Syracuse, Taormina & Palermo Solo

Strangely enough, after spending 16+ hours on trains over the last week, I'm writing from the same computer I used for my last post.  I'm back in Mussomeli to catch my breath at my last host family's house.

I could write a good 10 posts or so about the last week, but I'm going to try and condense it into 1 because if I fall behind, it's gonna be really hard to catch up. So I'll begin with my journey to Siracusa (Syracuse) with a stop in Catania, the island's 2nd largest city.

Catania

I had a 3-hour layover in Catania, so I thought I'd hop on a bus into the center. I got on a bus that would make two stops near the duomo (cathedral), and I assumed it would be fairly obvious when I hit the center.  30 minutes later, I was back at the train station. The next time I asked my fellow passengers, and I got off in the right place. 

After walking into the main square, I looked around and was not too impressed.  I quickly found myself going into any store that was open and looking around to pass the time.  But then, a protest broke out.  I still don't know what it was about, but there was a group burining flares and chanting in front of the university.  I would have rather been entertained by something more pleasant, but it was something.  I wished it could be another pride parade instead, but that was a ridiculous though, since it's July. But in Siracusa 2 guys at the hostel had seen the same protest and then asked me: "Did you see the gay pride parade after?" That was frustrating.  If only my layover had been a couple hours later.

Syracuse

I really liked Syracuse.  When I first checked in, the hostel guy told me to hurry to the supermarket before it closed to buy food for dinner.  I realized that I hadn't been to a European supermarket yet this year, and that I had nevr actually made dinner for myself in Italy.  So I grabbed a bunch of ingredients for pasta (and forgot to weigh my fruit), assuming that whatever I put in would be delicious because hey, this is Italy.  It was the worst pasta I've ever made.  But it was cheap.

On Sunday morning I went to the archaelogical park, where there's a Roman amphitheatre and a Greek theater.  I was worried I wouldn't actually be able to see Sicily's mixed history, but it really is everywhere.  The theatre was massive. But my favorite thing in the park was the Ear of Dionysus, an incredibly tall cave in a quarry.  The acoustics are amazing. 

Ortigia is an island that is part of Siracusa, and it was a blast getting lost and wandering there.  There's a beautiful piazza, definitely one of my favorites in Italy, and the main cathedral is actually a converted greek temple.  But you can still see the 2500 year old Greek columns. 

There's a Jewish quarter on the island, and I went to see an ancient mikve (spelling?) 20 meters below a hotel.  But aside from that there's nothing Jewish besides a couple street names (Giudecca, etc.). Palermo also has a Jewsh quarter, with nothing Jewish at all except for Hebrew on street signs (along with Italian and Arabic).

I watched the World Cup Final in Siracusa with a Canadian and a Colombian from my hostel.  We sat in a row of outdoor restaurants with big screens.  There were strong Dutch and Spanish contingents, which made it more exciting.  I was amused to see the Dutch dressed in all orange in a city called Syracuse (also one of the had a vuvuzela).  There were a few other people I met at the hostel, Brits, Australians, Poles. The two Brits were watching Glenn Beck on the hostel tv because they'd only seen Jon Stewart's impersonations and were curious about the real thing.  It was an episode slamming progressives for having supported eugenics 100 years ago in an effort to wipe out black people.  They changed the channel pretty quickly.

Taormina

I had walking directions from the center of the town to my hotel (my hostel cancelled on me so I had to book a real hotel). After getting off the bus from the train station, I begin my ascent.  It took about 40 minutes, entirely uphill, with all my stuff, often along narrow roads with no other pedestrians in sight.  I have never been so sweaty.  But then I arrived, and this is what I saw.  View of the sea, view of the city, view of Mt. Etna.

Taormina is extraodrinarily beautiful, extraordinarily expensive, and extraordinarily Amreican.  I actually felt like my country had come to visit me, and I wanted to escape into an Italian home. In Siracusa, aside from my hostelmates, I had heard absolutely no North American English.  In Taormina, about a third of the people are American. I saw the beautiful Greek theater... for free!! The cost of admission is 8 euro, 4 euro for EU students. I shoed my Czech university ID, which says "Foreign Student." She asked where I was from and I replied: "I studied in Praga."  She asked what I studied and I said "historia." She smiled and handed me a ticket that read 0.00 euro.  I had also gotten a big discount at the Syracuse archaelogical park using my Czech ID, but I'd still had to pay.

