Castelmola, the town on the Hill…..

I honestly had no idea… The beauty of this area was beyond what I expected…

Since we arrived in Sicily I have honestly had a Love// Hate relationship…. Leaving Japan was hard, and the culture shock was intense… The Sicilian lifestyle is of course different, not in a bad way at all- the people and landscape, culture and traditions- I expected that. What I didnt expect was where we live. Iv been very hesitant to actually say it, but the areas including the larger city and towns closest to the base are less then desirable. Its not the AMAZING food, or architecture, or even the awesome folks we have met, its the TRASH. It all comes down to the TRASH for me. I cant handle litter, the pollution of our Mother. Im not talking about a stray few pieces that have flown from someones car, or the few people who throw their shit from the window, too careless to take it home and dispose of. Its piles. I dont understand. Im sure there is some kind of reason, but the land here, the valleys and old cities, are gorgeous! Why are people treating it this way??? Our neighbors and friends here have said “You have to just look past the trash!” I cant.

So its weighed on me. But we are learning, to see the true Nature Sicily has to offer, we cant judge it on this area right here- We must venture out! As you may have seen in previous posts, we have been doing just that- Almost everywhere we go is at minimum 40 mins from Sig- We have found pristine beaches and gorges and hiking- Even recently a small Mountain range! (Blog on that coming soon!) From Historical monuments to ruins to towns tucked away, Im falling hard for this country…. Which brings me to this Post!

We had a Date night! That was more then dinner close by ;) Andrew and I have had people here tell us about the “Penis Bar”… Um ok! Bar Turrisi…. Upon looking it up it seemed like just a highlight of a town we really wanted to see! The Restaurant is a bit of a novelty, very creative that almost everything inside the establishment is in fact, a mans favorite part! Door handles and flooring pattern, faucets and liquor bottles- the chair arms, lights, sculptures, paintings, tile work, even the menu! You can find some of the Bars history on the Web, as well as some really funny posts, but Im just keep to our actual walk about the Town ;)

We walked through the stone streets for a while, taking it all in before heading over towards Turrisi—- the food was good, we are a bit Pizza’d out (if thats possible!) so opted for bruschetta and pasta—- The mojitos are also on point! The whole town smelled of flowers and baked bread, not bad at all….

I want a Vespa sooooo bad!!! They are just the cutest damn things….. This whole town was Magical- Clean and beautiful and exactly what I imagined Sicily to look like when we dreamed of moving here!

Thank you Dear Husband for taking me shopping for some new ITALIAN dresses!!! Iv never owned Red, but this linen dress is my new absolute favorite! It was fun to dress up a little!

The people were very friendly, including a Man named Pierre who pulled us right into his restaurant before we headed back to the Car! This ended up being my favorite part of the evening… He was jamming Tom Waits and had a fabulous smile- His English was really good, and as my Italian SUCKS still, this was nice… He fed us authentic Granita, Almond and Strawberry, and treated us to some local Almond Wine (we brought a bottle home!) which was like a dream…. Orange peel is the trick!

We met his stray Dog, Pongo, love this baby- I cant wait to come visit Pierre again so he can make our whole crew a feast! Behind his little spot is an old Castle ruin, the top offering up a 360 outlook of Land and Sky… I wonder how it must have been back in its Day…

The Sunset through the thick African Dust (it comes for a week each Summer across the Sea) turned to Blue Hour, then the Moon came out, looking like a huge penny in the sky…. On the drive home, Etna Erupted- seeing this from another side of her was crazy- Ash raining down. It was a perfect Date and more fun then the two of us have had ALONE in a while… Never stop dating friends, its so important!!!

I know this was a long post, but hey, I have alot of memories I want to hold onto ;) Till next time- xoxo

Date Night in Castelmola....