Sicily Tour

Sicily treated us to many new sights and tastes. From the ancient ruins to a simple treat called a Granita. So many things to tell you about but with the WiFi service being limited here is a condensed view of our trip. Later when we have better WiFi more info will be added.

Ancient temples and ruins were scattered throughout Sicily. These ruins have been rebuilt as a large earthquake toppled the columns.

My friend and I in front of the Temple Della Concordia.

Sicily has a wide range of plants growing in the fertile soil. One of the local treats are "Indian Figs" or prickly pears. Must be an acquired taste because they did not appeal to me.



A bronze statue was placed here in 2011 in memory of Icarus who flew too close to the sun. Here Is Danna's reaction when one of the men on our tour suggested she touch "a private part".


One day we travelled up Mt. Etna to view the craters. When we got there the mountain was in the clouds and it was pouring. Not much to do except get a cup of coffee. After an hour the sun came out and Danna went for a walk with our friends to view the lower crater while I climbed up to the next crater. The view was fantastic from both craters. I did not get tired climbing up the steep hill, but had to stop a couple of times just to take pictures.




We also had a chance to see the beautiful sandy beaches. Here is Danna with our tour guide Roberta, Josephine and Carmen.



The locals relaxing on a bench beside a church? Only two were locals the ones on the right are Nobert and Christian from our tour.



One one of our walks we saw a man fishing, his dog was sitting there watching us walk by. Danna went to say hello to the dog and the quiet little thing wanted to bite her head off. Danna decided to leave without giving the dog a pat on the head.



Forget about the ruins, churches and mountains....the reason we are in Sicily are these little guys. Sicily is the home of Cannoli and you cannot leave without having one or two of them. Some are just with a plain filling and others are made with chocolate chips or topped off with pistachios.



At one of the ruins you could view history and sip a fresh coffee.

The ladies took great enjoyment in seeing their husbands singing while they did the laundry at this ancient laundromat.



One night we went out for a Sicilian specialty Granita. It is available in many flavors but the most popular one is lemon. Do you think these guys are enjoying theirs?


The trip was fantastic and it ended with a wild tour through the back streets of Palermo which I will tell you about on the next blog.
After our week or touring we were dog tired. I think the next week on the ship I will be looking like this.

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"

Sicily

We have just returned from a one week bus tour around Sicily.
Introduced to many new sights, sounds and flavors.
The only thing that could have been improved was the wifi at the hotels. One hotel had great wifi, all you had to do was find the spot that was about 4 square feet outside next to the pool. Problem was it changed every day and was very slow.
We are going to have lots of time to write our blogs on the ship. Leaving Treviso early Monday morning for the drive to the port that is about 70 km North of Rome.
We have lots of stories and are looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
Here are a couple of picture from Sicily.
Do you thing this guy is enjoying his cannoli? Nothing like the real thing.

There were lots of nice people on the tour and here are two of them. There will be more pictures and stories to follow.

Do you know whooooooo this is?

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"

The Italian Wedding

Some days things go well and other days even better. Saturday was one of the best days we have had on our adventure in Italy. We were lucky to be in Treviso to attend my cousin, Valentina and her husband Alessandro's wedding. First the ceremony was held in the Duomo in Mogliano which is very impressive. Then we had a choir singing and a string quartet playing which sounded fantastic.



After the ceremony we went to a medieval castle for the reception. The Castello Di Stigliano a medieval castle, is almost 1000 years old. We could almost visualize the knights in shinning armor riding up to the front gates.
I could tell you about the food we had to eat but it would take up most of this blog. What can you say about perfection? Lunch took several hours that included a short walk to make room for another course.

At 19:00 more guests arrived and there was a buffet set up. Lunch was so good I did not leave room for the buffet but it also looked very tasty.

A lot of pictures were taken but we only have room for a few.
Here are some pictures from the wedding day.

Elisabetta and Nicola going over the final details with the organist.

Alessandro and his Mother having a quiet time prior to the wedding.

Family photos were done in front of the church.


Adriano and Nerina taking time to relax during their busy day.


The bride and groom with their attendants.


Valentina and Alessandro

Alessandro's Mother and Father


Alessandro's brother


Nerina with her new hat.


Here we have Valentina's very proud Grandmother (Nona) on the left and her sister.


As a general rule Italians appreciate the taste of their food. The reason is that they start at an early age with a wide selection of fresh ingredients. These two sat down and did not move until their plates were empty.


Adriano with Elisabetta and Nicola. To me it looks as if Adriano is describing todays lunch, yes the food was perfect.



The newly weds in training?







I forgot to tell you how beautiful Valentina looked as she entered the church. Her dress was elegant and suited her perfectly.


