Sun, Sand, and Gelato!

Hello friends!  I have just returned from a FANTASTIC weekend in Sicily - one of the most beautiful, most relaxing, and most adventurous trips I've ever been on in my life.  I went with two of my sweet Aggie friends, Lesli and Macy - and we had the time of our lives!  Every moment was spent relishing either the cool blue ocean water, the soft white sand, or the sweet taste of gelato.

Seriously, though, I only did two things this weekend - lay on the beach and eat twice my weight in Italian ice cream.  No regrets :)

So...let's start with the gelato.  I could honestly devote a thousand words to the description of all the delicious flavors I tasted, but I think I'll keep you from drooling all over your keyboard.  My absolute favorite flavor is Stracciatella, a bit like cookies 'n cream, but better...sorry Blue Bell.  In any other country besides Italy, gelato is treated as a major luxury - you'll pay a good $6 on a tiny scoop.  In Italy, for the Euro equivalent of $2.50, they slather three giant scoops on a thick slice of brioche (sweet bread - basically like King's Hawaiian bread if you've ever had it) and top it off with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  Sooooo delicious!

Gelato served in brioche

When we weren't stuffing our already-full stomachs with gelato, we were on Mondello beach, lounging under our umbrella Zac Brown Band style (toes in the water...you know the rest).  The water was the clearest, bluest water I've ever seen, and it was completely calm.  We could swim way out to where it was too deep to touch the bottom and the water was pure turquoise.  We felt like princesses in God's most luxurious swimming pool, caressed by warm breezes and surrounded by white sand, rocky cliffs, and clear skies.  

Mondello beach

The Charleston Restaurant

Lesli: "If you can't beat it, join it."

We ate our first-ever bites of authentic, Italian pizza!  It's hard to believe that it could actually taste different than pizza in the States, because the ingredients are fairly straightforward.  For whatever reason, everything truly tasted fresher than anything I've ever eaten in the States - especially the dough for the crust and the tomatoes in the sauce.  The sweet Sicilian white wine was a perfect complement to our meal (Grillo was our favorite).

Our first bites of Italian pizza! 

Sicilian Grillo - really pretty label!

We frequented this little gem, Bar Touring, for nearly every meal while we were in Mondello.  It was when we first popped in here for a panini that we quickly realized no one spoke English in this tiny beach town.  I mean NO ONE.  We finally found one employee that spoke a little bit, and he quickly became our best friend!  For real though, by the time we left Mondello we were kissing Filippo for all the help he had given us.  And for his delicious crepes, of course.  Another favorite Italian food that we got from Bar Touring was arancini - rice rolled up in a ball, stuffed with meat/cheese, breaded and fried!  Really good for lunch.

Our favorite cafe - it was literally open all night!

Meet our sweet Filippo!

Arancini 

On Sunday morning, we sacrificed our precious vacation sleep and woke up at 5:30am so we could walk to the beach to watch the sunrise.  BEYOND WORTH IT.  The Lord's creation is never more beautiful to me than in the morning, when everything is fresh and newly bathed in His light.  The rising sun always brings us a reminder of His unfailing love (Psalm 143:8).

Good morning and glory to God! Psalm 19:1

After a beautiful morning on the beach, we said goodbye to Mondello and took a quick bus into the city of Palermo, the biggest city on the island of Sicily.  Now for the horror story...we walked for half an hour before we reached the bed & breakfast we had pre-booked.  The sign said "B&B D'Angelo" just like it was supposed to, and the door to the tall building seemed inviting, so we rang on the intercom.  Without more than a "hello" from the other end, we heard a loud click on the door and it swung open.  Seemed easy enough until we got inside and shut the door behind us - darkness.  We were in a dead-quiet, empty stairwell with one of those frightening elevator cages in the middle, and there wasn't a single light turned on.

I remember Lesli grabbing my arm and thinking we were going to be taken, just like in the movies.  We couldn't hear any movement or sound coming from inside or outside the building.  As we quickly debated whether or not to drop our bags and make a run for it, we suddenly heard a door open and the sound of a woman's sweet voice from above.  From the open door, light flooded the staircase, and we sprinted up two flights of stairs toward what seemed like the only possibility of safety.  It turned out to be the kind owner of the B&B looking to see if we were on our way up - thank the Lord!!!  She didn't seem the least bit fazed by the haunted appearance of stairwell, so I'm guessing it's normal in Italy to scare your guests out of their wits in order to save money on electricity.  To our relief, the inside of the B&B was light, airy, and lavishly decorated, so I have no clue why the dang stairwell was so ominous!

In Palermo, we strolled down the quiet streets of the town, seeing gorgeous cathedrals and bright pastel buildings on every corner.  It was incredibly romantic!  I only wish I could have read the history behind every monument...but alas, I have yet to learn Italian, so just the pictures will have to do.

Mondello and Palermo are awesome places to visit if you want an off-the-beaten-path adventurous vacation, but if you're looking for an exotic place that still has the comforts of modern tourism (Starbucks, English-speakers, a place to buy sunscreen), you'd better go to Rome.  In all seriousness, we primarily used the our most sophisticated methods of pointing and nodding when communicating with the locals.  It was a bit rough at times.  On top of that, the three of us blonde, fair-skinned girls were getting lots of what-the-heck-are-you-doing-here stares from the dark-haired, tan Italians.  Blending in just wasn't an option, so instead we just waved and smiled at the people that walked by pointing and screaming "America, America!" (someone literally did that to us!). 

It was an adventure I'll never forget!  I'm happy to be back in London where I'm just another girl and everybody can understand me :)

ONE WEEK UNTIL MY MOM AND SISTER ARE HERE!!!!!

Much love,

Hayley