August 2018 · Bon Voyage on a Big Adventure!

August 29, 2018August 29, 2018

Days 48-51: More Sicily! Trapani and Agrigento

After a great- and food-filled- day in Palermo, we jumped on a train to explore more of Sicily, starting with Trapani and then heading to Agrigento. Sicily is a large island, much larger than Malta, and we could have spent a whole additional week there taking it all in.

Map of Sicily — In Sicily, we visited Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento, Siracusa, and Cefalu.

Day 48: Sicily Is Closed on Sunday.

Rich and I had an early bus/train combination (7:20 AM) to Trapani. The bus portion was really nice, followed by a slightly grimy train experience, which is totally opposite of travel in the U.S. (I love Amtrak). Still, we arrived safely in Trapani at about 11:00 AM.

crossaint in palermo, sicily — Healthy breakfast before leaving Palermo (ha!)

Our AirBNB host was kind enough to allow us to drop our luggage at our apartment since we arrived several hours before check-in. On the 20-minute walk from the train station to the apartment, I couldn’t help but think that we had arrived in a ghost town. We were clearly on a main street, and we passed 4-5 other people. Everything was closed and really quiet. It was extra creepy.

Rich does 100% of our travel planning, and usually my role is ride-or-die eager participant, but I may have asked, “So, umm, why do people come here?”

Turns out it was Sunday, and Sicily is the most Catholic place I have ever been (saying a lot since I went to Catholic high school led by Dominican Sisters and have visited the Vatican). On Sundays, everything closes, and apparently, everyone stays inside.

We ate lunch at the one open restaurant we had passed, and then Rich and I went to the one open grocery store to get food to make dinner. We took a long nap after lunch, made a huge pot of pasta (huge- Rich bought enough pasta to feed a family of 15), and stayed in the rest of the evening. A true Sicilian Sunday!

Day 49: Trapani and Erice, Sicily

Greatest Cannoli of All Time in Trapani, Sicily

Turns out, we had also walked away from the picturesque Old Town to get from the train station to the AirBNB. In the morning, when Rich asked if I wanted to take a bit of a longer walk (~35 minutes) to get coffee in the Old Town, I said, yes, absolutely, which was 100% the exact, right answer.

Ladies and gentlemen, with a delicious coffee, I present to you the best cannoli of my entire life:

cannoli in sicily — The Cannoli Dreams Are Made Of.

Imagine funnel cake meets ricotta filling. We picked the spot with the fewest tourists and the most older local Sicilian gentleman, and this analysis paid off. I type this from Vietnam and would pay all of the dongs (dong=Vietnamese currency) to have this cannoli now. All questions about why we visited Trapani were answered.

Trip to Erice, Sicily

We walked the 40 minutes back to the apartment (we were moving a little more slowly post-cannoli), got ready, and then walked another 45 minutes in the opposite direction to a funicular to take us up to the Medieval town of Erice, Sicily.

So a funicular is basically a series of cable cars that seat ~8 people. On Mondays, it doesn’t start running until 1:00 PM so we got in a long line with lots of other tourists at about 12:45 PM. We waited about 30 minutes and then it was our turn to head up the mountain.

funcicular in sicily — Having too much funicular…

funicular pic in sicily — My funicular husband

funicular in sicily — Living the funicular life (which includes puns on puns on puns on puns).

After about a 15 minute ride offering the most spectacular views, we were in Erice. Legend has it that on clear days, you can see as far as Africa. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, a village has existed on top of this mountain. Most of the castles and churches that remain are medieval but some date back earlier than that.

church in erice, sicily — Ancient Church in Erice

The village is super hilly offering breathtaking views at every turn. We had a fun time twisting in and out of the small streets and then enjoying a pizza for lunch.

Walk Into Trapani

We walked into Trapani around sunset to see the churches and explore. Although several of the churches closed earlier than we anticipated, the sunset certainly did not disappoint. Trapani is a major port city in Sicily, exporting tuna and canned goods, and all of the water views were beautiful.

statue in sicily — A pretty statue in Trapani

cathedral in sicily — The Cathedral in Trapani

On our walk, we noticed that there was a pretty big crowd down by the water, that was growing by the minute. We did a bit of google research and turns out that in Trapani, they start celebrating the Assumption of Mary, a Catholic feast day typically celebrated on August 15th, on August 13th by delivering a famous statue of Mary to the town by boat.

We are talking candles, hymns, fireworks, horns, sirens– Mary did not come quietly. It was like nothing we had seen before.

We started watching Mary arrive around 8:30 PM, and at 10:15 or so, we were starving and had to say Arrivederchi. We picked up a gelato on the way home and then ate several bowls of leftover pasta when we finally made it back to the AirBNB.

Day 50: Agrigento, Sicily

Just typing day FIFTY feels surreal. I cannot believe we have been gone so long.

