Allie in Spain (and Ireland): Semana Santa Part 2: Sicily - More ruins, more gelato and more adventures

Congratulations to those of you who made it through Semana Santa Part 1. It was a behemoth. This one should be a little more tolerable.

The 2nd half of our vacation was spent on the beautiful island of Sicily. Our decision to go to Sicily didn't have much reason to it. It wasn't really somewhere that I'd always wanted to go, nor is it really a popular tourist destination for most Americans. We just knew, that after a few days in Rome, we would want to relax, have nice weather, and go to the beach. It is spring break after all. So, since we were already going to Italy, we just kind of picked the most southern point that our airline flew to, and decided to go there. Now, we did do a little research, to make sure there would be things to do and there would actually be other vacationers there, BUT, upon arrival, we definitely did not get what we were expecting. It was colder than Madrid, and really not any warmer than Rome, with an average high of about 65. This is still kind of shocking to me. I mean this is the southern most point in Italy we're talking about. I don't know why it wasn't warmer in mid-April, but it just wasn't. Our plans to go to the beach were pretty much scrapped and we had to find other things to do. Now let the post begin.

We arrived in the Palermo airport around 1pm on Wednesday, after a pretty hectic flying experience. I hate flying enough as it is, and the budget airlines are really just awful. There's no organization or reason to any of the seating, so you have to shove your way into the plane, and people start lining up an hour before you've even supposed to start boarding. It is not enjoyable. But fortunately, the flight was short so we didn't lose our entire day in transit. We had to take a bus about an hour to get to the city center, and our hostel was conveniently located about a 5 minute walk from the train station. The hostel staff were very helpful, giving us a map and circling all the sites we should see, including restaurant suggestions and places to be wary of. There was also a ton of information on places to take day trips too. They also invited us to join them for the hostel-wide Sangria party that night. Fun times to come.

So, after getting settled in, we headed out to get a feel for the area. We stopped to grab some pizza which was only 2.50. Definitely not in Rome anymore. The sites in Palermo are limited. There are a few nice plazas, a Cathedral, an Old Royal Palace which is now a government building so you can't actually visit it, and the Catacombs, which we were saving for another day. After walking around for a couple hours, we had seen pretty much everything that had been circled on the map. At this point, we were a little worried with what we were going to do for the next couple days, since the weather was not right for lounging on the beach. We went on a ridiculous trek to find an actual supermarket. There were "markets" in the city, as in conglomerations of street carts, but we were looking for sandwich food and us Americans are not equipped to deal with street vendors. We need supermarkets, which there are not very many of in Palermo. We finally found one and got all the lunch stuff and snackagge we would need. It didn't take us long to figure out that people were going to be rude to us pretty much everywhere we went. It was frustrating. I mean I understand that it's obnoxious when we don't speak the language, but we at least tried and I mean COME ON SOUTHERN ITALY. Your economy is in the toilet, the least you could do is show a little respect to some tourists who are spending their money there. I will never understand the perception that Americans are rude, when I try so hard to be polite and most people in Europe are just pushy and disrespectful. That's for another post though.

When we got back to the hostel, it was bustling with people, which was a good sign. It was a good mix of Americans, Italians, Spaniards, and other Europeans. It was nice to know we weren't the only ones who had decided to come there. We even met two Americans who were also studying in Madrid and were from Boston. It's such a small world. They had spent the entirety of their break on Sicily. We also met a Danish girl, studying in Milan, who had also been there for the past 9 days. It was definitely encouraging. The hostel ordered pizza for everyone who wanted, and we all sat down and ate together. We met 2 guys who had just finished medical school, and had spent the last week biking from Rome to Sicily. CRAZY. They had great stories. There were also some Spanish girls, so Kelly and I did a good deal of translating, although everyone spoke English pretty well. Everyone was really interesting to talk to, and it seemed that we had a good group of people at the hostel. After we finished the pizza, the Sangria Party started. I don't know if we should be proud of this or not, but America is definitely the King of card games (both drinking and non-drinking). We taught them a variety of games and had a really great time hanging out with everyone. At midnight, the hostel had to remain quiet, as to respect the people who wanted to sleep and the neighbors, so some of us went out to check out the Palermo nightlife, which is actually quite extensive. The people who had been there for the whole week knew exactly where to go, and we had a really great time.

