Mangia! Mangia! Mangia! AKA Eat! Eat! Eat! Sicily Trip

Day 1:

I arrived at the airport at noon and everything seemed to be going smoothly.  I thought it was cool the way I boarded the plane.  Once we handed our in our ticket we were escorted outside to a bus.  The bus then drove us around the building a little and into the middle of the runway.  We got off the bus and then walked outside up to the stairs to the plane.  I felt all presidential because I usually only see that in movies or when it is the president but apparently that is how all of the flight boarding’s are in Europe because there are so many flights going at once that they do not have enough gates.  We all boarded the plane and then an announcement in Italian came over the loudspeaker which I did not understand. Obvi.  But  I looked around and everyone seemed to be getting up.  A nice lady translated for me and told me that a truck had run into the plane door earlier and that the tech guy did not think it was suitable for take off.  So back down the cool stairs of the plane into the bus and back into the terminal for another 2 hours.  At least we were told two hours therefore my two good friends who are the trip with my Carly and Brittney and I went to go walk around.  We arrived back to the gate 30 minutes early and the entire gate was empty and the bus we driving away to get on the next flight!  Someone chased him down and we barley made the flight! 

Sicily has an extremely long history of war and has many sites and monuments dedicated to the long continuous battle between the Romans and the Greeks.  I do not have time to right out all of the history but in short this is what is what happened.  A quote that people use to describe the history it  “They came, they saw, they conquered.”  This quote applies to the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Angevins, Hapsburgs, Bourbons.  Yes, all of them. When the Greeks saw the island of Sicily, they fell in love, sent their fleets, and set up colonies.  The Romans saw what the Greeks had, fought them for it, and became the new conquerors.  The Arabs saw what the Romans had, fought them for it, and put the island under their dominion.  From he north came the Normans, the Angevins, Hapsburgs and Bourbons, and when they saw Sicily, they too, went to war, and conquered.  With all of the war the island of Sicily to this day still has many influences from other cultures and is rich in culture.  Its location is ideal for trading because it is so close to Africa.

We arrived in Cantina, Sicily and met up with about 20 people from Florence and 2 people from SAI Milan.  We all got into a bus and went to another part of the Island called Siracusa.  We did not actually stay in Siracusa but on an island off Sircausa called   Ortigia.  So basically it was an island off an island that we accessed by a bridge.  We arrived at our hotel called Hotel Posta which was located right downtown so it made it easy to get around the city.  We then went to dinner at a restaurant called Osteria Bacco.  The food I had this weekend was the best food that I have ever had in my life.  I don’t even have the words to describe how delicious all of the food was.  Because of all of the time Sicily was conquered there are many different influences in the food which causes a great variety.  The use of apricots, sugar, citrus, sweet melons rice, rasins, nutmeg, clove, pepper, pine nuts, cinnamon (along with fried preparations) is a sign of Arab influences from the Arab domination of Sicily in the 10th and 11th centuries.  Normans and Hohenstaufen influences are also found, such as in the fondness for meat dishes, such as Bruscialoni. Later, the Spanish introduced numerous items from the New World, including cocoa, maize, turkey, and tomatoes and other produce. In Catania, on the east coast, initially settled by Greek colonists, fish, olives, broad beans, and fresh vegetables are preferred instead. Much of the island's cuisine encourages the use of fresh vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, and fish such as tuna, sea bream, sea bass, cuttlefish, and swordfish. In Trapani in the extreme western corner of the island, North African influences are clear in the use of couscous.  The dinner was huge!  I wish I could de scribe it in more detail what I ate but I hardly have words for it and most of the time I did not know what I was eating.  All I know is it was incredible and everything tasted so fresh.  The chef was so proud of his food and dish after dish kept coming out and when you were full the waiters kept just saying Mangia Mangia Mangia!  It is rude not to finish the dish in Italy. 

After dinner we strolled around the main piazza.  The city was mellow and quite and all of the buildings are gorgeous.  The island is extremely small so from almost everyone you were able to look out into the harbor.  It was the most romantic place ever.  There were couple everywhere and I saw 3 different weddings just in that night!  The entire town knew each other and everyone was just happy.  The Piazzo del Duomo is the central point of the city, and features the Syracuse Cathedral (duomo), the most important monument  in Ortigia.  In Ortigia you can also see the oldest Doric temple to be found anywhere in Sicily at the Temple of Apollo.  Other highlights include the impressive baroque architecture of the Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco across the square from the cathedral); the Basilica of Santa Lucia; the 13th century Maniace Castle; the Lacrime Church, the Spring of Arethusa and the catacombs of San Giovanni. You can also see the tomb which is thought to be that of Archimedes, the great physicist and mathematician who called Syracuse his home, and lived and died in Ortigia.  My friend Brittney has a friend studying abroad in Ortigia named Charles.  So we went over to his apartment in this cute little part of town and he showed us around a little.  Brittney, Carley, and I went out to a Jazz bar with Charles and about 8 of his friends.  It was really cool and there was live jazz music playing. 