We had an easy bus ride from Trapani to Agrigento and arrived around 1:10 PM. Our AirBNB host Davide picked us up from the train station and drove us to the apartment, which was a huge blessing because our place was at the top of a steep hill I’m not sure I could have scaled with my backpack!

The apartment was super cute and comfortable and was a spot where we felt at home immediately.

The Valley of the Temples

This was one of my very favorite visits of the entire trip! The Valley of the Temples is an incredibly well-preserved group of seven Greek temples mostly build in the 5th century BC.

Rich and I visited Athens, Greece on our very first international trip together in 2013. Hot take: I thought the Valley of the Temples in Sicily was a more impressive archaelogical site than the Acropolis in Athens. Walking from temple to temple in Agrigento, you get such a unique sense of size, scale, proximity, and overall grandeur. It was really magical.

We timed our visit perfectly to catch sunset and the transition to night.

There were Christian catacombs at this spot in the early AD years.

When an ancient statue photobombs your selfie

It’s 100% necessary to travel with this much water at all times.

A couple of quick notes for folks considering visiting:

Agrigento is not set up for people to walk to the entrance to the temples. We did because we walk everywhere, but we were on the side of the road at points, walking on sidewalks covered in trash at others, etc. We should have probably taken the bus from our apartment to the Temples, even though the walk was under three miles.
That said, going back on the bus took us over an hour, and I’m pretty sure we drove into totally different regions of Sicily. There were also some groups of rival teenagers on the bus and some social cues between groups that felt hostile but were hard for us to totally parse out with the language barriers.
The entrance to the temples at the bottom of the hill was next to impossible to find (Rich: “Forget this. If we don’t find the entrance in the next 2 minutes, I’m going home.”). Taking the bus might have made that part easier, but just know the signs send you in conflicting directions.

Our Favorite Dinner in Sicily

As you can perhaps surmise, our trip from the Temples back to Agrigento was a bit stressful, and we were hungry. We wandered into downtown Agrigento and stumbled upon the perfect dinner at A’ Putia Bottega Siciliana.

Prices were really reasonable so we ordered two beers, a meat and cheese plate, a dish with honey, goat cheese, and prosciutto, and a baked eggplant dish. The waiter told us we had ordered enough, and he was not kidding– by the time we finished, we were too full to order dessert. The space was modern, the vibe was laid back, and the food was delicious.

If you want my husband to smile, feed him.

Day 51: Sicily Is Closed on Holy Days of Obligation

Rich and I both attended Catholic schools, and we both had to memorize our Holy Days of Obligation (i.e. days that are not Sundays when you are still supposed to attend mass). However, all the A’s in religion class throughout the years mean little if you don’t recall information when it matters most.

August 15th is the Assumption of Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation.

When Davide dropped us at our apartment in Agrigento, he mentioned that the grocery store would be closed, but it was the kind of comment that went in one ear and out the other. When we arrived at the bus station, however, not paying attention to that comment would haunt us.

So to make a long story long, we planned to take an 8:00 AM bus from Agrigento to Catania and then the next bus from Catania to Siracusa. We would arrive in Siracusa around 2:00 PM. However, because of the holiday, the 8:00 AM bus was cancelled, and the next bus would not leave Agrigento until 4:15 PM.

And we learned this when we arrived at the bus station at 7:30 AM and had already checked out of our AirBNB.

Eeeek. When you are unexpectedly super early for your bus trip…

Even worse, we feared that every grocery store and restaurant would close. We like to eat. How would eat? Where would we go to the bathroom? Would we sit in the sun with our backpacks all day? Would our cell phone batteries last until we could find our AirBNB in Siracusa? Would there still be a connecting bus in Catania? Things were not looking good.

This will make a great blog post cheered the spirits of one of us much more than the other.

First order of business: we saw a vending machine. We loaded snacks from the vending machine into my purse. Chances of surviving the day increased.

Second order of business: we walked to the train station. There was a train coming about an hour earlier than the bus, but our last Sicilian train experience had not been great. We would wait the extra hour for the bus and could wait out the day at a nearby park.

Waiting on a park bench. If it can be funny later, it can be funny now. At least to one of us.

Walking back from the train to the bus, however, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel: an open cafe! We found a table inside next to a plug (charging was vital) and proceeded to eat breakfast and lunch in this tiny cafe. We were there for seven hours.

I did get a really delicious yogurt- with pistachios- out of our time at the cafe.

The sight of the bus arriving to take us from Agrigento rivaled the visions of the temples at sunset the night before. The long wait was over!

The bus rides were comfortable, and we made it to Siracusa around 11 PM. Lesson learned: we will now check holiday schedules in all the countries we visit!

August 26, 2018

Days 46-47: Palermo– Sicilian for Let’s Eat!

Rich and I really enjoyed our time in Sardinia, Italy, and we were thrilled to head to Sicily for ten full days. We started in the capital city of Palermo before making a loop of Sicily. Priority #1 in Palermo: get Rich’s hair cut. Priority #2: let’s eat!

