On Sicily

Just back from Sicily...

Visit

- The Ballarò Open Air Market. A great place to observe Palermitani and immigrants living together in harmony. Well, harmony isn't the right word. In (complete and utter) chaos is probably better.
- The Catacombs of Palermo. They're no ordinary catacombs: photos.
- Walk around. Macellificazioneria and Carneria for the good ol' Macelleria. Sicilians have really taken to making up words (or using them in a slightly weird context). Good on them.
- Ortygia in Siracusa is well worth visiting, a truly beautiful and quiet place... especially if you're coming from the Fiat-sponsored remakes of Mad Max that are Catania and Palermo.
- The Cathedral of Monreale. Despite erratic opening hours and cantenkerous priests (why are priests always so pissed off?) this place is worth the uphill climb from Palermo.
- Mount Etna. Which we climbed. Well, part of it anyway (the summit was 'displeased' so it clearly wasn't in the mood for visitors). It wasn't as gruelling as I thought it would be. It's amazing to look down and see the clouds beneath you. We also checked out the Grotta dei Ladroni, the cave where ice used to be stored and exported as far as Malta. The taste of the ice on Mt. Etna is truly incredible. It tastes nothing like the ice that falls on the cities. The guide, a burly cigar-smoking geologist called Fabio, even took us around the villages that surround Mt. Etna's eastern flank.
- Zo is where the beardies, wannabes, hipsters and alternative types in Catania hang out. Being a beardie, wannabe, hipster, and alternative type myself, the place suited me perfectly.



Check in

- Everyone has a short temper, everyone complains about Sicily... but they're also quite helpful (except the ones which are paid to be nice - the ones in tourist offices, the people selling bus or train tickets, sales assistants. Scum o' the earth - the lot of them). They're just more extreme - the hostile ones are hostile to the point of confrontation, the helpful ones are nice enough to engage you in conversation... a conversation that might easily last an hour. Fine by me - I'm quite the talker. Not fine by Anita who isn't. We stayed at three different B&Bs: 5 Balconi, Al Borgo Fiorito, Ai Bellini (no website yet). I'd recommend them all. B&Bs seem to be the preferred commercial activity for Sicilians in their late thirties who have just got back from trekking around India or South America and don't know what to do next. They run the places with enthusiasm and seem to have understood what providing a service really means (which isn't the case with most hotels, hostels and b&bs).

Eat up

We ate at Il Sale and Agorà in Catania, La Foglia in Siracusa, Divino Rosso in Palermo. The latter is great if you're short on cash. Il Sale was particularly good.

Catanesi are really into horse meat - the stuff is everywhere. Seems to be the chow of choice for bus drivers who were eating horse meat burgers.

The food is generally better in Catania but more abundant (and cheaper) in Palermo.

Fruit is ridiculously cheap (one kg of blood oranges for the princely sum of EUR 0.30).


Gawk at

- On the streets the lingua franca is Sicilian, but everyone tries (with varying degrees of success) to adopt a neutral Italian accent in formal contexts. At one point I witnessed the bizarre spectacle of a family speaking to a waiter in Italian, only for both (the family and the waiter) to revert to Sicilian after the order was taken. Stranger still, two Pakistani immigrants I spoke to spoke only Sicilian (no Italian, no English).
- Catania is ludicrously dirty. I don't mind filth and dirt, but the level of filth and dirt on the streets can only be described as post-apocalyptic or medieval. I was half expecting a syphilis-ridden Chaucer pilgrim to appear on the horizon...
- Noise in Sicily is everywhere and at all hours. If you're a light sleeper (like I am), prepare yourself for many sleepless nights, or frustrated yelling at cars and noisy pedestrians from the safety of your balcony (yes, I'm a wimp).
- If you're hunting for sociological melitensia, "Maltese" surnames and "Maltese" food (sfincione, quarezimali, etc) abound in Palermo, not in Catania.
- All cultural differences between Malta and Sicily boil down to one thing: Sicilians are veritably proud of who they are, their land, and their traditions - the Maltese are proud of who they are, their land and traditions in so far as they can be used as a rhetorical device which can be sold to tourists.
- Women approach men, they start and animate conversations with men - in other words they're not scared of men. What a refreshing change from the supposedly liberal cultures of Northern Europe or the fastidiously conservative ones of places like Malta.