Sicily does not like me

 

First, sorry I never got back to an update in the spring. I just did not feel like blogging in Greece because a. I was in the moment and b. I was to busy.
Day1 Oct 5
We have tried over the years to visit Sicily but it never worked. We got as close as sixty miles but turned back. We had planned to go to the Finger Lakes or the Adirondacks but we could find no reasonable habitation. All the good stuff had already been got.

Vicki casually side “we have always wanted to go to Sicily”. Sounded good to me but told her to come back tomorrow and be sure. She was sure, so I booked the tickets.
Then the hurricane Ian came calling. I knew this was another challenge for me to get to Sicily. The weather guessers said it was coming straights for my house thereby ruining my trip for Sicily. But no, it turned in over my friends house in N. Fort Meyers and four feet of water ran her and her cat into the attic. I got a text that she was waiting for her neighbors to come with a ladder so she could get down.
She is in the attic but thank god my trip was saved. To make up for it I took me car to her since hers had a four foot high car wash with river water. To ease my conscious some more we filled the car up with relief supplies including gas and a generator. She is a proud women and wanted to refuse all help except the car. I told her I was not taking a damn thing back and she could just learn to live with it and did not want any of the stuff in the car when I come back to get the car in a couple of months. We compromised and I took back what I thought was the second most valuable thing after the car, the generator.

 
To the left of the driveway is Celeste's house. It had no trees fall on it. The group cleaning up is called Aerial Recovery and they are a volunteer group from Kentucky.

Not to worry though. The generator went to Laurel and Ian in Cape Coral 
who's house had been destroyed. Their insurance company went broke in 
September and there new insurance did not become active until late October. 
Our kind neighbor Linda dropped us at the airport about five pm. We wizzed through formalities and were on the airplane about 30 minutes late.
It was another interesting flight. Tickets sold by Lufthansa, operated by Eurowings Discover(as opposed to just plan Eurowings another Lufthansa airline), flown by Finnish Airlines. There was problem with the aircraft as one of the cockpit displays was not working. So, they turn all the power off in the airplane, it got very dark and then they turn the power back on. Just like when you reboot your computer which is what they were doing. I guess the cockpit display worked or they put an Iphone in place of the display, but the entertainment system in the back did not. So I had to live with myself for the next 9 hours with no distractions.  







The credits rolled
For this eight hour movie
They fed us
And watered us

Service was ok and we arrived in Frankfurt airport before mid-day the next day Oct 6.

In Frankfurt is where airport hell would begin. The first stop was security. To continue on in the EU flying we had to be screened again. We fortunately were at the beginning of the line. There was one screener and an unknown system of what we were to do and know to tell you to do it.. Even as number 20 in line it took an hour to clear.
 
Next was immigration. We again were near the front of a line that snaked out of sight in the terminal behind us. Here we were held at the top of some steps and could not see what the problem was. After a long long period of no movement I went to investigate. I found that downstairs, where immigration was located, was where the buses were unloaded from the remote gates and they were getting in first. I communicated with the main gate guard with a load whistle and the international shrug gesture. He communicated back with the upheld flat palm. Shortly they let ten people go. Another long wait and another round of ten. Me and the gate guard communicated and again ten people were released. Eventually we cleared immigration. That took another hour and so our flight to Rome was gone .

I had the good fortune of being able to go to the Lufthansa lounge where they quickly put us on standby for the next flight at 4:45pm.

 It was now like the good old days when  flew for free, standing in line on standby with no idea if I would get to my destination. The only difference is having paid thousands of dollars for a ticket to be sure I was on the airplane. We did not make it. The gate supervisor was worn out. He told me he would not apologize for anything at this airport as he knew it all sucked. Security, immigration, Lufthansa. He was over it all.
I will not bore you with the rest of the tails of our whoa. I'll just say that we didn't make that flight but eventually landed in Rome at 11:45pm and crashed into the hotel bed at 1am.
Day 3
What a difference a Day makes. And a different country. Italy has often been mal-aligned as old and inefficient. That does not apply to Rome Leonardo di Vinci airport. We were a little apprehensive as we made our way through traffic to the terminal. Once inside it was a new world. Unlike Frankfurt, where the facility was worn and the employees all looked beat and shell shocked, this was bright and airy.
 



The employees are neat, smiling and helpful. The ITA agent did not rush us. She was kind and recommended we check our bags as it was a full flight. But first she said " let me check again." "Yes, in fact it's oversold so I recommend you check your bags." And we did. The security was the best I have seen anywhere. There was a long line but you never stopped moving. Unlike Frankfurt where there were many security machines but only one manned, Leo had about 15 all fully manned and extremely thought out system. There was even a big electronic display to tell you you only had 4 minutes of waiting time.




Once quickly through we headed to the food court for coffee. Again super organized. In Europe you survey what is for sale then get in line to pay. You take your receipt to the counter and they give you your items be it coffee or croissants. There was an employee who told me you can pay at any cashier and sent me to the ice cream cashier where there was no line .

Big and airy
Coffee and baguette


Coffee and crackers and cheese. A European breakfast

The terminal also had lots of big signs telling you were to go. The only downside it was a long walk to gate 66 and there was only one moving sidewalk.

In Frankfurt they just mobbed the gates. Boarding zone meant nothing, Agents were obviously tired of fighting. Here they had a fixed system of corals with a gate guard to make sure only the prober numbers boarded. It was all quite civilized.



The flight was quick. Thank goodness. We were in the back of the bus . Minus an inch or two and no reclining.

This seat today is twice as expensive as the one we had in first class.

Quick expensive taxi to the apartment. Large roomy apartment and well equipped.

After a knap we met our friends Rich and Vicki for dinner. They had made it in yesterday as scheduled and had found an excellent restaurant. We met at 6:30 and before we knew it it was 11:30. Amazing for two old guys.

Our street
Rich and I at happy hour
A great place for liquid drugs
Get your pole and catch one of these and they will throw it in the 
pan for you.
Rich caught a lobater


Vicki and I made our way home on the narrow street that was packed with people . The bars and restaurants were actually in the street.

We fell into our comfortable bed only be awakened at 2 by loud blasting speakers and a huge street party. This lasted until 5 a.m.. I moved to the living room couch or there was some peace and slept off and on until 8.

Inside the apartment midday with the windows closed
2am with windows closed. Last night it was in the red but
I was to sleepy to think of a screen shot.

Day 4


Another night of music but not as loud, but load enough to send us both to
couch. Some time during the night Vicki returned to the bed. I slept
until 8 which is never seen in my world. I met Rich for coffee at a
shop near his apartment. I had to go visit a couple of scooter rental
shops for the Vespa Club the Mediterraneo so off we went. The walk
through the town did not impress me any more than what I had already
seen. It is on the run down side and other than in some tourist areas
it is trashy. Great waterfront but no restaurants or bars. Just a
marina and a very large shipyard where the tour ships and ferries
come into.
nice finger

monument to the overthrow of the Mafia by the people

The first shop we stopped in was a flashy auto/motorcycle/scooter rental
office. They were informative and friendly but not warm and fuzzy
feeling.
We moved around the corner to a small shop called Rent Me. They also
rent cars/motorcycles/& bikes and boats. The owners name is Samya
and not only beautiful physically but as a person. She is very
interested in our business and though she does not have enough
scooters for our purpose at the moment hopefully by 2024, the soonest
we would come, she will. If not she says she can work the deal by
teaming with the first place we went to as they are friends. 
We chatted awhile with Samya about everything from COVID, which, even with shots she has had three times, to the weather.
We said our goodbyes and went out on the street to make our way to the next scooter shop on the list. But, just next door there was string musical repair shop. Maybe 10 feet wide and full of stuff. As you know I am very shy but I stepped into the shop anyway. Domenico, one of the owners, and I were quickly friends though we had no mutual language. We talked about the upright bass that the other older gentleman was working preying the off of. It is from the 1600's .
There was a very decorative small instrument, maybe a mandolin, that
I admired. It was from the 1500"s. There were several guitars he
had built himself. The two men where proud of the profession and very
eager to share, but I felt Rich losing interest, so we said goodbye
and stepped out. A few steps away they called us back. They wanted to
show us Domenico's electric guitar he had built himself before we got
away. At was a work of art.
see the little machete that he is using to prey the back off

looks pretty good for being born in the 1500's
he built this

his personal guitar We walked away again, this time successfully. Rich told me he needed to
head home. He has been going through some intensive treatments for
about six months with more to come and he had peaked for the day. We
wandered through the back streets making our way back to my apartment
and he went from there to his, about a 10 minute walk away.

Day 4 & 5
The next couple of days were just wandering around and dodging the rain.
I couple of good meals and a cooking class. 











The great toilet paper catch











She did not look like a happy lady

Day 7


Today we moved on. We took a taxi to one of the two train stations to pickup the rental car. We were given a very nice Fiat Station wagon and surprisingly all the bags fit. There was no sight seeing on this trip. We made our way out of town, which was pretty direct, but took some pushing and shoving to get through to the Strada. From there it was a nice toll road till we exited at Roccalumare, where the landlord met us and led us up a tiny, tiny two way roads up the side of the mountain to a gorgeous villa complete with swimming pool. The landlord, Giuseppe and his daughter Guiella introduced us to their home. It is beautiful. And, of all the places I have stayed they are hands above anyone else. The refrigerator was stocked with every drink imaginable including beer and whiskey. Plus they presented us with a charcuterie platter with many meats and cheeses. They were not done there. They said they would be back at 6 to show us around the town and where to eat and shop.
We took a rest admiring the view with the nine cats that live here, but they are not beggars. One at a time they would come by to check us out.
They went running for the gate when they heard Giuseppe's car coming up the road long before he was out of the car. He and Guilla took me on a tour of the small town, pointing out the best restaurants and the one to “never go in that one”, the baker, the butcher and we stopped at the grocery store to pick up items. It is great to shop with the top dog in town.
Everyone let us go to the front of the line with our two items. Actually, in small towns people are just nice.
Back at the villa we sat around and enjoyed the charcuterie platter and drinks.

That his a $10 container of popcorn she bought at the gas station


Oct 11-15 Villa Bella, Santa Teresa di Riva
The was pizza day!  Guesippe and Guilla came up to teach us to cook pizza. They brought the dough and we brought the add-on's.




XXXXXXXX





One day we just sat around in the rain.


Today we went to Savoca who's only claim to fame is that it is where they
filmed some of the God Father movie. It is a tiny, tiny village but
there are tours from other places and even a hop-on-hop-off bus came
from somewhere. 
Nothing exciting but the lunch which was fantastic. The packaged salt and
pepper where in a little box that the other Vicki just wanted bad. We
asked the waiter if we could buy it and he said no the boss would
fire him. Vicki was the only one to finish her meal and when the
waiter returned with our packaged leftover he had wrapped to of the
little boxes for the Vicki's. People are nice.

They take theri parking seriously here



Back resting at the villa

The treasured condiment holder

Of course we had to go see Mount Etna. To bad it was in the clouds. It was a nice outing and we had a good meal in the hill.





All and all this was a great stop.





For our last meal together with Rich and Vicki, Giuseppe made us reservations at Aloha Mare.
The food was fantastic but the best part was Giuseppe and Guilla came to check on us.
Again, they are some of the finest people I have met. Their real joy is meeting thier guests
and making sure you are happy.


Oct 15, day 10


Time to move on and part ways. I drove Rich and Vic to there new apartment in Taormina. It is a small historical town choke a bloke full of tourist. Surprisingly I was able to navigate into the small town and out with no problems. I did do a lot of google map work before I set of on our adventure.

Our destination is Realmonte on the south coast. Frist we had to go trade rental cars. We have a Fait station wagon and are trading down to a less expensive Fait 500. Finding the rental car location was relatively painless thanks to Google maps.
Getting the car was a little different. Stood in line in a very crowded building for 45 minutes to pick up the Black Beauty.

This part of our trip tried to be a challenge too. I received this message yesterday:
 
Good morning Ken I wanted to warn you that yesterday bad weather did some damage to the house. we are trying to solve. we will talk. Enza

A series of messages were exchanged in to the early evening. The good news is they were able to repair the damage and so things are good.

Nice drive through rural Sicily on a almost empty four lane highway. We snaked our way up the side of hill on the ocean and along a short strectch of dirt road and we arrived at our little paradise for the next seven days.

The owners were there to greet us. They connected Vicki via video phone with their daughter who speaks english, but is in Rome going to medical school. Once orientation was done and the landlord gone we made a drink and enjoyed the evening overlooking the Mediterranean sea.

The three phone conversation with Rome




Sunday we went to a late lunch on the beach. This is a solo restaurant on a small beach that is only open on Saturday's and Sunday's. Enza had made us a reservation using the name Michelangelo. I don't know if that is his real name or just entertainment for the owner of the restaurant who is a good friend of his.

A reservation was not necessary as there were only four of the many tables occupied. Location was perfect looking out on the sea. We split a mixed calamari and shrimps, fried, and clam pasta dish. The food, service and ambience were perfect for us. Full of great food we made our way back up the steep road to hour home for the week.
The white building next to the big one on the water is the restaurant

Reserved for Michelangelo







Monday we went in search of a rotisserie chicken and some porchetta. The closest place is in Porto Empedocle. Casa del Pollo. As a bonus it says they have porchetta, which we really want. Getting there I was afraid was going to be a challenge and then if we did get up all narrow streets finding parking could be impossible.

We took a nice road along the sea and arrived in town in about half an hour. I was stunned, that despite narrow lanes with 170 degree switch backs we made to the restaurant. Even more amazing was there was room enough on this street to park.

However, they were out of chickens and the next batch came out at 4pm when the shops would open for the evening and no porchetta. 

Greatly disappointed we got back in the car snaked our way out of town. We stopped at the MD, a local grocery, and picked up some grilled chicken in the deli.
A very enjoyable late lunch, for us not for the Italian, was had on the patio looking at the ocean.

The road to the chicken house




Tuesday 
Vicki has gotten culture on this trip but I have had none. So we decided to go into Siculiana to the church were the black Jesus documentary was filmed. Quiet little town on a hill where the church has a large dome towering over everything. Again parking was easy to find and we actually parked farther away than we needed to shop at the COOP, were we found pods for the coffee maker. A very important item.



As we entered the church the organ music began and I thought it was a automatic thing only to turn the corner and see the real organ player.

The walk was easy up hill. After the church we roamed around the top of the town. Who wants to walk all the way down just to walk all the way back up. These are steep streets with a 25 percent grade or more.

After the town we went to the beach for lunch but everything is closed for the season. So, we took a left turn and roamed the very sparsely populated hills. We did come to an area that some grapes and wineries but all were closed.

Not finding a open restaurant we went by the MD, picked up some more chicken and had a nice lunch at home looking at the sea.

In the evening the landlord and his wife stopped by to clean the pool and brought canoles and arancini. Arancini is a Sicilian dish of fried rice balls with a filling of ragu. They were both great.




I wonder how long that lock has kept that door secure

For sale for a dollar. Comes with roop top garden

It appeared to be laundry day throughout the town

The man himself



That is the castle which is a private residence




Arancini


Wednesday

Yesterday I started my walk but flamed out early. So today I was determined to do it and farther. Come along for the walk.







my 5 morning friends


headed back





turn left at the dead end sign


home

We are near Realmonte and in fact the address here is Realmonte, so we decided we should go into to see the town. It sets up on a hill from the sea and from a distance is not very attractive. It is not much more than a village but is surrounded by seven or so story apartment  complex's that are unattractive.

Again we made our way into town and found parking without a challenge. Unlike Palermo, the small towns here are clean with almost no trash. We found all the old men on a small nondescript square. Across from the square on south end as a bar/gelato shop so we sat and ordered coffee and watched the town go about it's business.

We walked around a little but these towns are unaspiring to me for I know not why.
We picked up a few items at a couple of grocery stores and then retired back to the villa.

In the evening the landlord dropped to thick slices of porchetta as promised. I turned mine into a sandwich with bread from the bakery in Realmonte and that only left about 2 pounds of pork to go.

Realmonte





I got in a little more than that but quickly retreated.

Thursday

Another not much day. Drove to the beach and had an average lunch

Sunrise at the villa





The dish on the left was cold swordfish with eggplant, capers and a thin tomato sauce.
It was excellent.

Friday

Earlier I mentioned the storm that tried to delay our arrival here. It seems as though it was a very limited toronado or down burst. The area of damage was just on the ridge line and only about 50 yards wide. Nothing compared to a hurricane but pretty interesting any way.

It embedded all kinds of things in the fence. A lot of tree damage and
some were pushed over.


Heading up into the hills tomorrow where the temp's are supposed to be lower. So, off we went to Ariagento to the mail to buy sweat pants for me and a sweatshirt for Vicki. Nice mall with free parking and it only took a few minutes to find what I wanted and move on. Vicki decided she liked the ones at the MD grocery store back near home.




While here we decided we need to at least drive the Valley of the Temples, left over Roman ruins. It was a challenge to get there because I had been planning some routes for the future and had checked "no highways" so Ella took right through downtown Ariagento. Not a great experience, but not a killer either. All we wanted to do was drive by the ruins and with that accomplished we got out of town and headed for lunch.

Araigento is not very attractive



Lunch was at a small beach restaurant in a very small village on the water.













Oct 22
Saturday

Time to move on. We said goodbye to the great hosts and headed for the hills. I find it amazing that were in other part of Europe you would find nice little hill towns with a center  with at least a coffee shop. Here, the old part of town, which are not very attractive by big block apartment buildings. Absolutely no redeeming factors.


G
Goodbye to the hosts





Every town is surrounded by apartment buildings. Caltavuturo is not because the population
has declined from 6,000 to 3,000





That is the new house on the right, The machine in the road is trimming trees.

Dr. Ralf Rene Reinhart and wife Susanne and their truffle hunting dog.

Dinner



Sunday

Everytime you open the door we see this. Everytime. He is just standing right there. He is a lover.

there he is
there he is
there he is
there he is
he never comes any further than that.
Tuesday


. We had not taken Frank out for a good meal in a while. Today, in combination with celebrating my birthday a few days early, we decided we would go to a Michelin restaurant. Terraza Costantino is Michelin rated and highly recommended by our hosts who were kind enough to make a reservation for us. It is a fixed price and menu.

The restaurant is located up in the hills in the very small village of Sclafani Bagni. Google says it is a mere 17 minutes away. What Google doesn't tell you is driving in pitch dark on roads that are crumbling and falling off the side of the mountain is damn scary, but we were determined to give Frank a good meal. The roads collapsing can be strange. The rest of the road turns into a roller coaster with the asphalt not crumbling or buckling and rolling. Sometimes up to a two foot immediate drop with no broken asphalt. The speed limit is 30 kmh or 18 mph. And that is fast in the pitch black night.

We arrived a few minutes before our 7:30 reservation. But it's all things Italian it was not open yet so we took a short walk and when we came back it was open.
Inside the restaurant there were three tables and that was it. There was another couple at one of the tables but no-one else came the whole evening. You must have a reservation to enter.




There were only two employees in the restaurant area. A gloved waiter and the chef. The waiter did an excellent job of presentation and serving and the chef would come over and explain each course as it was delivered. 

To remain in the moment no photos were taken in the restaurant.

The aperitivo consisted of several items. The main one was made from local beans and it looks like a huge jelly bean in appearance. The exterior shell was a very light purplish in color and the interior of white bean mouse. We were also served a mini steak tartare on two tiny round crackers.  Lemon butter for the four different types of bread, mortadella and cheese on a waffle chip cracker sort of, as it was very gourmet looking like a wheel with spokes and was about 2 inches across, a very small, the  size of small jelly bean that was lemony, as palate cleanser accompanied by a refreshing fruit drink.

This was followed by a poached egg with some type of broth, which he explained and we forgot, with dried tomato flakes and mushrooms. The broth was good enough that I sopped it up with some gourmet bread. 

Next course risotto with black truffles and interesting herbs.

Next was seared pork. About a two inch square that was fortunately sliced into bite size pieces as it was served in  a bowl that made cutting a challenge. It had shaved cheese and small greens on it. 

Next was the cheese course. It was fine local cheese and we were instructed to eat them from left to right. Softest to the hardest.

The dessert was pistachio cake with a cappuccino froth followed by expresso. 

We had laughed when we ordered a bottle of wine, recommended by the chef, and thinking that it might be $100 since this is a gourmet restaurant and there is no menu or price list.

The bill was shocking! Which put us into a round of laughter again. The bottle of wine was cheaper than at the pizza joint.

 The overall gourmet dinner,extremely well presented and fantastic tasting dinner was €120. We were stunned at the price. Frank would have gladly paid twice the price for a meal of that quality.




After dinner with visiting with Tiana Giuseppe Constantino for a while. Extremely friendly and nice guy. With great expression  with his hands as he looked to the heavens he explained his dream was to come to the States  and open a restaurant a restaurant some day. If he does we hope it's in St. Pete. 




Ok, now to get off this mountain. I had limited me wine intake due to the challenge. I must have judged it just right as coming down was not nearly as nerve racking as going up.

Wednesday

Last night Vicki decided that today we should go on a 5-hour round trip, probably more, to the West end of the island to see salt flats, maybe some flamingos and a windmill. Making her happy I decided this was a wonderful idea and would be glad to drive her. Fortunately she woke up this morning and had changed her mind.

So I instituted plan B. We would drive up to see the small town in the daylight that we had dinner in last night and then we would travel from there to the beach. That all went great until we came to the road to head back down the mountain in the direction of the beach and it was closed. Now, if we wanted a beach we had to backtrack, that added about another hour to a 55 minute ride. 

These pictures do not show the true nature of the road, but close.








                                              Sclafani Bagni


So, for plan C, we decided we'd go to town, buy some water and some more cat food and have a cup of coffee.

In town we found the Wednesday market open in the street. They were only selling household goods and clothing but we scored. We once had a mocha pot with a glass top but it got so bad we couldn't use it anymore and bought a new one. Unfortunately we couldn't find one with a glass top like our old one until today. We bought our items at the store and went to the coffee shop,  had a couple cappuccinos and then headed back to the car. We had been told by our host that there was a butcher shop that cooked chicken but you had to order one in advance. I popped in just in case to see if I could get one and I was lucky. They were glad to sell me a chicken with a bag full of french fries. Back at the house we dined on a little chicken and the french fries and hung out for the afternoon. 




Thursday

Here is a link from the internet with photos of the food Terrazza Constantino

I went to town to have coffee and to buy some more coffee. After a week in town you start to recognize lots of the people as they come in for their morning quick shot of expresso.


Later in the morning we made the walk to town. Great going down the hill, hard coming back up the hill. I had passed the olive processors before and today when I stopped they wave me in.









Running a little low on wine we looked up the winery the produced the wine we had at the Terraza the other night and decided to make a road trip. After roaming the hills we found the winery. It was not a little cutesy place but a big industrial production. Nonetheless the wine was good and inexpensive.







We shared a glass over the last supper.



Friday Oct 28

Escobar you brought some great comfort. You will
be missed.


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