Day 46: Travel to Palermo, Sicily

Travel from Sardinia to Palermo was super straight forward. We took a bus to the airport, and then took two domestic flights, first from Sardinia to Rome and then from Rome to Palermo.

The flight from Rome to Palermo was about as rowdy as you would expect a flight into Sicily to be: lots of loud talking across seats and people stood up and started jostling with their luggage while the plane was still taxiing into the gate. No fears though: I was sitting next to a nun who said her rosary during takeoff AND landing. Peak Italian.

Our host Guise met us at our AirBNB, which was in a lively Sicilian market, and was absolute heaven after our AirBNB in Sardinia. We checked in and freshened up before heading to dinner at Perciasacchi, a restaurant featured in the New York Times’s 36 Hours in Palermo that focuses on staying true to the Sicilian tradition of using ancient grains in all of their dishes. Rich and I both ordered pasta that was excellent, and the deconstructed cannoli was a mindblowing, other worldly dessert.

Day 47: Let’s Eat!

Rich Gets His Hair Cut in Sicily

But first, if you have been faithfully following this blog, you will have noticed that Rich’s hair has gotten progressively longer and curlier since leaving for Iceland. When we lived in Washington, DC, Rich would only get his haircut at Diego’s, barber to politicians, celebrities, and apparently DC Public Schools Assistant Principals.

Diego, as you might have guessed, is Italian, and it was important to Rich that he got an authentic Italian haircut experience in our travels. And let me tell you, by day 47, it. was. time. So Rich hopped out of bed and headed to the barber while I stayed behind in the apartment to complete our Malta blog post. I told him to take LOTS of pictures. He came home with this:

Rich's barber in Palermo — Rich and his Sicilian barber

I guess taking mirror selfies at an Italian barbershop doesn’t exactly scream machismo. Still, his hair looked great, and we headed out to ~~explore~~ eat our way through Palermo with a little extra swagger.

Eating Our Way Through Palermo

Palermo is world famous for street food, and it did not disappoint. While we saw plenty of beautiful sites (the Palermo Cathedral, the Fontana Pretoria, and the Royal Palace of Palermo), we thought it would be more fun to tell you about all of the delicious things we ate in Palermo instead.

Breakfast: Coffee with a Pistachio Croissant

Pistachios are native to Sicily, and the Sicilians use them in every meal. Our cappuchinos and pistachio pastry were a yummy start to the day.

cappuchino in Palermo — Cappuchino time!

Pistachio croissant in Palermo — We shared the most delicious pistachio cream filled croissant.

Lunch: Arancini

So arancini are the ubiquitous fried, stuffed rice balls found throughout Sicily. In America, we think pizza and pasta as Italian food, but these treats are actually on every corner in Sicily. For arancini in Palermo, we went to Sfrigola, a hip arancini spot where you can watch the creation from start to finish. If it isn’t obvious from the pictures, these were delicious!

This is the yellow rice all rolled out. This gentleman stuffs each arrancini, weighs it, coats it in breading, then fries it.

amanda eating in palermo — Need I say more?

Snack: Granita

While it is pretty hard to beat gelato, granita is an incredibly refreshing runner up in the frozen dessert category. Similar to an Italian ice or water ice (wud-der ice in Philadelphia), it is a frozen treat made of sugar, ice, and flavoring. Sicily was hot, so this hit the spot. Also, in case you are concerned about authenticity, the place where we went has been in operation since the 11th century.

granita in palermo — I went with tangerine

Dinner: Panelle Panini

For dinner, we headed to Nni Franco u’ Vastiddaru, the ultimate in late night street food. They are located on a street that is closed to cars so at least a hundred people order at the window and then stand in the street, talking, laughing, and enjoying their dinner.

Most of the locals enjoyed a spleen sandwich, but we were not that brave. Instead, we ordered a panelle panini. Panelle are fried chickpea fritter-like medallians that they place on a soft roll and serve with fresh lemon. They were so cheap (~$1.75 a sandwich) and so delicious. And it was really fun to stand around in the street with all of the locals!

Rich enjoys his delicious Palermo pannelle

Amanda with her lemon and pannelle in Palermo

After Dinner Libations at Bar Garibaldi

Around the corner from Nni Franco u’ Vastiddaru was an incredible bar called Bar Garibaldi. While they had plenty of outdoor seating, they also had a small room filled with records where the Sicilian in charge would put a record on and let it play start to finish.

And what records they were! We were introduced to Bill Callahan and Moriarty, and the evening was magical– easily, hands down, the best bar we have visited on the trip.

Closing Thoughts on Palermo

Rich and I love to eat so we loved Palermo. There were a lot of ways that Palermo felt like a sister city to Rich’s hometown of Philadelphia: a little dirty, a little gritty, but the food is banging and the people are alive. I could have easily spent at least two more days there taking it all in (and continuing to eat street food).

