Today is Saturday, February 25. Last week my buddy Dan and I took a weekend trip to Palermo, Sicily in Italy. I neglected to write this post until now mainly because I had an exam and a presentation this week. However, I am very excited to share this trip with you as it has been one of the most fun and interesting thus far. To start, I thought I would tell you what brought us to Palermo in the first place. A few months ago during the fall semester, I came home from UMD for a weekend and my mom and I watched an episode of White Lotus (season 2). I was intrigued and ended up watching the whole season and got hooked. The show was filmed in several beautiful locations in Italy, one of those being Palermo. Additionally, in the show, they do a wine tasting in the countryside of Sicily. So, I thought why not take advantage of my time in Europe and try doing the same? So glad we did! Our trip started early Thursday morning. We took the Barcelona metro to the airport which was a little annoying but at least it got us there on time and free of charge. Our flight was pretty smooth and only took around an hour. Plus, Dan and I got placed in adjacent seats in the front row (1E and 1F)! As we exited the plane, we were greeted with massive, breathtaking mountains. We had to take a shuttle to the airport from the plane and then a bus from the airport to our hostel. Both drives were filled with amazing mountainous views.
When we arrived at the hostel, we were greeted by friendly Italian staff. The hostel also had a bunch of musical instruments and interesting works of art. We were in a room with three bunk beds (6 total people). Luckily, we each had our own locker and there was a pretty well-kept bathroom. The first night we were there, Dan and I went to a local pizza place I found online. Dan ordered a Sicilian Calzone and I got a pizza. This was one of the best meals I’ve had so far while here in Europe. Nothing against Spanish cuisine but this was something special!
We were pretty tired from our flight and we had an early wine tour planned for the next day so we headed to bed fairly early. We didn’t really know how we would be getting to the winery. In Barcelona, we could pretty much metro everywhere but in Palermo, the public transportation system was a bit more complex and wouldn’t reliably take us into the mountains, where the wine tasting was. So, we went to bed anticipating taking a taxi to the Vineyard. When we woke up and spoke with the hostel worker at the front desk, he told us a taxi to the vineyard would cost us around €80 one-way. So, only an hour before we were supposed to be there, we started considering other options. The hostel worker told us renting a car wouldn’t be a bad idea but I thought this would be impossible considering the short notice and the fact I didn’t have an international driver’s license. But, somehow, we walked around the corner to a local Hertz and they let us rent a car for €150 for two days. I was excited to get going but a little nervous to be driving in a foreign country. The rental worker took us around the back to the garage and pointed to the little mini fiat we would be taking. He handed me the keys and pointed where it was parked on the street, backed up against a gate. I got in the car, put my foot on the break, put the keys in the ignition, and lifted the parking brake. As soon as I did, I looked over to the gear shift to put the car in drive. At this moment, I realized it was a stick-shift car. I cannot drive stick. My head shot up and I realized the car was moving backward because my foot was on the clutch, not the break. Within a split second of this realization, I jammed the parking break back down. Fewf! We were moments away from the Fiat backing into the gate. Luckily, they let us switch cars and we ended up in a much nicer (and only slightly more expensive) automatic SUV. Finally, after this mini-adventure, we set out for our wine tour. The vineyards were all up in the mountains so we needed to go through the city and then up through the mountains. Driving in the city was unlike any driving experience I’d ever had. Firstly, there are no driving lanes in Italy so I was constantly trying to figure out where I was even supposed to be. Second, mopeds and motorcycles were constantly whipping around or in front of me and I had to maintain constant awareness of my surroundings, or a moped would whiz in front of me and cut me off. After we got through the city, the drive was amazing. Incredible views and much less traffic.
When we finally arrived (just a tad bit late) at the Baglio di Pianetto Vineyard, we were greeted by a kind Italian man. Our tour was awesome. He took us into the production room where wine was bottled and boxed. And then down beneath the winery where barrels of wine were being stored. After our tour of the facilities, we sat down for our tasting of five of Baglio di Pianetto’s most popular wines. It was super cool to learn about the process that each specific wine had gone through and the traits that made each wine unique. One of the white wines had a sulfury/firey flavoring that he explained was due to the specific vineyard where the grapes had been grown. The vineyard, he explained, was adjacent to an active volcano that would spread ash into the soil of these vineyards. Wow! We were also given breadsticks and Baglio di Pianetto olive oil that perfectly complimented the wines!
We even picked out our favorite wine and took a bottle back to the hostel. It was much less expensive than I was anticipating.
After the tour, we took a little drive around the countryside, through the mountains. We came across some interesting wild animals – dogs, sheep, and even pigs. At one point, we pulled over and climbed on this giant rock and got some pretty cool pictures. After driving for a bit, we pulled into a little town to grab a bite to eat before heading home.
After the wine tour, we both got some rest. The next day, we went to a tasty local spot for some American-style breakfast before setting out for the day 🙂
After eating, we set out to find a cool place to hike. We traveled to a nearby mountain called Monte Pellegrino.
The worker at our hostel told us this would be a beautiful hike in the mountains that would give us a great view of the city and nearby mountains. It was a bit confusing and quite a long hike, but well worth it! By the time we made it all the way up, we found a cool little perch slightly below the peak we had reached. So, Dan and I headed down (carefully) to get a cool secluded view. Here are some of the pictures we took throughout our journey and some from the cool lookout spot.
Wow! Pretty crazy huh? Well, it did take us a little bit of maneuvering to get up here, so we needed to find a more efficient way of getting down that wouldn’t take us another 2 hours. We walked around for a bit until we came across the famous Santuario di Santa Rosalia Church. The church is incredible. It’s built into the side of the cliff. We got to see part of a service that was underway as we looked around the church (quietly).
As I said earlier, we needed to find a better way down the mountain. We noticed a bus stop and asked around. A person selling food outside the church told us the bus comes up to pick up every 30 minutes. We tried hitchhiking in the meantime but with no luck. We ended up taking the bus down and got a beautiful sunset view of the city on our descent. From there, we returned to the car and decided to go to a local Sicilian Pizza festival. The festival was being held in a pavilion near our hostel. It was very interesting. A bunch of different pizza-makers were competing to be known as the best pizza in Sicily. Dan and I each bought a ticket that allowed us to try 5 out of the 6 pizza places. After trying each, we voted on our favorite. The pizza was very interesting. Not the kind of pizza I was expecting. It was very doughy and very sauce-heavy. Not bad but it reminded me more of garlic bread than the pizza I was used to. After casting our votes, Dan and I returned to the hostel to drink our bottle of wine and play some chess. After playing a few games, we headed into the social space of the hostel to play some instruments and do some karaoke. Dan and I each gave the accordion a shot before moving to the guitar and microphone. I would look up a song on my phone and play guitar while Dan would sing along. We attempted a few songs before calling it quits for the night.
Then it was Sunday. Our last day in Palermo. Dan and I spent the day walking around taking in our last days with such mesmerizing views. We got Gelato and watched kids celebrating Carnival douse each other in confetti – littering the streets.
I know it has been a while since I’ve posted, so here are some other cool things that have been going on/ are to come. Last week I had my second midterm in Spanish and finished my first and only midterm for my AI class. Both went well! I also took a really cool cooking class that I will share some pictures from. We cooked Paella, Crema de Catalon, Tortilla de patatas, and pepper & Eggplant bread. Lots of fun! Looking forward to Budapest this weekend and Switzerland the weekend after!
Nick Henderson
11:53am
Barcelona, Spain