Thursday, July 21, 2005

CIAO FOR NOW

We leave tomorrow morning for our flight to the US. Stay tuned for sights from the cabin, Mexico, and Dunkirk. Sicily is too crowded this time of year!

Monday, July 18, 2005

BEACH STEPS AGAIN

The stairs to the beach that collapsed this winter have not been fixed. However, the powers that be here did make a common sense decision and direct swimmers to use the stairs that are near our house that formerly went to nowhere. Now they cross a ditch with two sturdy logs and along with a little weed whacking, the problem is solved-temporarily. The scenery along the way is actually quite nice too. But even some of these steps are damaged from our strange rains this winter and spring.
The tennis court is also being refurbished and all of the fake astro turf is off. In fact, we can carpet our lawn with fake grass if we wanted, no watering needed. Several folks did take advantage of the offer. Really, a lawn with grass is so impractical here that I am surprised the whole pile was not carried away by these summer home owners. Toto’s boys have a piece near our property line and they lay on it and play Monopoly with friends whiling away the long hot summer afternoons. The sunflowers sure like this weather!

Thursday, July 14, 2005

PISTOIA

We left Florence by train for the short ride through the Tuscan countryside to the town of Pistoia. We had gotten reservations in a hotel quite near the piazza where the concert would take place, and we were even surprised that we got them because we had called three hotels previous to this one and they were all booked for the three nights of the concert. Later we found out why, but it was a comfortable room and the staff was great.
Pistoia is a city of about 86,000 with a long history of habitation back to the days of the Etruscans. Fortunately for us, all the town had been spruced up in the year 2000 for an anniversary celebration and the public buildings and churches were in incredible shape. Six hundred years of wear and tear did not even show on this town! The square in which we saw the three nights of concerts was a delight itself, surrounded as it was by stately buildings and towers. The food prices were not high at all and they did not seem to raise them even for tourists, of which the town was full before and after the concert. It is quite a posh place with an opera and performance season that would make me want to come back again to visit.
The first day of the show saw the young and hip invade the town, including, again, beggars who were quite forceful, and stoners and derelicts of every kind. There was an abundance of merchants in the streets at almost every hour, and the variety of wares they had to sell was geared toward the crowd. I noticed we were not by any means the oldest people at the concert, but there were certainly very few Americans as compared to Florence. We also noticed that almost everyone spoke English or appreciated our efforts at Italian (with our Sicilian accents!).
The three nights of concerts were great! We got to understand a little bit about the Italian blues scene and how the lines are blurred between rock, country, rockabilly and blues. When you have a lineup with BB King, Country Joe McDonald, and Jefferson Starship, you don’t expect long-haired southern good ol boys playing tex-mex border music, but there they were, and all of it blues. The shows were sparsely attended so we had comfortable seats except for the Saturday night show, which included smokers on all four sides of us including a dwarf in a wheelchair on a ramp in front of us that kept lighting up a smelly stoogey and ALL the smoke blew back in my face. I have become so intolerant to smoke that I had dry heaves plus a bad case of nausea and a headache by the time BB King came on stage. My favorite acts were Eric Burdon (“We gotta get out of this place/If it’s the last thing we ever do!” was my Fredonia State theme song) and James Cotton, who had laryngitis, but could play a mean harmonica.
There had been changes made in the festival and heated discussions with townspeople and concessionaires over ticket prices and housing for itinerant merchants and schedules for setting up merchandise booths. Some combination of these folks set up an “anti-blues” protest which manifested itself in drum circles starting after the shows, which prevented us from sleeping till after 2 AM. The drums were of course positioned very near to our conveniently located hotel. So much for great hotel rooms.
Pistoia buildings and churches are just as gorgeous as Florence but not as big or as famous. We welcomed the chance to get to explore and get to know another town well and to meet some great people, especially our hotel clerk Samuela who is sending back Steve’s hat that he left in a café down the street. What a sweetie she was. There are good people everywhere in the world.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

F, F, and P continued 2

Besides the beautiful churches, Florence has gardens, statues, towers, piazzas, and archways that are packed with tourists this time of year. There was street entertainment and beggars everywhere. There are shopping stalls set up on the streets full of leather and paper goods, plus stylish shoes, clothing and accessories. There was also plenty of real junk to be had too. We did some shopping both here and at the Blues Fest at Pistoia, and so did many other Americans. We could not believe how much English we heard!
One of our bus tours involved going up into the hills over Florence into Fiesole. What a gorgeous place, and what views! As there is plenty of ice and bad weather in this part of Italy, I did wonder how people got around in winter, a throwback from my years in the Adirondack Mountains. Most of the pictures of the hillside are from there and the others of the Arno River are also from the tour bus. Tomorrow I will write a bit about our time in the beautiful ancient city of Pistoia.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