I leave you with some final pictures to prove that we did more than just eat! Ciao!

Rich in the park outside the Palace of Palermo

August 22, 2018August 22, 2018

Days 41- 45: Settled in Sardinia

I write from Hanoi, Vietnam while Rich completes fantasy football draft #2 of three (#priorities), and I am SO EXCITED to have great internet and to update the blog for two reasons: 1.) Sardinia was fantastic, and 2.) my stepdad, blog reader #1, has been slipping not subtle reminders that I am slipping on the blog posting. So here goes!

I almost titled this post “Sardinia: Living Like a Local,” but I’m sure an actual local would find that ridiculous. What I hope to capture is that of anywhere we have been so far, in Sardinia, we were most able to settle into a routine that included many of our favorite things to do back home: exercising, cooking, reading, not getting on a bus, train, or plane every five minutes, etc.

Day 41: Travel Like Whoa

While Malta and Sardinia are only ~400 miles apart, let’s just say the travel was not the easiest.

Our travel day looked like:

Taxi from Sliema to the Malta airport.
Flight from Malta to Rome
Flight from Rome to Cagliari, Sardinia
Two trains from Cagliari to Sassari, Sardinia
Bus from Sassari to Alghero, Sardinia

We left our apartment in Malta at about 4:30 AM and arrived to Alghero at about 6:30 PM- whew.

Two things of note:

Malta had an incredible airport lounge. We checked to see if there was one on a whim when we got to the airport. There was, and it was bougie and wonderful. The food in Malta had been really expensive so we looked like maniacs taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat spread. If you are reading this thinking about ever doing any sort of long term world travel, do not do it without getting a travel card with lounge access (our favorite is the Chase Saphire Reserve).
Breakfast in the Airport Lounge in Malta
When we walked from the train station to the bus stop in Sassari, an Italian woman Rich’s grandfather’s age (89) on a third floor balcony started waving to Rich like he was Brad Pitt. I thought she was going to come over the balcony. I obviously think that my husband is attractive, but it was clear that this lady believed him to be the MOST attractive. Rich was smiling for hours after.

We got to Alghero, got checked in, and ate INCREDIBLE, cheap foccacia sandwiches at Bar Focacceria Milese nearby.

foccacia in sardinia — Rich’s foccacia sandwich. Mine had eggs, tuna, sardines, and lemon on it and was insane.

Our AirBNB

I have had really positive things to say about our AirBNB’s so far, and well, this might be a “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” situation. I’ll say a little something though.

What was nice: the location as we were right on the bastions in the old town, near the water. The view out our window was unreal.

AirBNB view in Sardinia — Rich took this picture from our window.

Less nice: no air conditioning, no WiFi, VERY limited cell phone service period, and the place was JUNKY. Imagine a twenty four year old dude’s apartment but the dude doesn’t throw anything away for twenty years. Oh yeah, and the toilet tank leaked at least a liter of water every time you flushed.

Checking in was also incredible: Our host couldn’t meet us so he sent his dad, who spoke zero English, to check us in. As part of the check-in, he wanted Rich to make sure he could work the key.

So pops and I are in the apartment, Rich closes the door on the outside, the door locks, and then…Rich can’t get the door unlocked. Rich is sweating, the man is yelling directions in Italian, you can’t unlock the door from the inside without the key so I’m stuck in the apartment with the host’s dad trying to translate which way he should be turning the key. After about 4 minutes of stress, Rich figured out that while the man was showing me that Rich should be turning the key left which was what I was yelling through the door, in fact, you needed to turn the key right. The door opened! Let’s just say one of us found it infinitely funnier than the other.

Dayss 42 and 43: Enjoying Alghero, Sardinia

About Sardinia

Sardinia is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and is located south of Corsica. Sardinia is part of Italy– sometimes it felt very Italian to us, and sometimes it felt really different from the parts of Italy we had visited before (Rome, Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, and Venice).

Life expectancy in Sardinia is 82 years, and Sardinia ties with Okinawa, Japan for the highest rate of centenarians (>100 years old) in the world at 22 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants. The birth rate is really low (1.087 births/woman), and here’s how these statistics play out: you have the proudest looking grandmothers and great grandmothers I have ever seen. Babies in carriages are gold– the babies are dressed up, the grandmothers are dressed up, and they parade around for everyone to ooh and aah over these fabulous, plump children. The women literally glow with pride.

Day 42 in Alghero

Rich and I chose to stay in Alghero because its central location allowed for easy day trips around the island, and Alghero had a lot to offer as well. Imagine a beach town (think Wildwood or Ocean City on the Jersey shore) that also has a medieval, walled old town in the middle. You have rides and a boardwalk type atmosphere, a long beach, and then a bustling Italian square.

