Kathryn & Rick's Blog

Today we visited Mount Etna, and the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating. The forecast called for rain, and I woke up to thunderstorms around 5:30 a.m. We had been told the excursion would go ahead even in the rain, although the schedule might need to be adjusted. And, of course, it was.

We met in the lobby at 8:20 and were assigned to our four-wheel-drive vehicles. Mount Etna has been particularly active lately, occasionally burping out ash. The eruptions themselves aren’t necessarily a big concern, but the ash can force the airport to close. Not exactly ideal when you’re trying to catch a flight!

Our guide explained that our driving tour would travel from the oldest lava flows to the newest. We started along the coast, where we saw lava formations dating back about 500,000 years, when this area was still underwater. Scientists can tell from the shape of the formations and the materials trapped in the basalt, including mud from the ancient seabed.

We also saw some striking hexagonal basalt columns. These form when lava cools and contracts slowly, creating the distinctive column shapes. Here are some pictures of the ancient lava formations.

We also came across some graffiti depicting a Cyclops, which reminded us of a story we had heard earlier in the trip. Long ago, dwarf elephants lived in Sicily. Their skulls have a large opening for the trunk, but ancient people apparently mistook that opening for the single eye socket of a giant Cyclops. And just like that, a fossil became the inspiration for mythology.

One of Sicily’s best-known myths involves Polyphemus, the one-eyed giant who lived on Mount Etna. According to the story, he fell in love with a beautiful sea nymph named Galatea, but she loved a young shepherd named Acis instead. Enraged by jealousy, Polyphemus hurled a huge boulder at Acis, killing him. Galatea, overcome with grief, transformed his blood into a river so that he could flow eternally toward the sea.

We continued to the Mount Etna museum, where we watched a film and learned more about the volcano and volcanic activity in general. We learned that Mt Etna is the result of the Eurasia and Africa tectonic plates crashing into each other. The Eurasian plate is pushing the African plate down and that gap allows for magna to push up and out. Interestingly Catania is on the African plate and Taormina where we were yesterday is on the Eurasian plate. Yesterday we were intercontinental travelers! It poured rain while we were in the museum.

Our final stop was the site of the major lava flow from 2002–2003. It was very foggy as we drove through Mt Etna national park. The landscape was stark and rocky where the lava had relatively recently flowed, with black basalt stretching across the mountainside. The rock is extremely hard and takes a long time to break down. According to our guide, it can take about 50 years for conditions to support lichen growth and around 800 years for a forest to return. That certainly puts the pace of nature into perspective!

Here are some pictures.

Our next stop was an agriturismo for lunch, after which we returned to the hotel.

That evening, we gathered for a farewell drink at the hotel, followed by a farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

Most of the people are going on to the post trip but Anne and I are not. It’s hard to believe that three weeks have gone by so quickly. As always with these trips, we’ve met some terrific people and formed some special friendships along the way.

I’m going to miss everyone, but most of all, I’m going to miss spending every day with my sister. Sharing these experiences, laughing over the day’s adventures, and having all that time together has been a real gift.

Tomorrow, it’s time to head home. Sicily has given us a lot to remember—and I’m not quite ready for the adventure to end.

We left the hotel at 8:45 for the hour-and-15-minute drive to Taormina. Nico kept us entertained along the way by teaching us Italian hand gestures. Italians seem to have a gesture for just about everything, so it was an entertaining lesson.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, we learned that five cruise ships were in the area—three in Taormina’s harbor and two more in a nearby harbor. And all those passengers were apparently headed our way. Ugh!

As usual, we started with a walking tour. The highlight was the Greco-Roman Theater, originally built by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC and later enlarged and modified by the Romans. The Romans eventually adapted it for spectacles and gladiatorial contests. It could accommodate around 10,000 spectators. Today, it serves as a venue for summer concerts, with the added bonus of spectacular views of the surrounding landscape.

After the tour, Nico took us to a shop specializing in pistachio products. Pistachios grown on Mount Etna are considered particularly good, thanks in part to the unique growing conditions in the volcanic soil. The plants typically produce a substantial crop every other year. We sampled pistachio spread on bread, pistachio liqueur, and pistachio gelato. Everything was delicious! It was quite the pistachio afternoon delight.