The next morning, waking up early was not an easy task, but we had already decided to hit the Catacombs in the morning so that we could daytrip to Cefalu in the afternoon. The Catacombs were actually quite impressive. They stopped burials there in 1920, but everything was very well preserved, and in all honesty, it put the Paris catacombs to shame, in my opinion at least. Granted, it was creepy, as Catacombs inherently are. We only spent about an hour there, then we headed back to the hostel to grab our lunches and head to the train station.

Cefalu is supposed to be one of the most beautiful villages in Italy and it was only an hour away by train. We wanted to take the 1:08 train, but after some confusion at the ticket counter, we sadly missed it by mere seconds, watching it pull away. There was an hour before the next one, so we did what any respectable American would: go for ice cream. There was a place recommended by the hostel that was near the train station, and they told us to get it in the brioche and ask for fresh cream on top. This place was AMAZING. It had over 79 flavors to choose from. This situation is literally where the expression "like a kid in a candy shop" came from. I think we spent a solid 15 minutes just trying to choose flavors. I finally decided on Cappucino, Kinder Cake (kinder is a really popular Spanish candy bar), and Bacio (a combination of Chocolate and Hazelnut). They put these 3 enormous scoops into a Brioche (a rich French bread) and topped it off with fresh whipped cream. The kicker: it was only 1.70. Definitely not in Rome anymore. I paid 2 euro in Rome just for one scoop. I know that I'm talking about this more than I should, but it was simply amazing. Bread and ice cream may not sound like the best combination, but IT IS! I was almost happy that we missed the train, otherwise we may not have gone!

Full and happy, we got on the 2:08 train to Cefalu and both passed out from exhaustion/sugar overload until we arrived. The little beach side town was quite beautiful, and only could've been better if the weather were nicer. We were both so exhuasted from the night before, that we pretty much immediately headed down to the beach and just laid in the sand for a few hours, fully clothed. There were actually people in their swimsuits. Crazies. There is a small mountain overlooking the city, which a lot of tourists climb to get a nice view, but that was just not happening that day, so after wandering around a little more and seeing the Cathedral, we decided to catch the 6:20 bus back to Palermo. Upon arriving at the hostel, we were immediatley goaded by our companions to go out again. NO THANK YOU! I never wanted to see Sangria again. We were both still pretty full from the Gelato (yes, 7 hours later), but we went just to grab a slice of pizza and then headed to bed nice and early.

The next day, we wanted to do another day trip. Originally, we head really wanted to go to the Zingaro Nature Preserve, which is 7 kilometers of unspoiled coast line about 70 km from Palermo which sounded absolutely amazing. After being in cities for so long, I really would've loved to get into nature a little bit. However, we soon discovered that the Preserve was really difficult to reach in the non-summer months, since there aren't a lot of tourists. We could've done it, but it would've taken a long time and probably been really confusing. Plus it would've been expensive, so we sadly decided against it (Note to self: When I'm rich, I will go to Sicily, rent a car, and go to Zingaro). Instead, we decided to take the bus to the popular town of Agrigento, which is on the Southern coast of Sicily. It is famous for being home to the ruins of some Greek Temples.

YAY more ruins!!!

Yes it's true, we were a bit ruined out, but since we were there, we figured we should go. You're only in Sicily once, right? We researched it and everyone said that it was a must-see when on Sicily, and that it's the best way to see Greece without actually going to Greece. The bus ride took us across the island (since Palermo's on the Northern coast) and the Sicilian countryside was breathtaking. Upon arriving in Agrigento, we caught another bus to take us to the Valley of the Temples.

