The road to Palermo

Danillo dropped me at the station of Roccalumere around 12pm. The few and far between trains was due at 12.20 and I had a long journey to get to Palermo around 6pm. It was only a 30min train then a wait for an hour or so before the bus to Palermo.

I was a bit sad to leave, but in the helpx program its all about experiences and moving on to the next place. I think Danillo was a bit sad too. So I don’t do “goodbyes”, its just “until we meet again”s for me.

The bus from Messina to Palermo started out ok until 30mins in and atop a hill, fortunately next to a petrol station it broke down. All 50 passengers were unloaded, luggage and all and waited for another bus to arrive. It did 45 mins later and we were on our way again. I noticed the landscape was completely different on the northern coast. A lot more commercial and the residences were mostly multi storey apartment blocks around 30-40 years old. Apparently a lot were disturbed during an earthquake and not surprising as most of the mountainous countryside was tall rocky cliffs along the coast. They built the freeway in some places 80mtrs above the ground on huge concrete pylons that stretch for miles between tunnels through the mountains. I now know where all the concreters come from .... Sicily!

I eventually arrived in Palermo, a dirty city as I viewed from the bus window. Many Northern Africans along the streets, it didn’t seem like I was in Italy at all. At the bus station my instructions were to get the bus to Palermo Airport, one hour away as Antonio was meeting his son who had flown from London via Milan and daughter who lives in Palermo.

I waited for almost an hour at the airport carpark before he arrived in his Mercedes. An old one at that! We waited a while longer as Andrea, his son, had lost his luggage in transit. It was still in Milan and we would need to return to pick it up maybe tomorrow. Andrea was a lovely guy, a finance manager for international trade in London so his English was almost perfect. Ornella, a little grumpy most of the time was okay with English but pretty much didn’t say anything to me the whole time she stayed at the villa.

We arrived at the villa and Antonio introduced me to another helpxer, Koleta from New Zealand. She had flown from New Zealand for 2 days to spend 4 days in Sicily, and fly back....Crazy. I said she could have gone to Lygon St and seen more of Italy than being here in the villa! But more on that later.

After a quick tour of the villa, it was late so Antonio started preparing dinner of Pasta and tomatoes. I was asked to chop an onion. No in fact I was shown how to chop an onion. My Australian way was not good enough apparently and that it wouldn’t taste the same. Now he was coming into his own and aggressive and quite rude. I said I am a mother and have been chopping onions for quite some years, but not good enough he said, so I left him to do it his way. I thought this is not going to work for me if he is going to act like this all the time. 2 hours in and I am ready to leave already!

It seems that Antonio, being a professor of Economics isn’t a good people person and definitely a my way or the highway type. Once I got to know him I knew how to handle him but there were a number of times in the week I was there I was ready to walk out. In fact by the Wednesday I rented a car and left for two days. I returned on the Friday night to help out with the changeovers as agreed on the Saturday. Most of the jobs were around the villa cleaning up and doing some of the gardening. I usually just found things to do because he didn’t really have enough for both Koleta and I to fill in the days 5 hour work program. He would say its time for a swim in the pool and we would stop for the day. We would help make some lunch then relax by the pool most of the afternoon. I mentioned making a list of things for us to do, so we can just do them, but it never happened. Cest la vie!

He took us into Balestrate on the Saturday night where it was the fiesta for one of the saints and the town was lively in the Piazza. A band was playing and the streets lined with market stalls of all kinds of wares. Families and teenagers all strolling around the narrow streets, eating ice creams and drinking coffees at the cafe’s. Andrea took Koleta and I on Sunday night where we walked around till 8pm then he picked us up and we went to get his luggage from the Airport. We stopped for Pizza with Antonio on the way back at a beautiful little town just south of Balustrate. Balustrate is a pretty uninteresting town compared to many others I have visited in Sicily. In fact if you took away the signs and changed the language you could think you were in any asian village. So many market stalls and an uninspiring beach its not a picturesque village apart from the Piazza. It is here that it is lined with upmarket cafes and gelatarias with TV screens showing the World Cup games in South Africa. Take that away and in winter it would be dull with a capital D!

The week went on, Koleta had no transport either and I decided enough was enough with Antonio, I am going to rent a car. The villa was located about 4kms in the country from Balestrate and no public transport, you are abandoned with the only means of getting around was to ask Antonio or Andrea for a lift in and be picked up. Too hard and not convenient most of the time, I was like a caged bird. After our 5 hours work we had no way of getting to see anything. Koleta was going back to New Zealand with just the view from inside the villa garden and Balestrate, nothing historic and definitely not the real Sicily.

Antonio was kind enough to drive me the 20kms to the airport even after our disagreement. Then Koleta and I went back to the villa to collect a few things to go off for the evening for dinner and explore some of the area. We got the car from around 5.30 so off to Segesta we went.

