Where to begin on Sicily? I guess with getting off my boat. So I got off the boat in Palermo at about 6:30 in the morning and the city was still sleeping. I search for a street name that I may recognize. I give up and get hungry so I stop at a cafe for a quick bite to eat. There the older gentleman was extremely nice upon my entering. Seeing my pack he bid me, in Italian and with hand gestures, to sit at a table (which is sometimes extra money at Italian cafes) and that he'd bring my Caffe Freddo and croissant (with chocolate inside) to me. He made a customer for every morning I was in Palermo. Each time I went in he smiled and treated me like an old friend with such enthusiasm you would have thought I was his son. One particularly hot morning he made sure I had water for the upcoming day, even offering to fill up my bottle free of charge. It's impossible to get tap water here, you can't order it when eating out; it's always bottled. Super nice guy. While in Palermo the strangest thing I saw was the Cappucinni Catacombs. I found the history behind it fascinating in that weird creepy kind of way.You weren't allowed to take pictures in there but here's a google image search of pictures from in there.
Also while in Sicily I made a friend/sister. We traveled around for a week and the way we acted people thought we were brother and sister. She was a riot. One day we decided we were going to climb Mt. Etna. Mt. Etna is an active volcano that erupted as recently as April of this year. We had to take a bus there from Catania. It was a couple of hours and I decided to catch a few more winks of shuteye on the ride there. Apparently the driver thinks that 90 minutes is too long to go without a break so he stopped at a park for 20 minutes. Shannon got off and I continued snoozing. She woke me up and surprised me with a Cafe Freddo then got back off the bus to continue stretching her leg. I drank my treat then proceeded to go right back to sleep. I woke up about 10 minutes from our stop and she is nowhere on the bus. The driver left her in the park. Fortunately the lady working at the tourist office left and followed the bus the entire way there. Mt. Etna reminded me of Mordor. It was black. There was no sunlight. It was a volcano. It was pretty neat.
There were a few beach days in Sicily too. The best one was at Taormina where we got the hook up on a sweet apartment for the night overlooking the Mediterranean. There was a small island called Isolabella that was like something from a postcard. I didn't get any pictures of it because I don't want to leave my camera unattended while I'm frolicking. There was so much more that happened in Sicily. Traveling together with Shannon was a constant adventure of just laughing and trying to not get too lost. I wish I had time to recount it all but I'm being a bit of a humbug typing this and not making more friends. Ciao!
The architecture of this church was really cool, it had both Arabic and Gothic influences.
I have a shot of the whole thing, but it's too big to upload.
Old city wall of Palermo
That's just cruel.
The converted monastery
Adorable kittens were in the monastery
Last of the green I saw as I climbed Mt. Etna at the bottom
Rocks in the shoes
Shuttles for the lazy.
Yep, it's ash covered snow.
Wooden poles to keep you on the right track for when it gets really cloudy.
Before a bus arrived
Shannon
After a bus arrived
Buried observation/refuge post
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