Sicily, Naples, Rome
Packed week in Italy, seeing Sicily, Naples, and Rome!
Days at a Glance
| Date | Day at a Glance |
|---|---|
| Fri, 17May24 | Arrival to Catania, Sicily |
| Sat, 18May24 | Tour of Mt. Etna |
| Sun, 19May24 | Exploring Syracuse, nature reserve, ending in Scicli |
| Mon, 20May24 | Road trip to see UNESCO heritage sites, including Modica, Ragusa, and Agrigento |
| Tue, 21May24 | Mosaics of Monreale Duomo near Palermo, before overnight ferry to Naples |
| Wed, 22May24 | Pompeii, Naples walking tour, train to Rome |
| Thu, 23May24 | Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain |
| Fri, 24May24 | Trastevere neighborhood, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon |
| Sat, 25May24 | Walking tour, reading in a cafe, fly home |
High-Low-Hero-Chow/Ciao*
| Ben | Maggie | |
|---|---|---|
| High | Otherwordly Mt. Etna terrain | Pompeii |
| Low | Flagging after trudging through Pompeii when we first got there | Naples walking tour |
| Hero | Rick Steves | Rick Steves |
| Chow/Ciao | Pizza after Sistine Chapel | Focaccia sandwiches and dark chocolate gelato |
*A game I learned from Ben, who uses it with friends as a fun way to reflect on an experience
Journal
Other than our weekend in Venice, Ben had never been to Italy. I traveled much of Italy with my family in 2019 but did not go further south than Rome. We were both interested in Sicily, and I have always wanted to see Pompeii, so we planned a trip around that. I work closely with David, who always has his Italian coworker friends stopping into our office to say "ciao." When I told David I was going to Sicily, he hooked me up with Giovanni, a native Sicilian. Giovanni clearly loved and missed Sicily, and was excited to sit down with me and offer suggestions and trip feedback.
Friday 17May24
We snuck out from work early to take a 5PM flight from AMS. It was a direct ~3hr flight to Catania; Ben enjoyed the view of the Alps from his window seat.
We planned a mini road-trip to see Sicily, so we picked up our Fiat from the airport and headed into the center of Catania. Ben had just finagled a perfect parallel park job in an uphill spot, with stick shift, in a spot barely bigger than the size of the car, when a resident came out from his apartment and let us know it was in residents-only zone. Exhausted, we told him we'd move soon. We stretched our legs with a walk to the grocery store for supplies (nice cured meat, Italian oranges, double chocolate muffins and yogurt) and stopping at a takeout window where we ordered 2 large pizzas. Knowing the end was in sight, Ben bravely reparked in a confirmed non-residents zone and we crashed in our small Airbnb and devoured some pizza.
Saturday 18May24
Saturday started early, as we had 8:30AM guided tour starting at the base of Mt. Etna, about an hour drive away from Catania. We brought our leftover pizza for breakfast on-the-go and started the windy drive, gaining in elevation the whole time until we reached Rifugio Sapienza, the small town with cable car accesss to the south side of Mt. Etna. There we met our guide, an enthusiastic botanist with a deep love for "mother" Etna. Normally, Ben and I avoid guided tours, as we prefer to go at our own pace (and we're cheap as hell). For safety purposes, tourists are not allowed to summit Mt. Etna without a guide, so Ben and I agreed the cost was worth it (110 euro pp, of which 60pp went directly to the cable car). Before we began our tour, our tour guide informed us that we would not be reaching the summit, given weather conditions. We were disappointed, as this was the entire reason we'd booked the guided tour in the first place. However, she assured us there would still be plenty of cool things to see.
