Isola di Procida

There are 3 islands off the coast of Naples which sit in the Gulf of Naples: Ischia, Procida and Capri. The next stop on our trip began with a ferry ride from the Naple’s port to Isola di Procida. The trip takes from 30 minutes to an 1.5 hours depending on whether ferry or hydrofoil. Some people going are taking a day trip; others are staying overnight. The entire island of Procida is 1.6 square miles and we were scheduled to spend 2 days/nights there before heading to Sicily.

Procida is an island of tiny streets where cars must pull in their rear view mirrors in order to fit. When you are walking there you must be ready to jump into a door entry step or flatten your body against the stone wall. I kid you not! Here’s a video of a ride around the island through a few streets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hs9eyiJU_zVpjL73qZwTp29FdGzoOaAv/view?usp=sharing

The hotel we stayed at was beautiful from the outside but the rooms were not well kept–but we knew we would not be in the room for any length of time other than sleeping. Here is the link for this house. http://www.tirrenoresidence.it/#

There is a free bus that begins at the port and goes around the island. There are only one way streets so you must go in a complete circle to get some places. We walked a lot and took some taxis. After dropping off our luggage at the Tirreno Residence we walked to the closest beach named P. Faro Proppeto and were ready to swim. This particular swimming spot was less of a beach and more of a cliff with rocks where you could sit and leave your belongings while you swim. It was 4:00 in the afternoon and people were just arriving. It was like the residents and visitors all go down for a swim in the Gulf in the late afternoon. I was tentative since I could easily jump off the rocks and get in the water but I had no clear idea of a way out. There was a young man there who could see I was in a dilemma: wanting to go in but just standing there looking down. I spoke a while with him and asked him how he gets out and were the rocks slippery. I don’t mind looking foolish but I am no fool–you need egress. He said he would go in and show me how to get out. He did just that; he waited until I was finished swimming and then directed me to the rocks I had to get on to climb out. Such lovely people. He was home on holiday from university. He had lived on this island his entire life.

The water was warm and salty–probably the saltiest water I’ve ever swam in.

That night we selected a restaurant on the other side of the island. We called from the Tirreno Residence for a taxi. We planned to arrive just around the time of sunset and we did.

All food on this island is freshly grown there, fished there or imported. And it was all excellent.

The second day on the island we toured around the entire island by bus and foot. Some wonderful views and beaches to swim. They also bury people above the ground. There are some pictures of the cemetery here. From the amount of flowers and decorations it seems that people visit frequently.

A lovely church way up on a hill with a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette. This was special for me since I went to a grammar school and got married in the Church of St. Bernadette in Brooklyn.

We left Tirreno Residence after breakfast to get back to Naples. Most places you stay provide breakfast–mostly croissants and coffee at this place. Some other places we stayed had more elaborate breakfasts. We walked around the waterfront in Procida, did some shopping and then boarded a ferry for Naples. From the same port we would board a ship to go to Palermo at 7:00 pm. We would need to board at about 5:00 so would go somewhere in Naples to lunch.

After we landed in Naples we headed for a place to lunch–we needed to sit for a while. We had luggage but we travelled with carry-ons so not too difficult to get around. About a mile from the port we found a restaurant in a hotel with a large bar and a lovely setting of tables with an open roof. The entire top shelf of the bar were various gins and while I was speaking with the bartender he mentioned he dreams of gin cocktails to make since every day the bar decides to try another brand of gin. He made absolutely delicious gin cocktails. Love the tiny clothes pin holding the mint.

We had to go through a passport control area to board and got on the ship about 5 pm. It was a large ship with cabins and open spaces. It had some restaurants and bars. Since the trip is 12 hours in duration, we chose a cabin which was a decent size with a bathroom and pretty large shower for Italy. It had two windows so there was light and the bed was comfortable. We launched at 7:30 pm and were scheduled to arrive in Palermo at 7:30 in the morning.