F, F, AND P continued

We flew into Florence in partial clouds. It was humid and sticky almost the whole time, but nothing we could not handle (the hotels in both towns had air conditioning and we took 2 showers a day and siestas in the heat of the day). We actually paid very little for travel, housing and food which is a surprise since this time of year is the most expensive time to travel. I guess you just have to shop around because the moderate priced services are there waiting for you to find them. But places were so crowded-too many tourists this time of year!
Florence is dominated by the big three, the Campanile, the Duomo, and the Baptistry. It all looks so different different times of the day. It seems like every time I travel, something major is under wraps being fixed, and parts of the Duomo and the very top lantern were being worked on. But the pictures I took are still incredible, that impossible white, green, and pink coloring found all over Tuscany. On the train trip to Pistoia, we passed through Prato, the town where that green marble was mined and shipped to Florence for the construction 600 years ago.
We also got to see the Palantine Chapel at the Pitti Palace and admire the outrageous decadence of the Medici’s and the Borgias. There was a wonderful show by the French artist Folon at the Palazzo Vecchio, but the palazzo was again closed as it was closed for reconstruction when I was there the last time. We went into dozens of churches, and I believe that nothing on earth is more beautiful than the main chapel, the Cappella Maggiore of Santa Maria Novella. I knew Ghirlandaio worked on it with Michelangelo, but I did not know that you feel totally surrounded by color, especially the reds and the golds, when you step under and among the works of art in this chapel. Also, the della robia ceramics and the marble and gold leaf of the Church of the Annuziata was almost beyond belief. It was not shiny gold recently restored, but old gold that made you feel its age.
We took tours all over on our double decker tourist bus. Most of my shots did not come out without Steve’s hat or tilted one way or another, but the sheer volume of what I shot makes up for it. Stay tuned tomorrow for more.

Monday, July 11, 2005

FLORENCE, FIESOLE, AND PISTOIA (or, so you think you've seen Tuscany?)

We are back from our celebratory trip north, and what a trip it was. I remarked to Steve yesterday that summer time touring always is the same: after awhile, each city seems just like the last crowded, dirty, hot and expensive place. But we made the most of it and enjoyed the music we heard, all of the sights, and the kind people we met.
Northern Italy is beautiful. It is like being in another country from Sicily. It is the difference between California and New York City. It is monuments and historic sites that have been treated with respect vs. incredible ruins of beautiful places. I saw more churches than ever this trip and I have a new favorite or two. Florence reeks of money and power and always has. I am glad I read so many books about the place this winter, as I felt like I could meet a Medici on the street and recognize one. But that doesn’t mean I’d like one! Unfortunately, some of the most gorgeous places were not allowing cameras. Tomorrow more views and explanations.

Monday, July 04, 2005

SAN MICHELE PICTURES AND CLOSURE

Happy 4TH of July! The highest part of our town called San Michele, an ancient enclave with the remnants of the castle and huge thick fortress walls, was the setting for the pictures of the church in San Michele from yesteday. They are from our Friday night pizza at Conte Luna, a favorite restaurant in an unbeatable setting. It was a “Last Supper” for the group from the states. We cannot wait for the movies to start in the huge Badia garden up there. We saw three or four last year, and it is such fun to sit outdoors and watch a good movie on a hot night.
The weekend finally is over, and a stressful one it was at that. Instead of ending it at the Menfi Wine Tasting celebration, we decided to go for a ride and then just veg with pizza at home in front of the TV set, feeling the stress leave our bodies as we were finally alone with no demands or expectations upon us. Are we Americans or what?
The ride was at a perfect time of night at the end of a weather perfect day, and it was a celebration of sorts. We had finally seen accomplished many things that we have anticipated for a long time: the end of the humid heat, the new license, just the two of us alone, the repair of the road collapse on our main road, the opening of the new Carboj bridge after almost 3 years. Closure was all around us and it felt good!
You cannot see cars cross the bridge because it is too far away, but we crossed it and felt the wind buffet our little sports car around. The repair of the road collapse (frana) is almost complete except for guard rails, but at least we do not need to take the hot dusty detour we were stuck with for weeks. Locals dubbed the road that was used “Via Inferno,” and it was hell. And the scenery of the fields at the end of the day was just lovely to me, not having been for a ride in months and months. I love the freedom of saying, “Let’s go for a ride!” on the spur of the moment. In a few days, on to Florence and Pistoia. Tuscany, here we come. Meanwhile, more sunflowers bloom in our cheerful garden.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Church of San Michele

These are especially for you, Maria. More later-Happy 4th!

