Italy Trip: Day Nine - Sicily

Our final destination on our cruise, Palermo (also known as Sicily), is an island of Italy and we had a full day scheduled. As we stepped off the docks, we were greeted by plenty of stray cats and we walked a few sketchy streets to the bus lines. First on our agenda were the Catacombs of Cappuccini. We started out decently on the bus systems, rushing to buy tickets from a little shop. How anyone knows you're supposed to buy tickets from those shops, I have no idea. Luckily a local directed us as best as she could in broken English mixed with Italian. We hopped on a bus and assumed we were on route. However, as I tracked our location with the GPS on my phone, I noticed we were moving further away from our destination rather than closer.

Brigham tried to ask those around us on the bus, and the bus driver, and we figured out we were on the right bus line but headed the wrong direction. We needed to hop off and catch the same bus, but going the opposite way. We hopped off and wandered between a few stops, but the language barrier made it difficult to be really sure we were doing the right thing. We also had a food tour that day that we couldn't be late for and our time was ticking to make it to the catacombs.

Eventually, we decided to play it safe and just hailed a taxi to take us. As I watched the roads and route on the way, I was relieved we hadn't continued to try to figure out the public transportation. I think we would have made it, but it would have taken way too much time.

The catacombs definitely delivered the mummies. Over 8,000 mummies hung/laid/sprawled along the walls and passages. Some completely intact and others in pieces, the mummies were amazing, creepy, and at times overwhelming. When we got our disrespectful Mummy jokes and laughter out of the way "Imhoteeeep", my heart broke at the little children and I had a million questions to ask about many of the other mummies we saw. Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed in the catacombs, but you can google the catacombs and plenty of images show up.

Outside of the catacombs are burial grounds for other more recent family members. My mom really liked how they bury the families together.

You can see how they put all the pictures of the different family members buried in the plot together.

Hopping on another taxi, we left the catacombs to meet in front of the opera house for a street food tour.

I never watched the TV series, The Godfather, but apparently, this is the opera house that they use when shooting a dramatic death scene.

At 10:30 our food tour began with our delightful tour guide, Marco.

We enjoyed Marco's humor and generous knowledge of Sicily. The tour was four hours long but it flew by as we walked the streets and got a glimpse of insider life as we toured the markets.

We barely walked down the street before we stopped for our first taste of Sicilian street food: veal cartilage/fat. Gross. It tasted exactly like it sounds...like you're eating cartilage. I don't know how anyone finds it appealing, but to each their own. Brigham liked it, of course.

We then began our trek through the markets.

Brimming with people and produce and all sorts of fresh foods, it was exactly what I imagined a street market to be like. We also saw many different, crazy stands of fresh seafood.

Hungry anyone??

Soon we stopped again to talk to a family who makes delicious food and we were able to see the kitchen they make it in, and some of the process. It seems like everything is a family business in Sicily - that's how you survive. They work long, hard hours, but they do it together.

We ate fresh arinchina (fried rice balls with meat and peas inside, delicious!) chickpea bread, and fried potato balls with mint and parsley (good). The arinchina were the best out of all the food we tried by far.

We learned how bakers lower buckets with bread in them to customers who then put money into the bucket in payment before it's pulled back inside the apartments. Another family business where they spend day after day working together to earn a living. If you look at the blue bucket and you see how the rails having a covering behind them, that's to keep people from looking up the women's skirts. Fascinating stuff.

Our next taste of Sicily was a flat-bread type of pizza. It basically consisted of bread with tomato sauce on it that was then warmed up on the grill. Simple and good. We were told that it's a favorite of the high schoolers to pick up as a snack on the way home from school.

We headed into another part of town and journeyed into a local bar. Brigham went with Marco to grab our food to eat and Mom and I watched the local Italian men yell and smoke and argue and drink. We had a good laugh that our two, non-alcoholic, naive selves were sitting in a bar in Italy with all of these burly men. It really was a crack up.