After settling our luggage in the cabin, we went out to explore the ship and go on deck to view our departure from Naples. We walked around on the decks of the ship until late that evening when we packed it in for the night. When we awoke we were docking in Sicily.

SICILY

PALERMO

We arrived exactly at 7:30 am at the Palermo port. Our hotel was only about 1 mile from the port and we hailed a taxi to get there. We only had one full day and night in Palermo so we had to move quickly to accomplish our planned agenda. We couldn’t check into the hotel yet but they took our luggage and we left the hotel to get some breakfast. Meredith and Nelson decided to do some laundry and found a place a few blocks away. The laundry place was an alcove in a building open to the street with two washer/dryers in one. Linda and I left them and went for a delicious breakfast on the same street our hotel was located.

We had scheduled our activities for this day in advance since we knew we only had “one day”. We had tickets for a tour of the Palermo opera house, Teatro Massimo, and we wanted to go the the famous Catacombe Cappuccini. The catacombs had been closed because of the pandemic and renovations. Every time I checked while traveling thru Italy it was closed. But they reopened on the day we got to Palermo at about 3:00 pm. Amazing timing.

So on a walk in the morning after breakfast we found markets just opening and other stores. We passed a church called San Domenico di Palermo and we chose to visit. As I walked in I realized there was an exhibit of dogs made of various materials shown throughout the church: on the altars, the pews, the alcoves, everywhere. There were probably more than 50 dogs displayed in the Church. The display was for the 30th Anniversary of the mafia massacres in Palermo 1992-2022. There were investigators who were massacred there and this was in memory of them. This is a project sponsored by CAPABLE SPACES + CAPABLE COMMUNITY, a contemporary art project for social strengthening by Alessandro de Lisi , with the ‘Opera; IL BRANCO , by the artist Velasco Vitali .

“At the feet of San Domenico there is a dog, a symbol of his mission. The fold of the Church, at certain times, needs shepherd dogs. In these hours, the Lord has always raised them.” _{MADELEINE DELBRÊL}

Our next stop would be the Teatro Massimo which is the opera house in Palermo. I had attended an opera there with Michael when last in Sicily many years ago. I had booked us a tour on line, for as I mentioned, only one day in Palermo so planning was critical. The tour was splendid and we toured most of the opera house including a space that was described the “echo chamber”. It was a room off of the doors leading to the boxes so at intermission, everyone would be in this room. If you stood in the middle of the room and spoke in a whisper, you could be heard from anywhere in the room. It was interesting and I have a recording of someone speaking from the middle. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iiwKYX53Ay9F9jLWajrN8ygikroXyhFX/view?usp=sharing

Catacombe Cappuccini

Linda and I went on from the tour and were delighted to know we could go to the Catacombe Cappuccini–this was the first day it was opening since the pandemic. We started walking….it was 87 degrees in Palermo on 6-22-22 when we started. Linda ended up with sun poisoning on her legs from walking since at the beginning of the day it didn’t seem necessary for sunscreen. We passed a great market and then started the uphill climb of about 2 miles to the Catacombe. Here are places we passed on the way.

I had visited this place before but did want to return. The custom of preserving the dead and putting them in Catacombs is pretty common throughout Italy but this place is different. They group the dead by their profession. So the lawyers are hung in one place and the doctors in another. Children have a special place as well. There are only a few pictures because after I started taking them I saw the sign that asked not to take photographs in respect for the dead, though I have seen pictures in books.

The preserved bodies are dressed and their relatives come here as if they were going to a cemetery. If you go to Palermo and wish to understand the culture of the country, you will need to visit here.

We took a taxi back to the hotel. We had a great dinner that night in a restaurant walkable from the hotel. Here are some pictures of the quiet market we passed in the morning. It became alive at night.

Palermo is a lively city and there are museums and other places to visit. Having only one day there did not allow us to see everything but we did take advantage of the whole day.

We slept well at this hotel and breakfast was free and good–variety of foods including meat and cheeses, eggs, various yogurts, fruits, cereals and croissants. Of course, you can get a cappuccino, espresso or americano as well as many freshly squeezed juices.

