Volcanos & sweet entrances
Vulcano
On Friday, we spent a beautiful day on Vulcano, one of the Aeolian Islands off the northeast coast of Sicily. A volcanic island (hence the name), we spent the afternoon hiking up the volcano to see the crater. Unfortunately we will not be able to post pictures for another couple of days, but the view from the volcano was quite spectacular. The Greeks believed the smoky, sulfer smelling pit was the gate to hell.
After the hike, we had lunch at Ristorante La Forgia Maurizio, one of the best meals we had in all of Sicily. The owner Mauritzo was really nice, patiently explaining all of the dishes to us. Benny had a wonderful pasta with swordfish, eggplant, and mint -- definitely something we will try cooking once we get home. So simple, yet so delicious. The meal was not without humor, however. Up until that point, when requesting artificial sweetener, we received strange looks from waiters, pronouncing it as two words -- 'dolce ficante'. Then we were informed that we were actually asking for, as Borat would say, the sexy time, or literally 'the sweet entrance'. We should have been asking for dolcificante, which literally means sweetener. Whoops.
Catania
Our last day in Sicily was spent in Catania, the islands second largest city, on the east coast of the Island. At first blush, Catania is not a beautiful city -- is is dirty, polluted, and loud. But once we began to explore the city we discovered lots of beautiful piazzas (which of course, equals delicious gelato) and beautiful architecture. Catania stands in the shadow of the volcanic Mt. Etna, and for centuries has benefited (via rich soil) and suffered terribly (it was destroyed repeatedly by eruptions) from its location. We saw a castle that had once stood on a cliffs edge but because of lava flows, was now closer to the city center.
Our last meal in Sicily was a real treat (well, at least for Benny), as it included horse steak (and two different cuts of steak to boot!) It was actually quite delicious, tastes a lot like beef, and is surprisingly tender. Alison did not participate in the horse feast...sorry to dissapoint.
Venice
We said goodbye to Benny's family in Sicily to begin our trip alone in earnest in Venice. The weather was much colder there, but despite that we had a wonderful two days there. We stayed at the wonderful -- and cheap -- Hotel Ai Do Mori. At only 50 Euro per night it was a real bargain (although the price jumps to 140 per night in peak season).
We visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which is a wonderful collection of modern art -- Picasso, Pollock, Rothko, and many others. It is set right on the canal in an old palazzo with a beautiful sculpture garden. It is definitely one of the most impressive collections of modern art either of us has ever seen.
On our last day in Venice, before heading to Verona, we headed to the original Jewish Ghetto. We went to a the small Jewish Museum there, where Benny found a book that mentions his ancestors (spelled 'Meshullam), who apparently were active in Venice's business and Jewish communities in the 15th and 16th centuries.
We are now off to Verona and Bologna, and perhaps one other stop, before heading to Rome for a few days.
Sheshbesh (aka backgammon)
For those of you who are curious, the current score of Benny and Alison's ongoing competition as of 7:30pm Wed. the 16th is:
Alison: 11
Benny: 10