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at the Hotel and were taken the Ortiga Market which reminded me like the farmers market but like times ten!  The fresh vegetable stalls are piled high with white and purple cauliflower, broccoli, plum tomatoes still attached to vines, fluted heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, fennel, potatoes, carrots, onions and eggplant all carefully arranged to form a patchwork of colors.  There are leafy greens that I can’t identify near the familiar bunches of parsley, mint and basil. The fruit stalls are filled with citrus – blood oranges, mandarins, ordinary lemons and two-fisted, lumpy Sicilian lemons. Blood oranges are red oranges so the orange juice on island is red.  It is really good and is way more fruity and sweet than normal orange juice.  The fish section of the market is the most lively.  The loud calls of men selling fish and seafood fill the air with promises and banter that I don’t understand.  The metal tables are filled with squid, cuttlefish, three kinds of shrimp, cockles, mussels, sea urchin, octopus, fish filets, mustard-yellow dotted eels, small pink fish, and silver striped black striped fish. A large piece of fish ready to be sliced into steaks sat beside the up-ended head of the swordfish it came from.  The fish section was so smelly but they were the biggest fish I had ever seen and the guy would just take a huge knife and cut you off a piece.  There was also people selling snails for a specialty dish that they like to make.  At the end we stopped in a deli and had a wine and cheese tasting.  The tasting was really informational and I was able to really learn a lot.  I can’t write it all down now because it is so much information but I learned a lot!

After that we all got on a bus and went and went a place called Pantalica Ranch.  It was a ranch owned by two brothers and it was in the valley so it had incredible views and it was gorgeous.  I had another absolutely incredible meal.  I think this one was my favorite even though they were all good.  I was full after the first course it was so big but don’t worry I kept eating through the second course, third and dessert.  The meal lasted about 3 hours.  The first was a bunch of different breads, hams, cheeses, peppers.  The second was two different types of pasta a mushroom pasta with really really thick noodles and  a vegetable lasagna.  The third was beef with potatoes.  All of the food there was grown right there on the farm.  We then walked around the farm, played with the animals and I played some ping pong.  We also had the option of going horseback riding which I was so down for.  Although the horses weren’t exactly as well  trained as they are in the states and I did not have to sign any type of release form or anything they just had us go 7 at a time and hop on.  Our guide spoke zero English.  I quickly learned that horseback riding and skirts do not match but I was not going to let me get in the way of going.  Luckily, I have recently been horseback riding with my family in Hana so I felt comfortable on the horse unlike most of the people.  My horse was a black stallion named Sarah.  We went up into the valley and when ever we got vast land I would make my horse gallop which turned into a fast run.  It was so fun feeling the wind against the your face and moving that fast.  After that we left the ranch and walked around the city for awhile just exploring.  The island of Ortigia is extremely small I felt like I knew my groundings and knew my way around quickly.  The small quaint town was fun for the weekend but I also realized I loved the busyness and size of Rome.  We were then so exhausted by that point and still full from the dinner the night before, a good breakfast, and a huge lunch!  We found a rooftop terrace wine bar and just relaxed.  We watched the sunset and we were at one of the highest points in the city.  As we were sitting there another wedding couple came in with a photographer and came and sat down and had a drink.  Out in the harbor there was a cruise ship that was leaving and the water was peaceful.  We then had another dinner at a restaurant called Spizzoca.  The restaurant in particular specialized in fish.  Once again it was another four course meal with delicious appetizers, a pasta dish, and fish and then finishing with a canoli which is a Sicilian specialty.  The way they stack the dishes is a particular way.  They put a plate on the bottom, then a bowl on top of the plate, and then an appetizer plate that fits on top of the bowl.  So for every new course they simple just take the top layer off.

On Sunday morning I woke up a 7 am and no one was awake.  I decided to go down and get breakfast and then I went to 8:00 am mass at the cathedral which every calls the duomo.  The cathedral is beautiful inside with three different alters.  There a handful of tourists along with local people at the mass.  It was clear I was not very Italian as I tower over all Italian men and women by a good 4 or 5 inches.  There was also a group of nuns or sisters I am not really sure.  They were really passionate and I hope someday to find something that I can be that passionate about.  After mass I walked to the Marina and just sat and watched as fishermen getting there boats ready for the day and men were just hanging out and cleaning their boats.  The water was so clear I could see fish swimming at the bottom and the water was like glass.  I wanted to go out on a boat and go waterskiing and do a little damage to a the perfectly still water.  I headed back around ten when everyone was waking up and we all got on a bus to go to go to the Siracusa Archeological Park.  Sounds boring right?  It was actually really interesting.  It is actually the biggest tourist attraction in Siracusa.  This archaeological park centers on the city's Greek and Roman amphitheatres, both built before the turn of the last millennia to stage entertainments for the people. Today, the Greek amphitheatre is still used to stage performances of Greek classics.  It is cool because the amphitheatre is acoustically perfect.  When they have play in May and June a microphone is not needed because of the echoes.  I learned about more history of the Syracusa national park.  After that we hoped on the bus to get to the airport and my arrival home went smoothly and arrived back in Roma at about 9 at night.  That is my weekend trip!