Tunisia to Sicily 2014

It seems usual for me to start a blog with an apology for tardy updates.   Branko, reminds me often but somehow I always have an excuse;  even though I enjoy reliving my adventures,  I procrastinate.   Enough of my self discovery, on to the stories.

Tunisian beauty 

Quick update:   Tunisia was wonderful, my eyebrows have returned to normal, Mahdia (south of Monastir) was an experience complete with the Libyan Fishermen, Ramadan, and tasty French pastries. Obviously I have highlighted the most important details;  beauty treatments, fishermen and food.
We motor sailed from Mahdia overnight to the Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Malta, center of the Sicilian Straits (east end.)  We never went to shore but spent a number of days anchored in lovely bays, with friendly Italian tourists during the day and all alone at night.

We sailed overnight to Malta and as we entered the Malta waters (5 miles off the west coast) we plowed through lime green florescent jelly fish that rose to the surface in the early morning darkness. As our bow came skimming across the surface a band of dolphins joined the party.  We sailed, they swam and the jellies, well they just hung around for an hour.  The longest time we have had dolphins or lime green blobs join us. It was magical, complete with a sky full of stars.
 

City of Medina

Neolithic figure

Malta, Grand Harbour

 
 Beautiful Malta, inhabited from 5,200BC by stone age farmers to 2,500BC where an advanced society thrived and built temples and underground chambers made from rock..  But then 'phew' they disappeared, and in 800BC the Phoenicians sailed in and ruled the islands of Malta and Gozo.  Romans arrived next in 218BC and from then on Malta seemed to be under Roman, Arab, St. John Knights, France, Spain and British rule.   These two small islands, maintain phenomenal architecture, neolithic sights,  battle history, blends of cultures/languages and the St. John Knights (who still have their head office,  in Valletta.) The St. John Knights were an order of monks who cared for sick Christian pilgrims.  Similar to the Crusaders, they ended up becoming knights to protect the pilgrims from harm. In 1530 the St. John Knights ended up in Malta. They had been kicked out of Israel, Rhodes and Cyprus.  Today the knights still help the sick, St. Johns Ambulance ring a bell?

My point for summarizing Maltese history you ask?  Go visit Malta!  Small compact islands packed with a punch of beauty, history, easy transport, beaches and 'fantasy like' cities; all in easy reach of each other.  Oh and the people are very nice and pastizzis are sold everywhere, yum.

Travelling inland Sicily

We arrived in Sicily the beginning of September, it is now the end of November and I have no idea where the time has gone.   OK, we did have guests for October and a little bit in November, and we adopted a couple of dogs, but besides that....

Dinner in Enna

Linda and Gene arrived in Sicily mid October (blog from said peoples coming soon, yes?) but for now I will provide an overview of their visit.  Weather perfect! Hot - beach - swimming - temperatures; except for the last day when we jumped in the freezing water, but we survived, barely.
What a great time.  We drove across Sicily,  first visiting Agrigento (the Greek and Roman temples), turned right and went straight north to Palermo.   One night in Palermo (unfortunately) but we saw much, alleys coming alive with markets, bars, restaurants and vibrant people as the sun set.  Gritty, busy, friendly, and as always full of history.  The mummies (Branko showcased in another blog) amazing what they could do with a body.

Vegetable truck

BBQ at the apt

Gene the navigator took us to parts of Sicily, we believe, have yet to be discovered; down steep drives, through pencil thin streets and chased by feral dogs.  But he also found us the best roast chicken in Sicily, made us laugh when he talked to his Garmin, and he appreciated every single thing we ate, saw and did.  Linda, the cool cat, just stayed calm and provided the Zen like atmosphere we all needed.

Linda, Catania Market

From Palermo we drove to Cefalu, wandered the ancient (touristy) town and decided to drive to Enna (in the center of Sicily) since the day was still young.  Amazing scenery, winding roads, mountain top towns, castles sitting on peaks, old stone farms and rock fences..olive and orange groves, bright colorful flowers, sheep, shepherds and goats in trees.   Enna turned out to be a bust for spending the night, but it was getting late and we were hungry.   Branko parked beside the Norman fort at the very top of Enna, opened the trunk and announced it was dinnertime 8-)  Luckily we had cheese, bread, cold beer, vegetables and well, everything you need for a picnic. Locals just smiled at us and the cars drove around us, no one batting an eye.

Our rental car, Alpha Romeo

Palermo

 But we still needed a place to stay, so off to Piazza
Armerina an hours drive south.  After much fussing about trying to determine where the main area of the town was, we turned a corner and arrived in an old Baroque city, just like that.  Branko drove until there was no more road left,  up, up and more up until we arrived beside a stunning cathedral in a large plaza.   We stayed the night at the hotel overlooking this plaza, but first we had to walk around town. The village vegetable/fruit truck seller was in the main plaza. (during the day the truck winds its way down all the narrow streets, selling directly to the homeowners.)  Linda, always interested in the varieties of foods, went to have a look.   Well, that just stopped all commerce and the clients and the sellers had to converse with us all, even though we did not speak Sicilian nor did they speak English.   We left with a round cucumber, a melon and wine (from a wine merchant) and sat on a bench outside the cathedral. Drinking our new wine and eating a strange cucumber and juicy melon...magical night.

