The Sicilian Island of Italy

5:15 AM, Friday, November 4. Island, State or Country?  Sicily is somewhat of a conundrum, at least in my mind, and Pam and I are here to straighten it out. Obviously, it is an island and a state but it seems islands should be countries, at least in my mind.  Forgive me it’s early.

Anthony,

our B&B host, picked us up at the apartment and drove us to the Bari airport. RyanAir agents were on duty, 5:20AM, and pleasant. Observation. The mindset in Italy is much different than in Hungary. 

Pam just showed me the cost of our RyanAir tickets, 45€ each and that included priority boarding fees, that’s a Euro/minute @ 400 or so miles an hour; not bad, and we’re here.  

Windy and cloudy weather greeted us in Palermo but no rain, which was forecast. Other than one drizzly day our weather has treated us well. The days on the river were cloudy and cool but other than being cloudy and cool, it was very nice.

The airport is thirty minutes west of Palermo and we chose to take the bus into the city.  Good choice. The road winds around the coast and gave us first views of the huge sharp edged boulders that piled up at the waterline. The terrain is mountainous with towering sheer cliffs that you know deposited the jagged rocks along the shore.  The water is Mediterranean blue but not quite the depth of color as Amalfi. The rugged terrain surprised me; I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it is a striking landscape, and I’m glad to be here.

Stefano, our landlord for the next couple of days, gave us email instructions a few weeks ago to get off the bus on Via Roma, cross the road to the pharmacia and look for the pharmacist, me. We did, he was, and all is good.  He gave us keys, directions and sent us on our way.  

Directions in far away places and further away languages, especially those that end with, “you can’t miss it”, are sure sigh, “you gonna miss it.”  It is, we did, but got reoriented and found Ai Mori,  our residence while in Palermo. 

We deposited our baggage and headed out to the Palermo Central train station to get tickets for the hour ride to Cefalu. Great few hours in the steep, rocky hills  and beautiful shoreline  

of the family home of my long-time friend John Correro.

(John has just been named 2022 College of Education, Alumni Fellow)

John’s family name is Maranto, we asked at several stops, with no luck in finding a rich Maranto for John to claim. Wonderful Tuna tartar and seafood pasta dishes at IL Vecchio E IL Mare.

Back to train station, back to Palermo, back to bed… it’s been a long, good day. Pam and Jim

PS:  Think about it, Mississippi is an island also.

More pics:

Cefalu 

Cefalu 

Farewell Monopoli

Monopoli Harbor 

Monopoli has been a good base to visit the spots in Puglia we had on our list. Never mind the Adriatic vistas at every turn. I don’t know if we will make it a come back town; but it’s worthy of anyones travel considerations. 

Last evenings dinner at da Zi Ottvaio,

about 50 yards from our apartment, made a good final meal, if you don’t count the croissants and espresso this morning. We’ve been careful in eating habits, but this restaurant, we understood, was known for it’s fried medley of Adriatic inhabitants. Couldn’t resist. Octopus, squid, prawns, and three small fish fried whole. Different from Penn’s, and I really like Penn’s, but, without the fries and ketchup was outstanding. 

Bari is 50 minutes north and we’ll be on the road by 10:00. We’ll explore this afternoon, turn in the rental, spend the night and rise early for our flight to Palermo. As pretty much the case anywhere we travel, even Hungary, we’ll miss Monopoli. 

Our trip north followed the coast and continued our appreciation of the Southeast coast of Italy. We arrived in Bari about noon, settled into the apartment,

and not being here but one night, started scouting for interesting spots nearby. It didn’t take long to find the castle and the central Cathedral and a “fishing shop” with a kitchen. Family fished and cooked and we stopped to check it out. 

We met the family and friends, had a great time eating the freshest seafood maybe ever.

As good as the fish were, the pasta (conchiglie) (I asked) they make daily was the hit of lunch. They were a fun group and it made a memorable meal in Bari. Coffee and pastries at a near by shop were the finishing touch to the lunch. 

The walk around the old town was picturesque and the sea is, what can I say, the sea. 

Our stay for the night is in a 1700 building, young for Italy, quaint, but very nice. The best part is the owner volunteered to pick us up at 5:00AM and get us to the airport. Immediate five star rating for B&B Dei Cardinale. 

Will forgo dinner and pick up a few pastries for a morning airport snack. Talk again from Sicily. Jim

More pics:

Pam eating my conchiglie and Adriatic selections 

Pam waiting to eat my Adriatic selections 

Fish kitchen friends

Me not praying, but should be giving thanks. 