A Temple/Parthenon high on a hill in a rural area built in the 5th CenturyBC. Incredible how they managed to hewn the rock and carry it up from the nearby quarry to build this magnificent structure. Luckily when we got there it was closing time and some quick smooth talking the guy let us in the gates for free after claiming “Roma have closed the tickets, come back tomorrow”. The old we are from Australia and leaving tomorrow. (Not exactly true for me, but Koleta was going back to NZ the day after, doesn’t that count!) Anyway we strolled uphill to the Parthenon, took a few pictures and headed off towards Scopello. Scopello on the coast is a beautiful little village also famous for its fortified town, now mostly crumbled but had a quaint village square and boutique shops of various kinds. At least Koleta was seeing some Sicilian historic sites.

We headed down to Castellammare on the way back. I usually head for the Porto first as this is usually where the old cities began and likely to find the most historic areas, not the rows and rows of new apartment blocks that pepper these cities now.

We drove tentatively through the narrow streets trying to find our way to the Porto and a place to park. Not easy as most are one way and barely wide enough to fit my little Fiat Panda through. We parked and walked down the flight of stone stairs belonging to the castle onto the port promenade. Here we came across a little sea side cafe. Al Chiosco Polpo serving cozze (mussels), insalata di mare (salad from the sea) Da Giaccomo on the port of Castellammare by the castle. It is run by a Sicilian family where one of the sons, mama and papa cooks and the younger ones serve. It is watched over by the Aunt, and grand mama dressed in black smiles a lot to the customers.

It is here that I have eaten the best Spaghetti Marinara and Spaghetti Tuna on my second visit ever. So Sicilian, so Bellisimo! Koleta and I were so happy to have found this typical Sicilian restaurant serving the taste of Sicily we expected. We returned to Villa Umperato in Balestrate after stopping for late night coffees in the Piazza at Baccos Cafe. Wheels make all the difference!

Next day we were heading off. Koleta hadn’t seen anything of Sicily apart from yesterday and We decided to head towards Marsala and explore some places on the way. Priority one was to find accommodation near the airport as she was flying out at 10am so getting there was necessary around 8am. We found a place on the net closeby to Birgi airport Trapani but couldn’t check in until 5pm so we decided to look for another. Driving around basically blindfolded for accommodation is difficult in Sicily but we managed to find one closer and cheaper. A little villa with cabins and I negotiated him down from 60euros to 50euros...bargain. No pool but clean and comfortable and very nice people. We set our bags in, rested for an hour or so and headed out to explore the area.

Not far from there was Mozia, the site of the salt pans dating back to last century when an Englishmen “Whittaker” discovered the resource of salt and started mining it in the area. There are large and beautiful windmills which were used to manufacture the salt and now stand proudly along the coastline. A beautiful sight at sunset.

Along the way we would stop at every photo opportunity we could. We came across a Lido (a beach cafe/bathing boxes/beach chairs and umbrellas for hire). It was a private club, very contemporary and still quite a few people lazing around in the late afternoon sun. We met an American-Italian woman Irena who was a member and told us about the fiesta on the Saturday night. Koleta was going back but I thought I might return for it. It was 15euros including dinner and wine and entertainment by a DJ. It sounded like fun, I needed to see how these Sicilians spent their Saturday nights. A few photo opportunities and we were off on the road again.

Not far away is Marsala, the town that the delicious dessert wine comes from. Originally started by the Arab invasion it is still the worlds main production of Marsala dessert wines. We parked and came across a free wine tasting enotica close by. After a few tastings we were on our way into the Piazza and walked around the historic town centro. Such beautiful terraced houses lined the streets with window boxes and decorative iron railings. It was a more sophisticated town like the eastern Sicilian ones I had visited so it was good for Koleta to see some historic monuments.

We sat and watched the world go by for a while in the Piazza overlooking the historic church, observing the meeting and greeting with the mandatory kissy kissy’s and ciao’s of the local people. Women dressed up so beautifully for a visit or heading for an early dinner. The young Italian teenagers zipping around on their scooters like ants around a sugar pile. The narrow cobbled streets of cut granite from 300BC are well worn from the foot traffic. Its incredible to think that its been inhabited by Phoenicians, Carthagians Arabs, Spanish and the Romans, destroyed by its wars and devasted by earthquakes in its long history. And yet here we are in 2010 sitting in an ancient land with its beautiful cite (city) lovingly restored.

Later we went to the port again for some dinner at a Gelateria where we luckily were able to get something to eat. After pointing and using our very basic Italian the sort of fried rice and lasagne was heated to just room temperature but edible, a coffee and icecream was filling enough. There was a duo playing, a singer, dressed in white shirt and bling (of course) accompanied by a keyboard player. A little beyond his use by date, but nonetheless entertaining. I requested a song by “Zucchero” (meaning Sugar) because he said he didn’t have the voice for it. He was a legend in the town it seems but unfortunately an old one and not much of a crowd. He sung what sounded like the same songs over and over, but who am I to know.  So we had to make do with another rendition of what seemed to be the same song. Only this time it was dedicated to Koleta and I and seemed to be a love song by his actions towards us. If only he was younger and much better looking! We felt like requesting him to play something we know....perhaps a bit of Jimmy Barnes?? He had the crokey voice for it! Watching the keyboard player, I noticed that he wasn’t playing much at all as it was all pre recorded and at times he would accidently knock the volume button with his one of many drinks and blast the almost empty cafe patrons off their chairs. A short time later we were greeted by two of the Cabiniere who stopped off for a smoke and an ice cream .... of course.

