The Sicily Update

Bringing myself to write these days is proving to be somewhat of an ordeal. I'll have the entry 'written' out in my mind but the thought of having to type it out just drains me! Odd! But I've finally sat down and ordered my fingers to move over the keys in a fashion that spell out coherent words so that's a start =)

Sicily was good! A nice break and there were some amusing moments. The flight was good although I wasn't too sure about the take-off which felt very sudden and angular rather than a smooth glide up into the sky. But it was fine and we landed safely and then caught the bus from the airport into the centre of Trapani where our apartment was. Got to the door number and asked for our contact person and he welcomed us and proceeded to show us to the apartment. Upon entering the entrance to the 'block' (it was an open air kind of thing) we had a shock and thought that we had entered a kerrejja!! (That woud be a housing estate in English, but a not-very-nice one!) The owner of the apartment owns a salumeria on one side and a confectionery on the other side and both these establishments have their back doors leading out onto this open-air entrance of this block, so there was this smell of salami mixed with sugar in the air!!! Not very pleasant :/ But once we got into the apartment it was a completely different story! It was brightly lit and everything was brand new!! We had ACs in the living room/kitchen and in the bedroom, flat screen TV, lovely large bathroom with products - everything that one needed basically, and the window and balcony overlooked the road which was lovely and wide. So then we breathed a sigh of relief.

That afternoon we decided to explore Trapani so we walked around a lot and we walked to the old part of the city and along the seafront which was all very lovely. In the evening we found this Pizzeria open that from the outside looked like a dingy place but it was actually quite nice. It was the only place that we found open so we weren't about to be choosy! The pizza was very nice anyway :)

Tuesday we went to Palermo - 08:38 train that took approx 2.5 hours to get there! But it was a nice journey and you get to see the countryside too. Palermo was an experience!! The place has lots of beautiful buildings and palazzi but they are all hidden underneath dirt and grime and left to crumble. Very dilapidated :/ When we walked down the main road I felt like I was in Hamrun - cars, pollution and dirt everywhere. But then you see the beauty hidden in places. The traffic is out of this world! If Maltese driving is bad, Palermo drivers are in a league of their own. There are all these motorscooters and motorcycles everywhere zipping around all the traffic and occasionally on the pavements(!) and then there are all the cars to contend with. They take no notice of pedestrian crossings and even less notice of pedestrians. Everyone is horn happy and extremely impatient. So you cross the road with trepidation and reciting a prayer at the same time! We also walked a real lot because we had to catch the 18:29 train so we had most of the day there. I had a divine chocolate ice-cream that had chcoclate chips in it Mmmm... and then we had a lovely lunch in this little alleyway. We had Torta Mimosa for dessert which is La Torta delle Donne and prepared specially for Women's Day (which was last Sunday) - delicious. Didn't do much shopping there - I bought a pink purse and a purple hand luggage which came in very handy for packing.

On Wednesday which was our last day there really, because we left on Thursday morning, we first went to the port to see if there were ferry boats to the islands but there was only a ferry to the island and not pleasure boats that take you around the islands. And the ferry is frigging expensive! And not very frequent either. Gozo ferry is much more reliable! So we decided to remain in Trapani and we went round the shops. It's funny because the streets are lined with designer shops and then all of a sudden you get a Terranova! Weird! But I bought sunglasses, sandals, a bikini and a bodywarmer (hence the handluggage coming in handy). For lunch we went to this restaurant recommended by the woman of the bikini shop, and it took us ages to find but it was worth it! When we eventually left we realised that we were really close to the apartment but we just took a long route all the way round! In the evening we got a pizza take-away from a much recommended place and went back to the apartment, and it was indeed very good!

The food is definitely a highlight of the place. The traffic is not! The people are quite abrupt and not extremely forthcoming but it's a quirk in itself, you just mustn't be put off by the attitude. Trapani is a very pretty place and worth a visit but going once is enough. And 3 days is also enough. Next time it'll be Catania (which apparently is worse than Palermo but the shopping is amazing) and Taormina, which is very pretty but a day there is enough.