TRAPANI

I drive both standard and automatic but Nelson had only drove a standard briefly. I ended up with an automatic–a brand new car that was roomy and had room for luggage. I used the internet to find the car while in New York and rented through Sicily By Car. Our car cost about $1200 for 7 days picking up at the Palermo airport and dropping off hundreds of miles away in Catania.

Our plan was to drive south from Palermo to the Zingaro Park–a nature preserve with beaches. We stopped a bit outside of the airport at a grocery store to pick up some food for a lunch at the beach when we reached Zingaro.

There is a history of this reserve or a history around the preservation of the reserve. It stands as a symbol of the civil struggle that brought together around 3,000 environmentalists, people of culture and simple citizens in a march of protest that constituted the great test movement for the protection of nature in Sicilian history. The date was 18 May 1980. They consider passing through this gallery after that date as a symbolic passage through the history of the first nature reserve to be created in Sicily. I am so happy it was preserved, here is the story. https://lnx.riservazingaro.it/en/the-history/

It was a very long hike to the beach up and down cliffs on stone stairs.

After swimming, lunching and having a glass of wine at the beach [Meredith and Nelson are great planning how and when we would eat and we never went hungry], we hiked out of the park and started our drive to Trapani the next stop on our trip. As I think about this, I cannot believe this is the same day that I left Palermo. Let me mention the drive; so far it was fairly easy to drive here–Nelson and I shared the driving. I have learned from experience where not to drive in Sicily but that story is for another city.

We had reservations at a Bed and Breakfast on the outskirts of the city. We arrived a little after 4:00 pm. The nice part of a bed and breakfast is there is someone there taking care of the little things: electricity, water, air, plumbing, etc. This place had bedrooms each with their own bathroom. I was on the second floor. Here are some pics of the entrance and street in front. It is pretty deserted around here. Trapani houses are behind walls or fences and the vegetation is green only on the inside. It was very evident that Sicily is in a drought so it is only attended gardens that were green.

For the next six pictures look across as if you were walking from the breakfast nook, through the garden, to the hedge and then to the ocean–all on the same property.

We still were in our bathing suits, so we took showers to get ready and started out to the town of Trapani for a well deserved dinner. This was a long day.

We had now been to a few beaches in Sicily and Procida and realized they can be very rocky. Linda had noticed some residents had rubber shoes on in the water at Procida and you can see from this picture the dilemma–rocks hurt your feet.

We drove a few miles to the town of Trapani for dinner. When Linda mentioned we should look for the shoes I didn’t want to tell her that I didn’t think we would find them in this place–it was pass 7:00 pm. Well we parked the car in what looked like an appropriate space and started to walk down the streets which were wide with many restaurants with outdoor sitting. This town is very different than Naples where the alleys are narrow and dark.

We laughed out loud about finding these shoes and as I write I remember my surprise when seeing these shoes right up front. I think you had to be there to appreciate how funny this was.

We found a restaurant and sat down to have some cocktails, dinner and wine. We ate appetizers, multiple entrees, sometimes one or two extra and we would share and some type of dessert and coffee. Food in Sicily is cheap and none of our dinners were ever more than $30 a person.

We walked a bit after dinner, but remember, this morning we were in Palermo without a car. I slept very well in Italy and tonight was no exception.

The owner of the Bed & Breakfast [Vista Egadi], Salvo, who showed us around in the afternoon when we arrived, now prepared us a fabulous breakfast in the morning with freshly heated croissants, fruits, yogurts, meats and cheeses. There was a lot in addition to lattes, cappuccinos and freshly squeezed fruit juices. We had this breakfast as we looked out into the gardens pictured above.

