Spleen Sandwich

Hey everybody,

It's taking me a lot longer to write these posts than it used to and I'm not sure why.  Long gone are the days where I lived a life of leisure so maybe that's why.  At dinner the other night I told my buddy Ronnie that I'm going to be starting a new job at the end of the month and he said "You work?  I thought you just traveled around and made beer."  Come on man... I have a job.  I can't travel full-time like Ralf and even he earns travel money buy undergoing medical trials.

Okay back to the topic at hand:  Our trip to Sicily.  I don't recommend taking the ferry from Malta to Sicily for the simple reason that it leaves at 6 AM.  When we told the owner of the hotel in Valletta that we were taking the ferry she scrunched up her face and said "Why aren't you flying?  It's cheaper and faster and you don't have to get up early."  Then once we actually got on the ferry Dawn and I ended up sleeping for most of the time anyway.  So much for the romance of the sea.

I was assured by a company called Siracusa Taxi that a gentleman would be waiting for us at the port in Sicily with my name printed out in bold letters on A4 paper.  When someone is so specific with their directions that they tell you the format of paper they will be using there really is no reason to doubt whether they'll show up... until they don't actually show up.  8 rings into the phone call I heard a groggy voice answer and ask who this is.  I said it's the people who he's supposed to be picking up at the port.  He mumbled something about car trouble then hung up.  This led directly to my first-ever review on TripAdvisor.

Luckily we were found another phone number for a local cab company and within twenty minutes were on our way to Siracusa and, more specifically, Ortigia. If you're not familiar with the history of Siracusa (Syracuse) you should read up on it if you have a chance.  There are stories that stretch back to 600 BC and beyond about not only Siracusa but all of Sicily.  Its central location in the Mediterranean Sea made it a strategic point of interest for Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Byzantines... you name it.  Ortigia is a small island off the southeast coast which can aptly be described as Siracusa's old town.  There are warrens of narrow streets leading to larger walking boulevards with beautiful architecture and a coast side ring road with beautiful views of the sea.  It's fairly touristy but with enough quiet alleyways so you feel like you can get away from everything except the construction noise.  As our B&B host Renato said, "Ortigia is old.  Things break."  Speaking of old, we met Mark in Ortigia (he's going to love that one).  Plus Lee, Anna and their daughter future MMA champion Indi so we had the gang all together for our week in Sicily.

Wine tasting in Ragusa

Our first destination outside of Siracusa was the hilltop city of Ragusa.  Lee and Anna's main goal for the week was to give Indi as much beach time as possible so we dropped them off on the coast as the rest of us drove a couple of hours into the hills and mountains of southeastern Sicily.  Ragusa Ibla (the old town) is a UNESCO world heritage site with a dramatic skyline and wide walking streets snaking from a large central cathedral.  It was strangely quiet and tourist-free in mid afternoon which was a nice change from Ortigia.  After lunch we dove into some wine tasting of various types of Nero D'Avola which is the typical varietal from that area of Sicily and one of my favorites.  Spending the afternoon sitting around with a group of friends eating gelato and drinking wine... things could be worse.  On the drive back we decided to stop by the town of Noto even though when I mentioned it to Renato he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Eh... it's just one street," and it turns out he was right.  We spent more time driving around town trying to find parking than we did walking down the main promenade.  Sure it had some nice architecture and a strikingly frescoed cathedral but that description probably fits half the towns in Italy.

Having a rental car is both a curse and a blessing.  You have the freedom to go just about anywhere but you also feel like you have to make your vehicular investment worthwhile.  We spent about five hours in the car the next day but it was completely worth it to visit Mount Etna and, to a lesser extent, Taormina.  Honestly, I just can't get enough volcanoes in my life.  Mountains of fire and gas filled with a sort of primal rage that could erupt at any moment.  Like Stefano.  Maybe what I'm feeling is a brotherly bond with volcanoes.

Dawn on a crater's edge

About halfway up Etna there's a base camp at Rifugio Sapienza comprised of a surprisingly huge car park packed with tour buses, restaurants, food stalls and souvenir shops.  From there Mark, Dawn and I took a wonky 15-minute tram ride up to the 2600 meter mark of the mountain after which you can hike the rest of the way.  We didn't have enough time to hike all the way up to the top of Etna but we did climb up one of the nearby craters.  It was windy and frigid but we had a beautiful clear view all the way out to Sicily's eastern coast.  The terrain shifted constantly between black ash and rust-colored rock contrasting with a bright blue sky.  The temps were well below 10 degrees Celsius due to the wind chill.   Once you dropped a bit into the crater the temperature actually became quite warm as we were shielded from the wind heated up by steam emanating from under the rocks.