Brigham returned with Marco and we feasted on cheese and focaccia, I tried green olives (DISGUSTING) and an Italian coke (surprisingly decent, but I was pretty thirsty) while others in our group enjoyed trying wine and beer.

Marco informed us that Sicilians often leave bars in search of good comfort food and they end up at one of these stands to enjoy a spleen sandwich.

That's right, you read that correctly. A spleen sandwich. It's made mostly from the lungs and spleen of veal. It looked creepy and tasted somewhat creepy, but not near as bad as I expected. It was kind of a mushroomy-meaty squishy type experience. They compared it to a philly-cheesesteak sandwich.

Brigham devoured his, finished mine, and ate a second one all on his own. He's truly a garbage disposal and would fit right in with the Sicilians who don't like to waste anything.

After we tried the spleen, we finished our tour off with dessert.

This is no simple canollo. It was GIANT. It spanned the entire length of my hand and was stuffed to the brim with sweet ricotta cheese. It was delicious to begin with but very rich, and by the end I was begging for mercy. I think I ate enough canolli to last a lifetime.

After we finished our dessert we heartily thanked Marco and said our goodbyes as we walked back to the cruise ship. What a fascinating, stimulating day! We saw men playing an Italian card game, scopa, in the streets, and Brigham bought me a deck of cards and learned the game once we got home and enjoys playing it with my dad and Ammon. Just like the men on the streets of Sicily.

One last night on the Costa and we prepared for final disembarkation the following morning.

Italy Trip: Day Eight - Out to Sea

Finally a day without a destination! Our tired feet and bodies were happy to relax as our ship cruised the Mediterranean.

Perusing the ship activities for our day onboard, we started out with painting t-shirts. Inspired by our recent Barcelona adventures, we each channeled our inner Gaudi for our designs.

Brigham left to explore different parts of the ship while Mom and I spent a good amount of time people watching at the pasta demonstrations. Tired of lines at this point, we opted out on the chaos and watched from a safe distance above.

We played a few card games, walked the track and enjoyed the view of the water and sunshine, Brigham and I took a ballroom class together, and then we ate.

Boy did we eat.

This ravioli dish was one of the best pastas I ate on our trip. Pork with goat cheese ravioli. Divine.

Steak with potatoes and duck.

Tandori chicken and roast lamb.

We each ordered two desserts. No shame.

That evening was Gala Night on the ship so we went to dinner dressed up and sparkly.

The servers performed for us and we clapped and twirled our napkins as they danced. Then the waiters went around and danced with those seated at their tables. I danced with our waiter before Brigham stepped in and took over so Mom could get a turn.

Later that night Brigham and I enjoyed a spectacular show of acrobatics in the theater while Mom took her throbbing shoulder to rest up for our next, and final, day of excursions.

A nice, relaxing day to recharge so we could pack more in on the morrow.

Italy Trip: Day Seven - Mallorca

I anticipated exploring Mallorca more than any other destination. Mallorca is an island out in the Meditteranean with beautiful mountains, beaches, and towns to explore. We would finally be outside of a big city and able to dig into the beautiful landscape and experience nature in another part of the world.

Originally, we planned to rent scooters to travel the island on, but with my mom's hurt shoulder we opted to rent a car instead. With high hopes - and high trepidation at driving in a foreign country - we set out to see the sites.

Starting with some high-up views of the sea and driving through narrow lanes in town, we began our tour.

Mom drove us that day and she struggled to find parking in the little town so we hopped out for just a minute to see what we could see and then we were back in the car.

And then we headed into the Serra de Tramuntana mountains.

These mountains are a UNESCO World Heritage site with plenty of hiking trails, olive/lemon/orange groves, and fabulous coastal views. I was giddy at the chance to see it all.

The road started out a bit windy and we sped through the beginnings of the mountain peaks. Soon we were back to the coastal edge and we stopped a few times to get out and admire the horizon.