This Bed & Breakfast is a family affair. Salvo who was possibly in his 50s, owned the property and had lived here his entire life. Since 2013 he now lives down the street with his wife and grown children. He kept the garden himself and was proud of everything there. Here is a link to this place if you travel to this area. https://www.vistaegadi.it/

THE SALT MUSEUM

Trapani is known for its salt captured from the sea in flats. We went to the museum which is also the oldest salt producer. http://www.museodelsale.it/

The history of the Trapani salt flats is very ancient and probably dates back to the Phoenicians about three thousand years ago. Website will provide better historical information and also how salt is collected and panned. Windmill also used in the process. Both the town of Trapani and Marsala are famous for salt.

ERICE

We left the museum to go to Erice, a town at the top of a mountain in the province of Trapani. The most exciting way to get to Erice is by taking the cable-car (funivia). It leaves you at Porta Trapani, the gateway into the old town. The panoramic views were outstanding from the cable car. You travel 3099 meters measured on the slanted height.

Like every other town in Sicily, Erice can make a long list of their conquerors including the Greeks the Carthaginians, the Aghlabids and the Normans.

There are steps and narrow streets with shops and restaurants–it was pretty empty when we visited the small shops that surround the piazza. We discovered that during the pandemic many people never left the small mountain town but a number of people left the town never to return. There are castles and churches.

AGRIGENTO and FAVARA

We drove first to a famous rocky cliff in Realmonte called Scala dei Turchi [Turkish Steps]. The stairs are formed by a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white color. The cliffs lie between two sandy beaches and are a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name.

We found a lovely outside bar where we had Aperol Spritz and potato chips. And then drove on to Lido Nettuno for a late afternoon swim.

Meredith had made reservations for our sleeping arrangements in Favara, a city known for a small cultural community who decided to transform the historical center of a town by dedicating it to art and culture. We stayed at an AirBnB in the center of Farm Cultural Park.

The initiative gave the town a new identity with the hope of a better future. The first six years of the Farm Cultural Park has created many opportunities and has engaged artists from around the world. This cultural center is home to an art gallery as well as other exhibition spaces where temporary painting exhibits and permanent contemporary art installations are set up. In addition, many cultural events are organized inside the Farm such as: book launches, musical events, festivals, workshops with young adults and children as well as competitions amongst architects. Farm Cultural Park has always been involved in many different cultural activities. Every year thousands of artists, designers, journalists and even visitors come here to share their experiences with others. [Wikipedia]

There was a little adventure when we arrived at the top of the mountain. The owner of the AirBnB wanted to meet us to let us know where to park. We could not park in the Farm Cultural Park. The streets were narrow and getting around seemed impossible. We finally met the gentlemen and he advised us to go a few blocks and leave the luggage and then go on with him to park the car. The car ended up in a church piazza with other cars and we were told it would be safe there. He walked us back [I would never be able to find my way thru the extremely narrow streets, so happy to be escorted]. Outside of the Farm Cultural Center, I found this town sad. It appeared that the pandemic had done it in and we were told many moved down to the coast since deliveries to the mountaintop town was impossible at that time.

The Farm Cultural Center was adorned with art on the walls of buildings and galleries. We arrived there after 6 pm and were leaving early morning so only could walk through the center for the street art. We had pizza and wine and spoke with some local artists. It was an enjoyable evening and we slept well after a long day.

AGRIGENTO RUINS

After the small breakfast [I was definitely still hungry since I don’t eat croissants], we left the AirBnB and proceeded to walk and find the church piazza where we left the car to drive to the ruins in Agrigento–The Valley of the Temples.

I think this was the hottest day we encountered in Sicily. I had visited these ruins on my first trip to Sicily but I was delighted to see them again. Valley of the Temples is a UNESCO Heritage site of seven Doric temples built by the Greeks. The city of Agrigento is divided into three parts located on different levels: the coast, the ruins and the old town.  We walked through the entire middle area. This place is somewhat dear to me, though I am at a loss to explain why. There are olive trees growing all along the paths with abundant flowers and vines. It is peaceful even with many tourists there.

