OK, so Kristen already talked about the single most important thing in Sicily:
the food. But there is a second reason people visit Sicily:
the culture. Sicily is sometimes referred to as "the cradle of civilization", and now we understand why. Here's an abbreviated timeline of the island's history and rulers:
First Settlers (1250 BC) - Greeks (735-580 BC) - Romans (241 BC-470 AD) - Turks (535-827 AD)
Arabs (827-965 AD) - Normans (1059-1266 AD) - Spaniards (1266-1860 AD) - Italy (1861 AD)
So the descendants of modern-day Sicilians are basically Phoenician-Carthaginian-Greek-Roman-Turkish-Arab-French-Spanish...whooo! The mixing of all these cultures, with a little Mafia influence thrown in since the 1950's (especially), has resulted in a pretty interested bunch of people living on this small island. We found Sicilians to be kind of suspicious, watching your every move, not being very friendly at first (like New Yorkers), but seemingly kind down deep. At first glance the country appears dirty and rundown in most places, and people are obviously poorer than in northern Italy. But the mix of cultures presents a unique experience whether you're visiting ancient ruins, walking in cities with buildings constructed in every imaginable architectural type, or eating food ranging from traditional Italian dishes to Middle-eastern couscous.
Here are a few pictures of some things that we found interesting in Sicily:
Greek Temple at Segesta. Figured I'd start with something about as far back as you can go. Well not really though, but I'll blog later about Segesta because this place is really interesting in and of itself. Ruins like this are common all around Sicily. This site was near us and is considered one of the best.
View from our apartment in Castellamare del Golfo. Sicily is a very mountainous island with cities built just about everywhere the cliffs allow. Castellamare del Golfo is a small city on the sea located very near the entrance to the Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro, which is why we chose this location.
A pretty typical highway in Sicily. Driving was fun (outside of Palermo!) with roads crossing farm valleys on winding bridges and running over rocky hillsides. A beautiful countryside to drive through, albeit very different from the wilderness we experienced on our trip to Sardinia last summer.
Coastal trail at Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro. One of the things we planned to do while visiting Sicily was to hike at this nature reserve. Most people don't go to Sicily for the outdoors...but we are not most people! I'll blog another time about Zingaro because we have lots of great photos to share.
Wildflower meadow in Segesta. We picked a great time of year to visit Sicily. Again, not the typical time that people visit Sicily because the weather is still a bit cold and unpredictable. We had to plan our days around the weather, dodging rain and hail, taking advantage of the sunny moments. But by coming to Sicily in early spring we were treated with wildflowers in full bloom all across the island.
Wild fennel...it grows "everywhere" in Sicily! And it was one of the plants in full bloom while we were there. Fennel ("finocchio" in Italian) is incorporated into a lot of dishes in Sicilian cuisine. An unusual flavor in some dishes, it tastes kind of like a mixture between rye seeds and licorice, I really like it. I remember my mom frying it up with garlic when I was a kid. I think maybe the taste of finocchio must be in my DNA.
Salt is another important stable in Sicily. The salt flats in Trapani are ancient, some of the oldest in the world. They are still making salt today using those ancient methods. The salt flats are dotted with this image: piles of white salt drying under clay-colored tiles and red-capped windmills that power the mills to grind the salt.
Just south of the salt flats is the famous city of Marsala. We went down there for lunch when the rains let loose ending our day of birding around the flats (an excellent place for finding birds in Sicily). Famous for it's Marsala wine and many dishes prepared with it, the city was heavily bombed in WWII because Sicily was used by the Allied Forces to invade Italy. Fortunately a lot of buildings survived (or were restored).
Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Once a great city it is now well past it's heyday. Still, Palermo is a very interesting city worthy it's own blog post another time.
That's about it for now...but I'll make sure to follow-up with more photos of the places where we spent most of our time.
Green-veined Whites are also super abundant. You'll find tons of them flickering in the sun anywhere you find blooming flowers. They seem to really like anything purple, typical of most butterflies. From the top these butterflies aren't all that special, just plain white mostly, but the underside of their wings is patterned with green and yellow.
Another butterfly with really different coloration on the top and bottom of its wings is the appropriately named Orange Tip. This very small butterfly is often seen fluttering down the trails with its orange wings glowing against the grey rocks of the Carso, but you seldom see them being still for long. I was lucky to find this one feeding on the same purple flowers that were full of Green-veined Whites.
Common Brimstones are another butterfly that doesn't like to stay still long. Most of the time they are a flashing blur or a distant patch of yellow-green on purple flowers. Once in a while they might happen to land in front of your lens for a lucky closeup.
Over the ages Palermo has been one of the world's most important cities. It was once the largest city in the Arab world. During the 13th Century, it was considered the most important city in Europe. Situated at the crossroads of the major sea trade routes between Asia, Africa and Europe, Palermo was in the perfect location for commerce. At one time, most of the world's coffee, salt and silk likely passed through this small port city.
If you've read our previous blog post - Sicily (Cultural Edition) - you know that the island has a long history of influence by different cultures. One visit to the ruins at Segesta and you get to experience most of the major cultural influences in one place! Segesta is situated on a small mountain surrounded by rolling hills, a high point in the area that was the perfect place to build temples.
A little bit further up the trail and it all changes again as quickly as the Greek temple rose above the cave-dwellings. By 260 BC the Romans had conquered Sicily and began building their own cities and temples, where else, directly above the Greek city at Segesta. It was fascinating watching the engravings in the stones along the trail change from Greek to Roman. A walk through history on one short trail up a small hill.
But it doesn't end here. Remember, the Normans and Arabs also conquered Sicily at different times in history and stamped their own influences on the developing Sicilian culture. Standing next to the Roman amphitheater at the top of Segesta is a Muslim mosque built directly on top of the Roman ruins. Well, technically, the Muslims built their mosque on top of the Norman city that was built on top of the Roman ruins.
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The next night we ate out after a long hike along the
coast, dodging hail and thunderstorms along the way. Tom's
plate is tortellini with pistachio pesto and I had pasta with sausage
and grilled eggplant. We did not get a picture of the cassatelle, the ultra-local dessert that we enjoyed twice: fried ravioli-type packets
filled with sweet ricotta cheese and sprinkled with sugar, and made only
in and near Castellammare del Golfo, where we stayed..JPG)
When it Italy, one must eat pizza. Sicilian pizza meant parmesan cheese, fresh tomato sauce, finely chopped anchovies, and olive oil. Baked in a wood oven, of course. Followed by another cassatelle because, well, who needs a reason?
The pasta course was arrabiatta for Tom (spicy tomato sauce) and for me spaghetti with tomatoes, anchovies, and breadcrumbs. I still can't believe I ate the whole plate.