We headed home in the dark, struggling to find our way back to the B&B. We didn’t know the name of it or the area, but knew it was near the airport somewhere and we had driven that way a few times that day, so it was somewhere in the vicinity of Loccogrande. Doesnt everything look so different in the dark? Up and down what turned out to be our correct street, we didn’t realise we were just a little short of the gated entrance. We finally found it and off to bed, Koleta had an early flight to catch so she needed to pack.

Another journey in my gypsy life is about to start.

Roccalumere - Sicily a wonderful week

I arrived at Roccalumere station and waited for my helpx host for around 15mins. I was greeted by a charming young man who spoke very good English. I knew he was kind when a stranger came along and asked where to buy a ticket for the train and he drove him around 3kms to the next station where the train was leaving from. As we travelled to his home I asked about his family according to the helpx profile. I thought he was married and enquired “how many children does he have?” He said he wasn’t married and that “his family” were his parents, aunt and grandmother. They were at work today I found out so we stopped off at his “town house” to drop off my luggage, then we drove up to the “country house” a few minutes away high above the village of Roccalunere.

His aunt Antonella and grandmother (never did find out her name) were there and greeted me with the chance of a late lunch of aubergine and potatoes. This was to be a regular lunch as it turned out.

Aunt Antonella was lovely and has lived in the US for some years. Her English is perfect and works as a tour guide, now around Mt Etna and Taormina mostly. I became good friends with her, she was around my age, we had a lot in common.

Danillo (on the left) is 26 years old, a beautiful soul, who has travelled and lived in Finland for some time. He understands travellers and is willing to give them opportunities to live and eat with his family in exchange for doing some work around the house or farm. I must say though we didn’t do that much work, he wanted to go for ice cream or granitas quite a lot. It was very hot so we started the first day at around 7.00am. So early but it got so hot around 11.00am it was a good idea. We would stop for lunch around 1.00pm and the rest of the day either ice cream or sleep. I arrived on the weekend and he didn’t want to work on the weekend so he would show me around the local villages including a trip to Pagliara with his friend Massimo. Here we went to an abandoned church from the 11th century. Luckily it was around 12midday and the village echoed out “A Va Maria” though the valley. It was enchanting, so every time I hear that I will remember being in Roccalumere with them.

On the Saturday afternoon Danillo had to go to a wedding for his cousin. He invited me to join him and his family to the ceremony at a church near Mt Etna. We dress up in wedding gear, lucky I have the LBD (little black dress and heels in my backpack!), drove for about an hour right up into the hills to a beautiful location in a village. Just like you see in the movies, a little pink church in a tiny village where the Cabiniere (local police) direct the traffic to and from the ceremony through the narrow streets. The church bells ring out across the valley, marking the marriage and everyone is greeted with a ciao and a kissy kissy each side. I am greeted by some and eyeballed by others, as to what I am doing there. It is a unique experience .

Danillo and I are dropped off as we aren’t invited to the reception so we head off for a pizza and a walk, a long walk...........into town! We are asked by a passing driver where is ???? Danillo says jump in and before long we are dropped down on the beach and the driver is directed to where he needs to go. Works for me! Its about 3kms from the house. We walk along the beach path and end up at a pizzeria for dinner. Everything is an “eria” in Sicily, Pizzeria, Drinkeria, Gelataria, Fruiteria, I could go on forever. Danillo told me its an invented word from English. Hahaha! Its kind of sweet! We walked along the beach front till around 11pm, then off to a gelataria for a late night ice cream. I had coffee! Then walked the 2kms back to the house. It was a fun night.

Danillo is also a B+ and Cancerian as I found out in the first hour I met him. We are similar in a lot of ways, except he is half my age. He is very well travelled and a great communicator. He taught me about B+ and eating right for your blood group! I was pretty shocked when he asked me in the first hour we met “what blood group are you?” I have never been asked that before and wondered at first would I be needing medical attention while I am on his helpx? But no, he has studied that blood groups should follow a certain diet of particular foods to live healthier. I was very interested in his philosophy during my stay and have since followed up on his theory. Some of it makes sense.

Often we would be eating something and he would say “It is not B+ compatible “ I would answer “and what about ice cream?” He was addicted to it! We would go for granita and brioche at 7-7.30am. We always walked about 70m down the street to Maria's cafe/bar. Here usually dressed in her apron and white cap with a beautiful smile she always welcomed me with a ciao, ciao, kissy kissy. Firt thing in the morning, a granita, it is an iced raspberry or coffee topped with cream, then dipped into with a brioche, a sort of round pastry, crossed between a bun and croissant! I just couldn’t do it that early so I would quickly have my cornflakes and fresh milk, cup of earl grey tea before he came downstairs to collect me. I would go but endure (yes endure to be nice) a cappuccino. Still way to early for me to have coffee but I managed. We would then head off to do some “work”!

