All Roads Lead To Favara

Saturday morning we woke up early in L'Hotel de la Residence to the smell of freshly baked bread. Emmanuel, the owner, wakes up every morning at 5 to bake fresh bread for his guests. When we went down for breakfast he brought us wonderful coffee, a carafe of orange juice and this bread that he had just baked. There were croissants, mini baguettes and buns with chocolate baked inside.

After we finished our breakfast, we thanked Emmanuel and climbed in the cab that had come for us and headed off to the airport. Our taxi driver was very friendly – chatting away to Miyuki in French once he realized she understood him and not looking at the traffic. He sped and tailgated all the way to the airport. Fortunately it was 7am on a Saturday and there was not too much traffic. The wait for the plane was mostly uneventful except for two things: Miyuki met a frenchman who was dressed as a nun – yes, I said nun – and who was carrying a bicycle horn. When Miyuki went to ask if she could take his picture he said yes but only if she honked his horn! We also met a couple of Canadian girls from Quebec who were working in Paris as chiropractors and were off to Palermo for the weekend. We chatted while we waited for the plane about Canada, Paris, Cegep, travel, work and life in general. Unfortunately we didn't get to sit with them on the plane or see them afterwards but we wish them a good weekend in Paris,
When we got off the plane in Trapani we were hit with a wave of heat that surrounded us like a blanket. It was not as humid as Paris had been but OMG it was hot. When we got in our rental car, a cute little Ford Fiesta with (insert sounds of angels singing here) air conditioning, the dashboard had a reading for the outdoor temperature and it was 39 degrees. With a few directions from the information desk we drove off towards Agrigento and then on to Delia with me at the wheel. Just a few comments first about driving in Sicily:
1. On the autostrada you take the speed limit and multiply it by 1.5 or 2 (or more) and that is how fast you drive.
2. You MUST drive in the right lane. The left lane is most definitely just for passing.
People pass you all the time. Even if it is only one lane in either direction and other cars are coming.
3. Never wait for anyone to give you space to cut in – that will never happen – just go.
4. People use their horns here more than at home but not as much as I expected.
5. Driving in Sicily takes balls, patience, and a certain 'go with the flow' attitude but it can be fun!

As we barrelled down the autostrada I found myself going faster that I had ever driven before (150ks!) just to keep up. The signage on the autostrada and state highways (strada statate) is good but when you get off onto local roads you are on your own! We used Leslie's GPS which was a godsend in some respects and a headache in others. We would never have found our couchsurfing house without it but several times it directed us to roads that were blocked off for construction. And, apparently in Sicily construction happens very very slowly. We got lost 4 or 5 times and had to stop for directions on several occasions. The directions were sometimes good, sometimes not so good but always given with certainty and friendliness. One lady working a fruit stand in a town whose name I never did get, gave us the best directions drawing us a map and then giving us a handful of fresh apricots!

The land in Sicily is a real dichotomy – every possible bit of land is cultivated but those parts that are not are wild and rough and raw. Parts are desert dry and others are lush and green with trees and bushes that are covered with pink or white flowers. We saw huge cactus plants growing in rows along the side of the road and huge palm trees along the side of the autostrada. The autostrada is beautiful and smooth – perfect highway for travelling on – but when you get on to the side roads everything changes. Signs disappear, they are narrow – sometimes just barely wider than one car width – the blacktop is bumpy and cracked. The carabinieri (the Italian version of the RCMP) are everywhere yet people drive very fast and what we would consider recklessly without being pulled over. Yet I have been pulled over twice, both times I wasn't speeding or breaking any laws as far as I could tell. When they realized that I didn't speak Italian, they let me go with a “Prego”.

