There's a new kid in town

The last couple of stops have been in pretty small towns, population of about 50,000. That sounds like a pretty good size still but it's small enough to be noticed and small enough to know that you don't live there. Plus, I don't think that they are used to seeing as many tourists. Taormina has a population of 10,000 and Giardini-Naxos was 9000 but these towns see tourists all the time. They could have cared less about me.
I have gotten a lot more attention in the last two places.
When I arrived in Agrigento, shortly after checking into my B&B, I went for a walk down the main drag to see the town. I was just wandering but decided to look at my map and see where I was. As I was reviewing my position, a guy showed up and started to talk to me. I told him I only spoke a little Italian and he told me the Cathedral was behind me and up the stairs and started to rattle off some other sights for me. I said thanks and that I just wanted to know where I was currently. He asked where I was from and when I said the U.S. he then asked New York or San Francisco. When I said no to both of those options, he walked away. He kind of gave me the creeps and I couldn't figure out why. As I was walking back towards the center I realized I'd seen him before and I think it was when I first arrived and walked down the street. So then I was wondering, did he follow me or is this just random. A couple of days later, I made my way to the bus station. I had to buy a ticket to get to Mazara and thought I'd get it done first thing since everything is closed and I had nothing else to do. Well, the ticket office was closed too. I started to head back to the main drag (all of this is maybe a quarter of a mile apart). As I was walking this car starts to slow down along the road and the driver is craning his head back to look at me. I'm totally used to this here. It happens ALL the time. They have to check me out. I am wearing a rainbow colored afro after all so I'm a peculiar site. Anyway, the driver of this car continues to crane his neck around and is driving/crawling along the road. Cars are passing and honking. It's a Sunday morning. No one is out and everything is closed except for a couple of coffee shops. At this point, all the 1980's Lifetime movies I've ever seen start flooding my memory. He isn't driving a windowless van at least so if he does try to kidnap me, people will see me. His windshield isn't cracked either which was always a dead giveaway of a kidnapper. Vans without windows & a broken windshield. (I'm sure I saw some after school special when I was little and the bad guy had this car.) I decide to cut through a parking lot, thinking I'll evade him this way. He turns up the road along the parking lot. He is honking his horn and still looking back at me. I continue along the curb and walk straight towards a police officer. I look him straight in the eye and give a little "buongiorno" along with the international look of "some crazy guy is following me". I walk past him and into a coffee shop where I figure I'll order something and sit down. I've eluded him. He'll never find me here, in one of the two coffee shops in town and opened on Sunday. Well, he never did find me in there unless he came in and turned around and left. I have no idea who it was in the car. I don't know anyone in this town. Well, after I leave the coffee shop and head back down the main drag for lap number 5, I see the same crazy guy from my first day, or actually he sees me and says "ciao". Ewww. Was he the guy in the car?? Who knows. I am leaving.
Now I've been in Mazara the last two days and this town is the same size although it's more spread out. I am definitely an interesting attraction for everyone but I haven't had anyone following me. I was supposed to meet up with Antonello who is a friend of Antonello from Vienna who is from this town. He is the reason I came to this little spot. I had hoped that he would come to town while I was here and maybe I'd have a more local influence to my visit but it didn't work out. Anyway, Antonello #2 came by my hotel this morning and we made plans (in Italian) to meet at 5pm for a walk. I went to meet him and he wasn't there. So, something didn't translate or something happened. Anyway, I did my 3rd lap of the main drag and called it a night. There isn't a lot to see here but it's a nice little town.
Today I am off to Trapani for a couple of nights and then I am going to one of the Egadi islands off the west coast, Favignana. There are so many islands I would like to visit around Sicily but I don't think I'll make a small dent in the list. I haven't felt like rushing around on this trip so I will see what I see and maybe I come to visit again.

Valle dei Templi (or Valley of the Temples)

I went this morning to see this site. Now this is what I call a ruin! It was incredible and expansive. It reminded me a little bit, in scope, of Balbek in Beirut.
The photos are of the Tempio dei Dioscuri (Castor & Pollux), Temple of Hercules, and Temple of Concordia is the big one. It was built around 440bc, transformed into a Christian church and then reverted back to a temple a long time ago. I can't remember when but it was during one of the Pope Gregory's.
There really isn't a lot to say so I'll just post pictures. I also added some photos of the surrounding area which is beautiful. The whole place smelled like jasmine and there were olive and almond trees everywhere. It was really, really lovely.

