Picture It: Sicily 2023. Part 1.
Day 1
A lack of sleep can really make me delirious. I had a few hours sleep, partially because I didn't want to miss my alarm and partially because I had indigestion from Le McDonald's I had while packing for the next part of my European adventure. 4:27am in an Uber, headed to Charles-de-Gaulle to catch my EasyJet flight to Catania, Sicily. Once I boarded the plane I was instantly asleep. Seated front row on the aisle, a flight attendant woke me up and I thought how awesome, we're there! No. They discovered a cell phone on the plane that didn't belong to any passenger on this flight so because it has to be taken very seriously, the plane stopped taxing down the runway and turned back to the airport to bring the mysterious phone back and file a report. An hour delayed because of this incident... I didn't think my late arrival in Catania would be an issue but I was wrong.
My hotel in Taormina had sent a driver for me and I spotted the sign that read "Donnelly" in the crowd. He was pissed. No one told him my flight was delayed. What would typically take an hour to get to Hotel Il Piccolo Giardino in the heart of Taormina, Sicily, took him 35mins. His foot must have almost gone through the floor of the car. This was the day of King Charles III's coronation in London, England so the radio was on and they were talking about it; with the limited Italian in my repertoire I could only make out the choice names he was calling Queen Camilla and some nasty words about the new King of England.
He pulled onto a narrow street and refused to drive any further so he curtly gave me walking direction to go down the rest of the street to my hotel. Hotel Il Piccolo Giardino, this was my home for the next few days. When I arrived I was met by woman who was working the front desk and she asked if the driver was okay.. I of course said yes (because she was the one who sent him for me) and she laughed and asked if he was cranky with me because he was cranky with her about my delayed flight. We both laughed and I was off to my room. I later learned her name is Giusy; my new found Sicilian godmother.
After some relaxation, phone charging time and watching the coronation in Italian, I threw on my swimsuit and headed up to the rooftop pool to relax and cool off. Reading "Live Wire" by Kelly Ripa (of whom gave me a shoutout on Instagram for reading her book), I would every now and again glance up and take in the breathtaking view of the town of Taormina and of course the Ionian Sea. I have always felt, in a cosmic way, very at home in Italy but Sicily was a new feeling. I could just sense this was going to be a life changer.
I am not cool. This is an on going theme in my life. I'm not saying that I'm a loser or anything but I definitely don't have that cool factor (are you picturing Henry Winkler as Fonzie when I say cool? No? Just me?). Most people that use Grindr are on there for *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*... Me? I honestly have met some really great travel friends via the infamous hookup app instead. I chatted up this other traveller who was from New York and we decided to meet up and go explore.
He had a car rented so we hopped in the car and drove through the zoomy-windey-topsy-turny roads to the middle of Castelmola (Castelmola is one of Italy's Borghi Più Belli – Most Beautiful Villages. If you're in Taormina – for a few days or just for an afternoon – it's worth making your way from busy Taormina to this tiny village built around the ruins of a 16th century Norman castello (castle).) We climbed the hill and through my new friend's research we worked our way to this infamous spot "Bar Turrisi". What was it famous for? Dicks. Schlongs. Peckers. One Eyed Willys. Menus in the shape of them, ornate carvings into furniture, sculptures, sink taps, art work... everywhere, cocks. I got a huge kick out of it, was laughing with the other patrons and the staff... but my new friend? Dud. He had zero personality and this place was HIS idea. I knew I would have to return eventually with someone way more fun (stay tuned for that later on in my blog posts). After we got our fill of the wiener bar, we headed back to the town of Taormina for dinner. We went to a really nice restaurant for a delicious feed of pasta and zero conversation because this guy had the personality of kitty litter but the drunk American woman at the table next to us was super fun to chat with instead. I eventually called it a night and went back to my hotel to sleep.
Day 2
Eggs and fruit in the terrazza giardino followed by a stroll down the street to the famous Bam Bar for a coffee granita and a croissant. Great fuel for a day of cooking classes to come.