AGRIGENTO TO Ragusa Ibla

Ragusa Ibla  is the capital of the province of Ragusa with 73,288 inhabitants. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys. It has been designated as part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s the land of Sicani, Greeks, Arabs and Normans. The oldest part of the city was destroyed in an earthquake at 1693 and rebuilt in Sicilian Baroque. It is the pride of Sicily.

We stayed at a residence called Sabbinirica owned by a young woman. The building has been expertly restored, respecting the local materials especially the Ragusan limestone and the original architecture (the arches, the vaults, the crossways, the narrow stairways). The link will take you to their website where there are numerous pictures of the structure. It was very beautiful and a pleasant place to stay. https://sabbinirica.com/

This was the view from our terrace.

Sabbinirica had a truly fantastic breakfast. The owner whipped up fresh pastries and croissants, fresh made yogurts, fruits, raisins, dates and nuts. This was in addition to a few types of cheeses and meats, breads and cereals. I believe that this part of the hotel was open to the public and she had steady customers that came daily. We stayed here for two nights.

You can walk through the whole town easily and we were only a short walk from the center of the old city. Linda and I took the Trenino Barocco which was a small train that circled the city and stopped at various sites giving us historical context always referencing the earthquake in relation to some of the buildings and churches.

We were in Ragusa Ibla on a weekend and I was delighted to be able to attend mass in the Baroque-styled Duomo di San Giorgio, pictured above. It is the central feature of this piazza, as the case in most places in Italy. Most churches in Italy have many altars dedicated to various saints and some have relics as you can see from the middle top photo. The remains of St. George are at rest in this Cathedral.

The city has recently become famous for a detective series filmed there: Inspector Montalbano. The Duomo features prominently in the opening credits of each episode. Before visiting Ragusa Ibla I had seen one or two episodes and they are engaging. Now that I’ve been there, I will need to watch more; they are subtitled.

ASIDE: The series reminds me of Donna Leone’s Commisario Brunello books which take place in Venice. The description of the surroundings delight me and a few words of Italian make me homesick for Italy. Inspector Montabano from Ragusa can be watched on Amazon Prime for a fee.

I forgot to mention that you cannot take vehicles into the town. You park in a lot down a few levels and call a taxi to take you up to the center. Only vehicles with a permit are allowed. You might be able to walk the distance but it is many steps–too much for luggage. Nelson played scout for us by going ahead to assure we were in the right place and walked all those steps.

Food and cocktails were delicious in this province of Ragusa. We were always hungry from walking and steps so we ate a lot.

The town is lovely and we wanted to dress up for dinner so we purchased some new clothes on the winding streets flowing from the piazza. It was fun!

RAGUSA TO CATANIA

Meredith had arranged a tour of a close by organic winery called Occhipinti. Arianna Occhipinti who owns the vineyards started helping her uncle with wines when 16…..at 22 she had presented her own wines. If interested in her story, the link is a review of her rise in the wine world. https://www.bowlerwine.com/producer/occhipinti

The winery is biodynamic and uses organic farming methods avoiding pesticides. We drove directly from Ragusa since our appointment was 11:00 am for a tour and some wine tasting.

We had an extensive tour of the farm with special attention spent on the soil attributes of lime and sea salt and their affect on the wines.

We then moved on to the storage rooms and the bottling area. Wines are put in concrete vats for the first stage of maturation and then moved to oak barrels for the second stage. The bottling, corking, and labeling takes place on the grounds. I discovered that the waxing of corks is for decorative purposes only–has nothing to do with preserving the wine. They have to take the bottle off of the bottling process to do this and then they return it to the assembly line.

And finally–the tasting. Their tasting room was large and inviting and used for other celebrations. The wine was delicious. There was a store on the premises for wine other other products and since they are a biodynamic farm they plant wheat as well as grapes. I bought a 5 pound bag of semolina flour, milled on site. I have made pasta from this semolina and it was easy to work with and delicious.