We slept in until about 9:30 AM to recover from our busy travel the day before and then ran two miles along the beach. It was really hot and, not for the first time on the trip, people looked at us like we were crazy for running. Then, we decided to do an Aaptive workout by a fountain in a park (imagine push ups, jumping jacks, lunges, etc.), and the curious looks increased exponentially. We assumed the Italians didn’t work out.

running in sardinia — Post-run Rich. It was HOT. THe is covered in sweat, not fountain water.

We got home, ate some cereal (yes, it was chocolate), and headed to the beach. Rich and I spent several lazy hours there, and then ate our seccond foccacia sandwich at Bar Milese in 24 hours. After that, we went home, showered, read, explored the town a bit, then I cooked pasta for dinner. A solid day!

The DaVinci Code was left behind in the junky apartment. I had read it years ago but it made for a great beach read for Rich.

sunset in sardinia — Sunset views near our apartment

old town alghero, sardinia — Exploring Old Town

streets in alghero, sardinia — The streets of Alghero

dinner in sardinia — Dinner! Ravioli with homemade pesto and tomatoes with balsalmic and mozarella

Day 43: Wash, Rinse, Repeat

So Day 43 was almost an exact replica of Day 42- run, beach, reading, home cooked pasta with eggplant eaten in. The repetition may sound boring but remember that at this point we have been traveling for over forty days: routine was just what the doctor ordered.

beach in sardinia — More beach in Alghero. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was also really good. Although it is a novel, it should be required reading for anyone who works with children and adults with Asperger’s.

pasta in Alghero — Eating in again– pasta with eggplant, basil, and homemade bread crumbs (if I learned anything from Blue Apron, it’s to toast the breadcrumbs).

One quick note: we did wake up earlier- closer to 8 AM- and when we went out a few minutes later to run, there were runners everywhere. We thought Italians didn’t work out, but in fact, Italians just didn’t work out at 10:00 AM! They were smart enough to get it in early before the heat became unbearable.

working out in Sardinia — Post-workout selfie

Day 44: Daytrip to Stintino, Sardinia

The beach in Alghero was nice enough so I wasn’t exactly sure why we would take an hour long bus ride to go to a different beach…until we got to Stintino. WOW. I have never seen more incredible water in my life. After being at beaches in Croatia, Crete, and Malta, this beach wins. It was our hands-down favorite.

stintino, sardinia beach — We have arrived.

blue water in sardinia — No filter. The water is this clear and blue. It was amazing.

selfie in sardinia — Leaving Stintino after a happy day.

More reading, more sun, more beach, more water, more heaven.

Day 45: Daytrip to Bosa, Sardinia

On our last full day in Sardinia, we took one more bus ride to Bosa. Bosa is a beautiful town with brightly colored houses with a large castle/fort that overlooks the city.

bosa, sardinia blue house — All of the houses are really this colorful.

bright house in sardinia — Rich with a brightly colored house

We got up and went for an early run, grabbed a cappuchino in Alghero, then hopped on an 11:00 AM bus for Bosa. We got there at about 12:30 in time to hike up to the castle/fort, walk around the colorful houses, and then eat lunch.

For lunch, we stumbled upon this hipster fish foodtruck garden place– it would have been cool anywhere and was that much cooler because we were halfway around the world. We ordered two super cold beers and a basket of fried seafood.

beer in sardinia — Yes to the coldest beer on a hot day.

A note on the fried seafood: All of the little fishies still had bones. While we aspire to Anthony Bourdain levels of travel coolness, I’m going to go ahead and freely admit that we are not there. We devoured the calamari and clams and then tiptoed around the sardines and the anchovies a bit.

fried seafood in sardinia — Amazing homemade chips with fried fish

After our beer and our late lunch, we were ready to hop back on the bus to Alghero. Let’s just say that while bus travel in Crete was phenomenal, we found bus travel in Italy to be, umm, confusing.

The bus schedule posted online did not correspond to the bus schedule posted at the bus stop and then the time posted at the stop came and went with no bus. We ended up waiting at the bus stop for about an hour and a half, but let’s just say things got a bit dicey because we had zero certainty on how long we would wait in total.

Maybe taking pictures when things are tense isn’t the best strategy…

Guess who has the better attitude about waiting for the bus?

We made it back to Alghero and elected to eat dinner out. We went to a trendy wine bar and had a plate of meat and cheeses along with two glasses of sangria. While the bar was super hip, it was also super not air conditioned. I’m assuming there are no pictures from this night because all we would have captured was a big puddle of sweat!

sixers jersey in sardinia — Meanwhile, back in Alghero: two Italian kids: one with a Boston jersey and one wearing a SIXERS jersey. Trust the Process.

Final Thoughts on Sardinia

While our accomodations in Sardinia were pretty terrible, in every other way, this was one of the most relaxing stretches of our trip. The people could not have been any friendlier, and several times, actual Italians stopped us- us! American Rich and Amanda!- to ask us for directions because they thought we were Italian. If you have never been to Italy, see Rome and Tuscany and Cinque Terre first. If you have been to Italy before and want an Italian experience with a twist, we really had a nice time in Sardinia too.