The cable car got us to ~2500m, and we then took a bus to reach ~3000m. The scenery was unlike anything I'd seen before. Very black, barren, with the texture of the rocks changing from smooth sand to jagged sharp rocks. While we could not reach the summit, Ben and I were both so relieved we had a tour guide. There were almost no trail markings as the scenery changes too frequently from the lava flows. Our tour guide often ignored the few markings we did see, instead finding her own way through the black sand to hidden spots. We explored thermal vents where we could feel the heat coming from the rocks, deeply carved channels from lava flow, and incredible views of the Mt. Etna landscape. We appreciated the difference between deep craters from various eruptions from 2001-2003, and the smooth rock created from new lava flows, as recent as 2023. Ben and I had been to Haleakala volcano on Maui, where the summit landscape was barren, but somehow still warm feeling, from the red sand and blue sky. Mt. Etna, with the grey skies, deep black sand, and sharp basalt, felt ethereal and other-worldly. It was easy to pretend we were on a different planet.
The tour went from 8:30-13:30. After thanking and tipping our guide, we ate some packed sandwiches in the car before driving the windy way back to Catania. At our Airbnb we cleaned up, took a short nap, and I popped some pills for travelers runny tummy (thanks to my mom for her packing list!)
After recuperating, we headed out to Catania to explore the city. It was beautiful weather, and it was nice to see the locals out enjoying the sun, socializing in the pedestrian-only streets in front of historic old cathedrals and buildings (notably built with basalt from Mt. Etna). We also noticed the city had more of a grungier vibe than we anticipated, from abandoned buildings, graffiti, and trash. Catania is on the coast, but the water access is not designed with pedestrians in mind, hidden beyond railroad tracks and industrial buildings. The juxtaposition of beautiful restored cathedrals and crumbling old buildings matched the feeling we had that tourists were not quite as commonplace here as other Italian spots.
We had dinner at a family-run pizza joint where the main proprietor played only Maroon 5 the entire night (not just the hits...). We shared delicious Sicilian white wine and their specialty pizza with crispy purple potatoes and a cream sauce (while singing along to "This Love", obviously).
Sunday 19May24
We left Catania and drove 1 hour south to Syracuse, which includes a small island: Ortygia, an ancient Greek city from 8th century BC. As you cross the bridge into Ortygia, you're immediately greeted with ruins from an Apollo Temple. We roughly followed a self-guided walking tour, learning how the old sites related to ancient Greek myths (like this freshwater spring, yet another nymph trying to escape lecherous advances!). It suddenly started to downpour, and we crammed ourselves under a nearby cafe umbrella with all the other tourists. After a few minutes with no signs of abating, and after being propositioned multiple times from savvy vendors selling umbrellas, we agreed to brave the rain. Ben always says "it's never raining as hard as it looks," and he was right. We got a little wet, but it kept the crowds away as we walked around and checked out the old fort. However Ben did lose his nerve after he noticed my hair starting to stand up on its own as we checked out a large metal sculpture in the fort. After googling "signs lightning is about to strike you," we turned around and headed back to our car.
Both needing a bathroom, we stopped in to grab some arancini from a small cafe. Giovanni had recommended we try the Sicilian specialty of coated and fried rice balls. Honestly, it was disappointing and tasted distinctly of Chef Boyardee. I know it's bad when Ben doesn't even offer to finish it. But we probably can blame the cafe and not the arancini, as our main criteria was free bathroom and no line...
We put on dry socks and drove another 45 minutes to Riserva Naturale Orientata Oasi Faunistica di Vendicari. This was a recommendation from Giovanni, who took over my computer himself to type instead of trying to say that entire name out loud...This nature reserve was small but had it all: greenery, ruins, and beach. We walked along the boardwalk, avoiding stepping on small darting lizards, to get to the beach. Ben picked a private spot on the beach and we relaxed and read our books, enjoying the sun, as the water was a bit too cold for comfortable swimming. It was lovely.
Next we drove the last hour to Scicli, where our AirBNB host greeted us. It was only after the interaction that Ben informed me I had sand covering half of my face. After cleaning up, we headed out for dinner. Scicli was lovely, having the historic and romantic feel of Catania while also being smaller, quieter, and more quaint. We shared some pasta and decided to give arancini another try, this time at a proper restaurant. Final arancini thoughts: good, not great. But maybe we're just scarred from the nasischijf, a similar but worse concept of breaded rice you buy from Dutch vending machines.