After our tasting, the two Annes and I broke away from the group and headed to the botanical gardens. The gardens were once part of a villa owned by Lady Florence Trevelyan, a Scottish noblewoman who left Britain after becoming romantically involved with the future King Edward VII. She settled in Taormina in 1884 and later married Salvatore Cacciola, who became the town’s mayor. Lady Trevelyan created beautiful gardens filled with exotic plants. The property eventually passed to the municipality in 1922, and today the gardens offer a peaceful escape from Taormina’s busy streets.

We certainly appreciated the break from the crowds. The gardens were lovely, and it was nice to wander somewhere that didn’t feel as though half the passengers from five cruise ships were competing for the same square foot of pavement.

Next, we walked to a lookout with beautiful views over the harbor. It was a great spot to stop and appreciate the scenery—and a reminder of why Taormina is such a popular destination in the first place.

By then, we were finally hungry again, so we stopped for arancini. Yum! I’m going to miss those delicious little rice balls when I leave Sicily.

We did a little shopping before meeting up with the group for the drive back to Catania. Taormina is probably a wonderful place to visit when it’s less crowded, but with thousands of cruise passengers filling the streets, it was a little overwhelming. The views were beautiful; the crowds, not so much.

Other Taormina pictures:

Back in Catania, I took a shower to cool off after a very hot day. Then Anne and I met the other Anne on the rooftop deck for Aperol Spritzes. We finished the evening with gelato for dinner. At this point, I think gelato has become a legitimate food group on this trip.

Here’s my favorite picture from the day

For reference (the picture isn’t from today), here’s a picture of me and the other Anne. She looks and acts a lot like my grandmother.

Another day in Sicily, with beautiful views, plenty of pistachios, and more than enough tourists!

We started the day at Catania’s World War II museum, where we learned more about Operation Husky and Operation Mincemeat. The main takeaway for me was just how complicated the war was—not only coordinating enormous amounts of people and resources, but also managing and trusting your allies. It was truly impressive to see what the Allies accomplished in defeating the Axis powers.

After the museum, we did a brief walking tour of Catania. Many of the buildings are made from basalt, the very hard black volcanic rock produced by lava. And everything seems even darker right now because Mount Etna has been particularly active and has been covering the city with ash.

We saw the Cathedral of Catania, which looks almost like a Norman fortress from the back but has an elaborate Baroque facade in front. In the square is a fountain featuring an elephant and an obelisk. The elephant, made of black basalt, dates back to Roman times and became the official symbol of Catania in 1239. It is said to represent protection from Mount Etna’s eruptions. Catania contains a lot of statues and tributes to Bellini, the world-famous 19th-century opera composer because he was born in 1801 in the city. To the Catanese people, honoring Bellini was a way to celebrate the soul, pride, and artistic redemption of a city that historically faced economic hardship and isolation.

We also walked by the Badia di Sant’Agata and ended our tour at the fish market, which was lively, crowded, and definitely smelled like a working fish market.

Here are some pictures.

We had lunch at a local restaurant, and afterward Anne and I did a little shopping for stickers. I found a Sicily sticker for my water bottle, so I was happy.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Roman amphitheater, which was built in the 2nd century AD. Most of it is still buried beneath the streets and buildings of modern Catania. It’s a little strange to stand in the middle of the city and realize that there is an entire Roman amphitheater underneath you.

After a pit stop at the hotel during which we went up to the rooftop bar to take a picture of Mt Etna, Anne and I walked to the public gardens and then the botanical gardens. Both were very nice—but very hot!

Later that afternoon, we went to a discussion on volcanology. It sounds like a tedious subject, but the geek in me was very interested. Mount Etna has been particularly active recently, and we learned about how scientists monitor the volcano and try to predict eruptions. Apparently, they have some very sophisticated tools for detecting changes in the volcano, so according to our speaker, Etna is considered relatively safe because they can detect warning signs before a major event.

After the discussion, we had happy hour at a local restaurant and then walked back to the hotel.

Once we got back, Anne, a couple trip mates and I were hoping to have a drink at the rooftop bar, but they were having a private party. So instead of sitting on the roof with a drink, I’m sitting in Anne’s room blogging. Ugh!

I was sad to leave Ragusa this morning. It’s such a nice, low-key town without a lot of tourists. But the road leads onward, and our next stop was Catania.

