Sicily-Part Tre- Cefalu

On the latter part of the trip, after spending a fun day in a small hilltop town called Castiglione di Sicilia, we drove over to the northern coast to a small town called Cefalu, yet another ancient town established by the Greeks but then under Roman, Arab, and Norman domination ( I probably forgot a few). The town is planted between the sea and a huge rock (La Rocca, with remains of a castle and ancient temple on top) with a very oversized Normal Cathedral. For our movie buff friends ( and there are a few :-)), the water scenes in Cinema Paradiso were filmed here (we watched the movie after coming home and immediately recognized the former fishing village beachfront). Anyways, here we just relaxed for a view days, discovered REALLY good cannoli, made friends with some locals and generally just enjoyed ourselves. We stayed at an awesome apartment with a huge balcony on the roof- the first day was a bit windy, but we fully enjoyed the views the second day.
Since returning home, after much asking around we did discover a great Sicilian pasticceria which is even walking distance from us (of course you find the greatest places right before you leave, but for any potential visitors it is called Il Siciliano on Piazza Acilia).
Also, I have been attempting to make caponata (an eggplant appetizer dish), and although it has turned out very well, it has not even come close to what we had in Cefalu. I will post a recipe once I am happy with it ( which is likely to be never).
Sadly, we never made it to Palermo-- but that just means that we will have to return ( hope you are ready Aaron!)

Sicily- Part Due- Snow and Beach

A Sicily trip with kids cannot be complete without a visit to Etna. We went to one of the ski bases and played in the snow. In better weather one can take the ski lift up even higher and take a guided tour at the top. The vulcano is active- Mikael and Aaron spotted some lava flow one evening on their walk and were VERY excited- but apparently this has been the case every day for the last year. There was a picture of the building (Refugio Sapienza) where we ate lunch surrounded by lava flow after an eruption in 2001! And what else to do after a morning of sledding but head to the beach and play in the sand.

Sicily- Part Uno- Taormina

So as our last hurrah as our time nears the end in Italy was a vacation to Sicily. Just to make the trip more interesting we dragged my dear medical school friend Aaron along and off we were to beautiful sunny Sicilia! We had a great time, but imagine our surprise when our first night there it snowed!!! Ok, we were on the slopes of Mount Etna, but not THAT high. Our first day we went to see Taormina, famous for its Greek Theatre and its beautiful views. Unfortunately it rained on/off the entire day, which did not stop us, but the pictures do leave some to be desired. We had a fun meal at La Botte and had to have our first try at Sicilian deserts ( which include the famous cannolo, but also all things pistachio and of course their almond paste delicacies). We also loved the public gardens (Villa Comunale) donated to Taormina by an English woman and complete with something called the Beehive- a chinese pagoda looking like structure.