We left the winery at about 1:00 and were hungry for lunch. The gentleman who gave us the tasting tour suggested a place in Modica on our way to Catania. We probably had about a 2 hour drive and we didn’t expect to get there until later that day.

The restaurant was Gli Orti di San Giorgio in Modica. This is another town similar to Ragusa Ibla: quiet and beautiful. The pictures speak for themselves.

After a great lunch and some Aperol spritzes we walked through the hilltop town, up the stairs to the Duomo of St. Giorgio [possibly the same saint as in Ragusa Ibla minus the remains] and down the hill to a unique chocolate store with an entire table set up for tasting the different types of chocolates.

Of course we stopped at a beach on the way since we knew we would not swim again once we reached Catania. Each beach was better than the last and we did get to use our beach shoes though not as often as we would have liked to.

We left the beach at about 4:30 and started the remainder of the drive to Catania. We arrived in the city and realized we would need to maneuver in traffic to get to our Bed & Breakfast. This proved to be a bit of a hassle since we had to find a parking space in the city to stay in this residence. I pulled in the first parking space a few blocks from the address and Meredith and Nelson walked to check it out. In the meantime, Linda and I found a closer parking space that was available until 9 am the next day.  

We complained among ourselves about the stairs but let it go quickly since we set out to explore the city and find a place for dinner. We left the car and decided to walk anywhere we wanted to go. We walked a bit until we found a wine bar and sat for a cocktail and appetizer. Then we decided on which restaurant and started our walk there. Here are some pics from the surrounding area we walked by. There are a few streets decorated with umbrellas and the restaurant we ate at, Vuciata, was located on one of those streets.

We were two nights in Catania but the second day was dedicated to a ride up to Mount Etna the very active volcano located about 1 hour north. Mt. Etna is the highest volcano in Europe and reaches a height of 3,350 meters or about 2 miles. The most recent eruption was 2002, but the volcano is active with eruptions in 2001, 1985 and 1983.

We drove up Mt. Etna from Catania and parked in the lot where the Funivia [cable car] tranverses the first slopes. After arriving at the top, we then took a jeep the rest of the way to a area where you can walk up and look down on the craters created by explosions as well as the paths created from the lava. I have been to Etna before but found it just as amazing as the first time I visited.

The lava is black and when windy you end up breathing it in. I suffered with a bloody nose the next day which was with me until I boarded the plane in Catania.

We left Mt Etna for the drive back to Catania for our last night in Italy. We had a very early flight out of Catania because we had to catch an 11:30 am flight out of Rome. We decided we would return the car to the airport on the way back from Mt. Etna and then take a taxi back to our residence in town. 

There is always somewhat of a delay returning a car in Italy–I have done it a few times and that has always been the case. You just need patience. We did not return the car with a full tank so got charged an expensive surcharge on the gas. Finally took a taxi back to find a restaurant and have our last dinner. 

As it turns out we stopped for a glass of wine and some appetizers and Linda and I decided we had to go pack up to get ready for our early flight and we were exhausted. Nelson and Meredith went back to the restaurant from the night before since it was outstanding.

Our flight out of Catania to Fiumicino the airport in Rome was on time. We had some concern because United had changed our 1:30 pm flight to an 11:30 am flight. Every part of the transportation home was easy–except that we had to go home.

EPILOGUE

I have been to Italy many times, with Mike, with various friends, with family and by myself, but this trip was my absolute favorite. It could have been that it was my dream to travel through Italy with Meredith since it is one of my favorite places on earth and she had never been there. I so much wanted to experience it with her. Having Nelson, her partner, and Linda my friend for half of the trip, was also a blessing. What I didn’t know before this trip is how Italy would affect Meredith. I observed her speaking Italian as much as possible, waving her hands as Italians do and mixing her Spanish with Italian when she couldn’t come up with the words. She researched so many museums and places she really had to see, some very insignificant and some the most famous of historical sites. Her respect for Rome, her love of Naples, her playfulness in Procida and her belief in her roots in Sicily all was wonderful for me. We will need to travel again–soon.