My final week in Italy was spent in a few other Italian cities. I had previously spent some time in Rome, Florence and Pisa, so I decided to forgo those cities and head further south to Sicily, and also spend a day or so in Verona which is where I flew out from. I also had a friend from St. John's who is volunteering in Israel this year (I know cool, right?) join me for a few days in Sicily.
First of all, I will say I am really glad I ended my time in Italy seeing more of Italy rather than traveling to another country. I figured to round off the whole experience I should try and see more of the different regions that make up this beautiful country. I had been told that the north of Italy could not be more different than the south and wow they were right! From my pictures of Merano you can probably see that it is a bright, clean and calm city that is perfect for meandering along the river or taking a lengthy coffee break in the sun. When I arrived in Sicily I couldn't help thinking "It's so wild!" Palermo is a much bigger city anyways, but the streets were bustling with people, they were narrow and windy, there were busy open air markets, there was laundry out to dry and many areas full of garbage and construction work. It was almost like stepping into a totally different country that has some Italian and Spanish influence but parts of it almost reminded me of the Philippines. The cool thing was that I could still get by with my minimal Italian even though they speak a bit differently.
Here are a few highlights of Sicily:
1) The winding streets and open air markets. I LOVE markets of all kind. Not sure why but they are just so much fun for me to walk through and look at. These markets were full of anything you could possibly imagine. The tourists and locals alike were strolling through and purchasing the produce and fresh fish. I also loved getting lost in all the back streets because thats where you usually find the best bars, or places to eat. We found a really fun area full of bars and live music one night and had fun chatting with some of the locals. These streets were just like something you would see in a movie or what you might imagine when you think of Italy. They were just so Italian.
2) Monreale and Mondello beach. I knew I wanted to go to the ocean one day, so we hopped on a bus for about 30 minutes to this little seaside town on the coast. It was cool just to see another place and be near the ocean again. Parts of this even reminded me of Ireland. We actually stumbled upon a the finish of a triathlon which was kinda fun. Otherwise the town was pretty empty since it is not high tourist season, so we just walked around the beach a bit and ate some pizza.
3) The only really touristy thing that we did was go to the Catacombs of the Capuchins. It was very interesting but also a bit disturbing as the Catacombs houses around 8,000 mummies of monks and also citizens of Palermo. The Catacombs were created in the 16th century when the monastery of the Capuchins ran out of space in the cemetery so they decided to expand underground. One of the monks requested to be mummified so that others could not only pray with him but also to him. This trend caught on and other monks began to request to be mummified. It began to be a symbol of status to be displayed in the catacombs so citizens began to also be mummified in the following years. It is no longer in operation as the last mummy to be added to the Catacombs was in the 1920's.
One other interesting thing we stumbled upon when googling information about the Catacombs is that the name of the Capuchin monks actually influenced the name of the coffee drink 'cappuccino'. Apparently, 'cappuccino' means 'little cap' in Italian and it is said that the brown hoods and bald white heads of the Capuchin monks closely resembles the foamy brown white head of a steamy cappuccino. So there ya go, the cappuccino was named from some monks in Italy that wanted to be made into mummies when they died, who knew?!
Lastly, I spent some time in the lovely city of Verona. My final day in Italy was spent strolling in the city of love along with Romeo and Juliet and also practicing my Italian with a 75 year old grandpa. Verona was really a nice, easy and romantic city. It is called the city of love for a reason! The grandpa that I talked with called it a 'citta tranquila' which means 'quiet' or 'calm city', which was a very accurate description. I had some really good panini and vino and also was able to stroll around a Christmas market, climb the Torre dei Lamberti and go to an art museum. I am glad I spent my last day in Italy alone because it gave me some time to think and reflect on the past few months. I also wouldn't have talked to so many locals and talking with this grandpa sitting in the sun [in Italian mind you] will be one of my favorite memories from Verona.
I will save my final thoughts of transitioning back to the U.S. for one more post so here are some pictures from these two cities! Thanks for reading and happy late Thanksgiving :)
Open air market
Seaside Town of Monreale
He loved it when I tried to take selfies. Thanks for not killing me.
Verona
Julie's Balcony. Oh so romantic...
Christmas market
My mom actually took this picture a few months earlier when she was here, but I thought it was very Italian looking and I just like it. So thanks mom :)
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