Category: Et Cetera

mount etna

It was our second-to-last day when we traveled to Mount Etna. (And in case you didn’t know, Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily!) We woke up kind of early, put on our most comfortable walking shoes, hopped on the bus, and began to drive. 

This may be TMI, but the one thing I remember once we got to the side of the mountain was how badly I had to pee. There was no bathroom, so I had to hold it and wait almost two hours until we stopped for lunch. Now that I think about it, I guess I could’ve gone outside. “I once peed on an active volcano” would have been a good conversation starter.

Anyways, we didn’t walk up to the top; we just walked around the side and saw a couple of cool sites. We had two tour guides: one’s name was Pippo, and he didn’t speak English, so there was a translator as well.

Here’s one photo I took as we began our hike. It was quite colorless, but it’s still pretty neat.

It was insanely windy and cold up there! Thankfully we dressed for it and were able to stay warm, but it was quite the change of temperature compared to the rest of the week.

This is a crater we got to look down into. All I could think about while staring into it was the boys who got stuck in the Thailand cave. Ahh!

Here’s me posing with the funniest tree. They all looked like they had eyes, but this one was especially funny because of its lips.

After hiking, we stopped for lunch at a rifugio, which is a little restaurant/lodge they have on mountainsides in Italy. It was really cool, and the food was delicious. Plus, I got to pee!

We hung out in the rifugio for about two hours, sipping Coca Cola and drawing on paper placemats as we waited for food. After eating, we headed to a new area where we got to go underground into a cave! Here’s a selfie of me underground right after I hit my head on the top of the cave. Thank god for safety helmets!

After learning all about volcanoes with Pippo, we started to head back to the hotel. I’m so sad that I forgot to take a little lava rock home with me!

It’s really hard to see the letters in this photo, but it says “Benvenuti a Milo.” I took about 20 photos of signs in this town that said “Milo” because that’s my brother’s name! I sent him some of the photos, but he was not nearly as excited as I was. I’m not sure why, though; if there’s a town called Josie/Josephine, I would 100% want to go visit ASAP.

We stopped at a bakery to use the bathroom on the way back, and I got a few little pastries. My Italian teacher wanted to get us a cake since it was Easter and it was our second-to-last day there, but she didn’t realize that the one she bought was a semifreddo (like an ice cream cake)! So, we had to take our pistachio semifreddo and eat it outside the bakery. It was so funny and such a great memory. And, of course, it tasted amazing, too!

My friend and I wanted to hang out by the ocean that evening and collect rocks and try to find sea glass. The waves weren’t as calm as they were when I swam, but just wait until you see how big the waves were on our last day!

It was so nice to just sit on the beach and watch the waves with no crowds of people screaming around us.

I’ve been missing this trip so much lately. Relaxing on those gorgeous empty beaches is one of the things I miss the most!

Mmmmm. Another gelato. This one is coffee and chocolate. I got it at a little gelateria about two minutes from our hotel. I love how every place gives a different topping, whether it be a mini cone or a cute little waffle. Also, I need to branch out with my gelato flavors! I probably got chocolate (or some variation of it) almost every time.

This is all of the sea glass I found, and it’s all green!

I love this photo! I tried my best to find all the colors of the rainbow. And yes, I brought all of those rocks home with me. I know, I’m crazy for bringing rocks with me on the airplane. But they look great on my windowsill, and they remind me of Sicily every day, so it was totally worth the strain on my back.

Well… I’m almost done with my Sicily series. Only one more post to go! Writing this series has allowed me to relive the experience, sort of, so I’m going to be sad saying goodbye yet again!

See you tomorrow for the finale. Buonanotte!

taormina and letojanni

Our last hotel was in a small town on the ocean called Letojanni. It was near the hillside town of Taormina, which was a really cool place we spent two days shopping in and exploring.

Here is one of the views from our balcony at the final hotel. We spent a lot of time here, organizing shells and rocks and looking down into the hotel restaurant kitchen! Our whole group was on the same floor, and once we checked in, we all said hi and waved to each other from our windows/balconies.

Here’s the other side, looking right out to the ocean.

Outside of the hotel.

We headed up to Taormina that day for a guided tour. Our first stop (and basically the highlight of the tour) was the ancient Greek theater. Here’s a view on our way up. That’s Mount Etna (Sicily’s active volcano) in the background!

And this is the Greek theater. It was really cool, and apparently, they still have shows and concerts here once in a while!