Agrigento!

I arrived in Agrigento early this evening, around 5pm. My train ride across Sicily was actually really nice. I wasn't in a nasty regional train but something that they call "minuetto". It's about 3 cars and is more like an airport express train, except that I had a 3 1/2 hour trip. The ride was really pretty and the countryside was beautiful. I was in love with the view so I attempted some pictures out my train window.
I've only seen a small stretch of this town so far but what I've seen and felt, I love. I was curious how much African influence I would see along this coast. I wasn't sure if it was just certain towns, a little bit everywhere, or something unexpected. The moment I made my way onto the main street to get to my B&B, I saw a very gorgeous and tall African woman wearing a beautiful yellow headscarf and matching dress. I don't know if there is a proper name for her attire. Clothes? She was walking with her young boy who was waving to two small boys walking in front of me, who also looked like they were of African descent.
It was a pretty hot and humid day so I really just took a shower and went out to dinner. I had such a great meal. I went to a restaurant close to my B&B. I was feeling lazy and tired and still fighting this cough/flu.
I started with fried cheese! I haven't had fried cheese in awhile. It's a typical Greek dish. They didn't say "opah" when they brought it out but it didn't matter. It was so good. There is a lot of Greek influence of this area of Sicily as well as the east coast. I'm not sure if the entire area has Greek influence or just particular coastal towns. I'll know more soon.
I had grilled swordfish for my main dish. It was so good. I ate it so fast. I was really wanting more and I know it's horrible to say in a place with so many good meals but I want to go back and do a repeat of the same meal.
Tomorrow I will visit the Temple of the Valley which is a World Heritage site, like many of my recent stops. It is supposed to be phenomenal and expansive. I'll try to take good pictures.

Itchy Feet

Well, I decided it's time to move again. Although I had the option to connect with that girl from Vancouver and stay at her place in Siracusa, we haven't been able to connect. She doesn't have a phone so it's a game of email tag. I decided that there are too many other things I want to do and see so it's time to go.
Siracusa is a nice little spot. In particular, I stayed in the area called Ortygia. It's really cute with lots of narrow winding streets and friendly people. I haven't been feeling too great the last couple of days so I didn't do a lot here. I spent a lot of time wandering the narrow streets and getting some sun on my face.

I've sampled the local gelato (really good), orange granita, and had some local dishes. Today for lunch I had pasta with a pistachio cream sauce. Yum.
On the topic of food, I've noticed a new addition to my bread since Giardini-Naxos...sesame seeds. I'm totally intrigued by this addition. I don't know very much about the journey of food and plants to various countries. I find it really interesting too. If anyone knows of a good book that talks about this history, I would love to read it.
I also made my way to a major archeological site located here - Parco Archeologio della Neapolis. There is a huge Greek theater here from the 5th-century-BC.
Another site here is the cathedral that was formally the Temple of Athena. It was converted to a church when St. Paul was on his evangelizing mission here. It's very interesting to see the temple within the walls of the church.


Tomorrow I will grab a very slow train from here back to Catania (nuts) and then on to Agrigento on the West coast. There is another massive ruin there and I'm excited to see the African influence that is a part of this area.

