Local Produce

We had been looking forward to the food Sicily is renowned for and it did not disappoint. We shopped at the local markets, supermarkets, gelato shops and bars (which are a very different place from a bar in NZ) and on the side of the road.

The tomatoes are always amazing in Italy and the fruit was fabulous too.

We provided amusement for the people at the supermarket with our shopping conversations involving a great deal of mime and some Google Translate. Twice I brought home meat to cook that we never did find out what it actually was - but it tasted great.

It was a bit tricky only having a frying pan and a gas ring, but we managed to create a camp oven out of it when needed.

I do like the way meat, salami and cheese is presented when you buy it from the butcher or supermarket. It comes sliced to your requirements and neatly laid out in layers between sheets of grease proof paper then rolled and wrapped - see the photos on the right.  

It sure beats polystyrene.

Sheep

I have been intrigued by observing the sheep farming practices on the land by the sea surrounding our cottage. Whenever we went out walking we would hear the sheep before we saw them, as a couple were wearing large bells around their necks. 

There were no fences that we could see so they were always accompanied by their shepherd. He could take a while to locate if he was on his back under a bush.

Two things stood out from a kiwi perspective; they were foraging for food in sparsely vegetated  dry and dusty land, and they were carrying very heavy wool in a climate where we were glad to be wearing jandals and singlets.

Today they were moved up the hill near us and I was relieved to see that they were freshly shorn. Just in time for the heat of Summer.

Coastal Paradises

The stunning coastal beauty of this part of Sicily drew us here from when we first saw it on the internet. The sea has lived up to the images we had seen and we have spent happy hours swimming, walking and chilling out at the beach. It is one of the earth’s  very special places.

After marvelling at the scenery, pivot 180 degrees and this beauty is marred by a very thoughtless approach to rubbish disposal. We have met people who are very carefully recycling all their rubbish, but the extent of the problem here indicates that there are a significant number of people using the beach and the sea as a dump. And not just for household rubbish - building debris, tyres and engines all seem to end their life here.

Sadly they are not alone in experiencing this problem. We have seen it in Papua New Guinea in idyllic Milne Bay, we have seen it Vietnam on Phú Quốc, an island paradise in the Gulf of Thailand. And our own Pt England coastline tempts thoughtless people to take the easy option with their household rubbish.

In all of the places I have mentioned we notice that at beaches where local livelihood depends on visitors there is often a team who are up early in the morning ensuring the beaches present a pristine appearance when the visitors arrive. But it needs to be done daily because clearly there are more people messing up than cleaning up.

We need to do much better right across the planet.

Sicily: Four Rs

What have you been up to? Where have you been? What are you doing there?

These are the questions we have been getting from friends, family and followers. Even mine host here is a tad anxious about whether we are having a good time!

Answers: Nothing. No Where. The Four Rs - Resting, Reading, (w)Riting, Reflecting

And it’s good!

View from the rooftop of our apartment this morning

After entertaining folk with tales from our first five action packed weeks, and endless reports of the ABCs

ABCs in the education sense = lots of school visits

ABCs in the tourist sense = Another Blimmin Church/Castle/Cathedral/Crypt!

we are sensing concern that we may be bored! 

Our travel plan always was to pack experiences and learning into every available moment for the first five weeks and then to come to a complete stop and reflect on what we have seen and done. We have a backlog of ‘stuff’ that we have not found time to write about over the last few months/years and we planned to create space to do this. This of course includes our current travels.

We asked a number of people for recommendations about a place in Europe that would be good for this.  Our requirements were: internet, sun, sea, peace and quiet, access to food somewhere reasonably handy - and cheap!

We had a number of suggestions but the standout was from Brian and Jean Annan who advocated for Sicily. I went online and entered our dates and stipulations into Trip Advisor and we ended up in Piana Grande, Riberia.

Corner of our apartment looking across the bay

There are no ABCs of any sort nearby, we are in an apartment on a 3 hectare section by the Mediterranean - 5km beach walk at the bottom of the cliff. Our landlord lives below us and presses tourist itineraries upon us. There is an agriculture service town 6km away, which is nothing like any town people from NZ imagine when thinking about Italy - more like an agriculture service town in the Far North of NZ.

On the roof top

We drive into town to buy fresh produce, olives, bread and meat etc and bring it home to cook. The internet comes and goes, but we have great 4G cell reception to tether our phones when needed. We do the things we came here to do. And we are very content, for these two weeks. It really does remind us of a holiday our family had in Henderson Bay in the Far North - minus the boat!

At the far end of the beach below our place

Pretty much a kiwi camping holiday - just under a roof and with internet.

If you ask us if we have done this, that or the other that people come to Sicily to see and do, the chances are quite high that the answer will be 'No'. I think you've got the picture here (literally) of what we're doing!

And the super observant will notice that the number of blog posts are multiplying every day, just not appearing at the top of the list as I am back dating them to match the timeline of when they occurred.

Pizza and Cozze

We discovered a delightful pizza place five minutes walk up the road from our home that reminded us of Luke’s Kitchen in Kuaotunu. 

Quelli di Piana Grande Pizzeria is a family run business tucked away off the road and difficult for foreigners to find. It opens about 8.30pm in the evening and sells great pizza and cozze (mussels) and seafood antipasto.

Each time we went we were the only non-Italians there and the owner’s sister came out to take our orders as the designated English speaker.

We realised here that the greatest compliment we could pay an eatery was to forgot to take a photo because we were so enjoying the food! Hence the photos here of empty plates.