In all honestly, the Temples were quite spectacular. They're very well preserved, and even though it's called the Valley of the Temples, they are actually elevated above everything else so you get some great views. There were substantial remains for 4 temples: Concorida, Juno, Herakles, and Castor and Pollux. We probably didn't enjoy it as much as we should've since the entry fee was a stifling 11 euros. But we had fun and it was nice to see another town on the island. After spending a few hours there, we headed back to Palermo and got in around 6:30. We had big plans for our last night which involved basically nothing but eating.

The day before, our hostel manager, who was just wonderful, gave us a list of foods we had to try before leaving Sicily. This seemed important (obviously, I am a Cole, after all), and I wanted to get as many as possible. One of these was a 7 layer chocolate cake, and another was an Arancini. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but an Arancini was described as being a ball of rice and meat, deep fried. Sounds excellent, if you ask me. So, with the knowledge that we were going to eat all of that later that night, we stopped a the gelato place again. Best decision ever. Seriously, it was so good, I couldn't not go back. Then we headed to the bakery, to pick up a couple slices of cake to save for later (at least we saved them for later). Despite our desire to eat ourselves into comas, go to bed early, and be rested for our flight the next day, we succumbed to peer pressure and decided to go out with the rest of the group.

We all went to the restaurant that the hostel guy recommended for Arancini, which we later found out is apparently run by the mafia. Well, if that's true, the mafia makes one mean Arancini. This thing was amazing. It literally was just a giant ball of rice, meat and cheese, covered in batter and fried. America couldn't have done it any better. I know that you are probably disgusted by my gluttony right now, but hey, WHEN IN ITALY. It's like our hostel manager told us: "When you come to Sicily, you gain 3 kilos." Oh well, the 10 pounds that I likely gained in the past week were totally worth it. Then we went out for a while, but came back much earlier than the other night because we had to fly the next day and flying after a night of partying cannot possibly be enjoyable. We enjoyed our cake before bed and it was delicious as well. There were a list of other foods and restaurants that we were recommended, but we were on a budget and only had so much time. I seriously had some of the best food I've ever had there though. I even had to get another Arancini in the airport the next day just because it was soooo good. Ugh. My diet starts tomorrow.

So that pretty much concludes the trip to Sicily. Our day of returning to Madrid was very long. We flew back to Rome, and then had a 5 hour layover before our flight to Madrid. This was made worse by the fact that crappy budget airlines don't check your bags or check you in all the way through, so we had to check in and do the whole security deal twice. Security in Europe is a joke though. In Rome, I went through and set the alarm off. He made me go again. I set it off again. He told me to just go. So safe. Also, as they checked in a colleague they were all laughing and making what I'm pretty sure were bomb jokes. I know I don't speak, Italian, but I'm really not sure what other context you can use "explosivo" in. I'm pretty sure if a TSA worker says "explosive" in any context, he gets fired and probably sent to Guantanamo (jokes, but you get my drift). I'm pretty used to airport layovers by this point though, so it wasn't too bad. The flight from Palermo was uncomfortably turbulent and so I was not doing very well. You'd think I'd be better at this whole flying thing by now, but it still horrifies me. After that experience, I decided to zonk myself out with a couple benadryl for the flight back to Madrid. We got in around 10:30, both exhausted, full and ready to be back in our own beds.

Overall, I'd say it was a very successful trip. Although Sicily wasn't what we expected, we had a really good time, met a lot of interesting people, and ate a lot of delicious food. Also, I'm really learning to enjoy the more "off the beaten path" kind of traveling. It's interesting to see and do things that not everybody has done and that you haven't been seeing pictures of for your entire life.

Only one trip is left for the rest of the semester - Barcelona, this coming weekend, so I'll write about that aftewards. More updates on Madrid to come soon as well. Here are some pictures, but you know the drill: