I’m sitting in my room in Catania looking for an excuse not to do the work that is looming ominously over my head……so a post it is! Sicily is remarkably different to mainland Italy, well, the northern part at least. I have to admit, when we first arrived in Palermo, I didn’t really like it. It is very dirty, and not exactly in the character-adding way of Roma. Mind you, it didn’t help that my first couple of experiences after we arrived were waiting for nearly an hour for dinner, and the strangest experience of being demanded for our passports when we wanted to use the internet. Umm…I think not. I was later told that this is a rule ‘all across my Italy’ to help protect providers of internet from when the police scrutinise their internet access records and find something they don’t like. Really translated to ‘invasion of privacy’ to me. We couldn’t access internet anywhere without providing some form of identification which they recorded our information from. Sheesh!!
Anyway….thanks largely to our wonderfully hospitable B&B owner, Palermo grew on me after the first day. It is a bustling city flecked with poverty, its dilapidated buildings bearing the scars of years of weathering and mafia-induced neglect, decorated with lines of washing hung out from busted-up windows. The people are as friendly as ever – drivers wave you across the road with a smile and people are patient and eager to help in any way they can.
The city (and indeed the island) feels like a conglomeration of South America and Morocco, speckled with Italian influences rather than vice versa. Certainly I now understand why Mario insists that Sicily is not actually part of Italy but ‘Arabia’.
After buying my 4th pair of sunglasses this year (I know, I’m freaking hopeless) we wandered around the city a little, but we didn’t actually do the explore thing until the last day there. Lonely Planet describes Palermo as a place of hidden treasures – you have to go searching for attractions rather than being confronted with them everywhere like in Rome, and we found this to be a rather accurate description. The Teatro Massimo and the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi were reasonably impressive and the main cathedral was fairly spectacular, albeit quite Arabic. We also visited the fountain known colloquially as the Fountain of Shame, named for its ‘flagrant nudity’ displayed by the nymphs surrounded the water centre. Unfortunately for the male statues they do not retain any of their, uh, manhood, unless they were pre-pubescent or merman.
What really made Palermo for me was the hostel owner, Giorgio. He was just lovely and quite a funny man. Admittedly I can’t say I was exactly taken with him at first, but it may have been because he had a swollen eye and didn’t appear….undodgy. However, my apprehensions were quickly quelled by his affable nature and love of teasing. He, at no cost to us, took us for a hike at Cefalu and a night tour around Palermo. Like I said, they are just amazingly friendly down here in the south.
The hike was amazing – gorgeous green rocky cliffs set against a bright blue sky and a deep dark blue ocean, the terracotta roofs of the houses of Cefalu below adding to the tapestry of colours. We hiked up with Giorgio and a pair of Aussie girls, stopping to take photos and untangle ourselves from plants when Giorgio took us off track. Afterwards he took us for a walk around Cefalu itself – this town being much more typically Italian than Palermo.
The night tour was also fantastic – it was so wonderful having a local take us around and point out things that we never would have noticed and get interesting snippets of history to boot. Needless to say we were pleased with our accommodations! He was also quite insistent that we try gelato with brioche – essentially ice cream in a sweet bun. It was different, but delicious.
And now here I am in Catania, feeling a little lonely to be honest. Andrew is currently in the air on his way to Tokyo and I am missing him already. I can’t believe I won’t see him till I get back….it makes it seem ages away!! I guess I’ll learn more Italian without him, but I am really missing having him here, particularly because I have a double bed to myself in the B&B that I’m staying in.
I am going to stay in Catania for at least a week though – I originally had 4 days booked, I got here and I have a double room with private bathroom, free wifi, a desk, a fridge and the super friendly people here talk Italian with me (when I’m not locked in my room pretending to be working), so I don’t really see any need for me to move on too quickly…
I did have a very typical Italian experience last night though. The owner, Daniele (male, pronounced Danyieleh) invited me out for an apertif. We walked out the door and then he stopped and asked if I wanted a helmet – I was completely shocked. Here I was thinking we were going to a bar around the corner! Well, hell yes I want a helmet thankyou! I appreciate that it’s not very Italian, but there was NO way I was getting on a motorbike without a helmet, even if they drive much slower here. But it was an absolutely amazing experience zipping around the streets of Catania on a motorbike – as I gripped onto poor Daniele trying to slow my fluttering heart, he casually spoke in Italian about various things as his hair whipped around (because he, of course, did NOT wear a helmet. Crazy Italians).
He took me to a bar where you pay 5 euros and you get a drink and all you can eat appetisers. We grabbed a drink and placed it on a table. He had a laugh at the mini freak out I had about leaving the drinks unattended – I just don’t trust people anymore, unfortunately. He calmly explained that if we didn’t put the drinks down we couldn’t gather food and we needed to ‘bags’ the table before the crowds arrived. We filled our plates brimming with food and returned to the table. I drank my drink so damn slowly, terrified that there was some horrible scam being pulled to drug me – my rational side said that as I had booked on hostelworld that Daniele would absolutely make sure I was safe, but my heart was racing and I could only think of an unfortunate backpacker in recent times. Thankfully, I was being completely paranoid (though mind you at the rate I was drinking that drink, I don’t know if any drugs would have affected me!) We finished our plates and Daniele and I went back for more – it was bloody ace!
I had a really nice night, chatting to his friends in my very poor Italian, but in general I was understood and I understood them, so I can’t be doing too badly. I feel like I’m getting better, at least until they start talking amongst themselves and then I’m completely damn lost!
Anyway, there it is – that is me up to date! I guess I can’t avoid work much longer, though I do believe I have a few episodes of Bones to watch….
Love you all and look forward to your lectures!
XX
Palermo and Cefalu photos