Ristorante Pizzeria Porta Messina was only a 3 min walk from my hotel and I was so excited to learn how to make the delectable cannolis. The class was full of fun people, super motivated and a wonderful instructor who just loved his job, you could tell. Pure ingredients, farm fresh eggs, fragrant riccota and vanilla. We all participated but of course being the over-achiever always, the instructor kind of played favourite with me a bit... sorry, I can't help it... I'm always the main character vibe. Pistachio, rich chocolate, candied orange... we dressed our homemade, sweet ricotta, crispy yet perfect cannoli with all the beautiful options which only made everything so much more delicious. After we finished making them we sat on the terrazza and enjoyed the fruits of our labour. I mostly chatted with (in between bites) this adorable couple who took the husbands mother on a pilgrimage journey of her family history.
After my morning class I sauntered back to the hotel for a lunch time swim in the unheated mini rooftop infinity pool to cool down.
After my swim and a quick shower I was ready for an afternoon of Arancini! What is an Arancini? It is a risotto ball that is stuffed, coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried. Yup, I was on a mission to cook all the most delicious comfort foods that day. This time it was a one-on-one cooking class. The restaurant was full and I was just at a table in the back with my private instructor while pigeons waddled in and walked all over my feet to try and catch the scraps I was dropping. In depth instruction on how to make risotto, lessons on how to find the purest saffron, the finest ingredients to stuff my balls with and just lots of laughs with the chef. Again, after making them, I got to eat them... I did damn good! They were so delicious.
You know what the best part of vacations are? Naps. I love naps. They don't fit well into my normal life but travel Adam loves naps.
After resting, I hopped in a taxi and headed down to the waterfront to catch an evening boat cruise I had booked. I got there early so to kill time I facetimed my best friend back home who was babysitting my kitties and took the time to catch up. After we hung up I was looking everywhere and didn't see my boat and just as I was going to start to panic a young woman asked me if I was there to take the boat cruise and if I wanted to come sit with her and her friend. They quickly opened up and I noticed it was an odd pairing; one was a true Miranda-Charlotte blend from NYC and the other quickly reminded me of a younger version of Mila Kunis' character from Bad Moms but only the fun, party version of her. The boat eventually showed up and the sights were beautiful. The water was crystal clear and calm.
Our boat captain did not really meet his AirBNB description... We assumed it would be a bit of a party cruise but he was pretty lame in music/behaviour. Where were the drinks and snacks? Where's the party anthems? Nope. Calm.
Towards the end he handed out some chips, olives, drinks and soft drinks... pretty blah, but hey, I was having a great time with my new friends.
After the boat cruise I went back to my hotel to get changed as I was going to meet Haleigh and Jackie for dinner (my boat friends). As I was going out the door, I stopped to chat with godmother Giusy. *She called me mystery man. I loved her.* She told me all about this really cool cocktail lounge/club down the street, "Morgana", she said it was the hottest place in town and I need to check it out. I rushed out to meet the girls and I was very clearly running on Italian time (what is Italian time? you show up when you show up, no rushing), this didn't bode well with two hungry Americans. All was resolved quickly with caprese salad and bread haha. We feasted on several different pastas and pizzas... Sicilians are just incredible when it comes to food.
After dinner we went to Morgana where as soon as we walked in we fell in love. The entire staff were handsome-dressed, gorgeous men and the walls were all coral-pink with tropical wallpaper accents. This place was eccentric and incredible. We fell in love with the entire vibe of this place. Jackie and I hatched a plan for the next day after she asked me if I wanted to go hike a volcano with her... of course I said yes.
Day 3
Early wake up, dead streets in the wee hour and Jackie running to meet me as we jump in a taxi to go to the train station. We both snoozed on the train to Catania as it was a very early go time. Good thing, because what came next was terrifying...
to be continued...
