We begin the day following the duchess through the narrow passages of the vibrant, noisy Capo market. Nicoletta navigates the stalls with the assurance of a regular, explaining that in Sicily a market goer only frequents certain vendors with whom a rapport is well established. “In return for my loyalty they take care of me,” she explains, as she examines the freshness of an enormous tuna, caught that very morning off the island’s west coast. “I know that when I ask them to filet this fish they will not substitute it with an inferior piece.” Nicoletta shares insights into these codes of Palermitani behavior as we fill bags with almonds and lemons and inspect mountains of tomatoes and eggplants. She tells us about fairly recent times when pickpocketing was so rife that the police set up bureaus in tourist hotels to help victims replace their lost documents. “The idea of trying to stop the thefts did not even seem to be an option,” she says with a smile of resignation. Then she takes an unexpected turn into an alley to show off a brilliant Art Nouveau mosaic, gleaming on a broken facade that stands like a skeleton amid a field of rubble.

Many ruins like this still litter the old city, where Allied bombs leveled streets of fine old palaces in 1943. Others were damaged but have been splendidly restored, and some have been left to molder, their marble staircases and fine woodwork either lost to the elements or carted off by scavengers. The Palazzo Lanza Tomasi survived the bombings relatively intact if a bit the worse for wear. Gioacchino began restoring the palace in the 1970s, dislodging hens from the courtyard and eventually reclaiming a labyrinth of rooms. Now, above family living quarters and a floor of stately salons are 12 charming apartments that the duke and duchess rent to short-term guests.

In the palace garden, flourishing beneath lemon and palm trees on an enormous sea-facing terrace built atop Spanish ramparts, we gather herbs and jasmine flowers, ingredients for the lunch we will prepare. Nicoletta walks us through her living room, a casually aristocratic-looking assemblage of comfy, slipcovered couches and armchairs and fine old tables piled high with books, then up a back staircase to the blue-tiled palace kitchen. There, she delegates tasks as we prepare dishes that combine raisins, almonds, currants, cinnamon, and other ingredients of a cuisine that merges the island’s Arab, Spanish, and French heritage. Her repertoire consists mostly of local dishes she’s encountered around the island. One team chops basil for Pasta col Pesto alla Trapanese, a deliciously simple concoction with almonds, tomatoes, and toasted breadcrumbs that the duchess came across 30 years ago on the terrace of the Albergo Paradiso on the island of Levanzo, off Trapani. Another group prepares a thick chickpea batter for panelle. Nicoletta’s special technique for this street-food staple is to scoop the batter into a narrow can from which both ends have been removed and slowly push it through the oiled cylinder and out one end, cutting it into thin slices that are then fried in oil to puffy, golden perfection. We mash anchovies with mint and pistachios and stuff this aromatic paste into slits we pierce in an enormous slab of tuna. No food could be more Sicilian than tuna, Nicoletta explains. Greek colonists were catching these giants 3,000 years ago, though fishermen no longer stage the ages-old mattanza, in which they lured the fish into mazelike labyrinths of nets and butchered them in a bloody frenzy. Dessert is a biancomangiare, a sweet almond-milk pudding garnished with zuccata (candied pumpkin), more pistachios, and jasmine flowers we’ve gathered in the garden.

Our creations seem impressively lavish as white-jacketed footmen serve us in the elegant dining room, where sunlight gleams off the Mediterranean and bathes creamy walls, oil paintings, Murano chandeliers, and majolica. The duke is an engaging conversationalist who glides easily and assuredly from one topic to another, a staging of the Benjamin Britten opera Peter Grimes to the clumsy restoration of La Zisa, the Norman pleasure palace at the edge of the city where an elderly princely cousin once lived, to the maddening quirks of the little elevator he’s installed in one corner of the courtyard. Nicoletta tells the story of the palazzo, where in the mid 19th-century Prince Giulio Fabrizio used to retreat to observe the stars over the sea. He was the great-grandfather of Giuseppi Tomasi di Lampedusa and the model for The Leopard’s main character, the nobleman Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, who witnesses his way of life changing with the Risorgimento. The historical and psychological upheaval is summed up in what is perhaps the novel’s most famous line, “Everything must change for everything to remain the same.” The author moved to this palace in 1943, when bombs leveled his childhood home, the grander Palazzo Lampedusa. He and his wife, Licy, a noblewoman and psychoanalyst who lost her estate in the Baltics to the Nazis then the Soviet army, lived in a few habitable rooms amid dripping ceilings and collapsing walls. They shared a deep longing for the lost homes of their childhoods, and Tomasi di Lampedusa evoked his sprawling ancestral seat in The Leopard with “A house of which one knew every room wasn’t worth living in.” He spent his days in cafes reading and writing and died of lung cancer in 1957, a year before his novel was published.

After lunch the duke and duchess walk us through a suite of salons and libraries, showing off furnishings from various family palaces and sharing stories: of the duke’s fun-loving mother, daughter of a Spanish diplomat and granddaughter of the governor of Cuba, a grandmother whose pet panther used to jump over the garden walls of her Roman villa, a branch that includes saints and mystics. Pride of place belongs to the typewritten manuscript that made its way around Italy’s leading publishing houses before Feltrinelli brought out The Leopard to immediate acclaim in 1958. Luchiano Visconti directed a lavish, color-saturated 1963 film starring Burt Lancaster as the prince, and a ballroom scene was shot in the Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi, just a few blocks away on the pretty Piazza Croce dei Vespri. The novel and film and their Sicilian settings are lush and transporting, but not more so than a day with this amiable duchess in her palace.

