Greeks and Smurfs

Here is the second installment of the Sicily trip recap.

We left Palermo in the pouring rain on day 4 and made our way through crazy traffic to Monreale a few kilometers outside of Palermo. (For those of you who have not driven a car in Italy, crazy traffic in Palermo is crazier than traffic in most of Italy, and traffic in Italy is generally like an exercise in social Darwinism using heavy machinery.) Monreale is small town up on a hillside with one of the most striking churches either of us had ever seen. The outside is standard enough, but the inside is crusted from floor to ceiling with gold mosaics. The beams of the ceiling are painted in gold as well. Several influences were at work, most clearly Byzantine, Roman, Norman. The church itself represents the time in Sicilian, specifically Paltermitan, history when the Normans ruled politically but welcomed the cultural exchange with their arabic predecessors in the area. The overall experience of being in this church was exceptional. With the rain coming down outside it had the added feel of a sanctuary, even for us not so religious folk. Also, while we were inside we were treated to a mini organ concert when a teacher who was leading a group of Italian students pulled up to the keyboards and pounded out some great songs, including that great thing that Captain Nemo plays in the movie of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

We left Monreale and got stuck in another traffic jam. This one was caused by a couple of people parked in illegal spots on a narrow road. As cars tried to move around each other they got stuck, and gridlock ensued. Everyone was honking their horns and shouting, but since it was pouring out, no one got out. Eventually someone took control, backed up the two dozen or so cars that had lined up and created the necessary space to alleviate the jam. A little flustered we pushed onward toward Segesta, the site of one of the finest examples of Greek temple architecture. The ride was wet and cold. We passed through all sorts of towns made up of ugly concrete block architecture, and we wondered when we were going to see the charming side of Sicily.

We got to Segesta and hopped out of the car. Segesta was one of the great Greek city-states in Sicily (although some suggest that the founders of Segesta were actually descendants of Trojans, maybe even Aeneas, and therefore not Greek.). They built but never finished a temple perched high on a hillside and did complete a theater perched even higher on the hillside. We didn't make it to the theater because the wind and rain were too heavy for us to invest the extra 5 euro ($65) to take the bus ride up to the theater. The temple, however, was truly spectacular. I was giddy as we walked around the site. The sun even made a brief appearance while we were there, but as the next storm rolled in we high-tailed it back to the car just in time to head for Marsala, safe from more intense rain.

On the way to Marsala Eli napped while Caroline and I got crankier and crankier, hungrier and hungrier. We didn't want Eli to wake up if we stopped, but we desperately needed food. We even tried to find a place in a small hill town near Segesta, but everything was closed and we got lost while trying to get out of the town. Needless to say that did not help our moods. Even as the storms passed and the sun came out, we became more and more desperate. We followed a few road signs for restaurants, but they were all closed. Finally as we approached Marsala, we couldn't take it any more, and we followed some fancy signs towards Donna Franca, an agriturismo and restaurant. The signs took us further and further away from the road to Marsala, and as we proceeded neither Caroline nor me wanted to consider the possibility that this place might be closed. We arrived to find it open and we settled into the restaurant which looked too fancy for the likes of the rain-drenched and travel-weary Savages. The food was AMAZING. Caroline had spaghetti with ricci (sea urchin), a sicilian specialty, and I had seafood ravioli with a sea urchin sauce. For the second course we I had tuna marsala, Caroline had a beef cutlet served with wine sauce. We drank a bottle of the house white wine and found out that the agriturismo was also a vineyard. The manager offered us a tour of the wine production facilities after lunch, and we gladly accepted. The highlight was barrel tasting a 40 year old Marsala wine that had been aging all those years in French oak. It was truly spectacular. The other highlight of that place was the slide and see-saw that they had set up in a courtyard. Eli had a blast playing in the sun. It was exactly what we needed after a tiring morning of sightseeing and driving in the rain.

We got to our place in Marsala shortly after lunch. The Villa Favorita was a place I had come across in a magazing at the dentist's office here in Viterbo. The had a picture of these pods that you can rent, and Caroline found the place and incorporated it into the itinerary of our trip. The pods were cool, and the grounds of the hotel were beautiful. After an hour or so stretching our legs and playing with Eli we got back in the car and went into Marsala to see the museum that contains the scant remains of a Carthaginian ship that was sunk of the coast of the port in the massive naval battle that concluded the First Punic War with the Romans. The museum was very cool, actually. It had tons of amphorae found in the local waters and all sorts of Greek, Carthaginian and Roman artifacts. After picking up some pizza to go we headed back to the pod, ate dinner, and crashed hard.

The next day we had an amazing breakfast at the hotel and headed out of Marsala towards Selinunte. Selinunte was another powerful Greek city-state that was a rival of Segesta in ancient times. All of Selinunte was destroyed in the 5th century b.c.e. when Segesta enlisted the help of the Carthaginians to attack their rival. The temples were destroyed and the town deserted. Two of the temples have been reconstructed and the others are still piles of rubble that were left behind 2500 years ago. It was a fanstastic site. The wildflowers were in bloom, and we were allowed to roam everywhere. Pretty awesome. We had another great meal with a view of the ocean in the town of Selinunte. Eli played on a pier with his cars. Then we headed to Agrigento for some more Greek ruins and some quality time with peacocks. More in the next post.

For now, here are some pics from this leg of the trip:


Above: Eli and Caroline dining at Donna Franca outside of Marsala
Below: Eli and Caroline on the see-saw at the agriturismo


Above: the view from Donna Franca, the agriturismo/vineyard outside of Marsala.
Below: the sea of pods at Villa Favorita in Marsala



Above: Caroline and Eli in our smurf house.
Below: an actual smurf house.




Above: Eli in the middle of an impressive rant with his cars on the pier at Selinunte.
Below: Eli and Caroline at the reconstructed temple in Selinunte.


Above: Eli and Caroline next to a column.
Below: Eli and Dad checking out the view from the temple.

Above: Eli and Dad amid the rubble in Selinunte.
Below: a glimpse of the duomo at Monreale.

Above: the mosaic in the apse of Monreale's duomo.
Below: the unfinished temple at Segesta.

Above: Eli playing in the puddles in Segesta
Below: Eli and Caroline in the temple. Note the view in the background. That's the "bad" side of the view. The more dramatic view is the other way.