Arrivederci Sicily

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Sicilians are unashamedly Sicilian first and Italian second. Their language, while similar to Italian, is unique and individual provinces’ within the island boast separate nuances’ from villages only short distances apart.

I didn’t tell you about our culinary splurge at Ragusa, a dignified small town which was almost totally destroyed by the infamous earthquake of 1693, which devastated many similar villages on Sicily. Ragusa was rebuilt with a heavy Baroque influence of the era and is the home of some of the best restaurants in Sicily; least of which is Restorante Duomo. This restaurant has the reputation as the very best in Sicily and, given that we had not had to spend a lot on meals up to that time, we decided to indulge ourselves. Without boring you with too much detail, suffice to say that it was certainly a delightful experience I will remember for a long time. The meal and service was fantastic and the 60 page wine list containing over 1,500 wines was tempting, if not bewildering. Be prepared however to give the credit card a wallop of a workout!

The final days of the Sicily tour were spent in Ortigia, a spit of land hanging off the Mediterranean city of Syracuse. This ancient Greek island town is charming with its twisting narrow streets; Baroque influenced buildings and a population who delight in ignoring anyone who wasn’t born there. An attitude of indifference prevailed to those like me who were looking to part with our Euros, only to wait in vain for service, which mostly wasn’t forthcoming. I got the feeling that they were hoping I would simply go away so that they didn’t have to make the effort. My recommendation is not to sit at cafes where locals might frequent as you will almost certainly be ignored.

Anyway, apart from the strange attitude to service, Sicily has for the most part been interesting and I’m glad I came. However, the main disappointment with the Peregrine tour was the significant emphasis on old churches and cathedrals. While such buildings are architecturally interesting, visiting so many wears thin very quickly ... “not another old church ...”. I think the disappointment is that so much money is being spent on the restoration of those old and tired religious symbols that the country’s incredibly rich archaeological history is for the most part left unkempt and slowly decaying through the lack of interest and (probably) funds. I would have liked to have seen more artworks, (accessible) archaeological sites and visit working artisans and was disappointed that music, both traditional and contemporary, was surprisingly conspicuous by its absence.

Just a word of warning if you might be thinking of flying into Palermo; the airport is more than half an hour away from the city. Whatever you do don’t get into a taxi as it will cost almost €100,00; take the bus instead as it will get you there almost as quick for only €7,50. Better still, instead of flying there, get a ferry to or from the mainland, they are cheap and a pleasant experience and then jump on a train to your eventual destination.

Not many pics this time. It's funny that the more I seem to travel it the less pics I take.

On Saturday morning I left Syracuse by local bus for the four hour trip back up to Palermo from where I got a flight to Naples in preparation for my next tour which includes trekking for eight days down the Amalfi coast.

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Photos

Airing salami
Typically salamis are hung in a breezeway of most rural houses.

National Park sites
Ancient grave diggings in the cliffs of the National Park.

National Park
Ancient grave diggings behind me. They are all over the park.

Syracuse
Just waiting for the mob to finish tasting chocolate.

Comments

[willem]

Almost a scorcher at last
So it's almost a scorcher at last. Bare arms. Have not seen them on your blog for a while. And shorts next time? Wine list? Wine encyclopedia you mean! That cellar must have been even bigger than yours ;-) Leg must be pretty ok, given that you dont mention it. Good on ya. Willem and Ageeth

[Kath]

food
Hi Den, Far out - stop describing the food! Makes you hungry reading about it. The foot looked sore - just to add to the dicky knee. Take care. Kath