Addendum: Reading in Sardinia

Getting a cell phone to work in our apartment was next to impossible- we posted Instagram photos from the same park bench in town each night- and we had a lot of beach time so I was able to read a TON in Sardinia. I have done the very worst job of posting about books I have read but wanted to name the ones I was able to knock out over a few short days internet free in Sardinia:

The Shore by Sara Taylor
The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Revival by Stephen King

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was phenomenal. I laughed, I cried three times, and I devoured this novel in less than 24 hours. Revival was the first Stephen King I have ever read– it was left behind in the junky AirBNB– and while it was okay, I’m not sure Stephen King is my jam. Feel free to tell me in the comments if there’s a different Stephen King I should consider giving a chance. The other three novels were really solid too, especially since The Shore and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime were also books left behind in places we stayed (read: free).

But takeaway: add Eleanor Oliphant to your reading lists. So good.

Does it get better than reading in a beach town with an espresso?

August 16, 2018

Mailbag! You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers.

Ciao! I write from Sicily from an AirBNB with amazing internet (grazie, Davide!). I am behind on getting our Sardinia post out (spoiler: we had a great time), but we got positive feedback from our last month-in-review post so I wanted to do one more quick stepback to answer some questions generated by that post.

And please keep the questions coming!

Question #1 from J: I can’t believe how much you eat in. What do you eat?

Thanks for the question, J! As we shared in the last post, during our first month of travel, we ate 68% of our meals in. That number is definitely going to drop this month as it is really hard not to eat out in Italy, but we have tried to eat in as much as we can to save money. Also, sometimes it is just way more relaxing to eat in your pajamas than to try to order in another language.

For breakfast, we eat a lot of chocolate cereal– something we pretty much never did in the states. For some reason, it is always, in every single country, the cheapest. And I mean, it’s chocolate, so it’s not going to taste bad.

Question: Breakfast food croatia — Our favorite chocolate cereal: Chocolate Pillows in Croatia

In Iceland, which was super expensive, we ate a lot of hot dogs– hot dogs in buns, hot dogs in pasta, pork and beans- really, a lot of hot dogs.

question- hot dogs in iceland — Hot dogs in Iceland. Eaten in the car to avoid the bugs. This is the night of our third wedding anniversary-ha!

Then we usually make pasta at least once a week because it’s just so easy and requires so few ingredients. We try to use everything we buy which sometimes results in totally strange behaviors like carrying extra garlic bulbs around in our luggage.

Related: Rich LOVES grocery shopping abroad. Sometimes I think we are never going to leave the grocery store. It makes him feel like a local, and he can play weird mathematical budget games to make sure we are getting the highest value on the eggplant versus the onion. Or something.

question: market — Sometimes we shop in markets. Usually, we shop in local grocery stores

Question #2 from a sweet relative: You say that Europe is very communal. Are you becoming a communist?

Europe does feel very communal, and I currently do not plan to become a communist.

I wrote a bit about this in our Agios Nikolaos post— when you go out to dinner or get coffee or spend time at the beach in Croatia or Crete or Sardinia, everyone talks to each other. Crazy, huh? No one– including teenagers– uses a cell phone. It’s possible that it is because all of these Europeans are talking about secret communist plans (I kid), but mostly it seems like people really like each other.

teenagers in Italy — People are together a lot in Europe. Peep the teenagers chilling together behind Rich

Question #3 from R: Speaking of really liking each other, how do the two of you spend so much time together?

You would not believe the number of people who pulled me beside before leaving for this trip to ask me if I really and truly thought I would be okay spending so many hours a day, every day, with Rich.

I am okay. I really like him!

Iceland selfie — Together in the rain in Iceland– with a waterfall

Have we had disagreements along the way? Absolutely. Sometimes is he grumpy? Totally. We have had some very early mornings and some very late nights. Sometimes does Rich tickle me and poke me and otherwise do annoying things? Yes. Like every ten minutes. Especially on bus and train rides when he has no cell phone battery.

And sometimes do I do dumb things? Only if you count irreversibly turning off the hot water heater in the AirBNB in Budapest resulting in 24 hours of cold water as “dumb.” Oh, wait, did I not share that story here on the blog before? Oops.

selfie — I’m pretty sure I thought he was going to lick me on the face outside the parliament building in Budapest.

Seriously though, it works. We have both done a fair amount of growth mindset work so whenever we mess up, together or individually, we try to reflect and learn and do better the next time. In our marriage, the phrase, “I need a minute,” is pretty sacred– when one of us says it, the other one shuts up and backs off, and I think that saves us from launching arguments that don’t need to happen(read: pretty much every argument).

We both feel really grateful to get to do this and are just as happy to do it together. Only ten months, one week, and six days of just the two of us together every minute left to go… 🙂

Alright, off to explore some Sicilian temples!

