Change of Plans - We´re Going to Palermo!

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Back in January, after we had been in Ireland for about two weeks, my friend Kat sent me a facebook message declaring she had found cheap tickets to Trapani, Sicily for a weekend in March. Being in the mood (as I always am) to jump on a plane to basically anywhere, I booked a Ryanair flight along with four other API girls. We didn’t really know much about our destination - Of course I had heard of Sicily, and my friend Katie, who is a quarter Sicilian, was extremely excited to see where her family was from. That was enough for us. Thus, come March 7th, our Sicilian adventure began.

We had a late afternoon flight out of Dublin, so when we landed in Trapani it was already dark outside. We promptly de-planed, did a little happy dance on the tarmac, got overly excited about getting another passport stamp, and then pulled out our trusty Mapquest directions. (‘Trusty’ is the operative word in this situation since we have found that nothing labeled ‘trusty’ actually lives up to the title.) Mapquest said the airport was within walking distance of our hostel; however, we walked outside to find ourselves in the middle of nowhere with a lone bus waiting to transport all the passengers into town. Thus, Katie (who we deemed the communicator since she knew about 3 Italian phrases) asked a friendly Sicilian woman with a British accent about our next step in the journey. We learned we were 17 kilometers away from the city, decided Mapquest was not our friend that day, and hopped on the bus. After comparing notes with the Irish tourists who had printed out similarly ‘trusty’ directions, we developed a plan for where to get off and start searching for our Hostel. The bus dropped us off at a statue near the tourist office (which, of course, was closed since it was about 9:30 pm), and we followed the group a little ways into town. But they all found their bed and breakfast quite easily, and the five of us were left alone to fend for ourselves. Thus begins the late-night walking tour of Trapani . . . One thing we learned right away was that the locals were very friendly and willing to help, but our communication skills were severely limited. Thus, to add to the non-existent directions we had received from the Hostel and the lies Mapquest had handed out, we got some random pointing all over town with a couple random street names thrown in here and there. We attempted to follow the advice we received. However, after wandering around the city for a good half hour with our bags (while a man followed us in his car catcalling until we veered into a pedestrian zone) we ended up back at the bed and breakfast to ask for directions. By that time the reception desk was closed, so we tried the restaurant downstairs. Thankfully, they were still open and a server inside spoke some English; he gave us a map of town with excellent directions, and then called us a cab. Even turns out the man who ran the Hostel was still waiting for us when we rolled in an hour after our scheduled arrival time, and we didn’t have to sleep on the beach that night. Woohoo.

When we woke up the next morning and headed to breakfast, we discovered the sun was actually shining and it was warm outside (at least by Irish standards). Thus, we ate our delicious ricotta-filled croissants, went back to the hostel to change into our bathing suits and skirts, and headed to the beach . . . we knew the Irish weather was on its way, so time was of the essence. Of course, upon stepping outside in such attire, we received multiple stares from the fashionable locals in their coats and Versace sunglasses (apparently we were crazy for relishing 70 degree weather). But we decided to just stick out like sore thumbs and head to the beach anyway. The beach itself was nothing particularly exciting - it was a wee bit dirty and lined by a main road - and the water was freezing; but we enjoyed feeling the sand beneath our feet before the cold front hit. From there we headed into town. Trapani is definitely beautiful in the city center (where the few tourists who come are “supposed” to stay . . . that is, if they’re not college kids traveling on a budget). However it’s pretty small and doesn’t offer much to do, especially when you factor in the extensive siesta the Sicilians seem to take. We wandered around for a while, took a break back at the hostel, and then wandered a bit more (apparently wandering is one of our favorite activities). Katie and I stopped for a bit when we ran into our new Polish friend (who had been on the same flight from Dublin and had tried to help us figure out our way to the hostel the night before). We were impressed to discover that we could pass as Irish since it took him a good half hour to realize we were Americans, but that was about the high point. That night, after searching to find a restaurant that was actually open, we found a lovely pizza place and had a delicious dinner, followed by a taste of Sicilian wine back at the hostel. It was quite nice to be in a place where a 2 Euro bottle of wine tastes good.

So, the second day we woke up extremely early to walk into the city center and catch an 8 am bus to Segesta. The tourist office (that we had popped into during our wandering the day before) had told us where the bus stop was and had given us a timetable. However, their instructions proved to be ‘trusty,’ and after waiting for a bus that seemed to not be coming, we flagged down one headed for the airport in order to ask the bus driver whether or not we were waiting in vain. We sent Katie to try to communicate and, while I don’t think the bus driver had any idea what she was actually asking, he could tell that we were confused and offered us a free ride to Trapani’s official bus station. From there we learned that the next bus to Segesta didn’t leave until noon. But a bus headed for Palermo had just pulled up, so we decided to hop on that one instead.