Friday, July 01, 2005

SAMBUCA AGAIN

Happy July, and is it a hot one! It reminds me of why I don’t like to go sight seeing in the summer. Phew! It has been over 30 degrees C all week and if you can catch a breeze at night, you are lucky. The news says it is even hotter up north. Our American friends in the apartment above are having a tough time sleeping, but we are managing to do some touring. We wanted someplace close so I thought of one of my favorite places which I know I have written about before here. But these are all new pictures.
We went to Sambuca di Sicilia because it is one of my favorite little mountain towns (outside of the big cities, it seems all of Sicily is made of such towns). The people there have an incredible pride in their many tourist resources. We drove a short way on the big road then through the land of grape vines, past Feudo Arancia, the new big wine conglomerate from the north, past rain swollen Lago Arancia and on to the little town itself.
There is a small museum on the top floor of the municipal building. But even though an elevator is there it is never available. So when you must climb several flights of stairs you see the damn elevator door at every landing. Typical Sicilian passive aggression-someone probably has lost the key to the thing, which was put in only for compliance to handicapped rules anyway (so they could get federal funds). A more likely explanation is they are just too lazy and cost conscious to run it. Same old, same old, incompetence as you would meet in the states, only there are few advocates for consumers here, none that I have found actually.
Anyway, the museum is a treasure trove, showing objects from the thriving Greek settlement on Mount Adranone (only uncovered in the 60’s) that overlooks Sambuca, and the later Punic settlement. There are no pictures allowed, but we saw objects that were beautiful and fascinating, and I remembered enough from other there trips to explain things that we saw, as our (substitute?) guide was not really up on what this was all about. There were objects recovered from graves, including one called the queen’s grave, like tiny and intricately designed clay women’s heads and small vases called tear-catchers that women cried into upon the death of a loved one, and then buried with them. There were gorgeous brown and black clay pots depicting daily life and huge marble decorated tops of columns (Sue, thinking they were light fixtures, thought she was back in Las Vegas) and even a few sweat-and-grease scrapers that athletes used for Olympic-type games as they prepared their bodies for sport and display.
Then it was on to the fabric art display of Sylvie Clavel, a French dancer who was injured and had to leave her beloved dancing and from then on spent part of her year in France, part in Sambuca, working intricate knots into sculptures. Her spinal injury is reflected in much of her work. It is always breathtaking to see her creations again.
We picked up beautiful photo books at the tourist office depicting the Palio-type horse racing down Main Street that celebrates in May the Feast of Maria SS dell’ Udienza, one of the bigger churches in the town center. That is a picture of Sue walking toward the altar in that church under the Murano glass chandeliers. We visited the lovely town theater, a little gem of great pride to the locals. It has three tiers of box seats from which Steve and I saw a high school performance a few years back. Next on the agenda was an attraction I had never seen before-the well hidden Arab quarter.
After the Belice valley earthquake that damaged so much in this area, the town resurfaced the Kasbah-like streets entered through the ancient archway so that the small roadways look like the medieval cobbles seen in Erice. But there is no vehicular traffic allowed, so you must see it on foot. There are little piazzas with outdoor art and an ancient church on almost every corner. The picture shown of one corner has an oil amphora (upper left) from ancient times cemented up into a wall with a manger scene roof (kept up year round) below and a baroque balcony decoration on the right. A very friendly deaf woman sitting outside in her chair pointed it out to us as we walked by. The ancient church shown is Chiesa del Rosario, put up by the Jesuits to help the neighborhood cope with the constant appearance of Arab ghosts in its streets.
What a town! And what a feast we had at our own Sciacca gourmet restaurant, Hostaria del Vicolo, as we near the end of their time in Sciacca. Other recent guests here might recognize the garlic mounted in the cement of the covered archway that signals good eating down that alley.