Just fininshed our cycling trip in Western Sicily with Monica, Chris and Sarah. What a ride. The only thing more impressive than the scenery is the spirit of the people. More on that later. Sarah, Monica and I rode more than 70 kms. today. We are now in an amazing town called Marinella di Salinunte There is an impressive Greek ruin here which we will see tomorrow. More on the bike trip in later posts.
But first, Sicily, the island Goethe called "the soul of Italy". Well what he is purported to have actually said (written?) is: "Without Sicily, Italy leaves no image in the soul." But in German. Then again, that was 220 years ago, so the national soul may now hang its hat elswhere. That is, obviously, making the rather tenuous assumption that national souls wear hats. I'm also wondering about that quote, as Goethe visited what's now the nation of Italy in 1787...nearly 100 years before the creation of the Italian state. Maybe the region was referred to as Italy before it became a formal nation (?)
Monica, Chris Sarah and I got to Sicily (Palermo) by night train via Rome, a trip of about 13 hours. We were loaded down with bags, including Sarah and Chris's folding bikes they bought from the States before we left Whitehorse.
We had a berth with four beds and we had tomatoes/salami/bread/cheese/red wine we bought in Rome. Also canolli, these large, tube-shaped deserts made from waffle ice cream cone type of sweet pastry and filled with sweetended ricotta cheese.Good God they are tasty.
About midnight or so we all fell into fitfull sleeps in our bunks. I took some Gravol to avoid any unfortunate motion related incidents. By the time we arrived in Palermo, I was feeling somewhat under the weather. Thankfully, the desk staff at the Ambasciatori Hotel were very nice and let us get into our rooms right away so we could get a bit more sleep and some food.
Later that day, Sarah put together the folding bikes - some strong language ensued.
Once the bikes were put together, we went out to check out the town until the next day when the bike tour operators were scheduled to pick us up and take us to the starting point of the trip, just outside the seaside village of Scopello, in western Sicily.
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