Wednesday Melanie took us to the Catania fish market. It was fascinating! The first section was all fish (and smelled like it too) but then the other half was fruit, vegetable, other meat, cheese and salami stands. We bought a lot of produce and it was so fun to see the culture. We also went to a pasta shop to buy fresh pasta to make at home for lunch. Then we got amazing pastries! Yum.
We played outside at their beautiful house (just check out the view from their backyard!) that afternoon. After dinner we went to Motta, the town you can see from their house, and walked up to the castle there.
Thursday, Sam took off work and while the kids were at school we went to the town of Caltagerone. There is a street that is made entirely of stairs with pottery shops off of it the whole way up. It was so neat! And I loved looking at all the art. Such a fun place!
The view from the top of the stairs!
We grabbed some lunch of arancini (a filled and fried rice ball that is super popular in Sicily and it was Tommy's favorite Italian food we had) and brioche bread and then went to the Piazza Armenia Roman ruins. It was Melanie and Sam's first time there too and it was amazing! It was built in the 6th or 7th century and was full of mosaics that have been preserved because of a big mudslide that covered it for centuries. They only discovered in back in the 50s (I think) and it was amazing to see the incredible mosaics so well preserved.
These types of mosaics covered every surface of flooring.
That evening we got to go to a traditional Italian puppet show in Syricusa/Fortigia with a few members of their branch. It was super interesting. It was all in Italian so we didn't understand the words and it was basically the puppets just fighting the whole time but it was entertaining. It was a small little theater and the puppets were really cool. And it was our first time to see the Mediterranean. We got gelato afterwards. Yum!
Friday was such a good day! Tommy, Sam, and Wesley went hiking up Mt Etna, the volcano, first thing in the morning.
Melanie, Jane, Andy, and I went to visit one of Melanie's friends, Lori, at her farm. She's an American who has stayed in Italy and bought a farm. She teaches horse riding lessons, runs farm camps, and does birthday parties at her farm for the Americans on the base. It was fascinating! She has tons of animals. And we got to feed puppies bottles! One of her dogs just had 8 puppies and is super thin and doesn't have enough milk for them so Lori is having to supplement their feeding with bottles. It was really fun to do. Then we went grocery shopping at the commissary.
That afternoon we went to Taormina. It was our favorite place! We started down at the beach. It was kinda a hazy day but the Mediterranean is so beautiful! It was still too cold for swimming but we walked in it. The waves crashing on the rocks (instead of sand) made the most interesting sound and I loved it. We just sat there and talked for a while and it was so peaceful.
Then we went up the mountain to the city. We enjoyed just walking the streets and looking at the shops. It is a very cute and nice city. Then we got granita which is so good! It's sorta a cross between a smoothie and a slushy...but so much better and fresh!
And right in the city they have Greek amphitheater ruins. It was interesting and is still used. It had the most incredible view from the top!
Afterward we went to an Italian seafood restaurant and walked around a bit more.
This passage between the buildings is an actual alley with doors off of it. crazy.
Saturday their branch had a service project planned for the Italians. We helped pull weeds and fix fences at an archeological park with ancient crypts (like 4th century BC!). And then the Italians fed us lunch afterward.
That afternoon we went into Motta again to go to the bread store and tour the castle. We bought cannolis for after dinner. Sam took us to pick blood oranges in one of their neighbor's orchards, who has told them to come whenever. Melanie and Samuel made pistachio pasta and bruschetta for dinner at home and it was amazing! I actually think it was one of my favorite meals of the trip (and that's saying something!) Then that night we played hide and seek in the dark and other games and chatted.
Sunday we left first thing in the morning to catch our flight to Geneva. It was so sad to go. We had the best time in Italy! The Jarvis' were amazing hosts and we felt like we got to do and see so much while still having good family time. I loved watching Tommy relax and enjoy everything we did (it's been a stressful and crappy year at work for him...and he totally relaxed on this portion of the trip). And it was just so good to see Melanie. I have missed talking to her more. As we took off, I teared up looking below at all the beautiful farms and little cities and thinking about how great of a trip it was. I'm so grateful we got to go!!
1 comment:
Wooooow!!! So cool!!!!!
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