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3 February 2008
Today, Bill, Shirley, DeDe and Bobby got up early to catch the VirtuFerries (catamaran) to Sicily. They had to be at the sea terminal by 6:00 AM. The catamaran was a beautiful ship, (see web album) with two snack bars, and a gift shop. We set sail just before sunrise, and wish we could have gotten better photos of the sun as it rose over the sea, but the decks are locked during the crossing, so the photos had to be taken through the dew-stained windows. DeDe packed a Thermos of coffee, some bananas, apples, crackers and water. So she and Shirley enjoyed a coffee, and Bill went to the snack bar to purchase juice and a croissant. DeDe and Shirley had toast before leaving home. We arrived at Pozzallo around 8:30, and followed the crowd to the tour bus that awaited us. Some folks on the ship ferried their cars over, and we had to wait for them to disembark first. (Note to self, consider bringing a car next time.) We snagged up the back row of seats on the upper deck of the double-decker bus. The front row was already taken by a Maltese family DeDe met on the ship. The man said they go to Sicily often on this tour, but today they'd take the cable car up Mt. Etna, for the first time. They were clearly experienced, having the smarts to dash off the boat first and get those great seats at the front of the upper deck. They were actually given priority as their teenage son is autistic and gets nervous in crowds, so the ship's crew beckoned them off first. We made our first stop at a nearby cafe in Pozzallo, a quaint seaside town. Once off the bus, we snapped some quick shots of the beach area and the small park outside the cafe, and then we went in and enjoyed coffee (tea for Bill) and some delicious bakery items. Our friendly tour guide, Nat, was wise enough to inform his passengers to ask for “American coffee,” unless we wanted espresso. While enjoying that tasty coffee, DeDe noticed, while looking out the cafe window, that the cars have their steering wheels on the “correct” side, and folks drive on the “right” side of the road! She also noticed many bicyclists, which is what we expected to see more of in Malta. Not sure if this was a tour group, a team in training, or a race, but about 50 cyclists (in racing gear) passed the cafe while we sat there. Our stop at the cafe lasted only about 20 minutes, and we were back on the bus, cruising the seashore, snapping digitals through the bus windows. The next stop was Modica, an inland town with some very amazing geography! To get in and then out of this little town, we crossed over two of the three highest bridges in Europe! The towers supporting these bridges made one truly question their faith in man-made structures. Pretty sure we heard a gust of exhales as we got to the other side of each bridge. The view from these bridges was also astounding. We continually are awed by the fortitude of builders in these island countries. There are amazing structures built of bricks and clay into hillsides that have nearly vertical grades! Imagining how they built these towns back before cranes and modern technologies increases our respect for the Europeans immensely! The city of Modica, our tour guide informed us, is the “home of chocolate!” We were strongly encouraged to buy chocolate here, but we declined, unless you count the chocolate ice cream cone DeDe enjoyed. It was excellent! Bill shared a banana cone with Bobby. (Bobby's first taste of ice cream; he was quite enthused about it, but we cut him off before he got too addicted. Our pediatrician might be reading this blog, so SORRY, Dr. McIntee! We know this isn't a recommended food for a 7-month old, and we don't want to represent you poorly by being ignorant parents. It was just too hard to resist letting him taste the stuff...especially knowing how he loves bananas!) We strolled up and down the streets of Modica, and DeDe snapped many pictures of the cute little stairwells that were tucked between buildings, winding up the hillside. These, and the unique doors on the buildings, seem they could tell stories of their own; they've got so much character. We stepped inside one building which had large doors opened to the street. We thought it looked like a place where public restrooms might be available. There was a table in the center of a large open room, with 15 foot high ceilings. On the right wall was a glass cabinet filled with books, and the first one to catch DeDe's eye was titled, Boss Della Mafia. She found this humorous, being in Sicily and all, so she couldn't resist the photo op. (Note: On the bus, the tour guide joked about the Sicilian Mafia, and he informed us that after the crackdown in 1990, there has been a 70 percent drop in crime in Sicily.) Passing through this room, they did find restrooms, but only the mens' room was unlocked, and a Sicilian man, whom we inadvertently caught zipping up his pants as we peeked down a hallway, urged us, in Italian, to go ahead and use the restroom. We motioned toward the women's, and he said something we took to mean, “But you have no key!” And then he stepped aside and waved a hand as if to say, “Please, go on in to the mens' room.” Well, Shirley and DeDe weren't confident there were going to be other options any time soon, so they went in, and Bill guarded the door for them. We found the ice cream shop (gelateria) after this, and we sat down to enjoy the cones and give our legs a rest. (Yes! We DID wash our hands after using the restroom.) As we sat there, Bill noted that you see a lot of men strolling in the streets and very few women. He wondered about this, and after thinking about it, we decided the women were either in church, or at home dressing the children in their “carnival” costumes, as they had been in the midst of Mardis Gras or “Carnival” as it is known in Malta. We observed much confetti in the streets and there were vendors on nearly every corner selling tubes of confetti and Silly-String spray cans. Some cars had silly-string sprayed over them. The women we did see had small children with them who were dressed in a variety of costumes as you'd see on Halloween. We were given about 40 minutes to tour downtown Modica, and then we were back on the bus and headed through the countryside toward Catania and Mount Etna. The country was very green, and you'd never know it was February. We passed a great number of vineyards and orange groves. They, like Malta, have many terraced fields, and they use every inch of soil available for harvesting. The fields, as in Malta, are also lined by stones. We imagine neighbors helping neighbors to pick the rocks from the fields, and form these incredible walls of rock around their planting grounds. As we got nearer to Mount Etna, we began to see
more industrial areas, and DeDe was amazed to see what looked like a
suburb, with matching homes lined up one after another.
