Scandinavia

It is hot these days in Sicily. Temperatures are in the 90s every day and it has not rained since June. It is the perfect time to travel north to Scandinavia. On Friday, we flew into Oslo, Norway and by mid-afternoon we were being tourists. We stopped at the Royal Palace first and were fortunate enough to arrive in time to view the changing of the guard. The rest of the afternoon we spent on a walking tour of the city.
Oslo is a very modern city, it is fashionable, clean and one of the most expensive cities in the world. The sun does not go set until 11pm each night. As a result, we had to get used to going to dinner with the sun still out and if we got a beer afterwards it would still look like it was the afternoon. The weather was nice- Cloudy to partly cloudy and mid 60s to mid 70s. It only rained one day. The next day we took a boat to Bygdoy Peninsula. On the peninsula we went to the famous Viking Ship Museum housing the finest surviving example of a Viking long ship. There are other ships in the museum along with artifacts found in burial mounds. Also on the peninsula there is a Norwegian village where buildings from different periods and regions are moved from their original location to Oslo. In the village they have many traditional artisan shops, farms and houses with grass covered roofs. We also went to the Kon-Tiki Museum which holds the boats and artifacts from the famous ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl. Heyerdahl built the boats and sailed them across the Atlantic and Pacific to prove that ancient civilizations possessed the technology to make the journeys. To complete the boat museum tour we went to the polar expedition museum which tells stories of Norwegian expeditions to the North and South Poles. In the museum they have a boat built in 1892 that was used by Roald Amundsen on his way to becoming the first explorer to reach the South Pole. To round out the day we took the boat back to the central city and took a tour of Akerschus Fortress. Within the fortress there is a castle from the 13th century and also a museum dedicated to the Norwegian resistance in World War II. After dinner Shannon went shopping, Oslo has many great stores. The next day we took a scenic train ride west through Norway. The trip took us into rural Norway where we saw small villages, many waterfalls and even a glacier. Our train ride ended at the town of Flam where we would continue our journey by boat. Flam is at the inland end of Norway’s longest fjord, the Sognfjord. Our boat took us









down the entire length of the fjord to the sea and then south along the coast where our journey ended at the city of Bergen. The Fjords were really impressive. Glaciers carved them out of the mountains leaving salt water channels that are actually deeper than the sea floor off the coast. That is why huge cruise ships can go through such narrow channels. The scenery was incredible and there were very few towns, it was obvious that they were just too isolated to support anything larger than a village. In Bergen we checked into our hotel and went out to dinner. I had a whale steak. Norway is one of the few countries that still allows whaling and you can even buy it as street food. It looks just like a steak but has a definite fishy taste, I assume because of the whale’s diet. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway but it seems like a small town. It has buildings that date back to medieval times that are still used as stores and restaurants (they are a little crooked though). For breakfast we walked down to the fish market at the edge of the harbor. The main products seem to be fresh salmon and caviar but if you ask them they will whip you up some open face sandwiches. We went to the art museum and the maritime museum but the town itself was the main attraction. That evening we took a night train to Gothenburg, Sweden.
Gothenburg a cool city. It was designed by the same planners that created Amsterdam and Gothenburg also has many canals and bridges. Gothenburg is also a college town with Sweden’s largest university and the Institute of Technology. In older times it was the main push off point for Swedish Vikings and at the Gothenburg museum they have one of Scandinavia’s premier Viking Artifact collections. Our next stop was Stockholm. Stockholm is Sweden’s capital and the city is built on 14 islands connected by a complex network of bridges. Our first stop was at the Royal Palace. At the palace we toured some of the historic apartments and chambers used by royalty and dignitaries. We also visited the armory which has many suits of armor and weapons from over the centuries. The armory also houses royal carriages. In addition we visited the treasury and got to see the crown jewels. We were lucky again and were at the palace during the changing of the guard.
The next day we took a ferry over to one of the island of Djurgarden. The island used to be the royal hunting grounds and today serves as a large public park. The island also has a museum dedicated to the Vasa. The Vasa was a 17th century warship that sank after sailing less than 1 mile on its maiden voyage. It lay on the bottom in Stockholm Harbor mostly undisturbed until salvaged in 1961. Today the 4-story boat has its own immense museum holding the boat itself and many of the artifacts found in the wreck. After the museum we visited a model Swedish Village and then it was time for Shannon to go shopping again.
Our trip to Scandinavia was great. The people we met were friendly and everyone speaks English very well.

Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull released their first album in 1968, in the 41 years since they have made a total of 21 studio albums. They are still touring and I went to see them at the Teatro Greco in Taormina. James and I have been talking about going to this show for a long time. 41 years is a long time for a Rock and Roll band but we saw them perform in a theater that has been around for 2200 years. In addition to being used for performances for a couple of millennia, the theater also overlooks the Ionian Sea and has views of Mt. Etna. They rocked and the show was fun.