After making our way back down the volcano it was an hour drive to the ancient resort town of Taormina, then another twenty minutes looping back around the labyrinthine roads because of one wrong turn.  Some of you may have heard of Taormina since it is arguably Sicily's most famous resort town and the site of a recent G7 summit.  The town itself sits in a small bowl directly atop the Mediterranean that looks like it was chiseled right out of the cliff side.  I'm not sure how these ancient builders decided on the sites where they were going to found new cities.  Did smooth, flat valleys just become too easy so they decided they needed more of a challenge?  Or maybe they just said screw it, the view is awesome, we'll figure out how to make it work later.  Anyhow whatever they did it seems to have worked because it is a beautiful village that is deservedly a tourist hotspot although it's been transformed into more of an outdoor shopping mall with an asterisk denoting its history.  It was absolutely packed.  Dawn and I ducked out to seek refuge inside the old Greek Amphitheater and I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've ever gone *inside* a tourist attraction to get *away* from tourists.  It was absolutely worthwhile on its own though considering that it's still a functioning venue after over 2000 years of use.  We were treated to a dramatic skyline and unobstructed 270-degree views of the sea over the cliffside from almost everywhere in the theater.  On our way out we saw a foot-long cannolo at a gelato place which will likely end up being my enduring memory of Taormina.

Valley of the Temples

The following day we said goodbye to Ortigia but not before visiting the central cathedral which was actually built on top of an ancient temple of Athena from 500 BCE.  While the rest of the crew headed directly to Palermo, Dawn, Mark and I decided to take a few hours on a long detour to southwest Sicily to visit the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento.  Now I know that you all know how much I love these ancient cities from how I gushed in my last post about the megaliths in Malta but I'm telling you there is nothing like the feeling that you're traveling through history.  Valle dei Templi was much larger than I anticipated (at least a couple of miles across) and it felt like you were walking through the streets of ancient Agrigentum.  There were actually 200K inhabitants in the ancient city compared to only 70K that currently live in Agrigento.  The massive temples are largely well-preserved with the Temple of Concordia being the best of the bunch, although it's difficult to beat the experience of 360-degree views from the Temple of Juno.  Throughout the park you can see depictions of the placement of houses and how the temples loomed over each of the neighborhoods.  The ruins of a necropolis are clearly visible along the main walking route along with other statues and monuments.  The photos will do a better job of explaining than I ever will.  Mark was absolutely glowing in archaeology heaven.  It was difficult to tear ourselves away from that place but a leisurely drive through the Sicilian countryside and along its turquoise coast proved a pleasant respite before the chaos of Palermo.

Mmm... spleen

Rich struck the jackpot and found us a four-bedroom rental in the center of the old town with a rooftop terrace.  The next morning I embarked with Dawn, Rich and Cari on a Palermo street food tour led by a very passionate local named Giorgio.  In Palermo it's an everyday tradition for locals to dine on cheap street bites costing no more than a couple of Euros.  The different types of street food are intimately associated with the varied history of Palermo; a mixture of Middle Eastern, African and Italian influences.  Many of the different types of street food, especially those featuring offal, grew out of the need for the poor to incorporate fats and proteins into their diets.  After stopping at a small gastronomia featuring various croquettes, focaccine, arancini and pizzette, we headed to one of Palermo's three main markets:  Il Capo.  The first thing Giorgio had us try from a street cart was frittola which is mostly fried veal innards.  There's a couple of different ways you can try it but the most typical is to have the vendor dig them out of the cart by hand and slap them into your hand with a piece of paper.  He then squeezes some lemon and pepper and you're off to the races.  It reminded me a lot of tripe, which I also love.  We then moved over to the fishmonger where we ended up buying three whole fish to cook back at the house for dinner and a fresh seafood salad.  Giorgio then brought us to a wine shop to advise us on a few bottles to have with dinner.  He initially refused to help us select any sort of red wine since we had just bought fish so we had to promise him that we absolutely would not drink the red wine with the fish.  Next on the tour was a personal highlight for me:  Panino con Milza, also known as Spleen Sandwich.  It's actually a combination of boiled spleen and liver that is then deep fried and slapped into a bread roll.  Magical.  The last stop on the tour was Cafe Stagnitta where they roast their own coffee, craft their own gelato and make housemade granita (shaved ice).  The almond granita was spectacular which is why Dawn and I returned three days in a row.  In the evening we took full advantage of the kitchen and rooftop deck by putting together a massive feast which, predictably for this crowd, devolved into a drunken shit show.