Keep the questions coming! What else do you want to know? What do you imagine would be challenging about a trip like this?

August 11, 2018

Days 36 – 40: Magnificent Malta!

When Rich and I started talking about stepping away from work for a year to travel the world back in January, but before we committed, we put a pinkie toe into the water by emailing each other fabulous destinations every day.

To satisfy some wunderlust, I would save the picture as my work computer’s desktop wallpaper. Eventually, we got more serious about the trip, and stopped with the emailing, and I was left with one desktop picture for the rest of the school year: Malta

computer screen with Valletta, Malta wallpaper — My Malta desktop wallpaper at my job in DC. I used to work so hard I needed two screens. Now I blog so hard…on a small Chromebook. With varying degrees of internet availability.

I feel like someone should pinch me to wake me up from the dream where we get to pick out some of the world’s most beautiful destinations and then travel to them. I feel unbelievably grateful and humbled by the experience while also feeling pretty proud of us to have the courage and willingness to take action on going after something we really wanted. We are doing it.

But I digress. Sorry for the sap! Let me tell you about Malta!

Day 36: Travel from Heraklion to Malta

Rich and I hopped back on a plane for the first time since leaving Croatia. We traveled from Heraklion to Athens (Greece, not Georgia- Go Dawgs!), and then we had a SIX hour layover in Athens. No big– we had big plans to take advantage of the multiple Athens priority pass lounges where we could eat and drink for free with unlimited food and drinks, comfortable seating, outlets, and WiFI.

Nope.

We were flying Ryan Air, the cheapest of the cheap airlines, and were relegated to a totally different terminal with the least amount of amenities imaginable. We tried to pass through to another terminal with a lounge, which required us to show boarding passes and passports, and we were looked at like we were the literal scum of the earth.

No Ryan Air patron would ever be let into one of the actual international concourses. It was literally a seven minute walk- on moving sidewalks to get to our lesser Ryan Air terminal.

It was a long travel day. Our first flight was an hour, our second flight was two hours, and our layover was six hours. It would be like flying from Washington, DC to Nashville, TN and having a six hour layover in Charlotte, NC. Except I’m sure Charlotte has a Chick-Fil-A. Someone please eat a chicken biscuit with honey on it, and think of me.

Day 37: Valletta, Malta

So let’s orient for a minute. Malta is a tiny archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily.

A Little History of Malta

Because of its highly valuable location, and its small size, just about everyone has conquered Malta. A brief history: settlers in Sicily first inhabited Malta in 5900 BC. Malta was then conquered and ruled by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, and Sicilians.

In 1530, Charles I of Spain, who was king of Sicily, gifted Malta to the Order of St. John, which was one of the orders of Christian knights fighting the crusades. Knights from all over Europe relocated to Malta, and they built hospitals, forts, and churches all over the islands. They also “patrolled” the seas (read: took the goods they desired from Ottoman ships they encountered). Between that and conquests to the Holy Land, it is clear that Malta experienced, and continues to experience, abundant prosperity.

In 1798, Napolean conquered Malta, and the French ruled for two years before the Maltanese regained control with the help of the British. Malta then became a British colony in 1814, and finally became fully independent in 1964.

Whew.

cannons in Malta (selfie) — Peep the cannons behind us.

All that to say, history is very much alive in Malta. I heard someone say that there are 365 Catholic churches in Malta– one for every day of the year. There are cannons everywhere. Valletta was the originial King’s Landing location for Game of Thrones, and it is clear why: it looks today like a Medieval capital city.

Valletta, malta from ferry — Valletta, Malta from the Ferry

Our Day in Valletta

We took a ferry from Sliema, where we were staying to Valletta, and spent several hot hours exploring (note how far south Malta is).

by the sea in Valletta, malta — By the sea in Valletta

upper gardens in malta — Arches at the Upper Gardens in Valletta

bocci bar in Valletta — Maltans! They’re just like us– a bocci bar

The Co-Cathedral of St. John’s was probably our most striking stop: under the marble floor are the remains of hundreds of knights. Outside of the Vatican, we agreed it was the most extravagant church we have visited in our travels.

St. John's Co-Cathedral, Malta — St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta

audio guide selfie in malta — When you want to take a selfie, but you also want to keep loving your audio guide

altar in malta — The Altar in St. John’s Co-Cathedral

relics in malta — Rich and I both went to Catholic school. This altar contains the relics of St. Clement. This is important because St. Clement was the rival of St. Barnabas, Rich’s grade school in Philly, and Richie still feels a lot of animosity towards St. Clement’s namesake elementary school.

Carvaggio Malta — Just a painting by Carvaggio in one of the chapels…

Finally, I would be remiss if I left out that Valletta was named the 2018 European Capital of Culture. I do not know if the streets are always so decorated and festive, but they sure were when we were there. I’m not the biggest Disney person myself (sorry, Missy) but it sure felt like a pretty organic, historic Magic Kingdom if I’d ever seen one.

