Ustica and Scuba Diving

Super proud of myself for wriggling into that wetsuit

Yet another exhausting day here in Sicily! I must be crazy for planning such a busy vacation for myself!

I woke up at the crack of dawn (6:30), got dressed, wolfed down breakfast, and then went down to the harbour to buy a ticket for the hydrofoil to Ustica Island (about a 90 minute journey). I got my ticket and set out to where the boats were, but I wasn't sure exactly where to go so I asked two old men that were walking the same direction. They said they were headed to the same boat, so just follow them (how convenient). We got to talking, and it turned out they were filmmakers doing a documentary on Ustica Island, and they've made documentaries on a number of other islands in the area. Upon talking further, I found out that one of them is also an author, and he gave me a copy of his book that he had on him! The title is Quando Parlano le Nuvole (When the Clouds Speak). I read the back and the first few pages. It seems like a very nice book contemplating the serenity of life... A lovely souvenir.

[Side note: The other day when I was at the Contemporary Art Museum with Carolina and Giulia, we went into the giftshop/bookshop afterwards. I said to Carolina "I can't allow myself to buy any books! There's just no space in my suitcase!" and no sooner were the words out of my mouth, than my eyes swept across a fantastic book about Italian street art I had never seen before. I'm fairly confident that I own most of the books that exist about graffiti and street art, so seeing something brand new was thrilling, and of course, I had to have it. It's called Street Art Diary by Marta Gargiulo. Between that and the book I received from Massimo Romano this morning, my packing situation just got a whole lot worse. At least they aren't too big...]

Anyways, the ride to Ustica was uneventful. When we arrived, I found the stairs up to the town (there is only one... population of about 1300 people. 90% of the island's inhabitants live in the town). The town is adorable, with one big main square with shops and restaurants and a church (of course) and then tons of little side streets. These side streets are an absolute joy to wander, because most of the buildings have beautiful murals painted on the sides! It's really fantastic. I've included a bunch of pictures of these murals below (and this is just a small sampling of the murals that exist in this tiny town).

I also wandered a little bit out of the town to an adjacent peak of the volcanic island and got some more nice pictures.

Already tired by noon, I went back into town for lunch. I had asked several locals where the best restaurant is for lunch. They all pointed me to the same place. It's an absolute shame I don't like seafood, because I'm pretty sure it would have blown my mind here. But alas... To start I had a sheep's milk cheese lightly breaded and fried. It was ok, but a bit too rubbery. My main course was very good. I had Spaghetti with Ustica-style pesto (olive oil, basil, garlic, tomato, and almonds). It had a wonderful fresh tomato taste, but with none of the goopy fresh tomato chunks I despise. Very nice.

I took a long time at lunch because I was reading my book (and because apparently it's standard procedure in Sicily to wait at least an hour for your bill after finishing your meal...) so when I was done, I headed back down to the harbour for my scuba diving adventure. I was both excited and nervous... I've only scuba dived once or twice before, about 6 years ago in Samoa. Plus there was the added worry of the language barrier which could create problems with the exchange of such important information as how to breathe underwater.

It all went fantastically though. My scuba instructor was Jean-Claude, a swiss man. Between the two of us and our knowledge of english, french, and italian, we communicated just fine. Also on the boat were about 8 other experienced divers who were doing their own dives. Once we reached the dive site, the other divers took off, and Jean-Claude and I began our lesson (beginning with the tedious process of me wriggling into a wetsuit, very heavy weight belt, and even more heavy heavy heavy equipment. We quickly got in the water and got underwater. Besides the pressure in my head (to be expected) and a killer foot cramp, everything went smoothly. It was so beautiful, and it was great to remember how much I love scuba diving... it's so serene and quiet under the water. We saw tons of fish. Big fish. Small fish. Jellyfish. I wished I had been more successful beforehand in finding an underwater case for my camera. Oh well... Next time...

After everyone finished diving, we enjoyed beers on the roof of the boat, and then headed back to harbour where I promptly caught the last hydrofoil returning to Palermo.