Monday 20May24
The Timberwolves were scheduled to play game 7 against the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs at 2AM. When I told Ben that he could wake me up at any point after 4AM, he scoffed. "Nah I'll wake up at like 6:30AM." Somehow I wasn't surprised when he woke me up at 4AM...We watched an amazing come-back win on Ben's laptop (he'd done numerous WiFi speed tests the night before to confirm the best location in the apartment). Being away from home during MN sports playoffs can be tough, but it felt special and exciting to get up early and participate, knowing we were the only ones in Scicli crazy enough to be watching. After the thrilling win we managed to go back to sleep, me falling asleep earlier than Ben, and slept in until 10:15AM.
We shared the leftover pasta for breakfast and got onto the road, heading to Modica. South-Eastern Sicily has a string of towns that are UNESCO sites for their architectural and artistic achievement. All re-built after a 1693 earthquake, they're built in a similar style, with beautiful white buildings nestled into the rolling hills. Scicli is the Southern most city so we drove the 15 minutes next to Modica. The viewpoints as we drove up to Modica were beautiful. We did not stay for long, but we stepped into the old cathedral, and admired the view of the city from it's steps.
Another 20 minute drive North brought us to Ragusa, where we enjoyed more amazing views from the steps of a cathedral. All 3 of these cities felt very similar, while Ragusa felt bigger, with more urban areas not dedicated to the 1693 style. Catania is also part of this UNESCO heritage collection, emphasizing that while the UNESCO designation is an important marker of history and art, it does not prevent modern people from living and changing the city as they need.
After popping through these UNESCO towns, we drove 2 hours to Stair of the Turks, a beach on the Southern coast with distinctive white slanting rocks, that appear like stairs. The sun was shining and we ate focaccia sandwiches on the beach. We packed swimsuits but it was a bit too cold for comfortable swimming. We brought our books, but just ended up people watching and debriefing about the Timberwolves. It was lovely to relax.
After doing our best to de-sand, we drove 20 minutes inland to Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples. This large complex has ruins from 7 different temples, with Temple of Concordia being one of the most impressively intact ancient buildings we've ever seen (weird flex but we've seen a few). The park is perched on the top of the hill, with impressive views of the modern city of Agrigento in the background. No Rick Steve's guided tour for this, and the placards were not easy-reads (archeologists are not known for their brevity!). Flagging a bit from a long day, we meandered around, letting ourselves get a bit lost and not taking it too seriously. We enjoyed watching various kids walk up to a fallen male bronze statue and make eye contact with his junk; lots of loud questions to sheepish parents.
.jpg)
When we couldn't stand to look at another temple, we headed into town to check into our AirBNB. We showered and headed out for dinner, having worked up an appetite after a long day. We shared pasta and a delicious octopus; Ben paired his with more Sicilian white wine and I had a limoncello spritz (my first and last of the trip, I don't know if limoncello is for me). Ben and I were pretty engaged in our conversation, but when the couple next to us flagged the waiter for mayo to accompany their dinner, consisting only of french fries and fried calamari, we listened more intently and were unsurprised to hear Flemish. Funny what cultural behaviors tip you off!
After dinner we wandered around Agrigento for a bit longer before crashing for an early night. We both agreed that changing accommodations every night was getting a bit tiring.
Tuesday 21May24
To fuel up before our last drive of the trip, we got insanely delicious focaccia sandwiches from a shop right outside our AirBNB. The Italians put so much love and attention into these sandwiches, with homemade crusty bread, delicious spreads, and artisanal cured meats and cheeses. It absolutely humiliates the Dutch "sandwich", which does not even pretend to have flavor. We drove 2 hours north to Palermo. I was able to enjoy the gorgeous landscape as we drove, with the rolling hills and groves of lemon and olive trees. Ben had a more difficult task of navigating the roads, which were almost entirely single lane and full of tractors, old people driving Fiats going 20 km/h below the speed limit, or Audis trying to pass at 50km/h over the speed limit. We would pass through checkpoints designed for police control or tolling, but they were completely abandoned. We would have found this more concerning if Giovanni had not warned me in advance: "there's nobody ever there so you can just drive through." Navigating Sicily with a car meant we could see the smaller towns, go at our own pace, and cover a lot of the island's coast. It also meant we had to navigate low road quality and chaotic herd mentality driving style. Ben confidently drove through it all, only standing out as a tourist when he used his turn signal.