Then back to Sliema to enjoy air conditioning and rest!

ferry in malta — On the ferry back to Sliema

Day 38: Mdina and Rabat, Malta

We decided to take a quick day trip to town neighboring medieval Maltan towns: Mdina and Rabat. We hopped on a bus and about an hour later, hopped back off to walk around and explore.

Not shocking: we saw more churches and more fortresses, as well as a Franciscan abbey where several famous Game of Thrones scenes were filmed (we know, we know). It was really fun to walk around at our own pace and was a lot less crowded than Valletta had been.

cathedral in malta- exterior — Outside another cathedral in Malta

mdina, malta entrance — Rich outside the entrance to Mdina

blue gate in Malta — Just a pretty blue gate

This was the abbey that served as a Game of Thrones location. It was almost empty when we were there and was really pretty to wander through.

cathedral in Mdina, malta — The inside of the cathedral in Mdina

Ornate church dome in Malta — It is unreal how many ornate churches exist in Malta

Mdina, malta — Rich at the entrance to Mdina

GOT door in malta — Jamie Lannister battled Ned Stark here in Season 1 (GOT).

For lunch, we found a great little spot where for 20 euros, they served up a huge plate of Maltan delicacies including rabbit, chicken, sausage, and homemade bread. YUM.

Then we hopped back on the bus to head home to air conditioning– seeing a pattern, yet?

Day 39: Marsaxlokk, Malta

Things got a little crazy on day 39. First, we enjoyed the air conditioning all morning and went out in the afternoon, and second, we partied with the residents of a long term care facility in Masaxlokk, Malta.

I’m not sure why we got going so late in the day (poor planning, perhaps?), but by the time we left our cozy, air conditioned Air BNB, it was about 2:30 PM. We hopped on a bus headed to Marsaxlook, Malta, a small fishing village about an hour away that was supposed to have great seafood.

So we got to Marsaxlokk around 4:00 PM, and it was beautiful. It was also super sleepy. Apparently, the town shuts down between about 4- 7 PM so while we could peruse menus to see where we wanted to eat, we couldn’t actually get anything to eat yet. We had time to take pictures and scour menus.

boats in malta — Rich with fishing boats

doors in Malta — I’ll take door #4 please.

Malta fishing village — Fishing boat selfie

We decided on Tartarun. The only problem– when we decided it was about 5 PM, and the restaurant opened back up at 7:30 PM. Ruh-roh.

Hard pressed on how to spend the next two hours, we found the restaurant with the cheapest Maltan beer. As I mentioned, the town was nearly deserted, but the place where we landed already had a few patrons. Perfect.

We get our first cheap beer- it’s cold and delicious. We look around. There’s an older couple, and a family. We drink a little bit more, and another group of older ladies arrive. Then a few older gentleman a table over.

When I say older, imagine 80+. We are loving it. “This is how we are going to be. Get it in. Live the life you have imagined.” You get the picture.

By the time it is close to 7:30, and we have finished our second beer, the outdoor patio is full, and we are now the only customers under the age of 70. We were giggling so hard.

We left to enjoy the best meal we had in Malta, and one of the very best of the entire trip. On the way back to the bus that night, we saw something that made us giggle even harder: a bus with the title, St. Vincent de Paul Long Term Care Facility. We had just enjoyed beers in the middle of an outing of a long term care facility.

long term care Malta — St. Vincent De Paul Long Term Care Facility– Our friends know how to have a good time.

We planned to head home and turn in following our big night out, but the Maltan bus drivers are not the friendliest, and a disagreement with another tourist couple resulted in us getting off one stop too late. This stop happened to be right in Valletta, which we had visited our first day there. Now, if Valletta is pretty during the day time, it is other worldly at night. We decided the next bus transfer could wait, and we had a great time traipsing through nighttime Valletta.

valletta, malta selfie — A result of our fortunate Valletta bus mistake

fountain in malta — The fountain where our bus driver dropped us off

Day 40: Rainy Day Chillaxing + Lebanese Food

Too much excitement the night before led to us sleeping in and spending a LAZY day in bed (literally in bed– our AirBNB didn’t have a couch) lounging, planning, and reading. We went out for dinner and got some of the best Lebanese food (hummus, falafel, etc.) I had ever tasted.

Not a lot to share, but happy to relax!

lebanese food in malta — Yum Lebanese food

Malta sea — Take a walk in Malta, and you may end up at the sea

street selfie malta — On our street in Malta

Final Thoughts on Malta

Malta felt very westernized, and the towns were gorgeous. It gets 300 days of sunshine a year, and while hot, there were some really nice sea breezes to cool us back off. We loved the celebratory feel of Valletta and had some great meals, but Rich and I both left feeling like, well, okay, now we have seen Malta. I would love to return to Crete in this lifetime, but if I don’t see Malta again, I’ll be content with our one trip there. Just our two cents. Keeping it 100.