day in Sicily.

Old gal Garmin wasn't much help this morning. She got us part way then she thought we were lost. She kept "re-calculating" but was clearly trying to direct us to local roads with traffic circles. Our printed Google Map directions agreed with the road signs so we followed that. It took all of our brain power with three Bachelor's, three Master's, & one ordination degree to understand that we were on a new highway built post-our-Garmin. When we got closer to Siracusa & connected with the old road, Garmin kicked in & everything was in sync.

We are at the Hotel Gutkowski & have the luxury of free WiFi in the room. It's on Ortigia Island, Siracusa facing the water. The rooms have stone floors; the halls are hardwood. All is stark, clean, & this bathroom seems like a ballroom compared to our last hotel. The buildings here are ancient but the interiors are updated. We're in an annex & have to walk half a block to the reception area in another building for breakfast & to drop off our key. It's not a big deal unless it rains. Today is sunny but cold (mid-50's) & very windy on this island.

We walked to a market for lunch & enjoyed the colorful displays of produce & not so much the smell of fresh fish. David worked his way up to a vendor through a gaggle of tiny Italian women to buy olives then held them up as a trophy. We found a kebab restaurant, of all things, & had turkey & chicken shwarma. It was an excellent change from pizza. Colorful tiles decorated the walls, & tagines were lined up along the counter. One of the servers was from Morocco, but there was a touch of America. The TV was showing "Storage Wars" in Italian.

Disappointment

Our guide, Eva, met us at 3 PM to start our walking tour. She was energetic & enthusiastic (maybe due to the espresso she chugged on the run) but I'm sorry to say I was singularly unimpressed with what we saw. The buildings are lovely, the views magnificent, the history rich. But we've seen it all before & the most interesting occurrence had nothing to do with our tour.  Well, there was one remarkable building. I digress.

We started at the old port outside our hotel. The Greeks selected the location of Siracusa for trade. Looking across the sea to Greece, its natural harbors were perfect for their needs & it became one of the richest cities in the empire. Though mostly rebuilt in the Spanish Baroque style after the earthquake of 1693, the buildings are a medley of civilizations that also thought this was a good place to live: Roman, Byzantine, Norman, German, French, Arab, Spanish, & Jews (after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.)

Speaking of Jews, we were under the impression our guides knew we were interested in Jewish sites. The one in Taormina did; this one did not. I guess our travel agent in the States or the agent in Sicily forgot to tell her. In any case, the famous mikveh was closed. They needed an hour & a half to prepare it for viewing since it's fed by an aquifer & it floods. It takes time to pump the water out. Eva spoke to the owner by phone & tried her best but it wasn't to be.

She switched gears quickly & did take us to Via Guidecca (street of Jews) which still bore that name. She emphasized that it was the Jewish quarter, not a ghetto. The site of the old synagogue is now a church, of course. That & some buildings with Stars of David are all that's left. And the buildings with stars weren't even owned by Jews. One was built by a man who became wealthy in the leather business. He worked with Jewish tanners & put the star on his facade as nod to them. The other building was built as a copy of the first because the builders thought it was a pleasing design.

From the minuscule piazza in front of the site of the old synagogue we went to the enormous one in front of the cathedral. Here comes the remarkable building. This church was built around the remains of the Temple of Athena. Greek columns & all were integrated into the 15th century building. The columns were visible inside & out standing side by side with Baroque features of the sanctuary. Twenty-three centuries apart & co-existing. Pretty nifty.

Our last stop was a sixth century Temple of Apollo. It had been built over by a church, mosque, & barracks. When the barracks were no longer needed, they were dismantled revealing the Temple. Even the name of the Greek architect was visible on one step.

And now for the highlight of the day! We had an authentic Sicilian experience & learned one of their customs. I believe we call it "not getting involved." We were walking in the street (narrow is understood) when a car began to parallel park. The driver side-swiped a car as she aimed the front of hers into the space. She immediately veered away making eye contact with me. I noted her license plate number & asked Eva if she should report it. She said she didn't know the owner of the car that was considerably damaged. I asked if she should call the police. She told me they would not be interested. Saves on paperwork.

