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January 16th 2007
Published: January 16th 2007
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Dearest one and all - Happy New Year! We hope your holidays were pleasant and that 2007 will bring you a year full of happiness and success, peace and interest.

Well as you might imagine, spending the holidays in Sicily was great. Not just great - stupendous, scrumptious, delightful and just about any other positive adjective you’d like to tack on. Granted the trains didn’t run on time, the weather didn’t always cooperate and we didn’t get to visit their famous volcano (Mt. Etna) but you can’t have everything can you?

Our trip started off in Catania, one of the larger cities on the island. It is a bit industrial but not lacking in charm. We stayed in a really lovely hostel type guest house in the historic part of town that I would highly recommend if I remembered the name. We arrived in the rain and got in late because nothing was flying on time. Thank goodness Italians think dinner ought to be enjoyed in the middle of the night, and that there’s a restaurant every 10 feet. We celebrated our first night in Italy with yummy little pizzas, deftly prepared by a father son team in under 10 minutes (and cooked in a wood fired oven bigger than our apartment). Needless to say, it was a good start.

From Catania we went south down the coast to Noto, a small city that was destroyed by an earthquake in the late 17th century and re-built all in the Baroque style. The town is now a UNESCO site, and even though we arrived around 10pm in the pouring rain (does this sound like a trend yet?) it was obvious why it was worth the attention. Walking up to the gates of the old city, I felt like Cinderella arriving at the ball. All the buildings were lit up to display their architecture to full advantage and the streets were lit by huge chandeliers. If it hadn’t been for my huge back pack I could have danced all night…

The city of Noto is on a pretty steep hill, and the hostel we stayed at was about three quarters of the way up. Once the rain stopped (which took a few days) we were able to enjoy some lovely views of the city and surrounding area. On a clear day we could see the ocean sparkling on once sid, and miles of citrus orchards on the other. It was quite picturesque. Unfortunately most things in Noto were closed - partially due to the holidays (we actually arrived on Christmas) and partially because it was winter and we were about the only tourists. But we still enjoyed some lovely sites and good meals. Most notable were the seafood dishes, grilled squid, ricotta ravioli with a tomato sauce studded with mixed sea creatures (my favorite) and an interesting local specialty that included tasty handmade pasta and some kind of paste made of cauliflower and sardines. We also had our best version of limoncello, the traditional Italian lemon liquor (most restaurants just serve the cheap stuff that’s too syrupy for me, but on Christmas the owner of the restaurant where we had dinner gave us a taste of the good stuff - very light and tart).

Our next stop was a town called Caltabellotta. Located towards the western side of the island up in craggy mountains this was the least touristy and most enjoyable place we visited. We rented a tiny little cave of an apartment, and for 3 days lived in bliss. Caltabellotta doesn’t boast any flashy tourist attractions, it has some pretty old churches, and the countryside is charming, but what really struck me about this town was the people. They were just so damn nice! Granted, we may be a bit biased, coming from Romania, which is know for its mediocre customer service. In all honesty though, the town just felt happy. People were not just polite they were really excited to be nice to you. In several different stores we had the experience of not really knowing what we wanted to buy - cheese for example, so the people behind the counter just started slicing off pieces of everything for us to try. And it didn’t matter that we didn’t speak Italian they charged ahead a mile a minute about god knows what throwing in English words here and there if they knew some. There was a great restaurant we went to twice for dinner - no menu, just the owner and a cook. We had no idea what to order so the owner took great pains to try and describe our options (based on the crates of beautiful fresh veggies sitting by the door where we’d walked in) and brought us some of the best food I’ve ever had. Delicious lamb, an outstanding spicy pasta dish with zucchini and cheese and best of all - cannoli that were out of this world. I’m sorry, but words fail me in describing about this fantastic creation. I have never in my life craved a cannoli. I don’t really dig the bland, fried pastry shell, I think the filling is sort of gross - too sweet, not much flavor, and the consistency of the paste you use in kindergarten (I was not a paste eater, so this is not a draw for me). But these cannoli, were a different animal all together. The cheese - and yes you could tell it was real cheese, fresh and airy, the shell was crisp, the cinnamon was aromatic and we were in heaven.