After lunch we moved to the tents set up in the gardens where the celebration continued into the evening.


We had a band that played a wide variety of songs to everyone's enjoyment. Songs were also sung by Valentina and her cousin
Maria Chiara, aunt Elisabetta and close friends.


In the church my cousin Agnese played the violin.



Of course there was dancing and here Adriano is leading the group in the Conga Line.


While I was taking pictures Nerina was teaching Danna some dance steps. They were taking a short rest when this picture was taken.


The wedding cake.



This has been a long and exciting day for Valentina and Alessandro. Looking at this picture no further words are required.
Have a happy honeymoon!

---

---

"Take only memories, Leave only footprints!"

Venice, Murano & Burano

This week our friends Mallory and Jeff came to visit us in Treviso.
We were now the tour guides rather than the tourist. Since they would only be here for 4 days we wanted them to see as many things as possible. They had travelled to Italy but had never been to Venice.
Plan was to visit not only the main tourist attractions in Venice but also the backstreets. Here are some of the places we visited on our two day tour. Our trip started at the Santa Lucia train station in Venice.
Here you see Danna with Mallory and Jeff with the Grande Canal in the background. The area in front of the station is always filled with action from travelers running to catch a train or vaporetto (water bus).


The canals in Venice require a different method to handle things than on the mainland. All furniture, food and of course gelato has to be hauled to the various islands by boat. The resulting garbage also has to be moved in an efficient manner. We watched as a container was wheeled close to this boat, the crane picked it up and dropped the garbage into the boat. The driver then moved on to his next pickup point.


The best way to see Venice is to take a leisurely walk to Piazza San Marco. Along the way we detoured into some of the small walkways to get a different perspective. Jeff pointed out several features on buildings that I had not noticed on previous visits. Definitely a great place to see how the architecture and design changed through the ages.

In our visit to Budapest Danna had a pigeon dropping land on her shoulder so today we wanted to look at Piazza San Marco through a pigeons eye. Everything looks pretty big from down here. No droppings on us today even though there were hundreds of pigeons in the Piazza.


There are always gondolas plying the waters in and around the Grande Canal. I have been told that a new gondola costs between 25.000€ and 35.000€ depending on the options. On our walk we found a shop that manufactures and repairs gondolas. The gondolas are still made in a traditional manner and must follow strict rules to be allowed on the waterways.


The term "Sea Dog" is used to describe someone that is comfortable with spending most of their life on the water. I know this term would apply to the gentleman in the picture but what about his friend?


A few blogs ago I told you about how the bread gets rock hard if not eaten on the day it is bought. On our walk we heard a bunch of screeches and saw several sea gulls fighting over a piece of bread. This guy won the fight and flew away with his reward. After many unsuccessful attempts to swallow the chunk of hard bread he dropped it into the canal to soften up in the water. Now I know what to do with day old bread.

---

---

Walking down a small lane way we saw this sign attached to a gate. At first we thought it was a Bed & Breakfast but then realized it was just confirming what parents throughout the world think about being parents. The lady of the house stepped outside and gave us a big smile once she realized we knew what the sign said. It translates as follows:

Restaurant
Mom and Dads
no need to book - generous portions
open 24 hours a day - free service
(kisses of thanks will be gratefully appreciated)

---

---

When we first arrived on the Island of Murano my friend needed to make a quick pit stop.
I then found out why Italian coffee cups are small. To use the WC there is a cost of 1,50€ which is more than the coffee she bought.

The islands of Murano and Burano are known for their specialized industries of glass making and lace making. To me the islands have much more to offer. Buildings are painted bright colours that make for very interesting pictures. Owners of the houses must retain the original colour and have to get permission before changing the colour scheme. Failure to do this will result in a fine.

The group of homes in this shot are representative of the homes on the islands. Laundry hanging to dry is exempt from colour regulations.


We have had a few birds in today's blog and here is one of a canary getting his dose of vitamin D. Wonder what it thinks about all the bright colours?








With all the water and brightly painted homes I saw some great reflections in the canals. I got a bit carried away but again thank the inventor of digital cameras. These are my favorite shots of the day.










Several glasswork sculptures were on display on Murano. LED lights have been added to illuminate them at night. We saw them under brilliant sunshine and they were fantastic. It is nice to see that they are being treated with respect. They were installed in 2007 and none of the pieces have been damaged.


Lunch was on Murano, sitting next to the canal. After walking off our lunch we continued our walk. There was lots of walking so we took advantage of a flat area to relax for a few minutes.

Time to say Buonanotte and Ciao to Venice.
Look forward to visiting again in a couple of years.

"Take only memories, Leave only waves!"

---

---