Meggie and Linda, Modica

Messina Straits

My niece Megan arrived for a week and we all moved into a cute apartment right on the beach.   Branko and I still went home to sleep but spent all other time in the apartment,or on the  beach or driving around with Linda, Gene and Megan.  Visits to nearby UNESCO towns were done in the mornings and then we would spend the afternoons on the beach.  Ragusa, Sicili, Modica, Siracussa and Catania.   A drive around the towns surrounding Etna, looking for pistachios (out of season) and getting lost helped us arrive in CastelMola in time to see the view above Taormina overlooking the Messina Straits. Of course no time in Sicily is complete without a visit to the Catania fish market and the huge everyday market....we found loads of treasures including roti, samosas and onion bahiji, in Sicily!

Gene, Branko and Linda

Nobodies home Linda

Foot Laundry, Cefalu

Linda and Meggie

Meggie, Modica

The Family, Modica

Linda and Gene, Cefalu

Before we knew it Linda, Gene and Megan had left and Terri and Drew arrived (blog coming soon?) Terri and Drew are regular visitors to the boat and we always look forward to their visits.  We left almost immediately travelling, west down the coast to Sciacca.  A pretty town surrounded by Norman walls and city gates.  Quick stop and then on to our destination for two nights, Marsala.  Home to Marsala wines.  The town was well looked after (due to the tourist trade perhaps) pretty with a Norman feel and as usual the entrance to the town are via stone gates.  We did not visit any wineries but spent 2 lovely evenings in our rental home.   Beautiful house with a well kept garden, olive, orange and almond trees, statues, flowery plants and completely protected by a wall and gate, I guess its a Sicilian/Norman thing.

Terri and Drew

Sicilian horse and cart

A drive to Trapani to see the windmills and then up to Erice the Norman town that still retains its buildings, fort, castle and atmosphere.  Fantasical Erice,  unaffected by the earthquake/s that leveled south-eastern Sicilian towns in 1693. Trapani was the port for Erice back in Norman times; what a climb the Stevedors must have had,  as its straight up, for days.   Nestled on the top of a crag, unseen from most sides of the valley below.  The buildings blend into the rock,  wait! the buildings are built into the rock and the interior also made from the same rock.  An entire city hiding from view.  If you ever wanted to see what a Norman town, complete with castle and fort would have looked like back in Norman times, get on the next flight to Erice, you won't be disappointed.

Taromina Goofballs

Taromina shoreline

Terri, Catania market

More beautiful drives through the Sicilian country, making our way to Taormina.   The weather was getting a little cooler and wetter but our walk through Taormina was perfect.   A drive along the coast, south to Catania was peaceful and excellent views of Mt Etna with snow.   That evening in Catania Branko received a notice that a cyclone was due to hit Marina di Ragusa and that everyone should remain in their boats...we were 2 hours away and would never make it back before the cyclone was to hit.   Good people on our dock kept an eye on our boat and said that if anything happened they would deal with it or at least call us 8-)   Alas the cyclone did hit, but into Malta and the winds here ended up being lighter then they had for weeks,  go figure.

Terri, Catania Fish Market Fountain

Now we all know that McDonalds is a no-no to eat at when travelling.  Because, we should always try local foods right?  But it was raining and we had to wait for our pension and we needed a bathroom and there was a McD's right there....I love Terri, she ordered a beer (cause they sell wine and beer) and little Italian panzarottis, no chicken nuggets for Terri.

Eating Italian McD style

Both Linda and Terri are fantastic chefs, so we ate almost all our meals in-house,  BBQ's at the apartment, fresh green salads, mussels in wine,  fresh (strange) fruit, seafood pasta...and so much more.  Linda taught us how to ferment vegetables with whey and now we are living on sauerkraut made by Branko!  Thank you Terri for the caraway seeds, as they are a secret ingredient for delicious fermented cabbage, shhhh.

So no pressure to my two friends for their blogs,  I know they will eventually arrive.  But until that time please enjoy the summary and the pictures.

Oh and we have two very cute dogs now, who both have quite the personalities.   Branko has had no time to work on the boat,  with combing the puppies hair, taking them for walks, dressing them up in ribbons (OK not yet but David did buy them ribbons and gave it to Branko as a gift) feeding and training them and just gazing at them as they sleep.   I best start learning how to run electrical wires, check engine things and talk about boat stuff, more intelligently, just in case 8-)

Branko hard at work