Day Five, June 3 – Syracusa and Ortigia

I have had difficulty adding some of the many photos I took in Noto and Marzamemi, but will try to create another entry just with the photos… Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, after breakfast, we met Giovanni, our guide the first days in Taormina, this morning and went to Ortigia. There, we wandered the market a bit to see the incredible display of fruit, vegetables, fish, spices, clothing, hats, and jewelry. We then got an in-depth tour of the important areas of the town.

First, we saw the Greek Theatre, which was fairly small compared to the one in Taormina, but dates from the 6th century B.C. We walked to Via Cavour, the heart of the island and then to the Archimede Fountain, where there is an amazing sculpture of Santa Lucia. We got there before a horde of tourists crowded around.

We walked the Duomo Square, with its impressive Byzantine and Norman architecture, and ended at the enchanting Arethusa Fountain, a papyrus-fringed natural spring replete with several species of huge ducks, a nest filled with duck eggs that will yield a dozen or more babies pretty soon, and several species of fish. It is a serene spot and overlooks the sea.

Time for lunch. We took our guide’s suggestion and ate at a popular spot in the market where the locals eat. Sad to say, but the food was mainly sandwiches or charcuterie boards and not what we enjoyed. Oh well…

We returned to our hotel for a siesta and then walked back to Ortigia to visit the ancient mikvah located in the former Jewish Quarter. There is no Jewish presence in Sicily any longer when, after 1492, the Jews were expelled by Queen Isabella and King of Spain during their reign over Italy. From the guide at the mikveh, we learned that it was discovered about 39 years ago by a woman who bought the building. During excavation for renovations, they found an underground natural spring bath used by Jewish women to purify the body after she had her period or got married.

Fifty-six steps take you down to the underground cave where five baths are located. They were hidden by over a meter of mud, which took 100 truckloads to remove. Although not used any longer, they date back to between 500-600 A.D. and still have spring water that feeds them. The 56 steps down from the main floor take you to a very different time and place.

After our less than delightful lunch, we walked the narrow, curved streets and alleys and found an amazing place for a light dinner. We would definitely recommend Cortile Verga on Via della Maestranza 33, a hidden gem of a restaurant in a courtyard. They don’t offer pasta, since everywhere else already does, but instead have a variety of tapas, edamame, a huge selection of drinks, beer, and wines, and excellent service.

We had three kinds of tapas, a bowl of steamed edamame, and then a dessert that will live in our brains (and probably elsewhere on the body) for a long time. It was a great end to a fun day.

Tomorrow, we leave here and head to Agrigento and the Temple Valley to visit archeological sites, have lunch, and then wend our way to our final destination in Sicily, Palermo.

Day Four, June 2 – Noto, Marzamemi, and Syracusa

Today turned out to be quite momentous. As we left Taormina and were passing Mt. Etna, we noticed that there was a huge plume of black dust and ash. The volcano was ERUPTING! This was not uncommon, but since we were there yesterday and were able to go up the mountain, we felt fortunate that we had done it because the visitors there today had to run for their lives. We didn’t see any lava, but we were told that there was a lava flow and ultimately a collapse of the east crater. The towns below must have had a dusting of ash to remind them of the power of the volcano.

Further information came from many news outlets of the eruption. We took some pictures from the van as we passed by and then saw the photos online. We could have been there to see it in person. Happily, we were not there today.

Our travels today took us to Noto, one of the venues for the filming of The White Lotus. The town is blindingly white because all the buildings are made of white limestone. The Baroque style and detail on most of the buildings is quite unique. We just missed the annual flower festival held about a week ago, where one of the streets is covered in various flowers to create paintings for the three days of the festival. I believe this is the 70th year and every year it gets more spectacular. Ajijic friends were there to witness the creativity and confirmed that it was wonderful to see.

We enjoyed the crowds of Italians on holiday and were told that tomorrow, things will return to normal and be much quieter. The two hours there were sufficient, so we moved on to the coastal town of Marzamemi. This village was a hub of activity for tuna fisherman, but not so much now. However, the restaurants still focus on seafood and we had our fill for our lunch.

After lunch, we made our way to Syracusa (Syracuse), a town on the Mediterranean, whose history is newer than Ortigia, the island connected by three bridges that dates back to 500 A.D. or possibly earlier. The island, although small, is the southern-most part of Italy and was conquered by the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Spanish, and Arabs. There are influences of each of the cultures everywhere. There is a unique doric Greek temple, unique in that the simple columns are made of one piece of stone, rather than layers of stone you see elsewhere.

Everywhere, there is renovation. At one time, the island was not the safest place to be, but once tourists found it, everything changed. It is now a magnet for tourists from all over Europe and beyond. There are restaurants and cafes on every street, and in hidden courtyards. It is difficult not to be drawn in to sit and have a coffee, a drink (think Aperol Spritz, the national drink I believe), a local beer, or a gelato.

However, we made it to our hotel just across from Ortigia in Syracusa, and fell blissfully asleep. Tomorrow, a tour of Ortigia in the morning and an afternoon to explore on our own.

Arriving in Taormina, Sicily

After a grueling day and a half getting to Sicily, we went to our hotel, the same one I stayed in two years ago. Taormina is about 40 minutes from the Catania Airport. It was dark when we arrived, so Jim couldn’t see the scenery awaiting him. We managed to go to the hotel restaurant for a sandwich (really yummy) and a beer. The kitchen closed at 10:30, so eating more at that hour would have not worked.

Jim crashed immediately, while I stayed awake for hours. Italy is eight hours later than Ajijic, so sleeping in the middle of the day wasn’t easy for me. Ultimately, I got about five hours of sleep and welcomed a lovely shower and a delicious breakfast this morning.

