Sicily

Sicily is a wonderful place to be in. I spent a full week here, aimlessly traipsing from one town to another, no destination in mind. Do remember, the people of Sicily are quite different from mainland Italy and they will be proud to point that out to you. Though not exactly like a scene out of Godfather, it is reminiscent of an old fashioned feudal society where honor and tradition trumps law. I landed in Palermo, on the day of widespread student revolts. I passed down the main square, carefully between lines of policemen with batons and riot shields, facing off against students with placards and slogans. I asked a student what the protest was about, to which she answered ‘University Fees’. I assumed they had raised the fees, but it turned out they had merely introduced college fees, a novel concept in that part of the world.

But Palermo aside, the real beauty of Sicily lies in the mountains, he coast and the countryside. The towns and villages we visited passed in a blur. Agrigento and Syracusa with their Greek heritage and temples, Mount Etna with its snow covered summit, Ragusa whose name reminded me of a medieval town in Croatia, Taormina, and finally a tiny hillside town called Erice where I had possibly the best pizza of my life, made by a cook from Ghana, in a tiny family run restaurant, which was the only diner open at 10 PM when we reached.