Waking up with a crippling hangover was not part of my original genius plan to surprise Dawn on her birthday.  Luckily my surprise plan did not involve anything more than riding along the Sicilian coast for a few hours on a gommone (rubber dinghy).  We drove to the nearby beach town of Mondello where we met our guide Luigi, a chubby, affable local whose services I would recommend to anyone traveling to Palermo (see Boat Service Mondello on TripAdvisor).  He also recommended the best espresso I had in Sicily which is also worth a side trip to Mondello on its own.  Anyhow, the boat tour lasted three hours along crystal clear water on the northeastern Sicilian coast.  Luigi took us inside a cave to go swimming then over to the small resort town then over to Sferracavallo where we ran into a couple of his buddies that were diving for "minchia di mare" which can be translated from Sicilian as "sea dick".  I guess if you want to be pedantic we can refer to them by their actual name of sea cucumbers and they can sell in Asian markets for a boatload of money.  We then zoomed around the strangely named Isola delle Femmine (Women's Island) which was populated only by seagulls before heading back to Mondello for lunch.  We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around Palermo visiting a couple of old churches and, of course, stopping for a granita.  Rich and Cari kindly provided a birthday cake and then we went out for a celebratory dinner to cap off a memorable day (I hope).

 The next day marked the end of our Sicilian adventure and unfortunately when we had to say goodbye to our friends.  What is it about last days that makes them linger so slowly, with moments stretching longer than they should until a sudden rush to leave at the end?  Maybe that's how they get processed in my mind.  I was sorry to leave the gang but solid in the knowledge that I'd see them again in the next year or two.  After all, Rich and I have a streak to maintain.

I would absolutely return to Sicily in a heartbeat.  The countryside is beautiful, the food and wine are good, the water is fantastic and we only scratched the surface on its history.  Vacation time is limited, though, so next stop:  Rome and then a few days in Tuscany with the Brescis.  Without further ado, here are the Sicilian pics (you might have to click the caption under the photo below):

Spleen Sandwich

Take 'er easy,
Dave

5000 years ago...

Hey everybody,

We were already planning our next vacation on our flight back from Nicaragua.  Dawn has had a bug in her ear (bahahaha) about Malta for a while ever since reading about it and finding out it was a location for the first couple of seasons of Game of Thrones.  We could easily jump over from Malta to Sicily and after that there was an implied threat of death or at minimum debilitating pain if we did not spend at least a couple of days in Rome.  Itinerary set:  It's go time.  And... almost exactly one month after we booked our flight the Azure Window collapsed.

Mdina

Travel tip #56:  Do not rent a car in a country that has left-side driving if you're running on 27 hours with no sleep and it's raining.  I do these things for you, dear reader, so that you may learn from my mistakes.  Our desperation was such that we resorted to having Dawn navigate to our BnB.  Yes, I know... it sent chills down my spine too.  We booked a place right outside of Rabat with a lovely pool which doubled as a prolific mosquito breeding ground.  Our first days were a dreary, rainy, jetlag-induced haze mostly wandering around Rabat and Mdina.  The Rabat city center is a labyrinth of narrow streets leading to the church of St. Paul in the center.  The roads curve and intersect at odd angles so when you're driving it's impossible to know if anything is coming at you from around the corner.  We spent quite a bit of time wandering grocery stores and bakeries hunting for snacks and finding things like chicken chips, oreo donuts, some unpronounceable spice crackers and Malta's famous pastizzi: Small puff pastries filled with spinach or ricotta or meat.  You can also upgrade to a qassatat which is a 2 lb pie that's filled with ricotta and leaves you feeling like you ingested a bag of cement.  In a good way.  After that we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the tiny medieval village of Mdina, whose narrow streets and walled fortifications you can probably thoroughly explore in less than a couple of hours.  I don't know what it is about walled cities that is so damned cool.  Maybe it's that you can immerse yourself in these cobblestone labyrinths until you find a deserted stretch where you can truly imagine what it was like to walk these streets hundreds of years ago.

