Palermo onto Alcamo
After a day of walking (first exploration on our own that ended us up lost after the puppet museum) we met our guide for the afternoon at our hotel. Quick pizzas on an open square before setting off in the 99 degree heat (the hottest day of the year according to Jackie-our guide). We saw the opera house, duomo and the Jewish quarter. The girls peeled off and took a cab home soon after a cathedral visit. Marc and I continued for awhile longer and walked through open markets and heard more of Sicily's history. After a nap at the hotel we headed out to a late dinner at Bellotera. Mentioned but not starred in The Guide. We all ate well (except we think Marc's dinner was not what he ordered). We were happy to see English translations under each menu item but quickly realized they were so inaccurate that hey weren't particularly helpful. The best dish was Deb's "curly pasta with dried out tomatoes". Excellent. Emily and her chocolate dessert was posted.
The next morning we headed out shortly after breakfast. The hotel breakfast (included with the rooms) is a fabulous buffet with assortments of everything breakfast and something's not so much. There were meats, cheeses, breads, Nutella, cereals, yogurts and make your own eggs. They had a bowl of brown eggs and the first morning I didn't read the sign, assumed they were hard boiled and opened one up on my breakfast plate. What a mess. The next morning I put one in the cooker for the prescribed 7 minutes! Excellent "American coffee" by the way.
At 10 our driver (arranged by our guide) met us with her SUV-unusual for Italy where the cars are all matchbook sized) and loaded us and our luggage up for the trip to Monreale. We had a tour of the Duomo there- amazing mosaics. Did we visit this in '76?
Then our windy road trip to Agriturismo Tarantola. The road trip here made the car trip to Ward look like a trip to the Barrington Post Office!! Vineyards, olive trees and very isolated with no WiFi and no one anywhere in sight except the elderly-Italian only speaking caretaker/chef. This Agriturismo is supposedly owned by a real life Count (Count Testa) but he is no where in sight. We start to feel as if we have just checked into the Italian Bates Hotel. We are shown to our small apartment upstairs and it is hot-really hot. No significant windows for any cross ventilation. Marc goes down to inquire if there is a cooler room available (there are only 4 apartments on the property) we are told "turn on the air conditioning". So Marc runs back up to crank on the AC ( its probably 95 degrees outside in the shade and 105 in the upstairs apartment) The AC is in the bedroom and it is a small air conditioning unit but works. Right now the girls are huddled in there keeping cool. There is a fabulous breeze but it's hot. Very hot. No pool (we were misinformed) and a small inaccessible lake surrounded by a fence. We are ready to find a quick road out of here until we enjoy a wonderful multicourse lunch with local wine. We start with a penne in tomato sauce followed by local cheese, roasted tomatoes, peppers and a special type of Sicilian Pizza we are still discussing. We end with watermelon. So full of such delectable Sicilian food and not quite so ready to exit out of here but still thinking about it.
The next morning we headed out shortly after breakfast. The hotel breakfast (included with the rooms) is a fabulous buffet with assortments of everything breakfast and something's not so much. There were meats, cheeses, breads, Nutella, cereals, yogurts and make your own eggs. They had a bowl of brown eggs and the first morning I didn't read the sign, assumed they were hard boiled and opened one up on my breakfast plate. What a mess. The next morning I put one in the cooker for the prescribed 7 minutes! Excellent "American coffee" by the way.
At 10 our driver (arranged by our guide) met us with her SUV-unusual for Italy where the cars are all matchbook sized) and loaded us and our luggage up for the trip to Monreale. We had a tour of the Duomo there- amazing mosaics. Did we visit this in '76?
Then our windy road trip to Agriturismo Tarantola. The road trip here made the car trip to Ward look like a trip to the Barrington Post Office!! Vineyards, olive trees and very isolated with no WiFi and no one anywhere in sight except the elderly-Italian only speaking caretaker/chef. This Agriturismo is supposedly owned by a real life Count (Count Testa) but he is no where in sight. We start to feel as if we have just checked into the Italian Bates Hotel. We are shown to our small apartment upstairs and it is hot-really hot. No significant windows for any cross ventilation. Marc goes down to inquire if there is a cooler room available (there are only 4 apartments on the property) we are told "turn on the air conditioning". So Marc runs back up to crank on the AC ( its probably 95 degrees outside in the shade and 105 in the upstairs apartment) The AC is in the bedroom and it is a small air conditioning unit but works. Right now the girls are huddled in there keeping cool. There is a fabulous breeze but it's hot. Very hot. No pool (we were misinformed) and a small inaccessible lake surrounded by a fence. We are ready to find a quick road out of here until we enjoy a wonderful multicourse lunch with local wine. We start with a penne in tomato sauce followed by local cheese, roasted tomatoes, peppers and a special type of Sicilian Pizza we are still discussing. We end with watermelon. So full of such delectable Sicilian food and not quite so ready to exit out of here but still thinking about it.
posted by csmcid at 8:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home