The Lowlands Await



In less than 2 weeks, the first stop will be:
Pepe's house! 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baking our way to Erice: the Road to Trapani - PART TWO

Image
Tuesday, March 20, 2025 (continued) As Alessandro expertly maneuvered our bus up the winding mountain road towards Erice, we looked back at an impressive view. But first, a lunch stop. We were going to experience true Sicilian hospitality at Maria's place. A simple country lunch. I tasted the almond (mandorla) wine. Definitely for dessert. After everyone ate their fill, it was time to learn the secrets of Maria's Pasticceria Grammatico. Michael was our British interpreter... ...while Maria showed us how to shape the traditional cookies. Maria's voice was incredibly quiet so we really couldn't understand her, Even if we could understand Italian, but Michael helped us out.  This book is the story of Maria's life and includes recipes. She was a nun who left the convent and started her own business making and selling cookies using the nuns' secret recipes. Sc...
Read more

Official tour time! Let’s jump right in!

Image
  On Sunday May 18, we met our Rick Steves group mid afternoon, along with our guide Andrea (pictured above).  I’m looking forward to having him as our guide because he was born and raised just outside Palermo.  I’m sure he will have a ton of knowledge.   After meeting everyone, we all took a walking tour around the neighborhood to get our bearings, learn the history and see unique things.  You can see Christine and I are fresh and ready to tour!  On the way to our first stop, we saw a fountain nicknamed “the fountain of shame”.  Legends say it got that name because in the  building in the background with the dome lived the monks, and a dome, not pictured, but in direct line of sight of the fountain and the monks dome, was the convent.  Of course, the statues are naked…thus the nickname.     We also saw a peaceful Pro Palestine parade march past us.  Our guide told us Sicily is fearful of war, since they have been occupied and ...
Read more

Taormina: Too Beautiful to Believe

Image
Monday, March 26, 2025 Taormina, Sicily  It's not the stairways that make Taormina  beautiful, although this one is nice. For one thing, it's the views, like this one from our room's balcony right after we checked in: Mamma Etna in her full glory! That was last evening. Andrea gave us a quick orientation to the town and then we had a free evening to stroll around town and gawk at the mountain. A few shots from Sunday's meanderings: Mamma is cooking. See the steam? A giant cannolo in a colorful display. The Godfather is popular here. Very narrow stretto. Someone's private little teatro di pupi next to their front door. Monday morning Before breakfast, we all spent some time admiring Mamma Etna from the rooftop. The rooftop views we're actually beautiful in all directions. While waiting to meet our guide for the morning in the...
Read more