Ħaġar Qim

Stormy weather, a busted airplane and a six hour delay couldn't keep Rich and Cari out of Malta.  Our first rainy day together we met at the famed 5000 year-old megaliths of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra.  They didn't arrive in time to enjoy the 4D introductory movie that Dawn and I were lucky to experience.  What makes it 4D you ask?  Well, when they simulate a storm by spraying mist in your face using high-powered fans... that's 4D.  Honestly, though, the movie was surprisingly informative although it paled in comparison to the actual experience of walking through the megaliths.  Both temple structures were built in approximately 3500 BCE and remained in use for 1000 years.  The majority of construction consisted of large stone slabs which they believe were hauled up either on stone bearings or by rope and pulley on earthen mounds.  Some of the stones and pigments used in construction were imported from as far as Sicily and mainland Italy.  Researchers have also uncovered evidence of advanced astronomy and calendaring techniques in the temple ruins.  The most amazing thing about the structures, however, was the ability to walk through and touch history.  Maybe it's a personal quirk but I felt chills when laying my hands on a slab that was carved by human beings 5000 years ago; people with loves, hopes, and beliefs strong enough to build these structures using the most basic of tools.  There's something about actually touching these structures that eliminates the distance that is sometimes present when admiring other art forms or artifacts.  You can make a loose connection with a person that actually carved this stone; finding a common thread to bind you to a population that lived a hundred generations before.  The incredible Ħal-Saflieni Hypogeum is another such place.  Only groups of 20 people max are allowed to visit this underground wonder and we were unfortunately forbidden from taking pictures.  You have to walk through a type of climate-controlled airlock before entering and the sections are only lit when your group approaches and dimmed as you leave.  The entire structure is a mixture of underground dwellings as well as burial chambers that dates back to the same period as Ħaġar Qim.  The rooms were chiseled from stone in similar fashion to the megalithic temples and it is absolutely insane to think that this hypogeum was entirely chiseled out of stone using only stone tools.  The walls of certain chambers are lined with red ochre paintings whose tincture they believe to have been imported from Sicily.  On an unrelated note we may have enjoyed the best espresso of our three week trip in a random coffee shop just outside the Hypogeum entrance.  The rest of the afternoon involved a short trip in our trusty Toyota Yaris to the picturesque fishing village of Marsaxlokk where we walked along the waterfront and semi-enjoyed a mediocre seafood meal.  After that it was on to Vittoriosa, an old, fortified medieval city directly across from Valletta.  Luxury multi-million dollar yachts line its harbor with Fort St. Angelo and fantastic views of Valletta at its head.

My favorite text message

The next day we packed our bags and took off toward the island of Gozo in the midst of a super storm on the main island.  I would like to add another public service announcement about driving in Valletta:  Don't do it.  We had to drive into the city to pick up Rich and Cari and let me just make the point that cities that are older than 150 years were not built to accommodate automotive traffic.  If someone has to make a three-point turn just to make a right turn, maybe your streets are too narrow.  If a street is barely wide enough to accommodate a Toyota Yaris, maybe you should make it one-way.  At one point one of the streets just... ended.  We had to back up in reverse for a hundred yards avoiding pedestrians and hoping we didn't get t-boned by cross traffic.  A lot of f-bombs were thrown and I may have yelled at Dawn at some point (I apologized afterward so calm down).  The two-hour drive to the ferry was boring by comparison and it was a short 20-minute boat ride to the island of Gozo.  The four of us rented an old farmhouse in San Lawrenz toward the west side of the island near the former Azure Window.  I thought the farmhouse would be in the middle of nowhere but we were actually in the center of a small village facing a somewhat busy road and (to Rich and Cari's chagrin) a metalworking shop that opened at 7AM directly facing their room.  The farmhouse itself was humongous with stone walls, tile floors, a giant kitchen and a nice pool.  Dawn thought it was creepy.  I asked our host Kevin how hard it would be to get a cab back to the place if we were out drinking and he replied with possibly my favorite text message ever.  We went to a local grocery, bought too much stuff for three days and spent the rest of the evening enjoying Rich's newfound penchant for making gin and tonic.