Tony and Sara

Tony and Sara are our good friends from DC and they came to visit us over Forth of July weekend. They told us they were in the mood for some good food and relaxation. They came to the right place. On the evening of their arrival we caught up over some appetizers and prosecco on our terrace. Later we headed down the hill for some of the town’s greatest pizza and a tour of our favorite watering holes.
During the weekend we took them to Isola Bella beach near Taormina to catch some rays on the Ionian coast. We also took them up onto the mountain for a wine tour and tasting. The wineries up there offer great views of the Sicilian landscape across to the sea. They also got to see Catania at night when we went out to dinner with a group of friends.
Shannon and I had a great time during their visit. It was great to catch up with some good friends and show them some of the great things about living in Sicily.

Pesce Spada Festival

It is not uncommon for Shannon and I to stop at our favorite fish store on the way home from the base and pick up some swordfish steaks. At the pescaria they have a whole swordfish, sometimes longer than I am tall, lying on the table. Shannon tells the old how many kilos she wants cut into how many steaks at a certain thickness. Then the old man takes his cleaver and expertly hacks the order off the fish, right before your eyes. How else are you going to know it’s fresh?
Sicilians believe their waters have the tastiest swordfish in the world. People have been fishing these waters for pesce spada, as they call it, for thousands of years. In Aci Trezza, where we live, they celebrate their patron saint, Saint John the Baptist, with the Pesce Spada festival. The festival includes processions with bands, religious statues and artifacts but people come from all around for the “U Pisci a Mari.”
The U Pisci a Mari is a ritual where fishermen go through the motions of fishing for the pesce spada. They dress up in costumes and come out in a brightly painted boat (they still use these boats every day) and go through the act of hunting for a pesce spada. In this ritual a man slips into the water from the pier and plays the part of the fish. As the men in the boat search for a fish people in the crowd are yelling to the men trying to aid in the hunt. When at last the fish is spotted the men spear at the fish with their harpoons. It is eventually skewered and they haul the fish (man) on to the boat and proceed to take a fake cleaver and hack at the fish. It is a gory scene because they use a lot of fake blood and there is a lot of hacking and sawing. Somehow the fish escapes and they repeat the scene over again only the next time the fish is caught the fish capsizes the boat and swims away forever. The ritual is meant to symbolize man's eternal struggle against nature for survival.
We took a video of the fish on the boat. To view the 1 minute video click the picture below.

Savoca

The Godfather movie partially takes place in Sicily, it is set in the town of Corleone which is located on the west side of the island. To film the movie they actually came to Sicily however they shot the scenes at a town called Savoca which is on the east side of the island. You would expect a town associated with such a famous movie would be a tourist trap but in fact you could spend the whole day there and never know it was famous for anything. It is located on the top of a mountain and has great views of the surrounding country. You would never know it from the movie but if they would have turned the camera around they would have been looking at the Ionian Sea. We found the exact café where Michael Corleone first meets Apollonia’s father and sat in the same spot as Michael and his bodyguards. The bar has not changed.












We also saw the church where Michael gets married and the piazza where the wedding reception takes place. Even without these sites, it is a nice place to visit.









After Savoca we headed down to Isola Bella beach. Isola Bella means Beautiful Island and the name refers to a nature preserve island that is used as a beach. The island is located in a bay and connected to the mainland by a thin stretch of sand. It is one of the most beautiful beaches in Sicily.

Trapani

Shannon and I live on the east side of Sicily and we try to get out and around as much as we can. The west side of the island is very nice too and although only 3 hours away, it makes for a long day trip. As a result, we planned an overnight trip to the west side of the island with our friend Jodi. Our first stop was in Segesta, an ancient Greek city from 700BC. The site has a huge temple and you are permitted to walk around the columns. The temple is said to be the best preserved example of Doric Architecture in the world. From their you take a hike up the hill to the ancient city and take in the views of the surrounding mountains and the Castellammare del Golfo. There is also a Greek theater where Greek tragedies are still preformed in the summer.









From Segesta we headed over to the port town of Marsala. The town is famous for its wine so we stopped in an enoteca to have some lunch and to try some local flavors.









After lunch we headed north to the salt fields between Marsala and Trapani. Sicilians claim that Trapani makes the best salt in the world. Sea salt is still produced here largely the same way it was done 2700 years ago when the Phoenicians brought the techniques to the island. They let seawater into fields and wait for it to evaporate. When all that remains is the salt, they collect it with shovels and wheelbarrows and keep it in piles. To add to the scene there are antique windmills that were used to pump the water. While in the area we went to the Salt Museum and took a ferry to Mozia where there are the ruins of an ancient Phoenician town.
That night we stayed in Erice. Erice is a medieval town located on the top of a mountain. We checked into a hotel and enjoyed a nice dinner. Erice was a nice quiet town and it has streets that are much too small for cars. The next morning we bought tickets that would get us into seven churches around the town. We took in the amazing views from on top of the mountain and visited all the churches.









Erice is famous because it has its own style of ceramics but also they are renowned for their pastries. So I had to go shopping but I was rewarded later with some pie.

Next we drove east to the Zingaro Reserve. The Rieserva Naturalle dello Zingaro is an amazing place. It is at the edge of a mountain chain and is along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

There are no roads inside the park so we went for a hike to enjoy the views. After a hot walk we stopped at one of the beaches along the sea and spent a few hours swimming and getting some sun. We jammed a lot into a two day trip and had a great time. There is a lot to see in Sicily.