I was staying downstairs on the first level of this 4 storey Sicilian house. It seems that they build a story for every generation of the family. One is for the grandparents. Mama still lives with Antonella on level two for the moment but its ready for her when she is unable to climb the stairs. (In fact they have a rear entrance straight off the street at the back which she uses on level 2.) Level 3 and 4 are occupied by Danillo and his family. A climb of 3 flights of stairs from me. A modest home with more than enough living areas, that no-one seems to use. A small and cramped kitchen that Clara can make the most amazing meals in, regardless of the lack of working appliances and minimum cooking facilities. Its ok she is happy and content to make do. A narrow back balcony serves as a respite for smoking and a few herbs in pots. Most of our meals are based on the vegetables they grow on the “country house”. Potatoes, zucchini’s and aubergines or tomatoes. I think I have had my lifetime supply of each. Some are B+ compatible I believe and some are not! Pasta and cheeses heaps of it, Do they think I can eat like a horse?? I struggle through mangiare (to eat dinner) most nights. They are very sympathetic to my garlic allergy so Clara cooks without or prepares separate dishes for me. She is so lovely.

Can you see them on the balcony? Antonella level 2 and Clara Level 3?

While I was there I managed to do some work, cleaning up around the renovation. We cleared the area enough for Daniella the handyman/plasterer to have a free run. Painting the cellar door a bright green with the paint we went to buy on one excursion shopping trip to the equivalent of Bunnings, some 30kms away! We had to go late afternoon on the Monday as its very warm (caldo) early in the day. We set off with Massimo (also his older brother’s name) driving, Danillo in the passenger seat and Antonella and I in the back of her car. A bit of too many chiefs and not enough Indians when it came to colour choice and eventually the boys won out. Another stop was the pool shop for supplies for the pool. It is set on a terrace in front of the house and they rent out the pool and part of the house for parties. They had had one the night before I arrived so we had some clearing up to do when I first arrived too. Its quite a prestigious house for the area, or will be when its eventually finished. Danillo said they have been building it for around twenty years. It is set high up on the hill with a panoramic view of the sea between Sicily and Calabria. You can see for miles, the ships and ferries crossing to Italy from Sicily. At the shortest crossing its 3kms by ferry.
Most days with Danillo were spent waking, having a granita, some work, swimming in the pool, lazing by the pool, eating ice cream, eating lunch, sleeping, eating more ice cream, talking, dinner and yet more ice cream till around 11pm. Usually in that order. Often I sit on the front step of the verandah and watch the Sicilian world go by. The village clock strikes chimes on the hour, the quarter hour, half and three quarter with bells 1,2, or thee depending on the time from 7am till midnight. At first I thought I would never sleep as its only 50metres away but in a few days I am also living by the village clock and realise how valuable it is. Many neighbours pass by with a ciao, bonjourno or stop by for a chat. One neighbour, Dino, a man about my age invites me for a drink one night. When I arrive down the street at his house, he invites me in, pours me a drink and then nervously serves up a prepared dinner of yet more potatoes. He doesn’t speak any English at all and has written on a piece of paper “you write on computer and we translate”. Is this what goes on at a Sicilian date....? Before long he receives a mobile phone call and I am asked to be quiet with a ssshh finger to his mouth. After 20 mins I am fed up with the waiting and politely decide to go. Lucky for me I think, its a way out of this, its late and I am tired and already full of potatoes. It was my second dinner for the night! He finishes his call and lets me out apologising for his rudeness, I think? Next morning he comes by the country house and apologises again and I had told Danillo about our “date”. I said don’t worry but he insisted he was rude staying so long on the call.

Ever since I arrived in Sicily I have wanted to buy an Apee. Its a 3 wheel utility. Not really a truck but a motorbike with three wheels and a tray on the back. I have eyed them off and every time I see one I say “that’s my Apee I want”. Danillo is bewildered at the thought of it, especially as I want to drive it back to France. He laughs and says it will take me 5 months to get there in one as they only go max of 50kms per hour and are not allowed on the freeways. “Its OK” I reply “I have plenty of time to get there”. He tells Dino about it and he offers to show me one that is for sale. We all go and view it! Its older than me I think and would make it to Messina, 15kms away, let alone to France. I thank him for showing it but will pass on this Apee for the moment. I am still looking!

My week went quickly, and sadly I must move onto the next helpx I had prearranged before getting to Danillo’s. Not before Antonella takes me to Bingo with 5 of her best friends. We do all right in the games with one of her friends Cossimo, taking out a jackpot in the first few games. He is quite a charmer, owner of a Hotel for Accommodation in Roccalumere and a very funny man. Fast and furious as his driving we all have a great night out.