Hanging out on a volcano

I left Taormina & Giardini-Naxos on Tuesday. I was a little sad to leave Taormina. It smelled of vanilla and cake.
My next stop was Catania. I had originally booked four nights there. I didn’t want to move constantly and I thought it would be a good city to use as a base for exploring other places. In particular, I had planned to visit Mt. Edna. Well one of my fellow students, Young-Ho (also known as Tex) had visited Sicily over Pasqua and told me to skip Catania. I tried to find out why I should skip it but he couldn’t really give me any information. Maybe it was a language barrier issue. Our Italian teacher was part of this conversation and she joined in saying it wasn’t that bad and would be good for a base to see Mt. Edna. So, I decided to adjust the plan slightly and changed my reservation to two days in Catania.
Pretty much from the moment I arrived in Catania, I wanted to leave. Tex was right. I realized once I was in Taormina that you could do trips to Mt. Edna from there too. The only reason you should visit Catania is if you are a big fan of St. Agatha. Other than that, it’s a pretty busy, crowded little city. I was thrilled that I would be at Mt. Edna my entire second day.
I headed up to Mt. Edna as part of a tour group that my B&B owner booked for me. He was great, by the way. He was very helpful and cute to boot. Anyway, it was an all day trip that included a hike, a visit to a cave, and viewing lava fields. The mountain is incredibly huge. I had no idea that it was so large and so close to these coastal towns. I was really surprised the first time I saw a glimpse of it when I was in Giardini-Naxos.
My tour group consisted of 6 of us plus our guide. There was Stefan from Germany, two French women, and two German women. I never caught their names. Outside of one small detail, the trip was really nice. The small detail was the overwhelming smell of celery & body order the moment the four women got into the car. I was so overwhelmed by the smell that I couldn’t help but cough. I opened my window and for the remainder of the trip, I had my nose out the window like a little dog. Is this why dog’s do this? Do we smell to them?
Besides the unpleasant order, which I deduced was coming from the German woman sitting behind me that unfortunately wore a sleeveless shirt, it was an interesting trip.
The trip could have been shorter but there’s a whole lack of organization issue here. After all the stops to pick everyone up, get lunch, and get coffee, we made it to our first stop, which was a view of the mountain. At this view is a little chapel with the Stations of the Cross set up outside of it. In one of the eruptions, the lava came all the way down to the mountain and through the wall of the chapel and…stopped. It was pretty crazy. Woo-woo.

Our second stop was to visit the ice caves. The caves were formed by previous eruptions, and then locals created holes in the ground above them to catch snow into the cave. They used it as a refrigerator before they existed.

Our next stop was to have a picnic lunch at the 1750m point. There’s also a little hut there that has souvenirs and a restaurant. Stefan, the German, is also a Geologist, which was very exciting although his English wasn’t so great and he couldn’t speak Italian. I would have liked to hear more from him. He went into the little souvenir shop and came out with two orange-sized rocks filled with crystals. The first one was a crazy electric blue color and the second was a beautiful pink. He was very excited about them because the price was so great. I was shocked by the color of the blue one. I’ve never seen blue crystals that color. I asked him where they were from, thinking that the store was selling crystals and rocks from all over the world. I’ve been to loads of rock shops (I know – dork) and they always carry rocks from around the world. He didn’t understand me (and I wasn’t understanding him). He kept saying, in his very think German accent, “magma”. We finally were able to communicate that they were from Mt. Edna! I went running for the shop, along with the other four ladies. The crystals were gorgeous and there was a beautiful green one in addition to the other two colors. I wanted to buy all three colors. I held a pink and blue one in each hand and then remembered I had to lug a suitcase for another three weeks. How wise is it to buy three rocks to add to my already heavy suitcase? Not very wise, rats. I bought the blue one since I had never seen that color before and I already have pink and green crystals. It’s a nice souvenir.
After the shop we went for a hike up a crater. The weather was fantastic all day. It was probably 24 Celsius and so it felt pretty warm even up on the mountain. When we got to the top edge of the crater, the wind was blowing like mad. I have no idea what the speed was but it felt strong enough to blow over a small child.
The last thing we saw was the location of the 2002 eruption. This was pretty incredible to see, maybe because it was so new. It was one enormous lava field.
It was an interesting experience and made me think that I should visit Mt. St. Helens when I go home. I’ve never been up there. I almost went when I was little but my brother-in-law and sister kept telling stories of Big Foot on the way up and I got really scared that Big Foot was going to get us so we turned around and went home.
I left Catania the next day, hooray! I took the bus to Siracusa (Syracuse), which is about an hour south along the coast. When I got here, I decided to stay at least two nights. It’s a great little spot. I’m staying in an area called Ortygia, which is so cute. I might stay here another two or three days. I met a girl from Vancouver, BC on Sunday night in Catania who is also coming here tomorrow. She’s rented a villa for three weeks and is traveling alone after having traveled with her boyfriend and his friend for the last couple of months. She invited me to join her. I might do this although I still need to connect with her here. It could be interesting and I wouldn’t mind staying here another couple of days. There are some great cities to explore nearby.

