We visited about seven different towns/cities while we were in Sicily. Starting off with Palermo...
This picture basically describes Palermo much better than i could: need i say more?! Sicily is known for its deserts and we found out why while we were there. I can honestly say that i had the best canoli i have ever had while in Sicily, and 3 others that were good too ;)It was also raining while we were there. No accutaly it was off and on poring! But you all know how i love rain and i found a few others (Maggie and Emily) to soak it up with me. Aka, we played in the rain in Sicily. We still did all of the site visits and such that were planned for the day so we played in the rain while exploring an old castle in Erice and an out door theatre built in ancient times. The theatre had such good acoostics that you could be sitting on the top steps with rain and wind and still hear the speaker on stage!
We stayed at a hotel in Corleone which is on the side of a hill and has a beautiful view of the rolling hills and crops that make up Sicily. Saturday we learned about the Mafia. Which so you all know is still alive and working. If fact it still has a hold of the majority of the business, land, and money in Sicily. People still live in fear for their lives and lively hood because of the power the Mafia still has over the government in Sicily.
We met the brother of one of Sicily's hero's. Peppino faught for the rights of the people and spoke out loud agains the power and control that the Mafia has. He unfortunately was murdered a few years ago (thats recent!!) and we heard his story from his brother. I thought this poster exxplained the position he held in the eyes of the anti-Mafia people in Sicily.We then went to Portella della Ginestra which is a bigg grassy area where all of the farmers in Sicily have been meeting and celebrating May Day (May 1st) together for hundreds of years! May 1, 1947 however was different. The Mafia decided to attack the farmers on that day while they were altogether. It is a long story but we heard it from 3 old men who survived the massacre when when they were young. It was very moving and showed us all the reality of
the Sicilians lives. One of the old men left us with some wise words: people can take away your freedom, your life, your food, your family, but they cannot take away your knowledge, so study hard and learn lots!We also stopped by Monreale on Saturday to see one of the cathedrals. It was or course breathtaking but what was even better was the view from the very top, like ALL the way up! I think it was the tallest building in Monreale:which is right on the coast. And it had just cleared up after all the rain!
Sunday we woke up bright and early and headed to a vineyard. It was one of a few pieces of land that was taken away from the Mafia by the government. No one dared use the land for fear the Mafia would come after them but a few farmers stood up not too long ago and cultivated the land.
No one in the town talks to them, again, for fear of the Mafia. So Italy send students down to help the farmers pick the grapes and have people around, since they are being so isolated but the fear people have. We were not able to pick grapes with them because of all the rain but it was still awesome to see the hard work put in by these modern day 'heros' standing up and fighting for what is right.
Our trip home started at 4:00pm and did not end untill 6:30am. We took a sleeper train from Sicily to Florence... a very long train ride. But it was pretty fun anyway! I love trains and i love boats. Do you know that trians can go on boats? I did not know that until this trip! The boat ride from Sicily to Italy is maybe 20 minutes but just too long for a bridge so we took a trian on a boat :)
It was a long trip and i am very tired today even though Maggie documented me getting some sleep on the train i did not get that much ;) It was a very good weekend!!LOVE YOU!
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