The following day, Friday, Danillo is “not in the mood for working” so awakes late and we go for our usual breakfast, he of course granita and brioche, me a cappuccino. Later we venture into Roccalumera to get some supplies in the hope that Daniella will turn up for work on the renovation. He doesn’t again because he is sick, apparently.

Mid morning we go off down along the beach and are going for ice cream. As we drive along the beach road you can still see their house way up in the hill in the distance. I alert Danillo that I think there is a fire up there as I can see a huge cloud of smoke circling the house. Casually, as always, we drive towards the village. Danillo says maybe he should change his clothes and shoes, but as we drove closer the fire seemed a little more important! We got there and Antonella his Aunt was slightly panicked as she was lazing by the pool and noticed flames coming over the boundary fence burning the vine. She had contacted the fire brigade and Danillo’s mother and prepared the hoses that she could find that reached the area. It was getting closer to the house (15mtrs away) and the cars needed to be moved from the roadway.

Before long their were people arriving from everywhere, the Foresteires, the local municipal with its beaten up old water carrier, people on motor bikes and the police, neighbours as well as a panicked Clara, Danillo’s mother. However apart from the Forestieres no one was doing anything much, just a lot of looking, shouting, pointing and ciao ciaoing as usual.

I thanked Danillo for making my stay so exciting and said he didn’t have to go to so much trouble. He said “Its fine, fine, no trouble” and continued, looking, pointing and ciao ciaoing as usual.

Antonella

Soon the excitement was over and Antonella relieved, went on to cook up a beautiful lunch as always. I had helped her clean the pool of any debris the day before so she was disappointed at all the work we had done and now the fire has left ash and debris in it again. Cest la vie!

My last night spent there, Danillo and Antonella took me to Taormina, 15kms away. Antonella is a regular tour guide there and knows all the history and almost all of the shop owners. I am honoured to be given the tour. It is a hilltop historic town. Beautiful doesn’t describe it enough. A fortified city from 450BC it has three gates that enclose the city. A pedestrians only village with a piazza that has views to Calabria, across the water on the toe of Italy. A breathtaking view. Its Friday night, so at 9pm a line of Sicilian horses in dressage with at least 3 musicians on board parade the main street playing traditional music and the theme from the “Godfather”. We watch them for a while, then head for Pizza down the hill in a traditional pizzeria. Its a wonderful way to spend my last night in Taormina.

Sadly I awake the next morning knowing I am leaving this wonderful Sicilian family who have welcomed me into their hearts and home. I have learnt some basic Italian over the week and although I struggled to understand completely, everything they have accepted me as part of their family. I have learnt a lot from them, both Italian language and Sicilian cooking. I picked the fruit and made fig jam, ate vegetables from their garden and eggs from their chickens.

So much more happened during that week. Walking through the village late at night where all the old villas are just a crumble of rocks now, the water spring and drinking from the fountain. Staying with Danillo and his family has been an incredible experience I will never forget. I hope to return one day.

Grazie Danillo and your family.

Syracuse the charm of Sicily

Syracuse, Sicily Tuesday 15th June

“Dumped” literally! I was shoved off the dinghy luggage and all in a matter of moments. Walking along with a backpack, a carryon, my laptop, 2 shopping bags and a daypack I must have looked like a hobo! I wandered to the closest street where street vendors were touting business for a cruise around the Ancient Caves of Syracuse. I wasn’t in the mood for a cruise at that stage I said but could they point me in the direction of a car rental or hotel. I had no idea what I was going to do? I didn’t speak any Italian and luckily Alleese, spoke quite good English. (Required for her touting I am sure!) Sweet though they directed me to just across the street to a car rental. It of course was closed, in fact it was never open on the three occasions I went there although the clocks on the door indicated they should be! I desperately needed a cigarette! I was out from the night before and not a Tabacchi in sight. A coffee shop across the street, also two sweet girls allowed me to leave my hoard of luggage there while I went on the hunt for cigarettes. Voila! At last I found some, bought two packs, I needed them and returned for my first Sicilian coffee experience. Something I have gotten to know very well I might add. Refreshed and definitely calmed I started to peruse my Lonely Planet for ideas on where the hell I was. It seemed the coffee shop was also a hotel. I asked at reception and found out the nightly charge was 65euros, tempting but I thought I would venture away from the ritzy Marina area. I returned to the “touters” stand and yet another cigarette, ha the freedom was exhilarating! I asked them, now more than 5 of them “touting” to every susceptive tourismo that came their way. It was a slow day, week, month, season they went on to say. Davido said he knew of a apartment I could rent, at that stage I was thinking for at least a week. 30 euros a night, but hey thats 210 a week, 990 a month almost. Anyway it would do for the night as the guy was happy to pick me up in 10mins. Bravo Davido! And off touring again he went!


Alessandro picked me up and drove me though the tangle of oneway streets that make up the city of Syracuse. We pulled up in front of what seemed like an old shop, and it was converted into an apartment. Greeted by Lucia his wife and 2 children with little or no English. Fine by me! It was cosy but dark and on a main street literally. I was tired so I showered and had a kip before exploring the area.