Believe it or not, we did more than eat in Caltabellotta. We explored the city end to end and spent 2 afternoons exploring the area around town. Like most the Sicily the area is dominated by agriculture. Lots of olives, oranges, lemons, sheep and goats, with some wind turbines thrown in for good measure. I was amazed how green the countryside was - apparently they get a little snow in the winter, but I don’t think it got below 45 degrees at night. This area around town was especially striking. Sharp rocky outcroppings riddled with caves (and some tombs - see the picture below) and lots of aromatic herbs, which made hiking that much more pleasant. Unfortunately the herds of grazing animals that looked so pastoral and pleasant presented a small problem. We quickly learned that when there were sheep - there were dogs. Not nice, friendly dogs. Mean, blood thirsty, scare the piss out of you dogs. Luckily we escaped with out anything more than a good fright. But it was unfortunate, because there was plenty to explore.

We finished our stay in the coastal city of Acireale. It’s quite close to Mt. Etna, and we got a few peeks at the volcano, but unfortunately it was more time and money to see it close up than we could afford.

We actually stayed in a “camping” area on the cliff below the city. We had a great view of the ocean and a nice hike up the cliff to get into town. Well, nice once we realized there was a path and we didn’t have to walk along the road in the terrifying traffic… talk about a harrowing experience! Surprise, surprise, Acireale also has great restaurants and markets. I’d say the market here was the best we saw - I can only imagine what it would look like in the summer! It spanned about 4 blocks sort of in a U shape and was filled with all manner of veggies, fruit, nuts, bread, and fish and meat. It was quite a treat to pick out breakfast and lunch items - fresh crusty rolls, juicy dates, blood oranges that would transport you to another world, and on every corner, tasty gelato and cappuccino. On our last night in town we finished off a scrumptious dinner with another local specialty, some sort of thick chocolate drink served in a frosted pitcher. It was sort of like chocolate pudding - in other words - like heaven.

The town itself was pretty nice. We spent most of our time either in the old section of the city, exploring the windy cobblestone streets and enjoying the architecture, or down at the bottom of the cliff, exploring the fishing village and rocky beach. This was where we spent New Years Eve, and let me tell you - Italians LOVE fire works. For better or for worse, we opted to spend the most festive part of the evening in our little cabin playing cards and enjoying each others company - but we still got to enjoy the fireworks through the window - all night long…. There was some guilt at not having spent New Years in Romania - as that was their official entry into the EU, but all things considered, Italy was great and I don’t regret our choice.

Our trip home was relatively un-eventful, and after a week in bed - sick as dogs - we’re getting back into the swing of things. I am little by little trying to come to terms with my work situation and figure out what on earth I’m doing. I am taking on a more active role in a couple of projects with Chris’ organization and am excited about where that may lead. I’ll be continuing my English classes (beginner classes for adults who are also learning to make traditional crafts), and also taking on a young woman who wants to improve her conversational skills. She’s about 16 and wants to be a gynecologist - I wonder what we’ll talk about….?

Before we sign off for today - we’d like to thank our parents and grandparents for making our wonderful vacation in Sicily possible, and also say thank you for the fantastic care packages we’ve received. I’m happy the report that with my new oven thermometer I was able to bake a pineapple upside down cake for our last dinner party. It was a great success. Now I just need to splurge on a hand beater, because beating 8 egg whites into firm peaks with a whisk is an exercise in patience and endurance that I don’t want to undertake again. We’re also putting the spices to good use in all sorts of wonderful Mexican and Indian dishes, I wish I’d taken a picture of the breakfast burritos Chris fixed this morning - you all would have been proud!



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16th January 2007

Hellooooooooooooooooooooo!
Happy New Years to you too! I have to say I'm quite jealous! Especially of all the heavenly ambrosia-esque foods you've enjoyed :) Glad to hear you had a safe trip and escaped blood-thirsty dogs. I especially LOVE looking at all of your photos...someone has a good eye...and the other is easy on the eyes....hmmmmmmm who is who? ha ha!

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