The sites were beautiful! I stared down at the water's edge anxious to find one of our stops where we would be able to get down to it.

Little did I know that the rest of my day would mostly be spent seeing what I could from the passenger seat of the car.

Unfortunately, although we planned our route out ahead of time, we didn't realize how windy and narrow-laned our route actually was. Extremely slow-going and even nerve-wracking at times, we remained too high in the mountains to get down to any beaches and we continued on through some tight turns and fits with other cars.

We did pass through these cute, little Spanish villages created on the hills of the mountains.

Each town looked the same with terraces of orchards and gardens making their way down to the sea and buildings dotting the slopes. We wanted to get out and explore, but we weren't sure where to began or what to do so we continued onwards. Soon, we passed through multiple towns that all resembled each other.

After about five hours of driving, feeling grumpy and tired, we were desperate to find a bathroom and wanted food as well. We had finally made it to the city of Soller and once again struggled to find any sort of parking. Finally, locating an open spot but worried we would never be able to find our way back to it, I took a picture of the building across the street to help mark our spot before we attempted to find a bathroom and food for lunch.

Unfortunately, the restaurant a local guided us to offered a pricey menu with plenty of options that only Brigham would enjoy. Mom and I had already used the restroom and Brigham was taking his turn when we decided that we really didn't want to eat there at all. Not knowing what to do - we didn't want to be impolite and just leave after using their bathroom, something highly frowned upon in Italy without paying - and yet, feeling exhausted after hours in the car, we decided they would never see us again and that we would slip out to avoid having to pay large quantities of euros for food we had little desire to eat. Quickly walking out, we rounded the corner and waited for Brigham to realize our move and catch up with us. So embarrassed at our rude, American tourist ways, Brigham shook his head in shame as he walked with us back to the car.  I still stand by our decision, though we should have offered a couple euros for using the facilities.

We struggled with parking and knowing where to go and how to find what we needed/wanted in Soller and so we quickly abandoned the city to head back to the cruise ship. I tried to snap a quick picture of an orange orchard as we made a U-turn after heading the wrong way.














Once we made it back to Palma, we realized we still had some time. I was sorely disappointed that we hadn't made it to one beach yet so we attempted to locate one close by.

As we were searching, we drove by a cathedral and commented that it looked like a Gaudi design (since we're experts and all now) and sure enough when we looked it up later we realized it is!

Navigating the traffic and signs in a foreign country turned out to be much harder than my mom anticipated. Anxiety-ridden with the somewhat aggressive drivers and unfamiliarity of the roads around us, we never made it to a beach and instead turned the car back into the rental agency. I don't blame her one bit, as driving for over six hours on crazy windy roads in a foreign country would take a toll on anyone!

However, walking back up to the cruise ship I worked hard to keep my tears in check. I knew this was my one chance to hang out on a beach and instead of exploring Calanques and mountainsides, we ended up stuck in a car or looking for parking. For sure we saw beautiful sites, but I wanted to get my hands dirty and feet wet in them. Not just look as we passed by.

I never did make it to a beach or feel the Meditteranean Sea, and it was the first time my planning ahead of time was of no use, but I tried to push off the feelings of disappointment and frustration away and feel grateful for what I was able to see and experience. Next time, if there ever is a next time to visit Mallorca, I know a couple destinations I would check out rather than driving for hours on end.

Mom and I went to eat on the ship as Brigham left to get lunch and explore streets of Mallorca on his own for the last hour before our cruise ship left.

As we pulled out of port, we noticed an interesting shape out of the water and it looked like a neon boat riding alongside us.

Really it was a break in the clouds letting sunlight through, but the shape was perfect and we watched "the devil boat" for some time as we disembarked.

I wish I could remember what this food is, but I've forgotten. Some kind of fancy stuff for us to eat, of course. #cruiselife

After dinner we settled in for some time on the ship. The next day would be spent at sea and we all breathed a sigh of relief to have a break from gearing up for another destination in the morning.