I'd like to take a brief interlude to discuss one of my favorite things about Malta:  The names of stuff.  Now I freely admit that I have no idea how to properly pronounce any of these words but how can you say "Dingli" and not laugh?  Seriously, just try and pronounce some of this stuff and tell me you don't enjoy it.  Ggantija.  Marsaxlokk.  Dwejra.  Rabat.  Marsalforn.  It's so fun for your mouth!  It's like eating pop rocks!  Dingli.  Sliema.  Gozo.  Marsalforn.  Maaaarsalfooorn.  That one is my favorite.

We started our first full day in Gozo at 2PM due to the aforementioned gin and tonics and embraced the hair of the dog by visiting the Lord Chambray brewery.  It was surprisingly well-equipped for a tiny microbrewery and they told us they distribute not only in Malta but also internationally.  The beers were just OK, though, and this proved to be an omen for the majority of microbrews we were to sample on the trip.  Our next stop was the Unesco world heritage site of Ggantija, another set of megalithic temples dating back to 5600 years ago.  These structures were much larger than the ones we visited previously but also much less well-maintained.  You'll be able to see from the picture that most of the stone structures have eroded considerably although still inspiring amazement.  We continued to the north coast of the island to visit the salt pans near Marsalforn which are essentially squares and rectangles carved directly into the flat surface of the cliffside.  From there it was a short trip (well... everything is a short trip on Gozo) to the main city of Victoria for a visit to the Cittadella in the center of town.  This old fortress has everything you would want in a medieval fortification:  360-degree views, a church, and most importantly cannons.  The stone structures are a beautiful sandy color that is bright even on an overcast day.  We ate street-side pastizzi and ftira then drove to Dwejra for a sunset on the cliffside.

The next day we took the morning ferry to the small island of Comino which is home to one of the hundreds of locations in the world that call themselves the Blue Lagoon.  This particular Blue Lagoon, while beautiful, had an ambiance reminiscent of Daytona Beach during spring break.  The lagoon was pouring over with swimmers and sunbathers covered every square inch of the surrounding hillsides.  Permanent food stall lined the footpaths near the pier leading to and from the lagoon.  We legged it out of there for a long hike around the island and found an isolated spot called Crystal Lagoon where we could go for a swim in peace.  We found another crappy beach on the north side of the island and then stopped for the worst lunch of our trip at Comino's only hotel.  We made it back to the Blue Lagoon by mid-afternoon for a quick swim before braving the free-for-all on the pier for the afternoon ferry back to Gozo.  Anonymity and anxiety really do bring out the worst in people, especially when there's limited seating.  I wish we could've seen the lagoon with only about 1/4 of the tourists because it really is gorgeous.  I think the highlight of the day for me was the Crystal Lagoon or maybe the Lampuki pie at dinner.  Lampuuuuki.

Our last day in Malta found us heading back to the capital Valletta on the main island for its yearly Notte Bianca festival.  Rich and I dropped off our trusty Toyota Yaris at the airport and made it back to the city in time to meet the ladies for a fancy late lunch of Maltese antipasto.  Most of the streets had been restricted to pedestrian traffic as floats and stands were being prepared throughout the town.  We had drinks at a bar whose table service was on a street that sloped 30 degrees and then moved on to an accidental 7-course meal that lasted over two hours.  It was probably our best meal in Malta even though we didn't know it was going to be 7 courses so if you find yourself in Valletta make sure to eat at Legligin.  Legligin.  Legliiiiigin.  Anyhow we spent the rest of the night wandering down crowded streets enjoying open-air art exhibits and all kinds of music from gospel to rock to techno.  The stores and shops were all open and we walked by a few places offering free shows.  Then it started to rain so we went to bed and thus ended our time in Malta.

Here's a short video with a sort of walking tour of some of the places we visited on our trip.  You're probably better off clicking into YouTube and turning up to HD:

 

Malta is definitely worth visiting.  One week was a good amount of time since we saw just about everything we wanted to see except for the Blue Grotto.  That was due to the weather, though, not to a lack of time.  Everybody speaks English with an accent that sounds almost middle eastern and when they speak Maltese about a third of the words sound just like Italian.  The food is good, the sea is beautiful, it's not expensive, and most of all it has an incredible history.  But most of all... Maaaarsalfooorn.

Next up, Sicily.  In the meantime, click below for the pics from Malta:

5000 years ago...

Take 'er easy,
Dave