Dinner was at Locanda Mastrarua, a tiny place frequented by locals & suggested by Eva. The food was divine with artistic plating. The plates themselves looked to be hand made ceramic. They were each different bright primary colors & the unevenness of the shapes led me to believe they weren't thrown on a wheel. Judi's salad was large enough for all to share. The plating highlighted the glorious red cabbage, carrots, arugala, fennel, tomatoes, lemon & cheeses arranged in a circular pattern. Bread & the best breadsticks to date were served on a cactus leaf (prickles removed). The bass was fresh & perfectly seasoned & my pasta was hand made to order. 

Our museum karma didn't hold up today. The archaeological museum was closed for renovation & I already mentioned our mikveh woes. Tomorrow is a new day. We're hoping to see a Roman villa (Armerina), a two-hour drive away. Eva called to make sure it would be open. Here's hoping with all our "aides" we find it.

Toby

Sicily-Mt. Etna

Mt. Etna-our goal

On the Volcano

Hot Chocolate

Our Lady Saves Restaurant

March 24, 2014

Success!

We surmounted the mount. We still have a too large car (needed it for luggage) with a poor turning radius, but there was no gasping today. Judi said she didn't verbalize her anxiety yesterday, but her facial expressions conveyed her angst. Despite road signs with towns printed only on one side, in spite of our Garmin dying mid-highway then resurrecting itself, even though we had to resort to using a combination of paper maps, Google Maps, & intuition, we aimed our car uphill & towards My. Etna. Always in sight, we figured it was too big to miss. Did we make wrong turns? Yes. Did we correct our errors quickly? Yes! Did we aim high & succeed? Yes!

We climbed the mountain on a surprisingly fine road & wondered why we were scaling an erupting volcano. Populated towns changed to isolated dwellings, which became barren fields of hardened lava flow & rocks above the tree line. We gazed down at the shore & cities as clouds thickened & the air cooled.

We arrived at the Funivia del Etna (funicular) & bought a pass to the end of the line. We waited as Judi finessed her travel purse out of a secret pocket in her jacket, which was under her coat. It took two of us to maneuver it back into its secure hidey hole. We were advised by Londoners we met yesterday that the additional ticket to ride a huge all-terrain vehicle just got us a bit higher & into slushy snow. No one was going to the top during the eruption.

Judi was seated opposite us in the funicular & wanted to take our picture. As we leaned in towards each other we realized that she'd get a very good shot of the pole between us. Maybe you had to be there, but we collapsed into giggles. The cable car stopped frequently, wind howled, & snow flew. I was hoping for hot cocoa when we arrived at the end of the line, but was greeted by a tasting station. We tried strawberry liqueur (too much alcohol) & pistachio (actually tasty), but didn't buy any.

We walked out onto a mess of black sand, ash, rocks, & slush. The wind was stronger & we didn't dally. Mt. Etna’s peak was no longer visible, but we felt victorious in getting as far as we did.

My hope for cocoa was answered when the barista knew exactly what we wanted. She served us their version in an eight ounce cup with a spoon. It looked & tasted like the inside of molten lava cake. It was the consistency of dark chocolate pudding before it chills. It was the nectar of the gods. None of us could finish it but we were loath to leave it behind. I asked if they had a lid for the cup, but, alas, they didn't. Taking pity on us, the barista swathed each cup in plastic wrap for its next life as tomorrow's snack. We had fun!

We'd taken a potty break at Ristorante Villa Angelo Musco on the way up, & they were so nice we said we'd return for lunch. We did. They had a limited Sunday menu so we chose pizza Margherita over a multi-course meal. I guess the place was lucky to be standing. A mural attested to the near miss of a lava flow. It showed people kneeling in thanks before a wall of lava on which stood the Virgin Mary. Moving if not high art.

The trip back was a piece of cake no matter the rain. David graciously pulled over so a honking driver could pass only to be behind him at an intersection at that driver's moment of indecision. David waited a decent interval before leaning on his horn. He said it was cathartic.

I won't be sorry to leave this hotel bathroom behind. We killed a roach there last night. No matter how we angle it, the shower sprays out over the top of the doors onto our toiletries & the electrical outlet. I can't bend over in front of the sink because my rear hits the shower door. I've tried to open them but it's still a bad fit. Somehow Judi scored a larger bathroom with a tub. Hot water is an issue, but sometimes the second person to shower gets more.