It wasn’t too crowded, either, which was nice!

I love this one. I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect there to be as many cacti and palm trees as there were! I was pleasantly surprised once we arrived. It reminded me a bit of Arizona! 😀

I had never seen an ocean (in person) of that shade of blue before.

A really cool mosaic in the center of Taormina. It’s a bit of a tourist trap in some parts, and there are a lot of stores, but I love how there are still so many historic elements that are preserved despite the modernization.

OK, this photo looks kind of gross, but this was one of my favorite dishes! It’s gnocchi with a pistachio-pesto sauce. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again.

An adorable turquoise door outside of the restaurant.

We didn’t get a chance to swim in the pools at the other hotels, and since there wasn’t one at this hotel, a few of us wanted to go swimming in the ocean. The water was freezing when we got there, though, so I was hesitant to even go up to my knees. But I convinced myself to just do it so I can say I swam in the Mediterranean Sea! It warmed up after a while and was so lovely.

This picture is kind of haunting, but look how clear and beautiful the water looks!

Oh, but I wish I had water shoes that day! Those rocks were very very painful.

Here’s proof that I swam in the Mediterranian Sea. It was so calm that day; I had never seen anything like it!

I love this photo so much. Everything about it is just so pretty. I remember everything so vividly from this trip. Looking through photos makes me feel like I’m reliving it!

After swimming, my friends and I decided to order pizza on the dock next to the ocean. I was freezing from the twenty-minute swim (it really was that cold!), so I got some hot chocolate, too. Surprisingly, this was the first pizza I had the whole trip! One is Four Cheese and the other is Margherita.

And, of course, what’s a meal without gelato for dessert? This is pistachio with a chocolate cone.

Cute purple chairs and tables we admired while eating our gelato.

Some of the beach treasures I found! I gave some away to one of my friends but kept a few special ones for myself.

Here’s one last photo to wrap things up. There’s so much going on: the hillside houses, the trees, the VOLCANO in the background. So cool. I just can’t believe I got to see this view in person.

Tomorrow (I hope), I will share photos from our trip to Mount Etna! A presto.

enna and agrigento

The drive up to Enna was one of the more stressful experiences of this trip. Traveling in a tour bus had its benefits, but driving up tiny, winding roads up a mountainside was quite the struggle. The bus driver had to honk the horn each time we turned a corner in case of a car coming down the mountain!

Once we calmed down a bit from the ride, we hit the bathrooms (and spent one euro to use them) and met up with our tour guide for the day, Davide. Davide knew a lot about the history and architecture within the town of Enna. He also had a wonderful sense of style and fed my obsession for scarves and Oxford shoes.

We went to the Castello di Lombardia. This is a phenomenal view next to the castle.

I really love this geometric metal fence.

I snuck away from the tour group for a few minutes to take photos of this view with flowers in the foreground.

img_7771

This is the Castello di Lombardia, or at least the ruins of it. From what I remember, there were a lot of different aspects that were added later on, so not every piece is from the original structure. Still, it’s very old, and the tower you can see in the middle of this picture is from the 13th century.

We climbed up so many stairs to reach the top of the tower. My grandpa climbed the stairs, too; I think he’s in better shape than I am as he did it with, seemingly, no problem! 😉

The next few photos are views from different sides of the tower.

The top of that little mountain is right where we were at the start!

After touring the castle and learning lots about who inhabited the surrounding areas (Sicily’s history is so very complicated but so very interesting!), we headed into town. Enna is a pretty religious city, and we were there the week of Easter, so there was a lot going on religiously.

I love this photo. USA, why can’t our mailboxes be this charming?!

There are so many churches in Enna. I can’t remember the name/find this church online, but it was so beautiful. I believe this ceiling is wood.

These hand-painted tiles are just fantastic. As I mentioned in one of my other posts, I’m totally going to have a kitchen someday with a Sicily-inspired backsplash!

This wooden wall is carved with Bible stories.

Here’s something kinda funny/unique I observed on this trip. Maybe it’s a European thing or just an Italian thing, but the exterior of each hotel always has the number of stars it is right next to the logo. In the US, you have to do a Google search to find that info, but in Sicily, it’s right there! I think it’s pretty interesting that they do this.

This is Chiesa Santa Chiara. You can’t really see from this photo, but there are little marble squares on the walls that hold bodies of Italians who died in WWII. I guess it’s more like a mausoleum!