We hung around our room to allow more de-compressing and even had a video call with Ajijic friends who are also in Sicily. They were going to join us for our cooking class starting on June 8, but it was full. Instead, they are going a week earlier, starting June 1. Once they get to the villa for the six-day class, we will connect again to get their impression of the location.

We started our tour at 6:00 PM today with a food frenzy! I will endeavor to upload lots of photos of Taormina. More challenges!

We met Giovanni, along with a couple from Los Angeles, to begin our evening tour. Giovanni lives in Catania and has worked as a tour guide for many years. He is charming and very sweet. The other couple, Caroline and Dennis are very nice and with only the four of us, the tour will be great fun.

Our first stop was a nearby restaurant, Pirandello 2.0, where we were wined and dined starting with a delicious glass of Prosecco, and then a very good white wine. We enjoyed crusty bread with an excellent olive oil for dipping. We started with a mini appetizer of arancino (a fried rice ball that can have a filling of cheese or ragú), a brioche, and a savory chip with a pistachio cream.

This was followed by a wonderful marinated fresh tuna and a fresh grouper appetizer to enjoy with the sparkling wine. Next was sautéed octopus on a bed of potato puree and breaded and fried calamari (squid) (which I tasted but passed on). Giovanni was very knowledgeable about the food and the wines. The white wine was an Etna Bianco and was excellent. We were also serenaded by lovely music with songs that were very familiar. Everyone sang Volare with them.

Our next stop was another restaurant, Porto Messina, (which was where my daughter and I had an amazing cooking class two years ago), where we had two red wines, an Etna Rossi and a Luna Nero D’Avola. The first wine was a light, flavorful red, while the second was a full-bodied red, matched with the food we were eating. At 7:30, the restaurants were full and lively.

We were served a variety of breads, along with a pickled onion and a roasted red pepper spread. Next, we had an eggplant caponata, two local cheeses and a small serving of eggplant Parmesan. All the portions were small but satisfying. Dennis and Caroline, our tour mates, were fun and we enjoyed getting to know them.

Finally, our last stop was a pastry shop where we tasted a sampling of an almond wine, a moscato wine, and limoncello. We had a small canolli, a pistachio-filled cream puff-like treat, and another nut-filled treat. My head was reeling from all the alcohol because I don’t drink very much. Still, it was a treat to try all of these unique flavors.

We returned to our hotel to relax and enjoy a quiet rest of the evening. Tomorrow, we begin at 9:30 with Giovanni to see the Greek ruins, visit a couple of interesting towns and do the Godfather Mafia tour! As a group of four people, this is as close to a private tour as one can get!

Day 8 – Queenstown

We had a leisurely day, getting up later, enjoying breakfast, then going into town. The downtown isn’t large but has lots of interesting shops. There were a lot of outdoor sports stores, like Patagonia and North Face, as well as upscale clothing stores. Cashmere and Merino wool items were everywhere and they weren’t cheap. A typical sweater can run between $300-500 NZD (approximately 30or more. Even at the current exchange rate between the NZ dollar and the US dollar (30% more), we weren’t that interested. Besides, we wouldn’t be wearing them much in Mexico and having room in our suitcases is always a challenge.

We did wander over to the famous Fergburger restaurant, where there usually are 50 or more people waiting in line to get a burger. In the same block, they have Mrs. Ferg’s the gelato store and Fergbaker, the shop that makes the buns for the burgers and a large variety of meat pies. The pastry was very good and the choices were interesting.

Rather than waiting in the line, we opted for one of the savory pies and a milkshake. Both were delicious but, as it turned out, they didn’t like me and I had to be near a bathroom for the rest of the day. I can’t be sure.

We decided to walk back from town, about a 3 km walk, which wouldn’t have been bad except for the wind and chill. After relaxing a bit, we had plans to take the steamship, the TSS Earnslaw, to Walter Peak, a boat ride of about 30 minutes from the Queenstown wharf. This boat is an old-fashioned, coal-fired boat and the poor fellow below was shoveling coal as fast as he could. Interestingly, New Zealand is a VERY environmentally conscious country, with trash-sorting everywhere. To have this anacronism of a boat using coal was a unique experience.

Walter Peak is actually a huge farm, where they raise sheep (duh!) and grow many of their own produce. The building is very pretty and the grounds, especially the flowers, were absolutely beautiful. The boat-load of folks (probably around 200) went up to the house that was more of a giant dining room to partake of the enormous buffet (again). There was lamb, free-range chicken and pork, fish, lots of seafood, veggies, salad, and many desserts.

However, lunch was starting to kick in for me and I found that the two bathrooms had only two stalls each for women. I couldn’t believe that this was the case, considering the number of people there. And, you know that the women’s room always has a line, while the men’s room never has a line! You can imagine the bottleneck after the dinner for the women to make a pitstop!

After dinner, there was the ubiquitous sheep shearing and border collie demo. The poor sheep wasn’t having any of this and kept squirming to get away. But the young sheep shearer prevailed!. The border collies here are very different from those we are accustomed to seeing. They are short-haired and almost look like a Labrador Retriever, but with a longer snout. This dog was very good at his job, always look back to his handler to make sure that he was doing it correctly. It was actually pretty cute.

Finally, back onto the boat for the ride home. The steamy warmth of the boat instantly put me to sleep but once in the bus back to the hotel, we fell into bed. At least, we had a relaxing day to catch up with life.

Tomorrow is another travel day. We take a 3.5 hour flight to Melbourne for three days of enjoying our first visit to Australia.