Priority number #1 find an internet cafe and let my family know I am off the yacht albeit disappointed that it hadn’t worked out but I will make the most of my time, hey I have 5 months to find something to do! A kind man in a small computer shop had the internet and was fine abo9ut me being upset when I was talking to my mum about the horror story I had just encountered. I wanted to buy a internet stick and he pointed me in the direction of the 3 shop not too far way. Laptop in hand and after a lengthy (2hours) of getting it set up I was wired for the net.....demani.....tomorrow. My first Italian word of the day, used often as nothing seems to happen until domani!

I ambled along the dirty streets, one thing I really noticed it wasn’t the pristine Italian city like Rome or Venice or any other tourist location. I came across another hotel on my journey home, that also charged 40euros a night but had a kitchen, a cuccina. That will save me money, even just breakfasts.

I said I would return in the morning and I did after an exhausting and stressful few days I fell straight to sleep with just a yoghurt for dinner.

I spent the next day on my new internet connection, researching possibilities of what I could do. Lulu gave me the name of a site to crew on another yacht. Hmmmm not sure if I am ready to do that right now, I moved onto housecarers.com for a house sitting position, then onto helpx.net. There were a few in Sicily as it turned out and I contacted at least 3 of them. Some by phone the others by return email. Before lunch I had secured 2 positions and had one rejected because they didn’t have any need at the moment.

One was just north about 3 hours away in a place called Roccalemere, on the coast north of Taormina. The other in Palermo, still to be confirmed at that stage by return email. That sorted it was now time to start exploring this wonderful historic city.

Syracuse, quoting from my Lonely Planet Italy book.....

“A dense tapestry of overlapping cultures and civilisations, Syracuse is one of Sicily’s most visited cities. Settled by Corinth in 734BC, Syracuse was thought to be the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. As the sun set on Ancient Greece, Syracuse became a Roman Colony and was looted for its treasures.”

It is a fascinating mix of the numerous cultures that have inhabited it since its establishment. Mostly Baroque in architecture there is still a number of Greek architectural relics around the city.

I spent the next day on a boat tour around the caves and fortified castle on Syracuse harbour. These caves were used as refuges during WWII and some have caverns that go well under the city.

I walked around the city streets and alleyways in awe of the historical ruins, the cathedral, Piazza del Duomo and of course the market place and cafes.

The Greek Theatre in Parco Archeological Della Neapolis was amazing. Its from the 5th century and still has most of the pearly white stones of the amphitheatre that saw the last of the “tragedies of Aeschylus” (including the Persians) which were performed there in his presence.

I went to one of the “tragedies” performances when I was there about Ajax and Odysseus. Incredible with the set on a stage in the middle of the outside amphitheatre, including a shallow lake and shipwreck. I was very impressed. It was of course performed totally in Italian, but reading the synopsis on the internet I could follow most of the story.

It was time to move on the next day by trains to my first helpx just north of Taormina on the east coast of Sicily. I would like to return to Syracuse someday, there is so much to see.

And So She Sails............

Day1 June 8th

At last we head off from Elounda in Crete. We sailed from the little harbour around 11.30am and motored all day till around 6.30pm. There wasn’t any wind going in our direction so it was hard going for the engines to run all day. Tony was still a little tender as well so motoring was the best idea.

We got to do 1 hour on watch and one hour off. Sitting in the helm chair, only occasionally needing to look up to see if there were anyone on a collision course with us.

The yacht is equipped with a GPS navigation system and you plot the course, the wayline, at the start of the day and whammo it just stays on auto pilot in pretty much a straight line. Only occasionally you have to compensate for the current and variance in the wind a few degrees here and there. I had to adjust it a couple of times, once when we were heading towards another yacht, pretty much on the same line as we were travelling. 10 degrees till we got well past then back on track of 277degreees. My idea of travelling, no one else on the road to worry about, a great view even for the driver.

The landscape of Crete is not that attractive, particularly as you sail past the barron rocky outcrops of the many mountainous islands around Greece.

We stayed overnight on a little island called Dias, just off Heraklion. We anchored in a small bay in about 8m of clear blue water. You could clearly see the bottom through the aquamarine water, small fish and a sandy bottom. I wanted to fish, but unfortunately not equipped with the right fishing tackle. I will pick up my own when we get to Rethymo then I can fish until my little hearts content! Even if I don’t catch any to eat – its all about the relaxation of it all.

Day 2 June 10th 2010

Today we are again motoring along at around 6knts in around 62metres of ink blue water. The island of Crete to the portside has been a long thin rocky coastline. Every 10-15kms there are small tourist villages dotted with white or cream painted villas, mostly apartment complexes built for the British trade a couple of years ago. It seems they have stopped coming to Crete, as with most tourist places things have slowed to almost a stop due to the crisis in Europe in the past couple of years.