We're enjoying our later starts (8:30 wake up) with no tour director goading us to rise & shine at ungodly hours. Tomorrow we take off for Siracusa

Toby

Sicily-Castelmola & Savoca

Castelmola

Savoca

Savoca

March 22, 2014

Finding Our Way

We slept well & woke a bit before our wake up call. That was a good thing because it came a half hour late. That's better than yesterday when it didn't come at all. We do have a back-up alarm.

Our first lesson of the day was that the hotel WiFi is secure. The bad news is that if Judi uses the password of the day, we can't. We each have to get our own personal password. We've been knocking each other off line until we figured this out. WiFi is only intermittently available in the lobby so last night I wrote until midnight but didn't want to go down to send. Sorry for the delay.

We were lost most of the day, but now we are found. Maybe I'll write lyrics along those lines :) This was our first day navigating the small towns & skinny roads of the area. We headed to the shuttle that would take us to the car park on the outskirts of town & noticed lots of bike racers on the road. That's all David needed while still learning his way around this car. Luckily, we only came upon a few.

We retrieved the car & got immediately & totally turned around. The Garmin as well as the Google Maps I'd printed in advance used long Italian street names, which I'm sure included all the surnames of ancestors long gone. It never used highway numbers. We intended to go to Savoca first since it was farthest then backtrack to Castelmola. The worst of it was when we ended up on a dead end & David had to turn around in what amounted to a lane as wide as a single driveway with parking on one side. Of course it was on a hill. Getting into reverse in this car is a trick. At one point he was so close to a wall that the alert beep warning the car was too close to an object was screaming like a banshee. The nose of the car did "kiss" the wall of the building, but, miraculously, neither was damaged. A mere tap with a hand on the slight gap between the fender & car body popped everything right back into place with no dents.

We decided to go the old fashioned way. We asked directions & followed city signs & got to Castelmola. It only took an hour & a half to make a twenty-minute drive. We found public parking & I had to rescue our credit card from the machine using my “tiny” fingers. Evidently it wanted coins or an official parking pass instead of our VISA.

I won't even mention that Castelmola was all uphill & steps. I know, things do eventually go down but up is killer. The town is all about the view & almond wine. The latter is tasty (Judi bought a small bottle) & the former was spectacular despite a haze. We were even able to see the Greek theater in Taormina from there.

We descended on foot to the church which had Stars of David in the exterior walls. No explanation. We ascended to the Castelo to find it closed. Time to head for Savoca.

We'd found Savoca on a map & knew it was North of where we were so chose to follow the highway leading there. I don't have to rehash the details of the odyssey but will say they were similar our earlier foray. We eventually entered the town where The Godfather was filmed & came upon everything Marlon Brando. A woman in a building marked for tourist information gave us a map, directions, & use of a toilet. Bless her. She also told us of a nearby restaurant. It was 3PM. The restaurant was up a winding stairway & was closed.

Off to the crypts we went. The building was closed, but a sign on the door said to call. Oh, no. Not closed out again! Oh, yes.  Someone from next door at the Convent of the Cappuchine, keepers of the catacombs, came right over. We'd come so far, well, not far but long in time, to see mummified remains of noblemen & clerics ensconced in their coffins. Following Egyptian technique, these distinguished gentlemen were laid out in their silk frock coats & clerical robes in the early 1600's so we could come & gawk.

We were really hungry & were directed to another restaurant. It was down a long hill & it too was closed. David walked back to get the car & pick us up. We saw him start down a street & back up. Then we heard the sound of glass breaking. We started walking toward him fearing the worst. All was well. He'd backed into a signpost but neither was damaged.

We had a speedy trip back to our parking garage since the Garmin had recovered, & we were getting a bit savvy. We dumped our gear at the hotel & took a relaxing walk in the public gardens. It overlooked the bay & was dedicated to fallen soldiers of WW I & II. Yes, they were on the other side.

Dinner was at the same place as last night. They remembered us. We ordered the same fare we'd eaten but switched around who ate what. We watched some break-dancers in the square & caught a glimpse of the erupting Etna through clouds & dark.

As a tribute to Judi, I must say, she was calm throughout our adventures. I, however, had to exercise restraint to control my gasps. They startled David. For his part, he deserves a medal of valor.

Tomorrow we head for Mt. Etna. Hopefully it will take as long as it should.

