I love my hotel. This isn't supposed to be a travel tips blog but I have to go on for just a bit about it. If you ever come to Sicily and can make it to Favignana, which I highly recommend, you have to stay here. It's called Albergo Egadi (www.albergoegadi.it), albergo means hotel and egadi is the name of this chain of islands.
From the moment I walked in I felt like I had come to a spa. I love spas. Nothing I've been staying in has felt anywhere near spa-like. It smelled like roses in the reception area. They brought me to my room which is so cute and so girly. I think the rooms used to be pink or maybe some of the others are but mine is blue. The whole theme of the place is shabby chic/Anthropology, which I do love. I don't know if I could ever decorate this way but I always love it when I see it. My bathroom is massive and the shower is very spa-like. It has a rain shower. I was so excited to see it. I've had some pretty boring showers since I've been over here and there is nothing like being doused by hot water in a shower. I was so excited to take my first shower that I took it shortly after arriving. Unfortunately the shower head wasn't so much a rain shower as a sprinkle. There was another mini hand held shower head that had more impact. It was still a pretty good shower experience.
The hotel also has a restaurant and I decided to eat here both nights. The island is SMALL and this is supposed to be one of the best places on the island. They just serve one prix fix menu so I didn't have any say in my dinner. My first night, I had a salad with shrimp. My first course was pasta with tomatoes & a pate of sorts made from the local favorite - tuna. My second course was grilled swordfish, and ricotta filled canoli's. Yum & Yum.
My second night I started with this insane fried goody. Thin sliced swordfish that is rolled up with ham, cheese, and zucchine. It's rolled in a light coating of bread crumbs and fried. For my pasta course, I had penne with zucchine and shrimp. My second course was a mixed plate of fried items: artichoke hearts, calamari, and some sort of sardine like fish with fish eggs in it. This wasn't my favorite course. Dessert was a local cake that is bright green. It's a cake with a sweet cheese in it, probably sweeten ricotta, and then it is generously covered with a very thin and very sweet frosting like a petit four. It was pretty good. Each night they served Marsala wine with dessert since the town of Marsala is just south of Trapani. I was hoping that local Marsala wine would taste totally different, and thus better, than any I had tried before. It doesn't really. It reminds me of my grandpa and church.
Other than the great hotel and the great dinners, I haven't done much here. I was hoping for a really quiet and relaxing experience and that is what I got.
I rented a bicycle so that I could take in more of the island and it was such a good idea. I think I would have had the biggest grin on my face but I didn't want any bugs landing on my teeth. I did have the biggest grin on my face when I walked my first lap around the center of town. This place is so Cute. It's just really storybook like but not a sugary story. Just really simple and beautiful.
I was hoping to hang out at the beach a bit but the weather was a little coo-coo and not good for hanging on the beach.
This island is famous for tuna fishing and every May they have a big festival where they re-enact the "camera della morte". This involves a series of nets being put in place with the purpose of moving the tuna into the "room of death". Once all the tuna are stuck in nets there, the fisherman stab them with huge spears and bring them on board. The tuna industry isn't really supporting them anymore so they do this festival for the tourists and you can join them on the boats. I didn't witness any tuna fishing but I did watch the men bring in their nets which was a fun site although it brought me more attention than I wanted.
Today I head to Cefalu for a week. I am excited to stay put in one place and explore the sights from there.
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