We left the hotel at 8:30, and on the bus to Siracusa, Nico told us about Sicily during World War II, including Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, Operation Mincemeat, and Italy’s eventual surrender. It was a lot of history for the morning, but it helped put Sicily’s role in the war into perspective.

After about an hour and a half, we arrived in Siracusa. Siracusa was one of the most powerful cities in the ancient Mediterranean and is the birthplace of the famous mathematician Archimedes. It is also, of course, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. At this point, Anne wondered whether you could put a map of Sicily on the wall, throw a dart at it, and actually hit a place that isn’t a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We had a walking tour of Ortigia, a small island just off the coast and the historic heart of Siracusa. The island was settled by the ancient Greeks in the 8th century BC and became the center of the powerful Greek city of Syracuse.

The tour took about an hour and covered the major highlights. The weather was threatening rain and occasionally spitting on us, but fortunately it never became a real downpour.

We started at the Temple of Apollo, built in the 6th century BC and one of the earliest Greek temples built outside Greece. One unusual feature is that the columns were carved from single pieces of stone and placed unusually close together, apparently to make the structure more stable.

We then stopped at the Duomo, which began life as a Greek temple and went through several transformations before becoming a cathedral. You can still see the original Greek columns incorporated into the walls of the church, which makes for a remarkable combination of ancient and later architecture.

Our final stop was the Fountain of Arethusa, which comes from the Greek myth of the nymph Arethusa. According to the story, she was transformed into a freshwater spring while escaping the river god Alpheus. The fountain is also decorated with sculptures of Tritons riding sea monsters.

After the tour, Anne and I had pizza with two of our trip mates and then did a little shopping. We were supposed to take a boat ride before continuing on to Catania, but the wind had picked up, so the boat trip was cancelled. Instead, we got back on the bus.

I slept almost the entire way to Catania, which felt pretty great. Once we checked into the hotel, Anne and I headed up to the roof deck for Aperol Spritzes and some blogging. We were supposed to have a view of Mount Etna, but storms were moving through the area, so Etna was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it started raining while we were sitting on the roof.

Clearly, the weather wasn’t going to stop us from having our Aperol Spritz.

The other Anne joined us after a little while, and we eventually headed out for our neighborhood orientation walk. After that, the group went out to dinner.

Another full day in Sicily—and one more city checked off the list.

So today was kind of a bust.

We went to a family farm outside Noto. The family has been working the farm for about 12 years, although the farm itself is at least 150 years old. It was quite small, and unfortunately, the gardens looked like they were well past their prime. The family also had chickens, turkeys, and a couple of pigs.

We toured the gardens and then had a cooking lesson where we made scaccia ragusana, a traditional stuffed flatbread. We used flour made from ancient grains and mixed it with salt, olive oil, and water to make the dough. We rolled it out, spread tomato sauce over it, folded it into a square, and then baked it in a wood-burning oven. I thought it tasted awful.

After the cooking class we had a tasty lunch—except for the scaccia, of course. It was also one of our trip mate’s birthdays, so the family had made a cake for him, which was a nice touch.

Overall, the farm visit just wasn’t one of the highlights for me. I think the tour company was trying to give us a glimpse into traditional Sicilian farm life, but I was hoping for more of a sense of how the family actually works and lives on the farm. Instead, the visit focused mostly on the gardens and the cooking class. I’ll probably mention that in the tour questionnaire as a suggestion for future groups.

After lunch—which, as usual in Sicily, was served quite late, around 1:30 or 2:00—we returned to the hotel. I took a short nap, and then Anne and I walked to the main square to visit a traditional cart-making workshop.

Like the cart maker we met earlier in the trip, this workshop is trying to keep the craft alive. There was a painter, a woodworker, and an apprentice working in the shop. It was nice to see people who are so passionate about working with their hands and preserving a traditional craft.

Afterward, Anne and I did what we seem to do best when we have free time: we got gelato. Then we walked back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Not every day can be a highlight. Fortunately, there’s always gelato.

Another beautiful day in Sicily. We have had perfect weather so far. I hope I haven’t just jinxed us.

This morning we had a walking tour of Ragusa. The city is divided into two sections: Ragusa Ibla, the old town, and Ragusa Superiore, the newer section. A devastating earthquake in 1693 killed about 5,000 people and destroyed much of the old town. When Ragusa was rebuilt, many residents chose to build in a new location, creating what is now the “new” part of the city. The rebuilding also gave Ragusa its many beautiful Baroque churches and buildings.