Back in the little village of Elounda a lot of the talk was about the crisis and how much they miss their Drachma, that its so quiet and if they can get through this season they will hopefully be ok. A lot of the little shops were empty with signs for sale or business closed down altogether. Many villas along the main roads were only half finished with overgrown vines covering the remains of the dream of living in Crete I guess. I hope it improves for the people there in Elounda, they are happy friendly people. I will return there one day, I liked it and felt comfortable there.

As we sail along every now and then the mumbled messages come through on the radio, mostly in Greek so I am not sure what they are saying. I sit here with my iPod in my ears and laptop perched on my knees, watching the coastline and now in the distance I see a town fairly well populated with many pastel coloured villas dotted along the shoreline, vegetation at last. Occasionally I must look out and up for any boats heading our way. We have been sailing for 5 hours and land wise we have probably only gone 30kms, seawise we have around 10kms to go which we are due ETA is around 1hour 7 mins time. Slowly, slowly, its nice to travel this way!

Its overcast and almost lunchtime, time to make a salad and perhaps an omelette. Bon Apetito!

Hmmm well how life can change so quickly. All was going well with the sailing through the afternoon until we anchored off the island Dia a short distance from Heraklion last night.

I was dying for a cigarette and he wasn’t about to launch the dinghy because his back was sore and it took a little bit of effort to get it back up on the boat again. Fair enough, he would give me a kayak to paddle over to the island to have one and explore the island. Now I haven’t been in a paddle boat since I was 14 and was a little worried about it. He showed me how to use the oars and I paddled off a little disappointed that he wasn’t interested in exploring the old fortified town well above the cove. From a distance we could see some buildings that looked like a tavern, often found dotted around Greek islands for fisherman and sailing boats to call into. There were people walking around and another yacht moored in the larger cove. A few fishing boats moored on the jetty.

It was a very rocky landscape with plenty of bushes amongst the small pools of clear water as I walked towards the buildings. Three fishermen were heading for the jetty carrying their catch of the day. As I wandered past the “tavern” it was closed up for the night and no chance of getting a drink there. Damn, I forgot to bring some water in all the cafuffle about the kayak, as well as my camera!

I made my way to the jetty, speaking to one of the fishermen as he loaded his boat with the catch, he said the building wasn’t a taverna but a church and the other outbuildings were for the fishermens overnight stays. Oh well! It was still good to wander around land for a while, heaps of rabbits and wild goats high above on the rocky plateau.

When I returned to the yacht he was again rude and definitely has an anger management problem. He yells at me as though I am an idiot, so I asked him why he speaks like that to me?, and It was here that T turned into an arrogant b, should I say weirder than he had been the past three days. He doesn’t actually talk to me much, never carries on a conversation with me. If I start talking about something he just mumbles “Yeah” and continues with what ever he is doing, mostly reading a book, pottering around, looking grumpy, decidedly most of the time. He constantly yells out at me, for no reason instead of just asking or telling me, he yells if I don’t understand what he says. You see I am a novice at this sailing, never done it before. He knew that when he asked me to come along

I asked him not to yell at me and to be civil and that he seems to have an anger management problem. Why isn’t there anything interesting that I say that he would want to carry on a conversation? Was there anything I am good at? He replied “your good at cooking and making tea!” I couldn’t believe that he could be so rude and aggressive for no reason I could think of.

We had yet another silent night with me sitting on the back of the boat before heading to bed really annoyed with the whole situation.

I could see the lights of Heraklion in the distance as night fell. Way to far to swim away.

Day 3 Jun 11th

The morning started off ok as we set sail towards Rethymo. I thought that we must have sorted a few things out because at least he was being a bit more civilised. Short lived I am afraid, as when we got to the Marina of Rethymo he was back to his old self, not only yelling at me but also the Port Marine woman who came along to help tie up the yacht and get the information for us to check in as is required at any port. Both of us were at the back of the boat with the motor running noisily in our ears, we couldn’t hear what he was saying from up the front of the 42ft yacht and as it turns out this was her first “tie up”. That didn’t go over too well and he went right off at her for not knowing how to tie up either. You see this was the first marina we had docked in as he prefers to anchor off shore. I had no idea of how to tie it up as I jumped onto the pontoon and scrambled to tie a figure 8 around the ??? I still don’t know what its called. He isn’t a good teacher, I had asked him as we were travelling along what should I do and I was nervous to try to do it “right” but he is a information giver on a “need to know” basis. I said I couldn’t hear him neither could the girl so we did the best we could but of course he complained about the anchor line supplied by the Port Authority being too short and insisted on another bay. OMG I was so happy to get off for a cigarette as soon as it was tied up and head for the shops for supplies, just to get away for a while. I was thinking how the hell am I going to put up with this person for any length of time. Negative, arrogant and just bloody rude.

I returned from my shopping trip about an hour later, had to get some long pants as I was getting extremely sunburnt on the boat as we sailed along. He was busy pottering in the bottom of the boat, bailing out some water that had gotten in somehow, apparently another fault of the Turkish guys that fixed the boat. He seemed a bit aggressive so I kept my distance and resorted to the iPod again. I wasn’t going to be getting down there in that heat, bailing out the rancid water, although later I found out I was supposed to! So what happened to the extra pair of eyes and arms invitation?? No mention to me about being a lacky up till now and not when I am spoken to like that.