Toby

Sicily- More Taormina

Mt. Etna

Amphitheater

March 21, 2014

Tale of Destruction

Our wake-up call never came but David was up already. I was in such a sound sleep he had to shake me. I really didn't "come to" until two hours into our walking tour. That aside, our guide, Chiara, was knowledgeable & pleasant. I don't know how she traipsed the streets, steps, cobblestones, & hills in her stack-heel shoes, but that's an Italian woman for you.

Sun shone as we strolled to the Corvaja Palace where she began our orientation with a brief history of Sicily, a land the size of Vermont.  What used to be a densely forested land with three verdant mountain ranges was reduced to barren mountain sides, eroded terrain, & altered climate threatening farmers, industries, & human well-being. Here's how it happened.

The story begins with our walk to the Roman baths. Briefly, Greeks settled here, more Greeks came who didn't get along with those who were here. There was a great show of ostentation to prove to the folks at home that those who left to seek their fortune actually found it. Romans heard of this great place & forced the Greeks out building on their foundations. Romans managed to maintain a united front & hung on.

Our first stop was the Roman baths. Now, we've seen these structures many times before in other lands, but Chiara was good at painting a picture of a culture using minutia & trivia that brought things to life. As we gazed at the bricks that formed the baths, she pointed to a nearby wall of large square stones. The contrast was to teach us that if it's big, stacked, blocks it's Greek. If it's red brick, it's Roman.

Before we slam the Romans we have to credit them with creativity. They were clean. They bathed at least every other day (ok that might have been part of the problem).  They used thin sponges as disposable toilet paper (whoops, another part of the problem)  & their slaves did laundry by recycling urine mixed with ash & stomping on the mess a la wine making.  But alas, Roman baths needed to be heated, bronze had to be smelted, temples had to be built, bricks had to be made in kilns. This all took fire. Forests disappeared. Reforestation wasn't thought of. Seasons shifted & voila! Sicily came into the 21st century minus its fertile land & the proud keeper of oil refineries. Enter increased cancer rates.

Play It Again

We passed the Odeon (mainly for musical entertainment) & went up to the Greek theater. There is little to identify it as Greek but Chiara explained the contrast. Greeks built with views in mind so the rear wall had been low to take advantage of the backdrop of the Bay of Naxos & Mt. Etna. Most Greeks saw two performances a year. Each performance consisted of three tragedies & one comedy. These day long events started with animal sacrifice & a bar-b-cue big enough to feed all attendees (10,000 in this theater). Greek plays taught morals & consequences of not following the law. Subjects ranged from pitfalls of marrying your mother to penalties for killing your children. Homicide was considered such a horrible offense the act was never shown on stage. Instead it was reported by the chorus in gory detail to further discourage that heinous act.

Roman theater was primarily entertainment & comedic. Actors were of a lower class & naked prostitutes were used to lure the crowds. Performances were free as a diversion from the problems of the citizenry. When interest waned in acting, action was amped up in gladiatorial games & public executions. So many lions were used in both that the lion population of N. Africa was almost depleted.

Ancient history behind us, we were brought up to date on the gay community here. The son of a wealthy German came to establish his own identity. He took up photography & became the early 20th century Maplethorpe of Taormina. His photos of naked men are still shown in galleries.

We'd asked about local Jewish history & it's pretty typical. Before Jerusalem was destroyed, Jews migrated to Taormina. They got along with the Romans until Romans became Christians. When Arabs came on the scene things went swimmingly for Jews while the Arabs fought each other. The Inquisition brought a halt to all that & Arabs helped ferry Jews to safety in Istanbul where there's still a viable Jewish community today. What's left here is one sign marking the Ghetto, extraneous Jewish stars in two buildings, & St. Michael's Church at the edge of the ghetto built to guard the Christians from the Jewish "scourge."

Lunch was at Malvasia, recommended by Chiara. They started out by serving complementary cazzilli (mini potato croquets) to win us over. We followed that with very good pizza & were introduced to caponata, a Sicilian grilled vegetable dish in tomato sauce.

Complicating the Simple

Giardini Naxos was on the agenda for the afternoon. It was to be a simple funicular ride down to the beach area, but the tram was closed so we opted for a bus. We'd gotten what we thought was conflicting advice on which bus to take, but I think we mixed up directions to different places.  We sorted it out after the ticket seller thought we were challenging his knowledge (I guess I sounded pretty sure of what bus to take) & refused to sell us tickets. We let some time elapse & eventually he relented & sold them to us. We had no idea how far it was & the circuitous ride down the winding road we'd driven up yesterday was that much more exciting in a huge city bus. We had not a clue which way to go when we arrived at the bottom so sought help from a friend. Conrad Hilton provided our refuge & the nice folks at that hotel called to be sure the site was open.