After showering off all the salt water, it was after 9pm, and I hadn't eaten dinner. I decided I'd just have a gelato dinner. I went to the shop nearby and asked for the fantastic biscottino (cookies and cream) gelato I had the other night. To my dismay, there wasn't a single molecule of cookie in it. I teetered on a fine line between rage and devastation, and then figured that was probably a valid sign that I'm legitimately exhausted. So after this post is done I am off to sleep. Tomorrow I get to sleep in and check out of my hotel at noon. Then I'll have a leisurely lunch, after which I have scheduled a much-needed pedicure (my feet are downright scary right now... occupational hazard). Then at 6:30 I hop on another 13 hour night train back to Rome where I will be greeting two of my good friends who arrive this weekend, Stacey and Tamara... Keep checking in for tales of our travels in Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice, and Milan!

Baci!

Murals

Murals

Murals

I just loved this dilapidated wall

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Main square of Ustica Town

View of Ustica Town from a peak I walked to on the island

Church of Ustica Town

The harbour

Murals

Cool rock formation I saw from the diving boat on the way to the dive site 

All ready to dive!

Mountains and Marionettes... Palermo Day Three

A fish stall in Palermo

Yesterday evening I met up with Carolina and her friend Giulia at Palazzo Riso, the Contemporary Art Museum. There was an exhibition going on of a series of site-specific works done around Sicily (not actually site-specific for Palazzo Riso). It was neat thinking about how site-specific art works are received at different sites. Specifically, I'm thinking of the way that the works in the Gori Collection at Celle are often part of exhibitions elsewhere (not the works themselves, but models and small-scale replicas of them). Naturally, so much of the original essence of the work is gone when moved to a new site.

After the museum we went to a really cool place called Kursaal Kalhesa which is an old, big, cavernous palace that now has a bar inside, a big bookshop to the side, and out in the courtyard at the back, a restaurant patio that is shaded by a massive old tree. We sat on the patio and had some wine and hors d'oeuvres and chatted.

This morning after hitting snooze 8 times again, I dragged my butt out of bed, went and had breakfast on the roof, and then went out to hike up Monte Pellegrino (which is just outside of Palermo). Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT an enthusiastically athletic person, so this decision was rather out of character. I got about 3/4 of the way up the mountain (a very scenic albeit grueling walk) and discovered a road! With a bus stop! So I plopped down on a rock and waited for the bus to come take me down the mountain. My excuse is that I was starting to get sunburnt.... I still made it pretty far and am proud of myself. (See pictures below).

After getting back to the hotel and showering off all the sweat from my hike, I grabbed a sandwich at a nice establishment (I had a bresaola sandwich with onions and mozzarella). Then I went to the Marionette Museum which was really cool! Obviously, marionettes and puppets are a huge part of Sicilian culture, so they had lots about Sicilian marionettes, but they also had pieces from places like India and Indonesia. I learned a few things (for example, in Sicilian puppet theatre, the "good guys" and Christians enter the scene from stage left, while the "bad guys" enter from stage right) but mostly I was too busy getting pictures of all the awesome puppets (photos below).

Ciao for now!

This is what I hiked up...

View of Palermo from partway up Monte Pellegrino

View of Palermo from partway up Monte Pellegrino

View of Palermo from partway up Monte Pellegrino

View from partway up Monte Pellegrino

The road ahead

View from partway up Monte Pellegrino

View from partway up Monte Pellegrino

Monte Pellegrino

Marionette Museum

Marionette Museum

Marionette Museum

Marionette Museum

Marionette Museum

Marionette Museum

Marionette Museum

Holy Cannoli! Palermo Day Two

At Mondello Beach

My hotel is in a great area of Palermo... very central. If you turn left on via Roma, you are a 5-15 minute walk from a lot of the main sites and areas like Vucciria (the vibrant neighbourhood where I had lunch yesterday), the Cathedral, etc. If you turn right on Via Roma and go up a bit, you get to Via della Libertà which is a main shopping street, and there are tons of little side streets with restaurants and stuff.