We drove south from Trapani towards Agrigento hoping to find the road to Delia. As we drove through Agrigento we saw the ancient Greek temples up on the hill that overlooks the sea. The sight was stunning. Nick set the GPS to take us to our first “couch” in Delia, northeast of Agrigento. This is when we had our first problem with the GPS. We followed the directions very carefully and they took us to a highway that was blocked off. We followed the detour the only way we could and ended up in an area called Favara. There is nothing there but a state courthouse (which resembles a prison more than anything else) and a children's clothing store. We reset the GPS to give us a different route and it took us to ... Favara. Then we tried driving to another town and set the GPS again which took us to ... Favara. Finally we drove quite a distance away to yet another town, reset the GPS and this time, after driving through farmers' fields and past goats and donkeys and up and down hills we finally found Delia and the home of our first host, Marilena and her mother Giovana. Marilena is an architect who was unable to find work in her field so now she teaches art history in a high school in Enna. She lives with her widowed mother and she has three brothers: one lives in Toronto, another one lives in Delia and practices radiology and nuclear medicine and her third brother runs the family farm. Marilena gave us the whole third floor to ourselves complete with a balcony with the most stunning 180 degree views of the fields and hills of central Sicily. The colours were rich and beautiful. I know people talk about the colours in Tuscany but I can't imagine they are any more brilliant than in Sicily. Marilena made us feel so welcome. Her mother cooked wonderful food for us and we sat up and talked all evening. Giovana, Marilena told us, was afraid of having strangers in her home but you would never have known from the way she treated us. She made sure we had more than enough to eat all the time and she gave us Saint Antonio talismans to keep us safe as we are driving. On our last day staying with Marilena and her mother they took us to their farm. Marilena walked around with us and we picked peaches, apricots, mulberries, nectarines, plums, and so many other things, I don't remember them all. There were orchids growing wild on the ground, and olives and oranges that were not ready to be picked yet. There were 5 very friendly farm dogs, 14 farm cats and numerous chickens. Marilena's sister-in-law took us to see all the animals and fed us wonderful gelato. Afterwards we sat eating the fresh fruit (which is far more delicious than any fruit I have ever had) and watched the sun go down and the various kittens playing on the patio. It was a spectacular day.

Before we left Marilena, we made a trip back to Agrigento and toured the Valle di Templi or the Valley of the Temples. This is an ironic name as all 5 temples sit on the top of the hillside. We had an excellent tour by a guide who was originally from New Jersey. I don't remember everything that she told us but it was extremely interesting and thorough. We were driven to the top of the hillside and then we walked from temple to temple as she explained what we were seeing. As I said, I don't remember everything she said but I do remember how often the Sicilians were invaded – by the Greeks, the Cartheginians, the Spanish, the Normans, other Italians, and of course the British, Canadians and the Americans during WWII. It was an awe inspiring feeling to walk on the stones that had been placed there well over 2000 years before.

After our tour of the temples, we drove to the beach. We started off looking for the Strada di Turki (the Turkish Steps) which are very famous and supposed to be very beautiful. Unfortunately there was no parking to be had so we drove east until we found the next beach, parked the car and found ourselves a spot on the beautiful sandy beach. We all went in swimming but by that time I was already quite sunburned so I covered myself up and sat on the beach looking a bit like a colourful mummy. Miyuki fit right in in her colourful bikini but Nick and I absolutely looked like tourists. Italian men do not have the aversion to the Speedo that North American men do, and I would say that Italians – or at least the ones that were on that beach – are far more comfortable with their bodies that North Americans, and they are also more comfortable with their sexuality as we saw several couples making out on the beach to a degree that would be frowned on at home.

During our drive around Agrigento, we got twisted and turned around in a very narrow street. We were looking for the piazza and as we drove up the street it twisted and turned and got narrower and narrower. Finally we were stuck. There was nothing to do but back up. I had no more that two inches on either side of the car and as I slowly backed down the street I caught the side mirror on the stone wall and popped off the back. A group of men – immigrants from Africa – came out and using sign language helped me to back down the street. Then they and Nick picked up the back of the mirror and with great discussion that jumped between Sicilian, Italian, English and their own language they finally were able to put the mirror back together. Later we discovered a lovely scratch on the side of the car. Since then I have scratched it one more time and I expect there will be more before we leave Italy.

Once again we set the GPS to take us back to Delia and where did we end up???? In Favara. I think I will have nightmares about Favara for the rest of the trip.