Walking around the town was nice, especially the staircases, but I started to realize all the things I couldn't do, or that just weren't as fun,  because I was traveling alone. I went to the beach/es, which were beautiful, but I couln't go into the water because who was going to watch my stuff?  I could go out to eat (but I had to go out to eat, there is no takeaway or supermarket in Taormina), but who would I talk to?  I didn't see anyone else in the town walking around alone, and because I was at a hotel and not a hostel, I couldn't really meet people there.

Palermo

Things turned around on my birthday.  In fact, things turned around because of my birthday.  I arrived at about 5pm that day, went to my hostel, and set off on a random walk around the city.  I immediately liked Palermo. In the same way that I can't put my finger on why I don't like Rome, I can't explain why I like Palermo. But I do.  It's the largest city on the island, and it really does feel like a city.  It's dirty and beautiful. I walked by multiple donkeys in garages, and a couple chickens, too. I didn't notice til just now, but "Palermo" is written on the wall of the garage. 

I found a new favorite church exterior, and it's the main cathedral in the city.  It's a mix between Arab and Norman styles, which is essentially what Sicily is (with a few more thrown in).  The interior is pretty disappointing, but I could circle it and be amazed for hours.

After my bday walk, I returned the hostel, kinda bummed that no one knew it was my birthday.  I struck up a conversation with the guy working in the lobby, a nice Brit who likes The Wire.  After an hour, an American girl joined the convo (the 2nd Hope from Louisiana I've met here), and an hour later a girl from Michigan joined in.  When the girl from Michigan heard it was my bday, she said, "We have to go get drinks!" So we did.  It didn't matter that it was already 2 am.  It was alot of fun.

I changed hostels the next day because there was a cheaper one, but I still identify with that first hostel.  On Wednesday I wandered again.  The most exciting thing that happend was when I went for lunch.  I saw a nice, busy cafe so I went in.  The guy behind the counter was serving everyone the same pasta, so I asked if it had meat.  He said it had chicken, so I said ok, I'll have that.  I sat down, and 15 minutes later, he brought me a big plate with an even bigger piece of chicken (actually the biggest I've ever seen), veggie, and toast.  I got really nervous because meat is much more expensive, and there were a lot of people in suit surrounding me.  But I ate it all because it was delicious.  I cautiously walked to the register, and the guy said "6 euro." I don't think I've mentioned it yet: Palermo is cheap.

The reason I went to Palermo when I did was for their festival honoring St. Rosalia, the city's patron saint.  I met up with my crew from the first hostel, and we went to the center to watch a procession of horses with giant colorful feathers towing carriages with colorful paintings. I was so happy to have a group to go with (Brits, Americans, a hilarious Austrian).

The hostel guy knew people who had an apartmet overlooking the route, so we went up to watch from there as the rose-covered statue of St. Rosalia passed below. I was excited about the balcony but realized the next day that my hostel had a balcony... and that it was literally directly across the street from this one. Anyway, there were a bunch of erasmus students at the apt (European study abroad), and I met a Czech girl who was also at the Beyonce concert in Prague last spring.

After the parade passed, we walked down to the coast for a loooooong fireworks show.  This is a picture of most of the crew that I went with that night.  I also met up with my last host aunt, who's studying in Palermo, and her friends for drinks last night, which was great.

I could write so much more, especially about thought as opposed to events, but it's1:30 am and this is already a ridiculously long post.  In Taormina, and even at the end fo Siracusa, I was SO ready to jump back into the ACLE lifestyle where time is structured, food is prepared, and I don't have to pay for anything.  Which made me realize how spoiled I am working here.  Spending a week in the hostel lifestyle gave me an immense appreciation for ACLE life that I will bring with me to my next camp in Casteldaccia, a beach town just east of Palermo. 

My experience in Palermo was important not just because I had people to do things with, but beause it was, in a way, my first post-college life test.  In a new city... don't know anyone... have to meet people to do things with.  And it as a blast.  I didn't talk at all about my day trip to Cefalu yesterday, but on my way to the station, I ran into the girl from Michigan.  In Cefalu (a beach town an hour from Palermo), I ran into the new Hope.  And when I got back to Palermo, Hope and I ran into two Brits from the hostel.  Not really sure what that all means but it seems like a fitting way to end the post.