June 19, 2019
This morning, we found ourselves back in Italia! We are on the island of Sicily...the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. After a light breakfast and some quick preparations, we head off the ship. As soon as we’re out of the port...BAM!! We get inundated with taxi drivers and tourist bus drivers vying for our money to take us anywhere. One guy wanted to drive us to another town and back for 100€. HA! Then he said he’d find another 2 people and we could split the cost. No, grazie!
We found a little pasticeria that Sherry Ann found online before we left home, Raguso Eventi, and went in for some cannoli. Oh, me, oh, my! Such delicate, crispy, flaky pastry filled with rich and creamy goodness with crushed nuts on top. Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking of it. We decided that after a day of walking around, and before heading back to the ship, we’d stop in again and get an evening treat.
We walked around the area a little, and found ourselves at the Piazza Duomo (cathedral square). We went inside the cathedral and took a look around, then went back outside. It was about 11:30 at this point, so we paid the entrance fee to go up to the top of the clock tower. It was really cool. There ar different levels of the tower, and at each level there is a series of gears, pulleys, and weights and counter-weights. These ar all connected to guilded (gold plated) automatons depicting stokes from the Bible and the local catholic legends. Once at the top, we walked around the perimeter outside the tower. Sherry Ann hung back from the edge and did NOT want to look down. We were told that we had to be out of the tower by 12:00, because that would be when the automatons would come to life right after the stroke of 12:00. So we did.
In the piazza below, crowds had gathered to see the clock tower presentation. It was a lot of fun. We stayed and watched it for the 10-minute “show.” Pretty much as soon as it was over, the crowds dispersed, and the piazza was all but empty. We had lunch at a little cafe there on the piazza. We ordered a tall bottle of water, and a local specialty for lunch. Just about everything was made of puff pastry. On two, there were tomatoes, another 2 had tomatoes and artichokes, then there were 2 filled with cheese and ham, 2 with hot dogs in them, and then 2 mini hamburgers. I’m talking min-sized mini hamburgers. We paid our bill, and set out.
We decided to head our for a walk and find a a church and a war memorial. We climbed, and climbed, and just when we thought we couldn’t go any farther, the path turned again, and we found another set of stairs to climb. When we got to the church was closed. But the view from up there was amazing. So, we walked across the valley to the war memorial, and guess what? Yep, it was closed, too. Oh my word. It was only, what, 12:30 or 13:00. Oh well. We made our way back down the hill toward the port.
It was a short day at port, so we made our way back to Raguso Eventi, and bought our evening cannoli along with some marzipan and headed back to the port. Before going to dinner, we went to the top deck, and watched as we left the port and through the strait between Sicily and the tip of the boot. It was super windy up there, but we didn’t care. We were a little later to dinner than normal, so we were able to have a table to ourselves...right next to another couple. I tell you, those tables are so close to each other. We enjoyed the bit of conversation we had with the other couple. For a starter, we had scallops on a sea shell. They were SO good. Then, for our main course, we had saffron risotto with lobster, shrimp, and muscles. Holy goodness, Batman. By the time we finished dinner, we missed the beginning of the show, so we talked about going to the 21:30 show. However, I was feeling extremely exhausted, so we opted to return to our stateroom, eat our evening cannoli, and go go bed. It was a really good day.
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