Just before getting into the heart of Palermo, we stopped at a town called Monreale to see the famous Duomo, at Giovanni's recommendation. He shared with me the Sicilian saying: "He who goes to Palermo without seeing Monreale leaves a donkey and comes back an ass," so I knew we had to see it. The interior of the Duomo was beautiful, with detailed mosaic work of the old testament stories on the nave. Ben and I enjoyed working our way through them; Ben's always a big fan of Eve coming out of Adam's rib.
After our fill of Old Testament lore we left the Duomo and game planned at the nearby fountain. An old Englishman approached us, seeing Ben's Tottenham shirt, to talk shop about the current season. He was impressed to hear we'd been to the stadium twice since moving here-COYS!
We headed back to our car, and I stopped us for some cold drinks: granita limon for myself and fresh OJ for Ben. His mood always significantly improves after watching an Italian woman squeeze some fresh oranges for him. We finished the focaccia sandwiches before driving to Palermo airport to drop off our rental car. The Fiat had served us well, but we were ready to say goodbye.
We took public transit to the port of Palermo so Ben could "lay eyes." We booked an overnight ferry that would take us to Naples, which Ben was relatively nervous about after reading some bad reviews (they ran out of water! they didn't have toilet paper!) We were still hours too early to check in, but Ben felt better being able to see the boat and understand the security situation. We ended up sitting there for almost 20 minutes watching a Sicilian man play Jenga with his truck's cargo.
We left the port and headed into Palermo to explore a bit, although our energy was running a bit low and we had our suitcases with us. We stopped at a pizza by the slice place and ordered an absurd amount of pizza, the waitress eyes widening with every slice we ordered. Ben wanted to make sure we had enough for linner, 2nd dinner, breakfast, and then an apocalypse where the ferry held us hostage.
After pizza we dragged our suitcases and pizza to the port and got onto the boat. It was surprisingly nice! After our nightmare experience of a shared sleeping cabin on an overnight train from Vienna, Ben booked us our own sleeping cabin. It had 4 twin beds, a shower, and plenty of toilet paper (even though Ben had packed our own roll, just in case!). No WiFi, and we had to turn off phone service to avoid maritime fees, but we found our own entertainment. We spied on old Italian men playing slots, old Italian men watching game shows in the "show lounge", and lots of flirting Italian teenagers clearly on a school trip. We spent a lot of time on the deck reminiscing about previous cruise experiences as kids. We enjoyed the sunset before heading back to our cabin for some cold pizza and water (from the 5 water bottles Ben had us pack). We went to bed early, knowing it would be an early morning. I offered to sleep separately, but Ben insisted that we cuddle and share the twin. Somehow he changed his mind midway through the night and went to the other twin bed; we're not in college anymore!
.jpg)
Wednesday 22May24
A bang on our door at 6AM meant it was time to wake up and get packed. We finished the leftover pizza and got packed up before meandering on the deck while we pulled into Napoli port. We stayed longer than most folks, enjoying the show of docking mechanics, with lots of guys yelling to each other about various ropes. We were so mesmerized with the process that we were the last tourists on board; they even had turned off the tourist escalator so we had to take a service elevator down and leave the boat along with all the cargo trucks.
We started the walk from the port to Napoli centrale, a distance we usually do on vacation no problem. But this time, tired and with luggage on poorly constructed sidewalks, trying to navigate trash and dead rodents, Ben called it quits and we took a subway the rest of the way to centrale. We were the only souls in this subway station, it was eerily quiet.
