Our journey began, on the 19th of December2011. We decided to explore the island of Sicily. It is the birthplace of my father. Sicily is rich with history and the people are passionate about food, art & culture and this makes for an interesting combination. We were very excited about having a white Christmas. The whole island is covered with traces of Greek, Roman, Spanish and Arabic art, due to the different colonisations, dating back as far as 600ac. There are different ways of getting to the island namely by plane or ferry.
The cuisine is very different. Being a Mediterranean island with a volcano on it, it makes the soil so rich with minerals so that the fruit and vegetables have a very deep colour and sweeter taste. The people are warm and friendly and the families are very close. Of course Sicily (Corleone) is also known for the birth of the mafia. This started out as a very innocent, good concept, and later developed into something that the Sicilians are not very proud of discussing today. How the mafia was born, is simply in a small little town where a "godfather" was nominated, where everyone respected and always went to for any advice. The Godfather was seen as an honest person, someone who people could trust and rely on. Eventually he realised the influence he had, on the people and he decided to turn against the people, so that they would fear him and pay him protection money.
I love that any little town, you drive around, holds a new surprise around every corner - getting lost means seeing an old cathedral, or statue, that you would only have noticed off the beaten track. And of course one of the most beautiful images to wake up to every morning is old faithful Mount Etna, perched high up in the sky, at 3300m, above sea level. He did decide to salute us, on our last evening, with a slight blast and the blood red lava trickling, down its side.
What sets Sicily apart from the other islands, is its diversity. In winter, you can explore, Palermo, Agrigento, Siracusa, Catania, and spend days walking through ancient civilisations, only imagining that once where you are walking right now, a lot of blood was shed. Every noble family, made a point of building a church, probably as a sign of having arrived in life for them, leaving a town of Erice, with 32 churches. Some of the churches have been turned from Greek temples, to Catholic churches. And what they have discovered is that by digging down is that there are towns, dating back, even longer than the ones we are lucky enough to stroll through today.
You need to have hair on your teeth to drive on this island and as I explained to my guests, who sat wide eyed and stared in shock, at the way people were driving - it is about attitude. You get to a stop street, give the other person sitting in the other car, the look and then you just know whose turn it is to go first. This is usually based on how many scratches your car has and if you can afford to have your expensive Merc, damaged. It is usually the small smart cars that get their way first on this very small island. The cities were built when donkeys were used for transport, so cars do not always fit in the narrow, little roads. It is said, that the buildings are close together, so that one guard could protect the gates, leading to the cities.
And then the Roman theatres are used for gladiator fights, and are filled with water for naval battles, unbelievable to imagine! What is mind blowing and comes to mind, is the expression of "Rome, was not built in one day", which can be applied to the whole of Europe. Every building standing, took over 100 years to finish, and one can only imagine, how every generation took over, where the previous ended.
The island has orange trees & olives and is blessed with marble in the mountains. In summer, it offers sea & sun, and this is normally, when the slant shuts down for business, and all the families move out of the cities, to the countryside, to their villas, where they enjoy pizza evenings. Who knew, how many different things could actually taste so good on a pizza. And the Cafe, and croissants in the morning, would turn any egg & bacon lover, crazy with the smell of the aroma and the chocolate filling melting in your mouth. Fabulously delicious!