Blogs from Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Europe
March 23rd 2012
New York to Palermo –Thursday and Friday Alitalia provided a great flight, really! We left on time, the plain was new, and the wine and food were fine and the flight smooth. Even got a few hours sleep. We had a long layover in Rome for our flight to Palermo but only ½ hour late in leaving. Was able to get a ½ hours nap. My first glimpse of Sicily was surprising. High jagged cliffs meeting the Tyrranean Sea resembled the Na Pali coast but were grey instead of green. The volcanic foundation of the island is apparent. We boarded our bus and planned to do a quick panoramic tour and then check in at our hotel. On the Autobahn from the airport we passed two obelisks that memorialized the murder of a judge who was ... read more
February 21st 2012
Leaving Andorra after a secure 5 weeks was slightly daunting. Although only a short time, Andorra had become my home, I had my flat, my boyfriend, my routine, my friends. I was a local. Arriving in Venice, I had none of these things, and checking into the backpackers and looking at the bunk bed in the room I was to share with 3 others, I longed for my familiar large bed with my own private bathroom. Andy was meeting me in Venice and would join me for the first four nights, after which I would have the next four nights to myself before meeting Nelly in Rome for the final 7. I was starting in Venice and would train and fly south to finish in Sicily. All the places chosen were obvious tourist reasons with a ... read more
October 3rd 2011
Nicht, dass Napoli allein Abenteuer genug wäre, nein, Lena und ich entschieden, Urlaub vom Urlaub zu machen. Sizilien schien dafür der geeignete Ort. Vom Porto di Napoli brachte uns eine Nachtfähre in (gefühlten) 12(0) Std. nach Catania, der zweitgrößten Stadt der Insel. Nach einer schlaflosen Nacht gab es dann erstmal ein Frühstück in einer Cafeteria, bevor eine etwas längere Suche nach dem Hostel begann. Später erfuhren wir: wären wir am Hafen in die andere Richtung gegangen, hätte der Weg nicht halb so lange gedauert. Aber direkte Wege sind auch nicht abenteuerlich genug. Das Hostel war soweit ganz nett und vor allem sauber und voll ausgestattet. Beides ist in Italien leider kein Standard. Der erste Stadtrundgang führte uns durch die Shoppingmeile Catanias sowie an zahlreichen Kirchen vorbei in einen kleinen Park. Dort fand gerade ein Fotoshooting statt. ... read more
August 4th 2011
Our first day in Sicily actually started in Rome. We got up early and headed to the train station to catch our 7:30am train ride to Sicily. The train ride was 13 hours long and I think that really speaks for itself. It was pretty bad due to mainly being stuck at a repair bay for 2 hours while something was fixed. We arrived in Palermo at 8:00pm and made our way to the hostel. We got there and were instantly upgraded to the Columbia Hotel which was way better although being surrounded by wild cats! We then found an Indian takeaway joint down the road and ate our first decent meal all day. The next morning we got up and spoke to the manager at the hotel about getting our room changed as the air ... read more
June 13th 2011
Sorry I havnt blogged for afew days. Combinations of random schedules and lack of wifi in some cities has made it abit difficult. We arrived in Civitavechio afew days ago which is known as the port of Rome, even though its a good hours train ride away. Didnt stop us though, so after an hour on the train we arrived in the centre of Rome. As soon as we walked out of the station we were greated by a sign saying 'welcome to gay pride'. Seeing as one of the techies is gay we decided to go have a look. Hopefully the photo will work of the sign we found, which we all had to have a picture with. We then started out to find the Colosseum. It took about an hour of walking around the ... read more
April 28th 2011
Today we are going home with Ryanair 8.°° Pm, so we got half a day to spend! In the morning we packed our bag and went by bus to Modello Beach, around 50 minutes away som city centre and it was truly amazing! Almost like the pictures you see from Thailand, white sand and turquoise water! When we lay there and relaxed I see this strange boat comming towars us so I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. After some hours we decided to go back to th centre and take the bus to the airport. When we got to the trinstation thepolice had put up barricades and there was demonstrations everywhere. Fortunately we got on a bus to the airport but letme tell you, without some extra-time there and we had missed our flight! ... read more
April 27th 2011
The weather today has not been the very best, some rain and quite cloudy. We had planned to go to a beach nearby, but the weather made us stay here. But we have visited a botanic garden, a big one! And then we felt hungry, so we sat down to a local restaurant. The menu was not in english and the waiter could not speak english. What do you do? We pointed at something on the menu and got something really disgusting. I feelt so sorry for my sister which got the worst, it was theese big caterpillar-like thick spaghetti, soaked in crushed tomatoes. It looked disgusting and my eyes was right. Now, the fact is like this, both me and my sister eat with our eyes, and this was something none of us would cook ... read more
April 26th 2011
The worst night so far! It rained and it blew so that the car was vibrating! It was not much sleep. But today we returned the car in Milazzo and took the train back to Palermo. We are staying at Ai Quattro Canti hostel again for two days, and the hostel arranged activities during the evening. We joined them to a fish-restaurant. When the food got into the room I was stunned! There was theese gigantic plates with only fish, squid and shripms! Haha :) Me and my sister chose meat instead, and we got a similar plate but with a lot of sausages and dumplings instead. But, only meat, no salad, no potatoes, no rice. Well, that's how it is ;) Tonight it is going to be really comfortable sleeping in a real bed, and ... read more
April 21st 2011
Yah! Got here in the evening after a smooth flight from Oslo Rygge with Ryanair (the aircraft was only 5 moths old!). During the flight I purchased a aircraft model of a Boeing 737-800 in the colourscheme of Ryanair. It would be great to have all the models in its colourscheme wich I have been travelling with, but now I only got the Ryanair and a Novair Airbus A321-200. So I am still missing a Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-300 in the colourcheme of Norwegian Air shuttle and a Fokker 50 in the colourscheme of Skyways Express. Today me, my sister and her boyfriend will be staying at Ai Quattro Canti Hostel in the centre of Palermo. We will be staying for only one night because tomorrow we will be on a train to Milazzo and then ... read more
September 15th 2010
The first thing I did when I got up was go to the suburbs, to the catacombs which I was really excited about. You see I have a morbid fascination with the dead and stuff like that, and these catacombs have around 8000 mummified corpses of Palermo citizens from between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was fascinating. Mostly skeletons but some of them still had skin and hair! Apparently the higher class corpses are better preserved than the paupers. There was a section for child corpses and a separate corridor for males and females/higher and lower classes/virgins. Then I walked back down Via Vittorio Emanuele where I picked up a few cheap outfits :), past the beautiful cathedral and to the Palazzo dei Normanni. From here I decided to take the city in quarters, starting ... read more