Shortly after this, we noticed the dark lava rock in the medians
and along the sides of the highway.
Then we began the long, uphill climb of Mt. Etna.
The other interesting thing was the wooded areas that run alongside where the lava came rushing down the mountain. It gave us a sense of what the land would look like if there were no volcanic activity nearby! The bus made a stop partway up the mountain at a roadside cafe and souvenier stand. The man in the trinket booth stood above us, overlooking his tables of wares, and reaching down to collect the bills and coins. You'd be wise, at a place like this, to not hand off a larger bill, expecting change. You might not get any back. He tried to charge DeDe one euro extra on some little animals carved out of lava rock she'd picked out for the kids. He didn't get away with it, though. Grandpa wanted to treat the gang, too, so DeDe helped him pick out a nice bracelet (with lava stones) for Rachel, and he got a lava cross pendant for Grandma. DeDe then snapped a few quick pictures and they climbed back aboard the bus. What they came to at the top of Etna was a surprise. Somehow, we'd not really considered Etna a good place for downhill skiing! But they indeed get snow, and there was a fully-equipped ski resort at our final stop, not quite to the summit of Etna. Rifugio Sapienza, a ski village built in the 1950s is positioned at 6,200ft up the southern flank of the 10,860ft peak. Before we arrived to the resort, we noticed many children sledding on the hills along the road. The snow is melted in a lot of places, revealing the very jagged black lava rock that covers these hillsides. Makes us wonder how it feels to wipe out in shallow snow here. Ouch! The tour group was reminded that the cable car which will take you up further takes 20 minutes up and 20 minutes down, so we were advised to consider whether we could return by 4:10, if we were to go up. Since we had so little lunch, however, we were ready to eat, so we opted to first go into the restaurant and find something to fill our grumbly tummies. DeDe and Bill stood in line, while Shirley snagged up a table, and we went through the buffet line. The options in this diner were interesting, indeed. The lasagna looked good enough, so we got two plates of that, and then there were some large artichokes soaked in oil and garlic seasoning that DeDe just had to sample, so we grabbed a plate of those, and then there was a ratatouille-like dish that covered the veggie group, and we figured we could share that, too. And Shirley's only request was for some sausage (which smelled so good as you walked in), but they replaced that with some pork chops in gravy, so we defaulted to that for her. Finally, there was a tart with kiwi and strawberries and cream that looked irresistable, so we decided we could also share a large slice. The bill came to just over 34 euros! Bill covered it for us, and DeDe didn't want to remind him that he just spent nearly 50 dollars for this ski-lodge lunch! Yikes! Now, we, later, got a great laugh when we saw the picture DeDe took of the spread on our table! Shirley was so dejected when she learned they were out of those sausages, and DeDe caught her look on the camera! (See web album!) It was precious! Sorry, Shirl'! Just had to keep that part documented for future laughs. We were so eager to dig in, by now, that the fact
that everything was not even room temperature, but COLD, didn't slow us
down much. After eating, we
debated whether we'd make the cable car trip in time.
We were cutting it really close.
By this time, Shirley was already entering the building, huffing and puffing, and DeDe felt horrible that she'd put the effort in for nothing. They took a little breather, and then marched back down the hill to peek into some of the souveneir shops. They had gifts for everyone, but Dave and Nathan so far. Grandma picked out a sweet little snow globe with Mt. Etna inside, for Nathan. We decided we'd find a nice Italian bottle of wine for Dave at one of our stops on the way back to the boat. We walked back to the bus, then, and on the way, DeDe stepped off the road and collected some nice lava stones for the kids. The bus ride back down was beautiful as the sun was nearing the horizon and lighting up the Sicilian topography. The bus driver took a different route back, this time running along the coastline from Catania, toward Syracusa and back down to Pozzallo. We expected there to be another stop before returning to the ferry, but we think the traffic slowed us enough that they cancelled the last excursion. We ended up purchasing the wine on the boat, and it was reasonably priced at 8 euros. Throughout the tour, Bobby was making many, many friends, but there was a young Turkish gal who sat right in front of us, who really bonded with him. She came to say good bye on the boat back, and we exchanged email addresses. She was really sweet, and Bobby seemed to really enjoy the flirtation they exchanged. We enjoyed Big Momma's House 2 on the ride home. It was dark, so no need to be up taking photos. We got back to Malta around 9:00 and DeDe had only a little trouble getting back to Msida and the flat. Somehow she missed one turn and took a short, inadvertent detour, but they were home by 9:30. They shared the trinkets with the kids, and Dave appreciated the wine, and then all went straight to bed, exhausted. Dave seemed to have a good day with the kids. DeDe recommended to him that he take a car to Sicily when he takes his turn, as there was so much more to see, and it was frustrating not getting to stop at the orange groves, and sample the oranges, and experience more of the country. We are holding out hope that SOMEONE will come stay with us in March, (say during their spring break), so that during our last week here, Dave and DeDe might be able to go to Italy, and tour some there. We'd need a kind soul to come hang out with five sweet little children for a few days. (We'd take Bobby with us.) Send applications via email to: dedegibbs@gmail.com
Send us an email about this post! dgibbs at uwsp dot edu or dedegibbs at gmail dot com |
