Kelly è scappata alla Sicilia!

In my most wonderful escape to Sicily, I was greeted by warm, sunny weather, delicious seafood, and an exciting young vibe. I went with three others from my program: Shawn, Gio, and Elizabeth. This is the first trip I've taken that really felt like a vacation, in the sense that I stayed in Italy, moved to a warmer climate, and spent my time chilling on the beach and such. We all absolutely LOVED Sicily. We flew directly into Palermo, the capital of the Sicilian region, but also took small trips to the towns of Cefalù, Agrigento, and Monreale. Here's the picture that best encompasses my trip to Sicily:

We got in late Wednesday night and only had time to go grab some dinner at a restaurant called Divino Rosso Osteria. You get so much amazing food for cheap! The menu wasn't exactly what we were used to...and so after my delicious fish-stuffed pesto ravioli, instead of a fillet of something yummy, I got squid! It was an interesting experience, and actually quite good. We took a small tour of the area on our way home, and came across the theater, which looks gorgeous all lit up at night.

The next day we spent exploring Palermo. We went into several churches, including the Cathedral, whose exterior was phenomenal. Sicily has been controlled by and thus influenced by so many different cultures in its history that it now has a very diverse variety of foods, architectures and people.

I like this one because Shawn looks like he has no idea what's going on...even though he's the one taking the picture. Afterwards we spent a bit of time wandering, exploring, and then searching for somewhere to eat. Finally we found a place where we could sit down and I ate such amazing vegetable cous cous. Mmmm.

Then we moved on to the Catacombs, which were SO much cooler than those I had visited in Rome and Paris. There were actually entire skeletons, complete with clothes, hats, everything, all in different stages of decomposition and preservation. It was super creepy. Mostly they were monks and priests, but there was a section with just babies and children which was particularly disturbing. There was also the body of a young girl who had been embalmed by this master who died without sharing his secrets...she looks as if she's just sleeping, even though she's been dead for over a century. It's insane. Unfortunately I couldn't take any photos within the catacombs, but here's one I stole from Google so you can get an idea:

On our way back into town, we saw this guy with a fruit stand in his garage. Apparently they live above, because at one point his wife lowered down this basket for him with water in it. No words were exchanged, he just took the water, disappeared back to his fruit, and the wife yanked the basket back up. It was great.

So after some serious navigation, as was always the case because for some reason it's super easy to get turned around in Palermo, we went to the fresh market and bought a whole bunch of food to make dinner that night at the hostel. We ended up cooking a delicious vegetable pasta for our first course and then chicken/prosciutto skewers for our second, and were joined by the couple who runs our hostel. The man is originally from Palermo, but his wife is actually Argentinian. They met when he was on vacation there...and he snagged her and brought her back! After dinner, we shared the pastries we had picked up, including Cannoli, Cassata, and Sette Veli, as well as a digestivo (after dinner drink) Shawn and I had picked up that was pistachio-flavored. Later on, the four of us went out to check out the bar scene. We sat down at an outdoor table, ordered a couple of drinks (bellini!) and chatted about marriage, of all things.

The next morning we decided would be Beach Day, and so we headed for Cefalù, a small coastal town about an hour away by train. It was so cute there, and after visiting the Cathedral we had a great lunch followed by lounging on the beach, Sicilian oranges, swimming in the Mediterranean, and creamy gelato. It was a great day.

Cute photo shoot we stumbled upon

That night, we met up with a friend of Elizabeth's, Lino, who is actually from Palermo. He and his friend took us out (in a car!) so were able to leave the center of the city. We went to a club in a very old Palazzo that was just gorgeous. They had a live band, great atmosphere, and traditional Sicilian appetizers.

On Saturday we checked out of the nice couple's hostel and left for Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples. Once we arrived at our "hostel" aka VILLA, we were in love. This villa is indescribable. It's everything you would ever dream accommodation in Italy to be. It is lived in and run by a middle age couple who have had the land in their family for generations. There are phenomenal views of the Greek temples from the backyard since they are practically IN the Valley of the Temples. There are dogs, cats, geese, and peacocks! The architecture of the villa is so picturesque and the grounds are charming.

At the Villa, we met a young Afghan who was working there. It was amazing to cross paths with someone from "the other side". He said he had been transfered there from his refugee camp, after growing up in India, and spending some time fighting in the war-against us! What an experience, to meet in such a normal, nonthreatening situation someone your age that your country-your soldiers-fought against. Talk about perspective.

Our room and the room across the hall shared a common sitting area with a fridge that had free drinks offered to guests. We decided to put the rest of our Pistacchio liquor in the fridge for after dinner, but a couple hours later saw that the other couple had drank it all, thinking it was free from the establishment! It was sad, but a funny exchange nonetheless. Besides, the couple was so apologetic, what could we do?!

The peacocks were freaking awesome. I have never been that close to a peacock...they are fabulous! Well, except when they wake you up at sunrise and every 10 minutes thereafter with their calls. However, we got to see the "courting" process of peacocks, right out our window! It was seriously cool.

As far as the temples go, those were really cool too. I mean, these Greek ruins are mostly from 500 B.C. and are still around today. I had a small bout with dehydration, but after I recovered from that, we were good to go explore the temples!

That night, we ate dinner at the villa with the couple. The husband, Vincenzo, made us artichoke pasta followed by stuffed artichokes, which were particularly delectable. We wrapped up the meal with some of their homemade limoncello. It was a lovely evening.

The next morning, we went back to the deck for brunch, which was included with the room. I felt like a princess. There was fresh squeezed juice, as well as homemade croissants, jam, and nutella. Not to mention they brought tea and coffee. Plus, the sun was out, the air was fresh and we had the most spectacular view of the temples to boot! We missed the morning train (somewhat purposely, I must say) and spent the morning lounging by the pool. It turned out that that day was Vincenzo's birthday and all his kids had come home from university to surprise him! So one of his sons drove us straight to the train station, and we headed back to Palermo, somewhat reluctantly.

Upon our return to Palermo, we had to stay at a different hostel because the first was booked. We ended up in a somewhat shadier part of town, but near the water. It was an apartment, but we lacked sheets and towels, which made for a more interesting experience, hehe. We made do.

On our last half day, since our flight was in the afternoon, we made it up to a hill town only 20 minutes outside of Palermo called Monreale. There is a spectacular church there filled with mosaics. I tagged along with an English tour group for some history, but was mostly just amazed by the biblical depictions on the walls. While the other girls went into the cloisters Shawn and I wandered around the town and found this traditional Sicilian carriage as well as grabbed some fresh-squeezed Sicilian orange juice.

Afterwards we hurried back to the restaurant from our first night for another cheap and amazing two course meal. I had seafood risotto and then a pork roast that was stuffed with prosciutto, salmon, and asparagus. It was so tasty!

We all cannot stop raving about what a wonderful time we had in Sicily. There is something in the air there...you just know you're living the good life.