We finally made it to centrale, but left the station and walked a few blocks to a self-luggage storage (after seeing the eyebrow raising prices of the luggage storage station inside centrale. When will we admit defeat and just pay for convenience?) Finally we were ready to head to Pompeii, but somehow it managed to take us an entire hour to find the right train line (I'm not kidding!) We are experienced travelers accustomed to navigating new European city's public transit systems, but we just could not figure this out. This wasted hour involved several different incorrect platforms, asking for help multiple times, and finally admitting defeat and getting on a train that took us "close enough." This "close enough" meant an extra 45 minute walk through the city of Pompeii before reaching the main entrance of the archeological park.
Surprisingly we were not instantly in good moods when we finally made it to the start of the tour location! We took 10 minutes to sit in the shade, not appreciating that at least our butts sat on ancient and historic rocks. We watched the stream of tourists enter the park, which felt like an insult to our pride as we were forced to admit that somehow these bozos managed to transit to the right entrance...
After taking a moment to check in with each other, shake the weariness from our eyes, and chug some water, we put on our game faces to actually enjoy what we had come to see. And man, it was worth it. Pompeii was wicked cool! A city where 20,000 ancient Roman people had lived, it is now a huge complex of ruins in various states of intactness. This included mansions for the rich with beautiful frescoes and mosaics, bath and steam rooms, restaurants, and ancient temples. We could see the grooves the carts had left in the stone from repeated use, and learned they kept the streets clean by flooding it every night, so periodic elevated stones would serve as walkways. Rick Steves' silky voice guided us through it all.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
We finished his tour and left the park, grabbing a calzone, as we headed to a bus stop. We waited 15 minutes for a bus number that never came, wondering if the previous bus (with a different number, minutes earlier than what we were expecting) was actually for us. Admitting defeat on this public transit attempt again, we were forced to take a train in 25 minutes. To kill some time and lift our spirits, we headed in a few blocks for some cold drinks. Ben got some OJ and I ordered a blended coffee. We did not properly assess what we were getting ourselves into: this was the slowest man on earth. Ben joked this felt like the sloth at the DMV in Zootopia. Admittedly this was our fault, we wanted fast service in Europe, what were we thinking? After getting our drinks we speed-walked to make our train back into Naples.
After arriving in Naples, Ben and I did the Naples Rick Steves waking tour. This tour navigated us through crowded pedestrian markets, winding back streets, and bustling main roads with lots of traffic, as it shared the history of the city. Unlike previous walking tours, there weren't as many obvious "sights." It was lots of comments trying to stoke some love for an old city still while subtly digging at it, "people living in the streets," "lack of development has preserved a proud and independent way of life," etc. We found Naples overwhelming and grimy, with lots of areas needing love and attention, including abandoned city malls and poor pedestrian infrastructure. Obviously our state of mind impacted our opinion of Naples, but we heard similar sentiments from other friends who had been to Naples. Naples' biggest draw for many is the margherita pizza, as the city supposedly invented this. The tour took us to an area with a few famous pizzerias and the lines wrapped around the street. Ben and I appreciate good food, but we are not willing to wait in line for 2 hours for a margherita pizza... Google reviews showed the pizzeria next door had an equivalent star rating and without a line, so we sat down for another Naples delicacy: fried pizza. It arrived to our table blown up like a balloon. We both enjoyed it, but found it (unsurprisingly) a bit greasy, agreeing that we prefer regular pizza.
I knew I was feeling overtired and not like myself when Ben's gelato suggestion did not sound appetizing...Rick Steves suggested a nearby gelateria: Al Polo Nord, a 4-generation family owned place. Ben ordered a chocolate gelato to share, and as we were eating it, we kept getting disorienting bites of the bubble-gum flavor, as if they had not properly cleaned the spoon between uses. Ben joked this last generation was really letting the place go. Finally, in the peace and privacy of the luggage self-storage kiosk, after an epically long day and a soul-crushing gelato experience (and some PMS, who are we kidding), I ended up tearing up from fatigue and disappointment. I put a lot of time and effort into planning these vacations, which often leads to extra-pressure on these days to be awesome. Naples felt like such a let-down. Ben was a bit flustered that his wife was blubbering about bad gelato from 20 minutes ago, but was very reassuring and kind. After he talked me down, he told me he needed to take a picture to remember this moment. Now it can be memorialized forever, thanks babe.