We’re staying in the old town, which is roughly shaped like a fish and was once surrounded by three rivers. The streets are incredibly narrow. One advantage is that they stay cooler, but the downside is that there isn’t much room for both pedestrians and cars. Staying out of the way of traffic when the sidewalks are extremely narrow was a challenge!

According to our guide, Ragusa had fallen into decline until the government opened a university there in 1981. She explained that many Italian universities don’t provide student housing, so people started renovating the area to rent to students thereby revitalize the old town.

Along the way, we stopped at an embroidery shop that sold beautiful pieces made using sfilato, a traditional Sicilian embroidery technique. The work was lovely, but I managed to resist buying anything.

After the tour, Nico took us to the home of an older gentleman who was a piano virtuoso. The inside of his home was every bit as ornate as you would expect from a Baroque-era city. He played a piece for us, and he was absolutely charming. I think having a group of strangers admire both his home and his piano playing may have made his day.

By then we were ready for lunch. Anne, another Anne from our trip, and I had delicious arancini and fresh pomegranate juice.

We then visited the Duomo, although the inside was not nearly as interesting as the exterior.

We tried to visit a couple of other sites, but it was Monday and, of course, they were closed. So we headed back to the hotel and spent the afternoon blogging.

While we were in Ragusa, we also learned the story behind one of Sicily’s most recognizable souvenirs: The Legend of the Moor’s Head. According to the legend, around the year 1100, a beautiful young woman in Palermo fell in love with a Moorish merchant. She eventually discovered that he had a wife and children back home and was planning to return to them. Understandably unhappy about this arrangement, she waited until he was asleep, cut off his head, and turned it into a flowerpot. She planted basil in it and watered it with her tears. The basil flourished so spectacularly that her neighbors became jealous and commissioned local potters to make their own versions of the Moor’s head. And that is why you see ceramic Moor’s heads for sale all over Sicily. Nothing says “romantic souvenir” quite like a severed head with a basil plant growing out of it.

By late afternoon, it was time to leave Ragusa again. We left the hotel at 4:45 and headed to nearby Modica, where we met members of an antique Fiat 500 club.

The Fiat 500 is tiny and extremely basic by today’s standards. Apparently, the older models required double-clutching when shifting, although I didn’t see our driver, Rita, doing it. We were paired up with two people per car, and Anne and I rode around Modica with Rita.

We stopped at the Duomo, a lookout overlooking the city where we had a Q&A with the drivers, and then continued down into the lower part of the city. The roads were incredibly narrow and winding, and those little cars were definitely put to the test. Rita was a great driver, though, and the whole experience was a blast. Our little Indy Fiat 500 ride was easily one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.

After our Fiat adventure, we visited a chocolate shop where they explained how they make cioccolato di Modica, a specialty of the region. It is made using an ancient technique that gives the chocolate a distinctive grainy texture. I tried it, but I wasn’t a fan, so I didn’t buy any.

We finished the evening with dinner and then took the bus back to Ragusa.

Our stay in Piazza Armerina was a strategic one. We were only about 15 minutes from the Villa Romana del Casale, a huge Roman villa famous for its extraordinary collection of mosaics. Staying nearby meant we could get there before most of the crowds, which turned out to be a very good decision.

We left the hotel at 8:45, but before we did, I snapped a couple of pictures of our lovely hotel.

When we arrived at the Villa Romana del Casale, the parking lot was practically empty. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be the case later in the day!

The villa dates to the early 4th century AD and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. No one knows exactly who owned it because no written records survived, but it was clearly the home of someone very wealthy and important. At the time, Sicily was one of Rome’s major sources of grain.

The villa was occupied for about 150 years before being abandoned. A landslide eventually buried much of the complex, helping preserve it until it was rediscovered in 1929. Excavations are still continuing today.

Nearly every floor was covered with mosaics. The simpler geometric designs were in the service areas, while the more elaborate ones decorated the family’s rooms. The mosaics often reflected the purpose of each room, and there were also remnants of frescoes on the walls.