San Pancrazio and Ostuni

Some travel days are great, some are extraordinary, and some are simply beyond description. We had one of those indescribable ones today. I’ve been working on a trip to San Pancrazio for several years now researching and preparing, and today, it happened. Our father, Ry’s and mine, flew all of his missions to bomb the Axis enemy in WWII from a single concrete airstrip in the boot heel of Italy.  Not far from Lecce and 110Km south of Bari.  His last takeoff from this primitive airstrip was on February 23, 1944  His plane, number 41, no name or pretty girl on its nose had taken them on nine successful missions, but the tenth became a 15-month, life-threatening survival nightmare.  By the grace of our Lord, the patriotic resolve and incredible strength of an American soldier, then and now, he and his nine crew brothers turned Hitler’s Black March into a victory march for our cherished freedoms.

Mr. Pancrazio (yes, same name as town) Stridi, the San Pancrazio historian and author, graciously hosted Pam and me on our visit.

 He set up a meeting with the mayor  in city hall, and guided us on a tour of the airfield and the facilities that remain. He arranged for an interpreter

and provided us with a copy of his book, which is history of the airfield and the 376 Bomb Group.  

It’s written in Italian but Googl can translate. 

Our interpreter was a beautiful young college student whose Italian accent successfully camouflaged most of the Merican she spoke… Did I mentioned she was beautiful?

 With my aids turned to hyper loud and Pam helping, I got most of the conversations.  It was a great day, and the folks made us feel they wanted us to be there. Indescribable. 

We covered about 250Km today, and while some was on the motorway, getting to the small towns of San Pancrazio and Ostuni took us through miles of countryside.  The terrain toward San Pan is low like Florida with olive groves and grape vineyards. It was surprising to see the large areas covered in cactus or is it cacti. 

The two towns are similar with Ostuni

being larger and more picturesque. It’s topography is much different with steep hills covered with white washed structures. During the Black Death period, the white paint whitewash contained heavy volumes of calcium which showed promise in preventing the disease. All houses and buildings were whitewashed, and it has to this day been the tradition in Ostuni. Beautiful city. 

We completed our day’s journey back home in Monopoli.  I’m writing and Pam is preparing for our trip to Bari tomorrow for one night to catch an early flight to Palermo and another adventure. It will be just as exciting as most but not as meaningful as today’s. Later, Jim and Pam

More pics:

Pancrazio’s book signing, Google to the rescue. 

Pam at the San Pancrazio winery. 

Pancrazio, Pam, Me, and the Mayor

Beautiful Whitewashed Ostuni. 

Ostuni cathedral. 

Banner of San Pancrazio

San Pan airstrip my father and about 8,000 WWII airmen flew B-24s out of to bomb strategic Nazi occupied territory.  20% of them lost their lives fighting for today’s freedom. 

The beautiful whitewashed city of Ostuni, Italy.

Monopoli Italy

I don’t want to sound ungrateful for our time in the Bavaria and Hungary, it was fantastic and we’ll be back in the Spring, but Italy is hard to beat. Deep blue skies and crystal clear water seems to always appear. This our first visit to the Adriatic coast and it hasn’t disappointed. 

Our apartment is in the Centro Storico di Monopoli, the old town,

and we’re about two minutes from the Sea. It’s not a large vacation coast like southern France or Almafi but smaller crowds and smaller beaches. However, almost  as beautiful. The beach areas were hosting numbers of bathers this morning. 

The architecture is classic Italian and portions of the Roman wall still exist but most were overbuilt to protect the city in later years.

The narrow alleyways, a poor way to describe the cobbled paths through the city, are not as expansive but remind us of the maze of pathways through Venice. 

Eating last week, especially in Hungary was quite an experience; it is here also, but different.

We expect the trend to continue for the remainder of the trip. The prices  are reasonable and the exchange rate is in our favor. 

I mentioned the very Italian car rental. We’ll, it’s very Italian mechanically also. Yesterday while on a motorway, Italian interstate, the low coolant light came on. OK, holiday (All Saint’s) today so not much agency assistance. Anyone charged with keeping a 1962 Corvette running can put water in a radiator.

I did, and we have a 90 minute drive tomorrow to San Pancrazio to meet the city historian and mayor. I’m going to drive it till it quits, if necessary, to get there. Pictures at nine. 

Exciting day tomorrow, San Pancrazio Airfield and Ostuni on the way home.  Jim

More pics:

Gelato heaven.

Monopoli harbor at night. 

Adriatic 

Clothes washing day. Third of trip. 

There’s chocolate filling here and Americano (kinda). 

I watched this guy fish for while. No luck. 

These are “long liners” hundreds of feet of what would be trot lines in Sippi. Buoys keep hooks at correct depth and radar reflector floats help fishermen keep up with sets. 

Fresh fruits and vegetables of Puglia. 

Fresh fruits of the South.