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Published: April 16th 2012
It’s gotten to be a steady pattern of me being a week late for each blog I’ve been posting. Weeks are much busier so when I have some free time on the weekends I add a new one…a week late.
This blog is about my Easter Break “vacation” in Sicily from April 6-9. I went with my roommates Carrie, Abby and our friend Marie. We had a flight on April 6 at 7am. The only way to get there on time (Iguess) was to take a train late Thursday night to FCO and sit in there until our flight. So..that’s what we did. We got to the airport and set up camp on the floor. There was no way I could sleep like that so I finished a paper and just laid there, miserable, listening to my iPod. It was only an hour flight from Rome to Catania but I slept the whole time. From the Catania airport we took a taxi to our hostel, Ostello del Plebiscito.
It was actually pretty cute, and clean for a 10 person room. WAY better than our 9 person room in London. We got to the hostel so incredibly early that we
couldn’t check in just yet, so we sat around on their couches for a while. After checking in, we decided to walk around Catania to see what was even there.
We went to Sicily hoping to sit on the beach every day—nothing else! We came back to the room to nap for a while then we wanted to head out and find the beach. We ended up sleeping til 6 or something ridiculous. We were so tired. We pulled ourselves together when we woke up and hunted for the beach. Turns out..Catania has no beaches. Sick. It also doesn’t even have anything else really either. We ended up at a restaurant and had some o.k. pasta dishes. We went back to the hostel after that. Saturday we had plans to see Siracusa so we had to get up early again!
The next day we took a 10am bus to Siracusa. I couldn’t leave Sicily without going here. I’m from Syracuse, New York! I had to go to Syracuse, Sicily. Of course I planned ahead and brought an obnoxious Syracuse t-shirt and planned to wear it that day (which I did). The bus took about an hour (more sleeping).
We wanted to sit on the beach there after hearing they had one. Turns out, you had to take another bus to this beach, but we missed that bus so we were kind of stranded. Syracuse is another sleepy town. It’s on the water, but there’s not much to do there either. I just wanted pictures of doing Syracuse things in Syracuse! We walked around the city, ate lunch and decided to go on a boat tour of the cliffs since we couldn’t make it to the beach.
The tour was actually cool. We were in a tiny boat where we had to actually lay flat on our stomachs while going under a bridge. After that, and gelato and more walking around, we took the bus back to Catania. We hung out in the room for a bet sleeping some more or doing home work then decided it was time for a Easter Eve feast. We asked the girl at the hostel where to go but her map directions were atrocious so when we thought we were going the right way (probably not) we ended up somewhere else but went there any where because we gave up with the
directions. That actually ended up being one of the most fun dinners I have had since being in Italy! Carrie ate horse! Ew. Actually no, I tried it, it tasted like steak and is a delicacy in Sicily. I had salmon pasta, so did Abby and Marie had another pasta dish. We had wine and bruchetta and bread. It was a feast! The owner ended up loving us, not surprised, and double kisses me when we left. He was hilarious and his name was Carmello.
On our way back to the hostel, we literally ran into a parade. It was an Easter Vigil mass, with a huge procession of people, priests, more religious people, and finally, a see through casket with a statue of Jesus laying in it, and a statue of Mary standing up being held over maybe 4 men. It was something I’ve never seen before. Very religious, very Italian, we thought.
That Sunday morning was Easter. My favorite holiday!! We went to a nearby church for mass a half hour expecting it to be packed. We dressed up nicely, showed up on time, and waited. It was nothing as expected. People came in late, if
anything. And the dress was very casual. Even the reader, some young bearded kid, was in jeans. The cantor, some tiny old lady, was in her winter jacket (unnecessary). The church was nowhere near full. We were very confused, you could say. Easter Mass at my church is dressy, packed, and goes all out with the music. I expected it to be the same, in Italy especially, maybe even more of a big deal. Especially because of the parade we say the night before. Nope.
We ate lunch in the square, then had a dessert eat-a-thon because Marie gave up sweets for Lent and wanted to eat some! Can’t blame her. I also saw tons of pastries that my grandma used to make for Easter, please see my attached pictures : ) I haven’t seen those in forever so I knew I had to eat one. And I did! We shopped around after that, and later for our Easter Dinner, we all got pizzas. It was kind of sad. I love Easter at home and not being there was actually no fun. I didn’t want pizza, I wanted the little chicken my mom makes me because I hate ham
Siracusa
on the boat tourand the mashed potatoes she makes me too because I hate scalloped potatoes! And I wanted to have my family over to eat. Oh well. Next year.
The next morning we had a 5:50am boarding time at FCO. We went to bed at 12, woke up at 3:45, were in a taxi by 4:30, and at the airport by 4:4.5. I don’t know how else to describe it besides being miserable. We got to the Rome airport and were expecting another 12 or so euro train ticket back to Perugia but no! WE ended up paying 32 euro to get to Perugia, which was very frustrating because with that money you could get a train to Venice. But if we waited until 4 that afternoon it would have been 19 euro, but we just didn’t think it was worth it. We did end up making it back to Perugia and ran into a Bonaventure alum on the way to the MiniMetro! She noticed Abby’s sweatshirt. I knew it was bound to happen while in Europe!
I’m glad I went to Sicily, it was somewhere I really wanted to go while being here. I mean, according to my dad,
I am one quarter Sicilian. Although I kind of expected more out of it, like to be more beach-y, I can still say I went.
This past week was the last week of classes. My parents came to Perugia, too, on Tuesday and Wednesday. They weren’t here for great weather, though. It’s been raining! From Friday to Saturday of this weekend I was in Rome. I had a GREAT time and met with my parents again. I’ll blog about that too eventually, you know. 11
days until USA!
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