One of the most interesting mosaics is Coronation of the Winner. It shows women competing in athletic events including running, discus throwing, weightlifting, and ball games. The winner is shown receiving a crown and palm frond. The women are wearing two-piece athletic outfits that look surprisingly similar to modern-day swimsuits.

Another spectacular mosaic is the enormous Corridor of the Great Hunt, which depicts the capture and transportation of wild animals—including elephants, lions, and tigers—probably destined for spectacles in Rome.

The villa also had large thermal baths, a gymnasium, and even an outdoor communal toilet. An aqueduct supplied the complex with water, so the residents were clearly not living a rustic lifestyle.

After taking approximately a million pictures, we left and traveled about an hour and a half to a winery for lunch. The winery is now run by two sisters, the 7th generation, and has been in their family since 1850. We tasted a white and a red wine. The white was good; I didn’t care for the red. Lunch, however, was very good.

Then it was back on the bus for the drive to Ragusa. The city is built on a broad limestone hill between two deep valleys and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At this point, I’m beginning to think you can’t go anywhere in Sicily without running into a UNESCO designation. People have been living in this area for about 13,000 years.

We arrived at our hotel which is six stories tall and built into the side of the cliff. The bus dropped us off at level 0 but when we are want to go into town we leave from level 5. Each floor, and in fact each room, is different. You cannot get to level 3 (our level) via the elevator. It is all very unique. After checking into the hotel, we went on an orientation walk with Nico, who showed us where to find the bank, pharmacy, restaurants, and other essentials. We then stopped for aperitifs and appetizers and spent some time comparing travel stories over drinks. Very fun!

Afterward, we walked through the gardens before heading back to the hotel.

We left Mazara del Vallo this morning and headed inland toward the center of Sicily. On the way, we stopped at the Valley of the Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site just outside the city of Agrigento. Despite its name, the “valley” is actually located on a ridge overlooking the town.

The site was once the Greek city-state of Akragas, founded around 580 BC. Akragas quickly grew into one of the most important cities in southern Italy, thanks to its fertile land and access to important trade routes. By the 5th century BC, it had become a prosperous cultural and economic center, known for its magnificent temples. Plato famously described the people of Akragas as living “as if they would die tomorrow, and building as if they would live forever.”

The Valley of the Temples includes the remains of seven temples, all built in the Doric style. We saw two that are remarkably intact considering they are about 2,500 years old. One of them survived particularly well because it was eventually converted into a church. The first was the Temple of Hera, also known as Juno to the Romans. The other, and more intact of the two, is the Temple of Concordia. No one knows for certain which deity it was originally dedicated to.

We also saw the remains of the original city walls, which were built along the edge of the quarry. The Greeks cut into the rock to create the walls, leaving enough stone in place to serve as a fortification. Over the centuries, some of the stone was removed and reused to build a pier and other structures. Christian tombs were also carved into sections of the remaining walls.

Here are a couple of other random pictures from the site.

It was quite hot, and the sun was strong, so getting back on the bus and into the air conditioning was a welcome relief.

Lunch was at a nearby home, where the family makes its own sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, and wine. We had olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and pasta, followed by a tour downstairs to see the family’s workshop.

The owner’s great grandfather was a master Sicilian cart maker, and his father learned the craft from him. His father continued making carts until 1959, when people began replacing horses and carts with cars. He changed careers, but when he retired about 20 years later, he returned to cart making as an hobby and continued the family tradition.

His father died about 20 years ago, but the owner and his children are now working to keep the craft alive. His grandfather’s carts were so precisely balanced that the horse only had to pull the cart forward rather than carry any of its weight. It was fascinating to see how much skill and tradition went into something that was once an everyday necessity.

Here are some pictures.

After lunch, we drove for about an hour and a half to Piazza Armerina. Most of us, including me, took a nap. When I was awake, I saw plenty of olive trees, almond trees, and grapevines, and the landscape was quite hilly.

Once we arrived in Piazza Armerina our bus driver had a challenging time navigating the narrow streets of the town, but he somehow managed to get us through without a scratch—or a dent.

We’re spending the night at an agriturismo, a farm-stay accommodation located on a working agricultural property. The room are a little basic but very nice. For dinner we had a 4 course dinner, too many appertizers to name, pumpkin risotto, salad, rosemary potatoes, orange chicken and a choice of desserts. I’m not going to bed hungry!