Last night I went out to find a place for dinner. I'd found some places nearby recommended on tripadvisor, but they were all either a) impossible to find, or b) closed because it was Monday, so I ended up at a patio restaurant very close to my hotel. It was ok, but a bit annoying. My food took an extremely unreasonable amount of time to come... 90 minutes for pasta all'amatriciana? Come on... But I didn't mind too much since I had a big glass of wine and a good book ok my kindle. Also, it should be illegal for a waiter to take your order and then say "can I bring you some bruschetta?" and make it sound as if it's on the house, and then later charge you for it. I don't even like bruschetta that much...

Afterwards I went to a highly recommended pasticceria next to the restaurant and got some cannoli and other ricotta-filled pastries to bring back to the hotel room. I exercised a great deal of self control and managed to only eat a few of them! Then I called it an early night.

This morning, after hitting the snooze button about 8 times, I dragged my butt out of bed and went up to the rooftop terrace for breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection. Usually Italian breakfast is just cookies, pastries, and nutella. At my hotel breakfast, there was cake and nutella-filled croissants, but also scrambled eggs, bacon, cheeses, cold cuts, and several more items to choose from. I was so satisfied with breakfast that I fully skipped lunch today, saving a few dollars (well, to be fair, I did have a couple more of my ricotta pastries from last night a few minutes ago, so I guess that counts as lunch...).

After breakfast I walked about 2 or 3 short blocks to a piazza where I caught a bus to go to Mondello beach. It was about a 20 minute bus ride (which was very very scenic). The beach itself is beautiful! White sand, bright blue water, and a mountainous vista in the background. I'd read online that the beach is now "all public". This isn't entirely true... it is largely private, with a thin strip along the water that is public (and therefore crowded). I was going to dish out the cash for an umbrella on the private beach, when I realized that I would be fenced off from the water, so instead I went to the public area and squeezed my towel in between some other people. It wasn't that bad really. Even all the kids running past me didn't bother me, although I was a little leery when the cute little girl beside me decided she liked my zebra-striped towel and wanted to sit on it with me...

Determined to avoid another sunburn incident like the one in Split, I made sure to voraciously slather myself up with SPF45 (my SPF60 is somewhere in my suitcase in the Rome airport), and I reapplied at least 6 times in the 4 hours I was there. Now I'm back in the hotel, and, having evaluated the damage, am quite proud to announce that I am relatively burn-free, minus the part of my back that I couldn't reach.

Now that I've showered off all the sand, I'm planning on going out to find a nice patio for a glass of wine and so I can read my book. Then in just over an hour I'm going to meet Carolina (the Italian girl who is interning at Celle in September) at Palazzo Riso, the Contemporary Art Museum in Palermo.

Ciao!

The view from the rooftop terrace of my hotel

Mondello Beach (the girl on the right is the one who decided to share my towel)

Palermo Day One

Yesterday after I posted at that nasty internet cafe, I headed over the the station with all my stuff and grabbed a dinner of McDonalds Chocolate Sundae. Now, you may be thinking "she's crazy! She's in Italy but instead is eating indian food and McDonalds all in the same day! Blasphemy!" but let me explain... as great as Italian food is, there isn't really a whole lot of variety. You've got simple carbs, tomato sauces, cream sauces, cheese, and not a ton else.

Then I sat on the floor of the station for 5 hours because there's no seating. Finally at 9:20pm the train showed up and I got on and found my cabin. There are 4 "couchettes" (beds) per cabin. I had requested an all-female cabin, and was with 2 sicilian ladies (a mother and daughter). The 4th bed was free. I had a top bunk. Each bed had a bottle of water and a little pouch with a travel toothbrush and a packet of toothpaste for free! This train ride was such an amazing deal in general. It cost me 66 euros (about $90) in one direction. The ride was 13 hours, and I had an insanely comfortable bed to sprawl out on, plus tons of shelf space, a locking door, A/C, a light to read by, a blanket, a pillow, a bottle of water, and the toothbrush/toothpaste. To put this in perspective... a 90 minute train ride between Florence and Rome, where you get a seat and very little leg room, costs 45 euros. Plus taking the train overnight meant that I saved on a hotel! Awesome awesome awesome. 

(Side note: Who in their right mind takes small children on a 13 hour train trip?)

Anyways... after I brushed my teeth and read a couple chapters, I stuck in my iPod and let Moby and Joanna Newsom put me to sleep. I woke up around 9am. We had already crossed the water (apparently the train gets loaded into a ferry one car at a time. I slept right through that). Shortly after I awoke, my cabin-mates disembarked somewhere around Messina, and I had the cabin to myself for the remaining 4 hours. It was awesome lounging back and watching the stunning Sicilian countryside go by. It's so gorgeous... incredible hills and mountains, and such great colours... burnt orange dirt and brush, dark green vegetation, silvery blue olive trees...

When we arrived in Palermo, I got a cab to my hotel. I got an incredible deal on a 4star hotel downtown Palermo, and was worried that it might be run down or something, but it's great (besides the flimsy half-ply kleenex)! I have a nice view from the 8th floor. My room is a very decent size by european standards. It's clean and not run-down and has all necessary amenities like a safe and a minifridge and a TV and a hairdryer. Apparently breakfast is served on the rooftop terrace!

After I had a much-needed shower, I set out to explore Palermo. I could tell immediately that I REALLY love this city (more on that below)! And I FINALLY found somewhere to recharge my phone credit. Then I sought out a place to eat. Unfortunately it was about 2:30pm meaning nearly everything was closed, but I found an open restaurant in the Vuccirio area and decided I'd give it a shot. It ended up being really good! The first point was scored when the bread came out... All my experiences of getting bread anywhere else I've been in Italy (Rome and north) has been that bread is stale, even in the nicest restaurants, and it's really only worth consuming if you have a lot of liquidy stuff on your plate that you want to soak up. The bread at the place I had lunch was actually fresh! And soft! With crusty edges! Then I ordered Bistecca alla Palermitana (Steak Palermo-Style). It was really delicious... thin, breaded and cooked in oil. It was very tender and flavourful. Way better than any of the times I've attempted to have Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Steak Florence-Style), which seems to just be a big, tough, flavourless T-bone. The waiter at the restaurant was extremely nice and said "you are welcome to stay here and read. We're closing up because it is time to nap, but feel free to stay and read on the patio".

I didn't stay though. I had a city to see! I did my best to go see all the main squares and sites that I'd written down. I also had the goal of finding an AMAZING gelato place. However, after walking in the sun for quite a while, and then getting lost in an unappealing residential area, my plan changed to "must find any gelato place". I had some decent gelato. FYI my new go-to flavour is yogurt. It's extremely refreshing! My other food goal for this week is to have the best cannoli of my life...

At one point in my exploration, I tried getting to the Mercato di Ballarò, which I'd heard was a very lively market. Two minutes after finding it, I realized "merda! I'm the only female walking around!". (This happened to me once before this summer... on a Sunday morning in Pistoia, when apparently it's time for all the men to go walking around with their buddies and their babies). 

It also doesn't help here that I stick out like a sore thumb in a region where everyone has skin the colour of a burnt cannoli shell. I, on the other hand, have pasty skin as white as, well, cannoli filling.

Now I'm back at the hotel. One of the first things I did was to look up a bunch of words in Italian, so that when people ask me what I think of Palermo, I'll be equipped with an adequate vocabulary of adjectives. Such as:

-vivace (vibrant)

-animato (lively)

-rumoroso (cacophonous)

-puzzolente (smelly)

Below are some pictures I took today. Enjoy! I'm off to hopefully find somewhere good for dinner and maybe some cannoli!

In the Quattro Canti

The street beside the cathedral

Inside the cathedral

Palermo cathedral

Fontana Pretoria

Cactus in the Villa Bonanno Garden

Statue in the Villa Bonanno garden

At Piazza Pretoria

Graffiti in the Vucciria District

Beside my restaurant in the Vucciria District

The street that my hotel is on