After having lunch and walking through Enna for a while, we took the terrifying bus ride back down the hill and headed to Villa Romana del Casale. If you enjoy mosaics as much as I do, this is a place you must visit! It is an ancient palace that has been turned into a museum. The mosaics have been kept in wonderful condition, and each room has a totally different design on the floor.

This is the famous bikini girl mosaic! Davide said that bikinis supposedly originated in Sicily because of this mosaic. That’s something I didn’t think I’d learn on this trip!

The outdoor mosaics get very dusty as people walk over them all day, so Davide splashed some water on one of them, and we could see how shiny they are once clean.

I discovered this photo after I returned from Sicily (that always happens because I take so many pictures!). I took it on the bus and didn’t think it’d be a great shot, but I really like it.

We had left our beloved first hotel that morning, so by the end of the day, we ended up in Agrigento. This hotel was four-star, and it was quite fancy. Sadly we only stayed there for one night, so my friends and I enjoyed it by buying all the Kinder Bueno bars in the mini-fridge and drinking Coca Cola until our 11pm curfew.

This is the view from the tiny balcony in our room.

The next day, we headed to Velle dei Templi, or Valley of the Temples. They are ancient Greek temples located on the top of a little hill. As you drive by on the road below, you can see some of them, and it’s so pretty.

Some of them were preserved better than others, but I’ve never seen anything like them in person before.

The cutest little goats on the side of the hill!

LOL, no joke: I wandered off from the group to take this flower picture, too. I just can’t resist sometimes!

After the tour at the Valle dei Templi, we went out for lunch. I got a classic Sicilian pasta dish: Pasta alla Norma. It’s busiate (my new favorite pasta) with tomatoes, eggplants, basil, and cheese.

Excuse this unflattering picture, but this is another classic Sicilian treat: gelato in a sweet brioche bun! Mmmmm. One of the best things I ate.

After lunch, we took a little drive to Scala dei Turchi . Sadly, the walk was too far to reach them, and we couldn’t climb up or get a closer look, but they are still gorgeous from this view.

There was so much to explore at this beach. I found so many rocks and shells! 

The water was insanely warm, too. I could have stayed there all day.

Another rare picture of me.

After about an hour on the beach, we drove three hours to our final hotel in Letojanni. We stopped at a convenience store along the way, and it was nothing like I’ve ever seen! It was basically a mini grocery store. Some of the chocolate treats I took home were from there 😉 lol.

Tomorrow I’ll share photos and stories from our first day in Taormina / Letojanni, and then Mount Etna. A domani!

erice and san vito lo capo

I am finally done with my junior year of high school which means I can finish up my Sicily series! My posts will be a bit longer since I still have quite a bit to share with you all. I don’t have many stories for today, but I have a lot of photos, so I hope you enjoy seeing them.

Today I’ll be taking you along with me up a cable car into the clouds to an ancient town called Erice.

The views were never-ending as we traveled up this mountain. The countryside, the city, the ocean: we saw it all in about twenty minutes.

Once we reached the town of Erice, we walked for quite a while to reach the ruins of Castello di Venere. Can you believe these are all homes people still live in? I’ve said this before, but the preservation of architecture here blows my mind.

This is one of the most beautiful views I saw.

Sicily was in total bloom while we were there. You’ll see in my next few photos some of the most colorful flowers.

This is a photo of the exterior of the castle ruins. I saw more castles on this trip than I’ve ever seen in my whole life (and we only saw two)!

A map of Erice.

The next few photos are of the castle ruins. It was pretty cool, but we only walked around for about fifteen minutes as there wasn’t much to see. I loved taking photos of the flowers, though.

This is such a cool flower.

This is one of my favorite photos I took. The sky looks so perfect, and the layered textures of the buildings make me so happy.

This one, too. The stone walkway is incredible.

Another lovely and rusty balcony!

We walked leisurely through town for a while but had to speed up when a car began driving (down the insanely narrow streets) behind us! I hope they weren’t in a rush. 😉 We eventually escaped and headed to a bakery called Pasticceria Grammatico Maria

I could smell nothing but almond extract and coffee as I walked into the tiny shop. The glass display case held an abundance of cookies, cakes, marzipan, cannoli, and other Italian delicacies. I got a cannoli (cannolo, actually — I don’t know why Americans have turned everything plural!). I’ve never had anything like it. The cream wasn’t frosting-like; it was rich and a little grainy with chocolate chips scattered throughout it. The shell was buttery and flakey but not soggy like many of the cannolis I’ve had here in America.