The site turned out to be an easy (read level ground) stroll away & we were happy to learn we were eligible for the senior rate. Free. The ruins of Naxos, the first Greek settlement in the area (mid-750's), was now hidden in an orange grove. Being Floridians & having my parents & Judi's in the citrus business, we immediately noted oranges & lemons growing on the same trees. No surprise to us. They used lemon roots (stronger) & grafted the oranges onto them. We walked down mown paths & dirt lanes smelling newly cut grass to see what passed for a few rock walls (some only two feet high) marking foundations & lots of conjecture about what was where. David entertained us by guessing along with the archaeologists & came darned close. Judi copped an orange & we paid dearly for her transgression. It was the most sour fruit I've ever tasted. We both spit it out but my mouth burned. We found the museum in time to turn back to the bus stop. No loss there. We missed that bus but found a gelateria. What bliss!

When the bus arrived I didn't want to deal with our uphill bus ride in the dark so went to sleep. When I awoke the Bay of Naxos lay below circled by the lights of the town. Stunning. We trekked uphill (did I mention that everything is uphill?) to our hotel to ask about a restaurant. We lurched over to look at that menu & decided it was too pricey. Exhausted, we stumbled across the road & entered Ristorante Pizzeria Taormina. Not a distinctive name, but the best pizza so far. Judi had  marvelous pasta & we called it a night.

Then David decided to take a look at Mt. Etna in the dark. Wow! It has been erupting since January of this year. Not to worry. The lava is very thick & moves so slowly it hardens before it can get near civilization. Tonight the show on top was brilliant. We could clearly see red rivers meandering down the side with occasional bolts of brightness illuminating new explosions. Then we really called it a night.

Tomorrow we'll drive ourselves up to Castelmola & Savoca, towns overlooking Taormina.

Toby

Sicily- Taormina

Taormina

March 19, 2014

Time Flies

Our seatmates were a couple of gay women (how appropriate) from DC. One is a social worker & the other works in HR with the Air National Guard. She's career military. They're on the way to meet parents on tour in Israel with a Seventh Day Adventist group. They aren't "in" with the denomination since they no longer "fit" the parameters of what's acceptable. At least the parents are ok with them, but I imagine two lesbians on a Seventh Day Adventist tour of the "holy land" can be a bit awkward. Our introduction came when one of them tossed her heavy backpack on the seat next to me. I was startled but it didn't hit me. I joked (smile & all) that if she was aiming for me she missed. That's when I found out she didn't have a sense of humor. She initially sat next to me then switched with her partner. I could hear them rehashing what happened & trying to justify that she didn't do anything untoward. A bit later she went forward to use the restroom & was told she wasn't in that "class" seating & had to go back to our cabin. She was embarrassed & spent the better part of the flight revisiting that incident. When we reassured her that her "trespass" was no big deal, the ice was broken & we chatted.

Our flight was smooth, cramped, & uneventful. We were grateful for the latter. All the toilets worked & they didn't run out of toilet paper. We landed an hour early & had time for a leisurely walk to our gate. We bought a phone card for our Italian loner phone; easy peasy. We enjoyed a cup of cafe Americano while waiting for Judi & were thrilled when we spotted her coming down the concourse. This is actually going to work.

While waiting at the gate for our flight to Catania, David noticed a sign forbidding smoking. It mentioned a fine that was doubled for pregnant women or people under twelve years old. Way to go Italy!

The flight to Catania was an easy continuation of our Alitalia journey.  We left Rome & headed out over the water to first landfall. It truly was a storybook land emerging from the mist. Our very own Shangri-La. Mt. Etna loomed (that's what it does) as we glided over the coast of Sicily. White steam vented from her crater as we cruised over fruit laden orange trees below. I later learned that black steam is more desirable than white. Oy!

Even though David's bag was the last off-loaded, we didn't let that daunt us. We dragged our bags across the street to the Hertz Car Rental office & met our car, our home for the next many days. We installed the Garmin & it worked! It spoke American English to us & even knew where we were. David only stalled once & we were on our way in a much laden Opel SUV. It did take us several tries & about fifteen minutes until we worked our way onto the highway.