I slept until 6:00 this morning, but unfortunately I wasn’t feeling much better. We had an hour-and-a-half drive to the salt flats, so I claimed the back row of the bus and slept for most of the way.

At the salt flats, we watched a short movie about how the operation works. The basic process is pretty straightforward: as seawater evaporates in a series of shallow pools, the salinity increases until the salt crystallizes. The salt is then harvested by hand.

After the movie, we donned our boots and were put to work. We cranked the Archimedes screw pump to move the water and then waded into the salt ponds with our sieves to harvest the top layer of salt. This is the best-quality salt and is used for seasoning. Apparently, a day of “laboring in the salt mines” is part of the OAT experience!

After our hard labor, we headed by boat to the island of Mothya. The Phoenicians settled there about 2,700 years ago. In the early 20th century, a wealthy British family named Whitaker acquired the island, and Giuseppe (John) Whitaker became fascinated with its history. He financed extensive excavations that uncovered many of the Phoenician ruins and artifacts.

We had a “picnic” lunch before heading back to Mazara. Since we were in Marsala where Marsala wine was popularized we had to have a little post lunch aperitif. We had a little wine and biscotti for dipping. I didn’t like it much, it was a little too strong for me. Some people went for a walk around the island after lunch, but I decided that, given the state of my health, archaeology could wait. I took a nap instead.

Here are some of Anne’s pictures.

Our next activity wasn’t until 5:30, so I had plenty of time to rest. We then went to a Sicilian restaurant for a cooking class and, more importantly, to eat the fruits of someone’s labor. We made pasta with Sicilian pesto, eggplant parmigiana, and an almond parfait.

Anne and I didn’t participate in the cooking because we were still sick, but we did participate in the eating. Priorities.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel. I finally felt well enough to do some blogging, since I hadn’t felt up to it the night before. And the good news is that by the end of the day, I was feeling much better. Apparently, the combination of salt, naps, Sicilian food, and gelato is a pretty effective treatment! And there were fireworks outside the hotel. I’m not sure what we are celebrating, maybe that I’m feeling better????

We were able to sleep in this morning and didn’t have to meet until 9:30, which was a nice change of pace.

Mazara del Vallo was founded before 600 BC by the Phoenicians, who came from what is now Lebanon. The Arabs ruled the area for a little over 200 years before the Normans arrived. Rather than driving the Arabs out, the Normans allowed them to remain, and Mazara still has a substantial Muslim population today. That history has given the city a distinctly multicultural character, and our guide told us that people here are generally very tolerant of different ethnicities and religions.

One of the most interesting reminders of that history is the Kasbah, the old Arab quarter. The area was largely abandoned after a series of earthquakes, including major earthquakes in 1968 and 1981. In 2009, the mayor decided it was time to bring the Kasbah back to life. Since he is an artist himself, he invited artists to help beautify the neighborhood. Slowly—very slowly—the area has been coming back to life.

We also stopped in a church that was about as far from understated as you can get. It was completely over-the-top Rococo, with elaborate decorations everywhere you looked.

Here are some pictures of the Kasbah and the church.

After walking around the Kasbah, we went to the Dancing Satyr Museum. In 1998, some local fishermen discovered a 2,000-year-old Greek statue of a dancing satyr in the sea.

By this point, though, I was starting to notice that I wasn’t feeling quite right. Unfortunately, there was a cold going around the group, and it seemed I might be coming down with it.

After visiting the museum, we met the captain who found the Dancing Satyr. He told us about the discovery, but by then I was feeling considerably worse. I ended up sleeping through most of his talk. Not exactly my most attentive!

Then we went to a home-hosted lunch, and it turned out that our host was the same captain who had found the Dancing Satyr. His wife died about 10 years ago, so his girlfriend did the cooking. He didn’t speak much English, and his girlfriend spoke a little, so her daughter’s boyfriend and his friend joined us to help translate. It was quite a group effort just to have a conversation!

The food was good, but by then I was feeling worse and didn’t eat much.

We returned to the hotel, and I immediately took a nap. I woke up around 6:00 and Anne and I went to the pharmacy and then out for gelato. Another beautiful sunset. Apparently, even feeling sick wasn’t enough to keep me from gelato.

I was back asleep by 8:00. Clearly, my body had decided that sightseeing was over for the day.