Wednesday, March 13 - Arrival In Sicily




 

Our airplane landed on a cloudy, rainy day, but the weather could not dampen our spirts.  Tony and I were in Italy again, specifically Sicily, the land of Greek Gods and myths.

Conquered by the Greeks, the Romans, the Normans, the Arabs, the Saracens, the Spanish, the French, Garibaldi and his "red shirts" during the Risorgimento, the Germans, the Americans and now the Mafia.... Sicily has survived and prevailed.   It is strewn with vestiges of past conquerors, like lanterns lighting the way to the past.

We came to see these lanterns, these vestiges that travelers rave about, to attend a language school for Italian and to immerse ourselves in la Dolce Vita Italiana for 8 weeks.

And now, come and relive those 8 weeks with us through our daily diary.

Our journey began in Palermo which is located on the northwest side of Sicily.  A two bedroom aprartment awaits us in center city Palermo - 5 minutes from the famous Il Mercato Ballarò and 5 minutes from the train & bus stations.

It is a fabulous location for shopping the local food markets and for day trips to other important cities. And, as we discovered in the next 10 days, our landlords, Ignazio and Maria were fabulous people and hosts.  They are close to us in age and, like us, are a professional couple.  Ignazio is an architect and Maria a psychologist.  But unlike us, they do not speak English.  But that's OK, in fact ideal.  We've come to practice our Italian and learn to speak better.  This will force us to do just that.

Incidentally, Ignazio designed and reconstructed this space within a vacant building.  It is brilliantly laidout, modern, full of light, quiet and located on a small side street.

Below, is our apartment building. We were on the second floor, just above the balcony on the right.

 

And here is the interior.

 

 



 

And 2 American style bathrooms!!  Che piacere!!

 

  

 

And here are our fabulous hosts - Ignazio and Maria  

 

 

After we settled in, Ignazio took the time to walk with us to Il Ballarò market.  It has existed for over 1,000 years and is the largest of 3 open air food markets in Palermo.  The market sells the first fruits, vegetables and fish of the season, like blood oranges, artichokes and swordfish, etc.  Ignazio walked with us and identified various stores, how to read the price signs, etc.  Grazie, Ignazio!

He left us there to practice our Italian and to shop for interesting ingredients for our cooking adventures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There will be a lot of pictures, but we promise we won't write something for EVERY day of the 2 months