Let me give you a rundown of our “pre departure meeting” that took place in our residence the day before we left. I got an email stating “hey guys, we need everyone to look for hostels because we leave tomorrow and don’t have anywhere to stay.” I usually don’t fret over minute details like accommodation. But this time was different; we were going to a country where very few people speak English and laws are more or less suggestions.
For those of you, who know me; know that I’m not exactly the planning type. I’m more of the hop-on-the-bandwagon-with-someone-who-is-good-at-planning type.
Our meeting consisted of 6 people sitting in a very small kitchen for four hours looking for hostels and only coming up with one hostel which could accommodate twelve people for the first two nights (we had sixteen people in our group for the first two nights). We had a few problems but for some odd reason we didn’t worry too much and decided we would find something once we got there.
At the time, I was still a little worried but figured everything would work itself out… My mind kept wandering while I was supposed to be searching for hostels. My exact thought were… “Beach… Sand… Crystal clear water… Italian girls… Mojitos… Pizza… Pasta… Beach… Italian girls… White wine… Talking with a funny accent while quoting The Godfather… Italian girls…” Needless to say I was very little help and so, sixteen of us left the Netherlands with high spirits and lack of accommodation.
Arriving in Trapani, Sicily was a lot like arriving in Florida for spring break; the weather was warm, the sky was blue, the sun was shining and there were fifteen of my buddies ready to enjoy a week away from reality.
I would go through my trip step by step but it would be severely tedious and I wouldn’t want to put any of you through that. So, here is a small synopsis follow by some highlights.
I flew into Trapani but didn’t actually see the city because we decided to check out the cities of Palermo and Catania. My days were spent on the beach (5 beaches in all) with a few short city tours (Palermo, Trapani, Cefalu, Catania and Taormina). My nights were spent eating delicious meals followed by a Sicilian night club or restaurant street terrace. The hostel situation was overcome by doubling up in single beds, sleeping on the floor, getting kicked out of one hostel, staying in a hotel one night and finally finding a great hostel for the final two nights in Catania.
I’ve always thought of Italy being a romantic place where lonely travelers go to fall in love. Come to find out lonely travelers usually go to Rome, Florence or Venice. Sicily is another story. To me, it seemed more like a North African Country than what I had pictured Italy to be. (Granted, I’ve never actually been to a North African city I’ve only seen photos).
Once I got past the fact that I wasn’t in Rome, I started to notice the beauty of Sicilian cities with their narrow cobble stone streets, Baroque style buildings and ridiculously crazy drivers. The drivers in Sicily are some of the worst (or craziest) drivers I have ever seen. It is a no holds bar race from stoplight to stoplight and that’s if they actually stop for a red light.
The cities were fun to walk around and take photos of but what I was interested in was the beach. Almost every day in Sicily was spent lying on a beach drinking a cocktail, playing beach tennis or just simply swimming in the, not so warm, Mediterranean water.
Mondello beach was the first beach stop of our trip. The water was quite cold so a few friends and I decided it would be best to relax by drinking some whiskey (which we bargained for in a small Asian grocery store) and Italian beer. After a few short hours we had warmed up in the Hot Sicilian sun and conjured up enough courage to make the plunge. The rest of the day was nice mix of Frisbee on the beach, Frisbee in the water, football (soccer), beach tennis, attempting to body surf and napping. It was everything and more than I had hoped for.
After a long day at the beach there is nothing better than some delicious Italian food. On every street corner and down every ally way there were small canteens serving scrumptious snacks which I had a very difficult time pronouncing but was a pro at eating. Or if we felt like dining in we could get a 3 course meal including a drink for around 10 Euro (about 14 USD).
Here are my top three snacks in Sicily
· Pizza (obviously) – The pizza in Sicily didn’t knock my socks off like I was expecting but it was among the best I’ve ever tasted. The tomatoes were by far the tastiest I’ve had and the mozzarella was perfectly melted-ooey-gooey and delicious.
· Aranchino – Which is a breaded rice ball commonly filled with mozzarella, some sort of meat, tomato sauce or a combination of the three then deep fried to perfection.
· Some sort of pastry that I never learned the name of – This was a pastry filled with fresh mozzarella and ham. I know it sounds simple but it was so good I ate at least two per day (which also could have contributed to the weight gained during the trip)
Being college students on a budgeted beach vacation we ate out a lot but did manage to sit down for a proper dinner one night. Finding a restaurant for 16 people is a story in itself so I won’t get into that. We agreed on a small restaurant with a neon flashing “Pizza” sign outside and were seated upstairs in what looked like a special event room (away from all the other customers).
There were two basic “menus” you could choose from that consisted of a few different appetizer choices, about ten entrée choices and the choice of either beer or wine. All of which was included in the 9 euro price. This price also included tax and tip, so you literally paid 9 euro. All of us ate, drank and laughed for the three and a half hours that we sat at the dinner table.
Our last night was spent at the exact same restaurant and we did the exact same thing; ate, drank and laughed for three and a half hours. The only difference being, we didn’t book a place to sleep because our flight left at 6:00am and the shuttle for the airport left at 3:00am from Palermo to Trapani. So, there was only one option after dinner… We found a small bar with a nice ally way terrace and 3 Euro long islands. The rest of the night was filled with cake stealing-karaoke singing-“I love you, man”, shenanigans.
Taking everything into account, I had the trip of a lifetime. It was a rollercoaster of emotion going from pristine beaches to walking the streets of Palermo with all of our luggage and no place to stay but like everything else good in this life, in the end it all worked out.
And so, the motley crew of international students hopped back on the place to Holland as the sun rose over the Italian countryside. I’ll never forget this experience and look forward to picking up the phone ten years from now, calling an old friend and saying “Do you remember that one time in Sicily when we…”
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