Planes, trains, and automobiles

A bus, a boat, a train, a ferry/train, a train, a taxi and I am here. Good grief it was a long day of travel. I didn’t really calculate how long it would take to get here. I just knew I was going and that was about it. Here is Taormina/Giardini-Naxos on the west coast of Sicily. It is definitely a very cute spot and I can see how it would be packed in the summer. It is very quiet right now especially in Giardini-Naxos where I’m staying. The two towns are very close to each other and make for an easy visit from one to the other.
I had a really interesting journey getting here. As long as it was, I never really minded until the last 15 minutes when it hit me how tired I was from traveling.
I started with my boat ride from Positano to Salerno. The boat is the fastest way to get to Salerno from Positano and Salerno is the city with the trains to Sicily. My other choice would have been to go back north to Sorrento but I wanted to keep going south and see something else. The boat ride is a little over an hour. I started chatting with one of the boat workers. I had pointed to some land way out in the sea and asked if it was Sicily. He laughed. Nope. I guess Italy is bigger than I thought. We started talking and had a really nice chat. He pointed out sights along the way. A lot of the castle towers along the coast are privately owned. The government sold them at one time when they were in need of cash. We talked about the Toro tuna fishing issue off the coast of Italy. Many Japanese are buying up the fish but it sounds like the Italians can still buy some locally at a good price. One of the workers was a former tuna fisherman. We talked about the state of economics in Italy and how hard it’s been moving from the Lira to the Euro. I had noticed a big change in the Italians in Rome and figured it was because of this and everyone I ask about it seems to say that this transition is the problem. I’d like to do some research on my own about it. I might talk more about this later. It’s been on my mind since I arrived here. Lastly we talked about electricity, power, and alternative choices. Electricity is very expensive in Italy and apparently they buy it from France and Switzerland. There is some wind power being generated in the south but I honestly don’t know how much power that creates. I’ve heard that solar is very expensive and he mentioned that in these tourist towns they have a hard time with the idea of changing the view of their city with the addition of solar panels on rooftops. The have a bit of an image they are trying to maintain. It was a pretty interesting and broad conversation. It was all in English by the way too. He spoke really well and wanted to practice and kept asking me to clarify words. I’m curious if he did something else in another life.
Once I reached Salerno, I had some time to wander before my train was scheduled to depart. It was really just enough time to check email and get lunch. I stopped into a random spot called Pinocchio’s. I chose it randomly but then realized it was in the guidebook too. I don’t know if I would have stopped based on the summary they gave but my experience was GREAT! The owner came up to me and rattled off a bunch of Italian. I didn’t really know what he was saying and caught maybe every 3rd or 4th word. Whatever he said, I decided to just agree to it and minutes later out came my lunch. First I had a plate of mussel and clam pasta in a light olive oil and tomato sauce. Next I had a spinach and ricotta pie of some sort. The crust actually seemed like a pizza crust so maybe it was like a calzone but in the shape of a pie. Last, he brought out a plate of fried sardines and a plate with roasted potatoes and eggplant. The whole thing was so good and when I was done and asked for the check he shrugged his shoulders and said 10, like he was just throwing a number out. Good stuff.
I headed to the train station after lunch and once the train finally arrived, 35 minutes late, and we departed I quickly found out that I was in the wrong car. Through a mixture of Italian and hand signals I found out that half of the cars were going onto Palermo and half were going to Siracusa. I needed to be on the portion going to Siracusa and I was on the Palermo half. Some nice men had heaved my suitcase onto the rack above me and they decided for me that I’d stay put until San Giovanni, when they would get off and remove my bag for me and I’d switch trains then. I appreciated everyone making the decisions for me. It was one less thing to think about that day.