.jpg)
Having released all of the built-up tension from the day in the luggage kiosk, I slept for the duration of the high speed train from Naples to Rome. Arriving in Rome, suddenly the world was filled with magic and wonder again (funny what a nap will do!) But Ben and I both remarked that Rome felt quieter, better structured, and more charming than Naples. Which really goes to show how far the bar had been lowered (car lanes! sidewalks!) Ben sent me into a grocery store for supplies. Feeling more like myself, and wanting justice for the shitty gelato, I got a pack of Magnums in a flavor I hadn't seen before: coffee! We finally arrived to our AirBNB around 9PM after what felt like the longest day ever. We both slept quickly and deeply.
.jpg)
Thursday 23May24
We had a late morning, eating some yogurt and oranges for breakfast while we watched the Timberwolves lose game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. We relaxed and talked while I did some laundry; I asked Ben if he brought extra dirty socks from home, how does one man generate so many? We ended up just having an early lunch in the AirBNB from my grocery store haul: nice Italian meat and cheese on crusty bread with some olive oil.
After some good rest, we headed out to our timed entry tickets to the Colosseum. The amphitheater was really cool, and the walking tour helped us understand the mechanics below the sandy floor to allow for warriors and creatures to suddenly appear. It was fun to visualize the different fights and crowds of cheering people. We followed the one direction path, getting different views of stadium and its surroundings, before we made our way to the exit.
Next we headed to the Roman Forum. I steered us towards a smaller side entrance closer to Palatine Hill so I could feel smug about avoiding the large queue. After a bathroom and water break, instead of starting the Roman Forum guided tour as planned, we ended up just hanging out in the shade on the hill talking about big picture life goals, including thoughts on staying abroad for longer, owning a home, and kids. There is something about being in a new place that gets me and Ben thinking differently and more open to these big picture conversations. We talked for over half an hour, while being intermittently distracted by a view of men in vests slowly descending from the Colosseum. We're at a unique point in our lives where we have the time and money to shape how our life goes, without having any real large responsibilities yet. While overwhelming sometimes, it is fun getting swept up in imagining different futures we could have. Ben is a fun partner to dream with.
After tabling big life conversations, we checked out the Roman Forum. It is insane how much ancient history and former glory fits onto this small hill. We imagined how crowded and impressive it must have looked when all of the temples competed with each other.
As we were leaving the forum, one of Ben's campers from Herzl recognized Ben and flagged us down. They caught up and reminisced briefly, before parting ways. Ben wondered how many other friendly faces we've almost encountered in our travels, although particularly likely in Rome: a hot spot for college students studying abroad.
We headed to the pantheon but did not arrive in time to get last-minute tickets, so we did a portion of Rick Steves walking tour from the Pantheon to the Spanish steps. This includes the Trevi fountain, which I have a weird soft spot for. I remember it vividly from when we visited with my family, and it was still just as impressive to me now. Ben was a bit more underwhelmed, maybe because I oversold it, but also because he was on the look out for pick pockets.
We found dinner at a restaurant nearby the Spanish steps. We shared some pasta and white wine, and I was forced to ask myself some tough questions: will I always be disappointed in pasta carbonara? How do I not sound like a spoiled brat when I complain about carbonara in Italy? And when did I get old and sensitive to greasy foods?
We meandered our way home in the warm evening air, feeling fulfilled after a day of sightseeing. Once home, we called some friends and family to say hi while enjoying a coffee magnum (earning a solid 8.5/10, a competitive showing but still a whole point back from the reigning double chocolate caramel).