Palermo proved to be much more of a “destination” city than Trapani. We hopped off the bus at the perfect stop by the theatre in the city center (purely by luck and our powers of observation), and immediately found one of those “hop on, hop off” tour buses with a woman who spoke excellent English and could point us to the tourist office across the square. From there, we got our bearings and a map, and once again began our process of wandering. We stopped into a couple theatres (which I am ALWAYS excited to see) . . . one called Politeama Garibaldi and the other called Teatro Massimo. Apparently the latter is one of the most important opera houses in Europe - although, I never quite figured out why. We only saw both buildings from the outside; there is a tour of the Teatro Massimo, but we didn’t feel like spending the money to go inside since we only had a day in Palermo and plenty to see. From there we went in search of the market, which was a little difficult to find since it wasn’t where the map said it was. We went down to the port to find it, and had given up in favor of getting lunch when we stumbled upon it during our restaurant search. The market was fairly small, but it did have some fresh produce, seafood, and meat and was fun to meander through. From there we continued the lunch search, which proved more difficult than we expected. Apparently Palermo was slightly low on restaurants and we had still not figured out the trick to finding places open in Sicily. But eventually (once we were all getting a little cranky from the rain and the hunger) we found an excellent place offering seafood at a reasonable price. After lunch we continued our way through town, ending up at the beautiful Cattedrale. The architecture of this particular cathedral was interesting because of the Islamic influence; of course, being the nerd I am plus being in the company of Katie the anthropology major, I was intrigued by the way you could see the merging of cultures in this one building. After the cathedral we decided to head in the general direction of Palermo’s catacombs. We weren’t really sure how this would work out since the map just had an arrow at the top edge that let us know in which general direction the catacombs were, but thanks to accurate signage (and the anthropology major’s persistence) we made it. I was a little ambivalent about paying 2 Euro to basically go into a church basement and see a bunch of dead people hanging on the wall, but my traveler’s mentality clicked into gear and off I went. I was surprised by how not-freaked-out I was by the whole situation . . . yes, it was a little weird to be surrounded by corpses in various stages of decay, but it was also an interesting experience. It was crazy to see that some of these people had been dead for decades, yet they still had hair and skin. There was even one little girl who had died in the 1920s, and had somehow been perfectly preserved - she looked like a doll. No one is quite sure what technique was used on her body, but it certainly worked. The whole thing sounds a little morbid I suppose, but I guess you can just classify it as an anthropological exercise. After the catacombs we made our way back to the bus stop, making a stop off for some gelato (yes, we ate after seeing dead people). We were quite happy to see that the bus stop was where we expected it to be, and we made it back to Trapani quite easily.

On our last full day we actually made it to Segesta; we caught the early bus (from the bus station) and were excited about the prospects of seeing an actual Greek temple and theatre. We were a little unsure about how easy it would be to get to these sights since we assumed they were a little ways out of town, and when we saw them from the bus we were scurrying to get our cameras in case that was our one chance at seeing the buildings. However, about one minute later the bus stopped at an unmarked spot on the road, and the driver waved at us to get off. We stepped off to realize that we were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by farmland, sheep, and a locked gate. Apparently Segesta consisted of 3 buildings: 2 that were built well over 2,000 years ago . . . and a visitor’s center. Thankfully we only had to wait about 15 minutes before the staff arrived and unlocked the gates, so we headed in, finagled our way into the European students’ price, and headed up to the temple. I was super excited about this whole excursion - ever since I did a massive country report on Greece in the 6th grade I have had a fascination with its ancient culture, so actually seeing evidence of it was amazing. Since we were there early, and the only other people there (a ginormous student tour group) seemed to have visited the theatre first, we had the whole place to ourselves. It was awesome to actually be standing in a building (or at least the remnants of a building that had been built in times B.C.E) plus it was in a beautiful setting. Of course, being the goofballs we are, we decided to make the most of the situation . . . you know, posing as Greek statues and such . . . oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t have said that. After the temple we hiked (although the way uphill) to the theatre. After studying ancient Greek theatre in my theatre classes and other various places, I was rather excited to see one in person. Of course, we had to be equally goofy with this - creating a video that is too embarrassing to be shown to anyone else, and having a great time. When it was time for the bus to return on its way back to Trapani, we headed back out to the unmarked spot on the road. Of course, it was running about a half hour late, so we started freaking out a little that we would actually be stuck with the sheep for a while, but it eventually did pick us up. We spent the rest of the day immersing ourselves in the culture (aka - napping), before grabbing some more yummy seafood pasta for dinner.

The next day we just waited around Trapani, and then at the airport. Since we had basically covered the city, and everything was closed because it was Sunday, there wasn’t much to keep us occupied; we were thankful that we had stocked up on food at the Spar since there were very limited food options that morning. After waiting at the bus station, and then at the airport, and then flying back to Dublin, we got to top it all off with a lovely night’s sleep on the McDonald’s floor at the Dublin airport while we waited for our 6 am bus back to Galway. Not the most fun travel day ever.

Overall, Sicily was an exercise in mastering the art of adaptability. Of course, it would have been a lot easier and better planned if we had had our handy dandy Rick Steves. However, since none of us happened to have an Italian guidebook, we got to wing it. It was a little frustrating to be in a place where nothing seemed to be open and that wasn’t used to having tourists around. But (other than the food issue) it was kind of nice to completely get away from all the other Americans (and most of the Irish too) and really just fall into the culture. And when we made it through without any permanent damage, and only some minor issues with communication, we were quite proud of ourselves.

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Photos

Setting Foot in the Mediterranean
Katie, me, and Kat on our one sunny day in Sicily

Palermo
Politeama Garibaldi Theatre

Palermo
The Market

Palermo
The Market . . . Not a sight for lamb lovers :(

Palermo
Me and Katie enjoying our fresh Mediterranean seafood and a little bit of vino

Palermo
Cattedrale

Palermo
Cattedrale

Segesta
The Greek Temple

Segesta
The Greek Temple

Being Greek Statues
and yes, this is slightly embarrassing

Segesta
The Greek Theatre

Segesta
I'm always happy to find a theatre