He showered and seemed to freshen up again, luckily because we had arranged to visit the little restaurant along the Venetian harbour we had gone for lunch earlier that week when we drove down to drop off the gas bottles. We walked along the promenade and again he was fine company for dinner. I was trying really hard not to smoke at all in his presence off the boat since he detested it so much so I would always go to another table, or sit on a step somewhere away from him, trying to enjoy a cigarette, but not usually with his annoyed presence about it. So this time I went over to the three men sitting at the table a little way from us. It is the 7 brothers restaurant and at least 1 of the seven were sitting there. I asked for a light and they asked me to join them. I did and spent around 15 mins, 2 retsinas, OMG strong!!! I felt a little wobbly and of course T was agitated to get going back to the yacht so we did! It was the first bit of fun I had had since I arrived in Crete!

Off to bed as we had an early start we would be sailing 24/7 with 3 hours on and 3 hours off watches on our crossing to the Peloponnese. We had one more night to anchor off Crete before the next 3 days to a port East of the Greek mainland. Again we motored the next day most of the time as the wind was not with us, so the constant hum of the engines really did spoil most of the tranquilness of the calm seas. We did have a few opportunities to put the jib up luckily.

And then she didn’t!

We anchored again off a little island and here it really hit the fan. I again said I would not be spoken to in the manner and tone he addressed me. He has lived in Thailand for some years and has a Thai woman who obviously doesn’t mind putting up with that sort of thing. I said I wasn’t a Thai woman and it was unacceptable behaviour. That every relationship, working on a boat is no different, and that it takes time for people to get to know how each other works but I am not stupid and most people I know think I am good at things and at the very least good company. It was that night that he said No we aren’t going to the Pelopponese now we are going straight to Sicily and that it would be a 4 day, non stop trip. That we would be having to do 3hours on and 3 hours off 24/7. And that it would probably be better if I got off in Sicily! I was bemused to think that I have only been on here 3 days and because I wouldn’t accept his verbal abuse that I was being kicked off! I was livered and went to my cabin, hey where else could I go? It was a deserted rocky island with absolutely no inhabitants and it was way too far to swim anywhere. It was now that I decided that I needed a cigarette, yes on the back of the boat! He was of course abusive again and I said well I need one and lets face it he hasn’t kept up his side of the deal either! BTW I only had 6 left as I thought we were going to be onshore that night!

Next morning, we set off at the crack of dawn to start the long journey, and it was. Over the next what turned out to be 5 days we had to motor along the 435 km crossing from Crete to Sicily at an average of 6knots an hour. Thats only about 12kms an hour in land miles apparently! We still didn’t talk much but he was quite civil through the journey. I would do my 3hours on starting at either 6-9pm, then change over 9-12am, 12am-3am, then 3am-6am, that was the hardest I found. Having to be awake with nothing to do but stare into the dark sky occasionally, listening to my iPod and I wasn’t allowed to read or even boil the jug for coffee. I had to microwave it before and make a thermos to have to keep me awake. I wont go into all the “can” and “can nots” I endured that week, the list was endless. All the time I was wondering what the hell am I doing on here?

The 4hours before our eventual arrival into Syracuse Sicily, a “talk” was called. Sure I said, thinking how well the past few days had gone and that we had sorted out the problems. Then the Wolf in sheeps clothing announced “What are your plans when you get to Sicily?” I said I hadn’t really thought about it. The deal was when we docked anywhere on the trip I could go off and do my oown thing, get away from the boat for a few days and so would he. Sometimes we would be going together and other times doing our own thing. I was happy with that arrangement and at that moment thought that was what was going to happen.

Then he said ”Well I have other crew arranged to meet me in Sicily!” OMG you could have hit mw with a wet fish as I was stunned that he obviously only needed me for the crossing from Crete as he wasn’t able to do that by himself! “What a piece of work” I said how could you be like that the past few days, friendly almost civil, and then lay that on me! I was livered to think I was used up like that. I asked how he could do that and that he obviously had it planned all along but he insisted that he was able to use the internet even when we were at sea. Another shock to me as He had never mentioned that and yet I would have like d to contact my family to say I was ok.

So there I was 4 hours to decide what the hell was I going to be doing for the next 5 months?? I packed up my things in a flash and couldn’t wait to be rid of this angry man. Its Karma you know as many things go wrong on his boat, always blamed on someone else of course. But I let him know that if you treat people like that Karma will get you back and it does.

I was literally “dumped” baggage and all on the Marina at Syracuse shortly after we had anchored.

What better place to be “dumped”. A Venetian city from 450BC and little did I know that the journey would just be beginning, I think it was my destiny to come here. I never knew I was until 5 days ago, knew nothing about it and yet what was about to unfold in my life was amazing.