When we got to San Giovanni, they took my bag down and we all got out. I ran to the other end of the train, about seven cars, and jumped into the correct car. I got to my seat and was all out of breath thinking the train would pull away any second like it usually does in each station. What I didn’t know was this was the station where we separate into two trains and I had some time. It actually took a long time because not only did we separate, but this is where we were loaded onto a ferry to cross over to Sicily. It was pretty interesting being in a train and being loaded onto a ferry. Once we were loaded on and the train/ferry pulled out of dock, you could head up to the deck in typical ferry fashion and watch the view. There was a nice old man from Siracusa who had helped me get onto the car in San Giovanni. He came by and got me and led the way up to the deck. He was pretty cute, showing me around and he took my picture on the deck. There was no way I was telling him that we have ferries in Seattle. They don’t carry trains but they all work the same.
We kept trying to talk a little and every time he would go to say something to me he would swing the back of his hand out at me. I do this a lot when I talk too. I totally get it. However, he kept swinging his hand right at my chest. Yikes! He whacked me a couple of times and then after that I became totally flinchy. I started to put my hands up in front of me in preparation for him whacking me. I probably looked a little odd, positioning my body away from him and holding my hands up in front of my chest, pretending to pray or say namaste.
After a few minutes up on deck and taking in the tour from my new friend, we headed back to the train car in preparation for disembarking at Messina. It was only about a 30-minute journey across but it takes them forever to get you on and off. In Messina, we got a new crew and it was a good thing because the steward told me that I was the next stop. This was important information because it was now really dark out and I couldn’t see a station stop to save my life. He said it was about twenty minutes away. Before I had received all this information I was busy trying to figure out how I would know this on my own. They don’t announce station stops on this train. I had pulled out my guidebook and looked at the map of Italy. I noticed that the mainland was visible across the sea and it appeared on the map that shortly after the mainland ended, I should be in Taormina. This was my only sign for knowing where to get off…that is before the steward came along.
So, I had my bags and I was standing at the train door waiting for my stop. I wasn’t sure how long they would stop here. Some stations you have to be fast or you are out of luck. We came to a stop. Yippee. Finally. I was exhausted. Once the train stopped, I opened the door and jumped out. As I jumped out I looked around and didn’t see much of anything. I knew I was going to a small town but this was odd. No sign or anything. I then noticed that there were tracks on the other side of the platform that I was on but no way to get across to the station. That’s weird. It was about at that moment that I saw a train employee getting off at another car and he sees me and starts to yell at me, “NO, NO, NO” and points for me to get back on the train. Yikes! I fly back up and onto the train and the door closes behind me. Oh crap. I was totally freaking out. I thought maybe I messed something up when I opened the door. We were still sitting at this stop and not moving. I thought I was in big trouble. A steward came down the train towards me and he looked really mad. I tell him I’m sorry and that I thought it was Taormina. He answers so casually and light, in English, that it’s the next stop and this is just where we switch tracks. Oh! I don’t think he’s the one that yelled at me. That also explains why we’re still here. I really thought I had messed up the train somehow. Whew. We start to move again and then quickly come to a stop again, as something is wrong with the tracks. I didn’t do it! We get moving shortly after the last stop and finally come to Taormina. I can see the station sign. It’s official.
I take a taxi to the hotel and decide that because I’m so tired and the town appears to be closed for the night, I’ll just go to sleep. I crawl into bed and find myself being lulled to sleep with the rocking sensation that’s been with me all day.