Friday 24May24
We checked out the Trastevere neighborhood in the morning, loosely following a Rick Steves' tour to see the highlights of the colorful neighborhood.
We headed to the Vatican Museum next for our 1PM tickets. I felt pretty smug as we passed the line to get in, spanning multiple city blocks, with our pre-timed tickets. The museum itself was really impressive. This beautiful building had long hallways of statues, maps, and tapestries. Ben and I enjoyed the Rafael rooms, admiring the large and impressive paintings. Rick Steves has a tour dedicated to the Vatican Museum, separate from the Sistine Chapel. He explained the statue of Artemis was meant to evoke fertility, but it is unclear if they're breasts, balls, or eggs. Ben and I enjoyed theorizing on this matter.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Finally we made it to the star of the show: the Sistine Chapel. I remember visiting with my family and being absolutely wowed, so I was excited to see it again with Ben. It did not disappoint. This large cavernous room has the entire ceiling painted by Michelangelo. Crammed in with hundreds other tourists, the audio tour from Rick Steves helped to block out the other tourists and the frequent "silenzio" requests from the staff. We learned that Michelangelo had painted standing up, not on his back, for years on temporary scaffolding (the cramping must have been intense!). The ceiling is comprised of many small stories. He started with the chronologically later stories, which have many more characters and appear much busier. When the scaffolding was removed and he could finally visualize his paintings from the floor, as intended, he did not like how small and crowded it felt. His later ceiling paintings, telling the chronologically early stories of God separating light from darkness and creating man, have larger characters and feel more awe-inspiring.
Over 20 years later, Michelangelo was asked to return and paint the Last Judgment on the wall. A more haggard and aged man, the Last Judgment feels darker and more depressing, including a gruesome self portrait in the form of his loose skin, as if he had been flayed alive. Later, the painting was altered by other artists who came in to cover the exposed genitalia with rather obvious black underwear...
Photos are not allowed, as the staff frequently reminded other visitors who obnoxiously raised their phones to block everybody's view. Ben managed to sneak this unobtrusive selfie of us. Ben and I took in the impressive chapel for a while, feeling no rush to go anywhere. We monitored a side exit, which according to my internet research, had a direct path to St Peter's Basilica, allowing you to skip the line. We assesesd the situation like undercover cops, noting it was guarded and only allowed for group tours with paid access. Ben and I waited for the right moment, letting multiple large Asian tour groups go through, knowing we had no chance at blending in. Finally, when a tour group of whities was making their way, we tried to sneak into the middle. Unfortunately the tour guide immediately busted us, likely having seen many other tourists do a poor job at trying to be sneaky. Slightly shamed, we turned around and headed to the main exit for normies. Once outside the museum we debated waiting in line for St Peters Basilica, but the lines were exorbitantly long given the sacred pilgrimage this Basilica represents for many Catholics. Having been with my family, I told him it was a cool church, but not worth paying for Skip the Line tickets, and not nearly as cool as the Sistine Chapel. We decided to skip it and get pizza instead.
Ben picked a pizza spot far enough away from the Vatican to not feel so touristy, and we loaded up on Roman pizza. It was so good that we went back for seconds!
After fueling up, we headed to the Parthenon. I distinctly remember being impressed when I was here with my family, and it held up! The low dome has a hole in the ceiling that allows a gentle amount of light, beautifully illuminating the different niches. Yes, this had another Rick Steves tour.
We headed back to the AirBNB to shower and recharge. Unfortunately, after Ben's shower and a toilet issue, our AirBNB somehow ran out of water..? I had just finished soaping up when the shower water trickled to a stop. I desperately tried to splash small amounts of water onto my body from the kitchen sink, but it came out at a trickle, so this was slow going.
We enjoyed dinner in Trastevere before wandering around and enjoying the people watching. The sunset was beautiful and I enjoyed some gelato while we watched a street performance. Ben gave me grief about ordering the gelato when we had magnums in the freezer, but still managed to eat a decent portion of my dark chocolate scoop. It was a lovely evening.