Adjustments

We drove about an hour along ever more winding, cactus lined roads & through a series of tunnels until the town of Taormina appeared. From below, its beige, ochre, & ecru buildings looked to be numberless sand castles plopped down by extremely industrious children. As we climbed to the top, we sucked in our breath hoping that would  help the car squeeze up ever narrowing roads bracketed by flimsy guard rails, overlooking sheer drops. Wisteria & bougainvillea cascaded from above around each twist & turn until we arrived at the parking garage.

We found the shuttle to take us to our hotel inside the auto-free city then set out to find our hotel. I'm sure it was only the 500 meters we were told, but the concept of five football fields or the equivalent didn't register to us until we were each dragging a suitcase & carry-on uphill over crowded narrow cobblestone streets & through traffic.

Our Hotel Isabella is charming & it does have an elevator. Surprise! It's plain but clean & the people at reception are more than gracious. Our room opens to a balcony facing the sea. We hope to enjoy a glass of wine there one evening.

We ate lunch at Ristorante Piazzetta hidden in the crook of a courtyard. I won't even say it was the courtyard of an ancient building. They all are. I had a mixed bean soup, David had pasta with capers & olives, Judi had veal medallions. The bread was divine & Judi said the beer (Messina) was quite good.

We were discussing tip amounts for our guided walking tour tomorrow & decided to call Viviana, our contact in Sicily. We'd been shown how to enter a # in front of Italian phone numbers so tried it. Much to our amazement it worked! She was very helpful although it took me a while to understand that "aero" meant "euro."

We were eager to get back to the hotel & nap. I delayed the inevitable by trying to re-arrange our belongings in a more logical order, pack a backpack for daily use,  & write to you all. I crawled into bed & read a bit, but when I kept dropping the book I gave in. There was loud music & singing outside & a church bell repeatedly rang. We'd set the alarm for two hours but didn't think we'd doze at all. Five minutes before we were to meet Judi the phone rang. It was Judi. Not only had we slept through the street noise, we didn't hear the alarm.

We staggered out of the hotel in search of pizza & ended up with a mediocre dinner but lovely local wine. Unfortunately, they didn't have Chianti Classico, a favorite of ours. Mellowed out, we exited into the main street, which had miraculously been deserted. It's off-season & this town rolls up the sidewalks around 9PM.

We meet our guide at 9AM tomorrow & need our rest. Good night all.

Toby

Sicily- New York City start

March 18, 2014-On The Move

We are off to Sicily, Malta, & Calabria with our friend Judi Cope. I've known Judi since 6th grade & we were roommates in college. David met her then & our lives have crossed paths ever since.

I'll keep you apprised of our travels & hope you enjoy our take on the experience.  Most of you are used to my musings & know that I tend to let my mind roam as I try to convey the impressions of the trip. My writing is usually G-rated.

The trip started smoothly enough & I even got a pre-check clearance with TSA. It's my first time. David had been teasing me about getting the clearance on his boarding pass, but I guess they thought I had an honest enough face to leave my shoes on & my quart bag in the carry-on.

We flew Delta to JFK & planned to meet our friends, Nancy Arnold & Jerry Faria who live nearby. We have the PFLAG Gala to go to in Manhattan when we return & brought clothing for them to keep for us so we could avoid schlepping it around Italy.  As they say, "The best laid plans..." The bag with that & David's clothing got left in Cleveland. As best we can determine, the bag was flown to Detroit & was to be on the 5:00 flight from there to JFK. We couldn't even learn if it made that flight until a half hour after it arrived at JFK. Delta did give us "emergency" kits containing toothbrushes, paste, soap, floss, hairbrush, & an extra large t-shirt. Fortunately we had our meds & essentials in our carry-ons. In all our travels our luggage was only delayed once. I guess we were due.

There was a bright spot. We only had to drag one bag from the terminal where we landed (#2) to the airport train & then to the shuttle for our hotel. Terminal #2 is the only one without a bridge to said train. The man giving us directions decided to load our one bag onto his cart & walk us there.

We had a lovely Japanese dinner with Nancy & Jerry then came back to the hotel to wait for the bag. After several calls to the delivery service (there was car trouble) the bag arrived at 9 PM. Whew!

We'll turn in after our blood pressure settles down & rest up for our flight tomorrow. It doesn't leave until almost 6 PM. I'll next write from Italy.

Toby