We walked down the stairs to the seating area to eat our treats and were pleasantly surprised by the very large outdoor dining area. There were plants everywhere, and it felt like a total escape from the slight chaos and busyness within the town.

The woman who owns the bakery, Maria, was the sweetest old lady. She gave my teacher and our tour leader a copy of her recipe book. As we walked in, she said, “Buongiorno, ragazzi!” to us all with so much joy on her face. This bakery is a true gem and one of the best parts of the trip for me.

After our midday bakery visit, we had a few minutes to walk around and shop. I bought a couple things and came across the cutest little animal figurines in the window of one of the shops. I was so sad when I realized they were closed! 😦 I would have bought them all.

Too much charm in one picture.

We walked back to the cable car and boarded the bus once we returned from the clouds. From Erice, we headed to the beach in San Vito lo Capo! Here are some sheep chilling out in the grass on our way there.

This was the first time we actually visited the beach and got to relax on it! The mountain in the photo is Monte Monaco.

The water was a bit too cold to swim, and no one had brought bathing suits that day, so we all sat in the sun and enjoyed the calming water and blue sky.

We hung out at a beachside restaurant after sunbathing for a while. We ate potato chips and drank Coca Cola, and then we left and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Tomorrow, I will share stories from Enna. A domani!

 

 

a few hours in monreale

After visiting Palermo for lunch, we headed up a windy and narrow road to a little town called Monreale.

The lopsided, sandy-colored buildings make me so happy!

Here is a view of the garden within the Monreale Cathedral. You can see the beautiful arches in the background, and each pillar is made up of shimmering geometric mosaics, which are of Arab influence.

This is an up-close shot of the magnificent mosaics. It’s so hard to capture their true beauty on camera! And the fact that they are still intact and well-preserved blows my mind.

I couldn’t get a great shot of the door outside the cathedral because there were bars in front of it, but it is filled with small, detailed sculptures of Bible stories.

This is outside of the cathedral, and it was, by far, one of my favorite pieces of architecture I witnessed while in Sicily. You would think that the mix of different styles would look strange and random, but here is one example of just the opposite. This sounds weird, but I could have stared at this cathedral all day. It’s just so hypnotizingly gorgeous!

Here’s another view of it.

Oh, how I wanted to buy one of these! We walked into a little store filled with extraordinary mosaic designs of all sorts. Unfortunately, even the tiniest canvases were around 75 euro (don’t get me wrong, it’s completely worth it!). Someday I’ll come back and buy one.

The woman who was working in the shop was making a design as we walked in, so I got to see just how much work goes into the process. I saw her break tiny pieces of glass and place them perfectly to fit within the frame. Long story short, I fell in love with mosaics in Sicily — not just the final product, but the intensive work that goes into creating them.

Another charming balcony housing a mini jungle.

This is an anxiety-inducing road I would never ever ever ever want to drive down. Also, wouldn’t you just love to live in one of those apartments? I know I would. You could open your window and have a full on conversation with your neighbors!

Here’s the view that Monreale is known for, “La Conca d’Oro,” or The Golden Shell.

A picture of me in front of The Golden Shell. It was very windy up there!

Oh, do you see the lanyard with the red writing that says “Whispers”? Those are little devices we received with each tour guide. It’s a (very uncomfortable) headphone that is connected by Bluetooth to the guide’s microphone so everyone can hear them.  The name “Whispers” is so funny to me, so I just had to share this. Oh, and there was a moment when a few of us went into the bathroom and the group kept moving on, so as we were peeing, we missed nothing! 😉

This is the inside of the cathedral which we saw after roaming the town for a bit. You can see yet another Jesus dome; this one’s also made entirely of mosaic.

The WOOD ceiling!

Aghhhh, I cannot get enough of this mosaic. I’ve decided that my future kitchen backsplash will be completely inspired by Sicily!

This is the Virgin Mary in one of the corners of the church. The shrine is made entirely of marble, and below there were nearly a hundred flickering candles.

We had some free time after touring the town and visiting the cathedral. Here are some lovely and delicious Sicilian cookies (mostly almond or lemon-based!).

A very refreshing strawberry granita.

This was my view as I enjoyed the granita. *sigh* it doesn’t get better than this…

That was our mini trip to Monreale! It’s taken a while for me to get this post up, but school is ending in eight days, so life has been a bit crazy. I’ll be putting a few more Sicily posts up very soon… buonanotte.