Saturday 25May24
We packed up and headed out, stopping for delicious breakfast sandwiches (since we moved to the Netherlands, I've coveted scrambled eggs in a sandwich). Ben had some freshly squeezed OJ and I had a cappuccino. We dropped our bags at a luggage storage facility before finishing the Rick Steves' walking tour, doing the portion from Campo di Fioro to Piazza Novana.
.jpg)
Ben was starting to feel a bit tired and crappy so we decided to take it easy. A nearby cafe graciously let us camp out with our books, given it was off-peak hours. We nursed our coffee drinks, and I eventually ordered some tasty house-made lasagna.
It was finally time to start heading to the airport. I made us stop for my last serving of dark chocolate gelato as we headed back to our luggage, before taking an extremely crowded bus to the train station, where we eventually ended up at the airport for our evening flight home. KLM was kind enough to serve Dutch sandwiches, meaning one slice of Beemster cheese, but they at least had the decency to put a thin layer of mustard. We trained home from Schipol and slept well in our own beds.
Final Thoughts
This was our first week-long trip in Europe since moving here. It was wonderful to take time off and we felt like we packed a ton in. We found our jam packed week in Italy crazy and thrilling and a bit exhausting. We both agreed we needed a vacation from our vacation, which incidentally we already have planned 2 weeks off in June…Dutch vacation time is pretty sweet!
We were both surprised and impressed with Sicily. Late May isn’t yet peak season, but we were still surprised at how few other tourists we saw. This may be that there aren’t as obvious “must-sees” in Sicily, especially as we skipped the resorts in Taormina. This meant restaurants and attractions never felt too crowded, and we felt less worried about pick-pocketing or tourist traps. It also gave us a feeling that we were exploring instead of following well-trodden paths. Sicilians were generally kind, spoke enough English, and didn’t have tourist-fatigue. There was less infrastructure than we anticipated, potentially another reason tourists aren’t as frequent. Roads were not designed for easy driving, both in the city were everything is tight and chaotic and longer drives between cities, where one lane roads and low visibility made passing slow Fiats difficult. The island was much more beautiful than we expected with mountains into the ocean, old towns built into rolling hills, and beaches with palm trees. But there wasn’t much obvious natural infrastructure. My trip research didn’t have many hiking/nature recommendations, and we didn’t see any signs for hiking.
After busy days in Sicily and Naples, we agreed we would’ve appreciated a slower pace in Sicily. In planning there was no obvious destination that “needed” more time, as Sicily didn’t have as obvious attractions. But if we were to do this again, I’d slow down the pace and include more dedicated beach and relaxing time to enjoy the scenery, weather, and food.
My feelings on Naples are clear, but we both loved Rome. Unlike Sicily, there were tons of obvious “must-see” attractions. We’ve now traveled to lots of different European cities that all claim “must-see”, but with Rome, they actually deserve the hype. The Colosseum and Roman forum are ancient and world renowned for a reason. The Sistine chapel is breathtaking and one of a kind. Ben was surprised at how much he enjoyed them, and I liked seeing the sights again through his eyes. Rome is huge, and there was so much we didn’t see, but the infrastructure to get around (quality public transit! sidewalks!) made exploring fun and accessible. I’m sure we’ll be back sometime in our lives.
For the Record
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Arrival | Transavia, Friday 17May24, 8PM CTA |
| Departure | KLM, Saturday 25May24, 5PM FCO |
| Rick Steves Walking Tours | 9. Pompeii, Naples, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Heart of Rome, Pantheon, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, then half points each for Trastevere and Jewish Quarter (consulted but not thoroughly used) |
| Catania Accomodation | AirBNB, Casa Penninello 2 |
| Scicli Accomodation | AirBNB, Domus Rosae 46 |
| Agrigento Accomodation | AirBNB, Vicolo San Pietro, 29 |
| Rome Accomodation | AirBNB, via della trinita dei pellegrini, 12 |
| Maisy | Terrorizing Ece's cat before being dropped off at Kyla's |
Comments
Post a Comment