Sicily: Beautiful Beaches and Dark Alley Parties

For a while now I have had a desire to go to Sicily. I have read so much about the island for school and seen so many amazing movies that take place there that it was definitely on my list of places in Italy to see this time around in Italy. I have been waiting for beautiful weather so that I could go to Sicily and its beaches. This past week my friend Megan flew to Italy to go with me to Palermo, Sicily's capital. We left Florence Thursday night and arrived in the center of Palermo after 10 at night, so we had no idea what the city really looked like. We arrived at our hostel directly behind the beautiful Teatro Massimo and were greeted with free wine and an invite to go out to where the young people of Palermo hang out. We said why not, left our bags in our room and headed out for quite the adventure. Now, at this point I had no idea where we were in Palermo, and even after spending three days there, I still can't tell you where in Palermo I was Thursday night. All I know is somehow we ended up in a dark alley packed with real Italians, with a little shop that sold bottles of beer the size of a bottle of wine for 2 euro. Megan and I had a lot of fun meeting Italians, as well as frenchies, spaniards, and australians. One of our more interesting encounters was with a man I will refer to as "Gene Baby". Back at UNC there is a guy in our department who goes by this name, and the guy we met in Palermo could be his twin in looks and voice (somewhat creepy actually). Well Gene Baby had actually lived in Raleigh for a while, but has been traveling the world since 2009. He chatted with us for a long time and treated us to some free drinks. He and I also tried what I think is Sicilian moonshine that was just labeled "Sangue: vino liquoroso". This moonshine was god awful, but the Italians were drinking it like it was going out of style. This party in an alley reminded me a lot of my time in Perugia and hanging out on the steps of the duomo and meeting all sorts of new and interesting people. We went home in the wee hours of the morning, perfectly satisfied with what Palermo's night life had to offer.
The next day Megan and I tackled the majority of Palermo's notable sites. We started our day at the Palazzo normani, after getting a bit lost, since nothing is labeled in Palermo. The Palazzo is absolutely amazing, and if you ever get the chance to go to Palermo it is not to be missed. Sicily has had lots of different groups ruling it during its history, but way back in the day the Normans from France came and kicked the Arabs out. At the palazzo there is a chapel built commissioned during this time with beautiful mosaics everywhere of saints and the major biblical stories. You can also see the major apartments of the palace where the Sicilian parliament used to meet. After admiring the palace, we went to San Giovanni degli eremiti, an old monastery that you can walk through with some nice gardens. After this we ate lunch, where we tried our first real Sicilian "cannoli". Let me tell you, they are way better in Sicily. These were amazing, and the waiter told us it is because they were handmade with fresh ricotta and just a small amount of sugar. After the culinary experience, we went to about 5 more churches, all quite impressive in their own right, and we saw the angolo dei quattro canti, as well as the fontana pretoria, one of the strangest fountains I have ever seen. After a day filled with site-seeing, Megan and I went out and had delicious pizza followed by drinks in an Italian kareoke bar (hilarious).
The following day we spent relaxing at one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to, Mondello, about 30 minutes from Palermo. Imagine caribbean blue water surrounded by mountains, as well as delicious gelato, and you've got my idea of paradise. Megan and I stayed at the beach for hours, with the spotty sunburns (one line on my stomach and the back of my knees and Megan's ankles), relaxing and people watching. Of course there was a plethora of Italian men in speedos, but also an obscene amount of couples making out all over the beach. Even though it was sometimes uncomfortable, such as the baby-oiled couple by us that were practically making babies, the day at the beach was perfection. Too bad afterwards we had to wait for a bus for an hour, then ride on one of the most crowded busses ever back to Palermo because of the soccer game. The beach day was the perfect end to our vacation in Sicily.
Now I'm back in Florence after hours of busses, planes, and trains, trying to prepare for the last two weeks I have in Italy. Totally looking forward to my last trip, a beach vacation in Portugal with Allie!