The Amalfi Coast is competing with Palm Springs as my happy place.

The Amalfi Coast is competing with Palm Springs as my happy place.
I arrived in Positano via the train from Rome to Napoli and then the local train, “Circumvesuviana” to Sorrento and then the bus to Positano. I had to ask for directions a few times to find my pensione. Some young girls were pointing the way for me and even helped me carry my bag down a handful of the 1000’s of steps I had to take to reach the pensione. They really just held the handle but I appreciated the camaraderie and team effort. When I got to the last little bit I was dragging my bag down the steps. It was a major effort to reach the place. I almost brought my mom here on our trip and I’m glad it didn’t work out. This is not the place for someone fresh out of knee replacement surgery.
Once I arrived, and saw my terrace and sea view, I was instantly so joyous. I almost cried on the bus ride from Sorrento to Positano. The area makes me so happy. Plus, it was a gorgeous day and that really helped boost my mood. Yes, crying out of overwhelming happiness.
After I got here, I instantly threw on “summer” clothes and headed out. It was probably around the low 70’s. I’m above Spiaggia del Fornillo, one of the beaches here. I decided to head that way. After many steps down (rats, I have to go back up these) I arrived at the beach and a little restaurant right on the sand. I think there are typically many more open in the summer but I am ahead of the season. It’s good for getting a deal but bad for – guess what? Construction. I’m not going to discuss that topic anymore though.
I ended my first night with dinner up the street from my place. I hadn’t eaten practically all day so I was starving. I also was ready to forgo any pasta and start eating some seafood. I ordered a plate of grilled sardines, although I really think they were anchovies. I tried to clarify with the waiter if they were sardines or anchovies because the Italian part of the menu said anchovies but the English part said, “sardines”. I always read both because the English translation isn’t usually very accurate. I think they were anchovies mostly based on how small they were but most of the sardines I’ve had have been in Beirut with the exception of the one night I convinced Karmen and Molly to order sardines with me in Seattle. Whatever they were, they were good. I also had zucchini in olive oil and mint and profiteroles with chocolate. Yummy.
Day two and I decided I would probably take the boat to the town of Amalfi. I had seen Positano already and I had a task to accomplish. Remember how I dragged my suitcase down a few stairs? Well, I needed to buy a new suitcase. I tore a huge hole in the bottom of my bag along with some other small tears. Now, I have to explain. This isn’t my suitcase that I brought from home. That bag was too big for moving around easily so I left it in Rome with John from Canada and I bought this bag from a street vendor in Rome. I debated buying from the vendor or an actual store and after looking at prices and bags at both places I decided that this cheap bag would be fine. I wasn’t checking it onto an airplane after all. The bag didn’t even last a day. I have to stop buying suitcases on every trip I take but I can’t seem to take up space in the one suitcase I bring to pack another suitcase for later use. I think this is it though.
Amalfi was nice although I didn’t feel like I did anything of substance. I don’t think there is much to do besides shop, eat, go to the beach, and see the one church. I did 3 out of the 4. My boat ride back was really lovely and much faster than my ride to Amalfi.
I got back to my room and hung out a bit with my new friend Silent Bob. Silent Bob is an orange cat that I’m assuming lives here. I named him Silent Bob because the first time we met, he opened his mouth to meow and nothing came out. He hasn’t said anything since. I thought that maybe I should have given him an Italian name like silenzio Roberto or arancia but since he doesn’t speak I don’t think it matters. I won’t pet him though. I remember all too clearly Jill’s story of when she first moved to Italy and got ringworm from petting a cat. I too do not know how to say “ringworm” in Italian and my cat impersonation isn’t nearly as good as Jill’s.
I finished my second night off with dinner at another spot on the hill. I wasn’t very hungry but figured I’d have a little something. I ate too much. I started with a caprese salad that was big enough for two or three people. The mozzarella cheese was different than I’ve had before too. It was more of a loaf shape instead of a ball and it tasted different. Almost like it wasn’t fresh, which is typical for this salad but it also wasn’t totally dry like American mozzarella cheese. It kind of had the consistency of feta. I decided to try this typical Calabrian pasta dish for my main course and holy cow. It was so incredibly good. It was fish ravioli with mussels and broccoli. I was so full but I had to eat it all. It was so good.

My morning started very early and was very exciting. At about 5:45 I could hear some rooster crowing in the distance. A few minutes later the thunder started, followed by the biggest storm I think I’ve witnessed yet on this trip. I had some really crazy ones in Rome too: thunder, lightening, and crazy downpours. This one was similar but I really couldn’t sleep during it and I kept getting up to look out the window. The thunder sounded less like “god moving his furniture” and more like cannons firing. I do know what this sounds like too. One would go off every day at noon on the hill above Trastevere. I don’t know why. The lightening was insane too. It seemed to be coming down all around me and I could see very clearly the zig zag of each bolt. One bolt seemed to be so close that I felt temporarily blinded by the brightness of it. The storm ended at some point but a new one came in around 7am and it started all over again. It definitely feels like the calm after the storm now. There is a bit of sun and blue sky again. I hope it doesn’t rain during the day because I’m assuming that all these stairs and streets basically become waterfalls.