A Day Cooking with the Duchess classes cost about $180 a person, including a market expedition, instruction, lunch, and a tour of the palace. Large, character-filled apartments, all with fully equipped kitchens and some with terraces and sea views, sleep from two to six guests and rent from about $95 a night. Visit this site for more information.

The post Getting a Taste of Palace Life in Palermo appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Virtual Sicily

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL SICILIAN SIGHTSEEING TOUR

Sicily, Italy by Fyllis Hockman: “It happens all the time with Overseas Adventure Travel. I start out expecting to write about the trip itself – in this case, Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions – and I end up writing about all the things that are not on the itinerary – what OAT refers to as Learning and Discovery.”

Virtual Antarctica Adventure

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL ANTARCTICA SIGHTSEEING TOUR

Journey to the Bottom of the Globe by Ed Boitano: “After setting foot aboard the deck of my vessel to Antarctica, I began asking guests why they chose to take an eight-day cruise to the coldest, windiest and driest continent in the world; a landscape which is 98 percent thick continental ice sheet and 2 percent barren rock; a continent so cruel and unforgiving that almost no life can survive on it. The overwhelming answer from my fellow cruisers was simple: ‘Because now I can.’ It was a good answer. The more I thought about it, I realized it was my reason too.”

ED BOITANO’S ARTICLE ON ANTARCTICA

Virtual Hemingway’s Paris

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL HEMINGWAY’S PARIS SIGHTSEEING TOUR

A Magical Walk Through Hemingway’s Paris by Richard Carroll: “Magically enchanting and much-loved Paris, the Urban Empress of Europe, remains eternally young and amorous. Occasionally vain, always passionate, and with a long and turbulent history, the legendary city has a special flair for life that has captivated many of the world’s most inspired artistic talent.”

RICHARD CARROLL’S ARTICLE ON HEMINGWAY’S PARIS

Virtual Churchill Museum

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL CHURCHILL MUSEUM SIGHTSEEING TOUR

2 Lumps of Sugar Make This Churchill Museum Unique by John Clayton: “Are several lumps of sugar worth putting in an historic museum? That may sound like a funny question, but the fact is that yes they are – especially if they’re part of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (CWR) in London.”

JOHN CLAYTON’S ARTICLE ON THE CHURCHILL MUSEUM

Virtual Aran Islands

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL ARAN ISLANDS SIGHTSEEING TOUR

The Aran Islands: A Living History by Ed Boitano: “In Robert Flaherty’s brilliant 1934 documentary film, Man of Aran, we see an Irish man smashing limestone rocks to bits, while his wife gathers seaweed from the shore below the island’s steep windswept cliffs. Meanwhile, their young son scavenges for animal manure and precious particles of dirt that have collected between the rocks, blown from the mainland. These four ingredients will be used to create the soil in order to grow potatoes – the family’s main source of subsistence. This is the Aran Islands; a landscape made almost entirely of solid limestone rock.”

ED BOITANO’S ARTICLE ON THE ARAN ISLANDS

Virtual Frank Lloyd Wright

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL TALIESIN WEST SIGHTSEEING TOUR

A Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West by Susan Breslow: “Taliesin West should be an inspiration for everyone who faces another birthday and thinks: I’m too old to follow my dream. Frank Lloyd Wright, who had achieved public acclaim back east for his architectural designs (as well as public disdain for his scandalous affairs), was 70 years old when he arrived with a few apprentices in the foothills of Scottsdale Arizona’s McDowell Mountains in 1937.”

SUSAN BRESLOW’S ARTICLE ON TALIESIN WEST

Virtual Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH CLIFF RAILWAY TOUR

2 Classic Trains in England by John Clayton: “Growing up in Great Britain, I loved the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway. Situated in a setting of steep, ruggedly rolling green hillsides alive with unequalled beauty, below which lies a perfect picture postcard sea, and enriched by a town that looks as if it stepped out of a Beatrix Potter book.”

JOHN CLAYTON’S ARTICLE ON THE LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH CLIFF RAILWAY

Virtual Bluesman Phil Gates

EXPERIENCE A PHIL GATES CONCERT

Phil Gates – Following Tradition by T. E. Mattox: “Bluesmen have been lacing up their walking shoes and relocating to Europe for generations. So, when L.A.-based guitarist Phil Gates packed his bags in 2016 and moved to the Swiss countryside, he was just following in the footsteps of a long-standing blues tradition.”

T.E. MATTOX’S ARTICLE ON PHIL GATES

Virtual Skeleton Coast

EXPERIENCE A SKELETON COAST SIGHTSEEING TOUR

Exploring the Surreal Skeleton Coast by Skip Kaltenheuser: “The Skeleton Coast is one of the most appropriately named stretches of land in the world, a place where many hapless sailors of centuries past have mingled their bones with whale ribs and shipwrecks.”

SKIP KALTENHEUSER’S ARTICLE ON THE SKELETON COAST

Virtual Berlin

EXPERIENCE A BERLIN SIGHTSEEING TOUR

Berlin: Yesterday and Today by Ed Boitano: “I can still recall in detail my first arrival to Berlin. As the cab driver raced passed Tiergarten; the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe; the Reichstag; and Brandenburg Gate, I asked about the new Kennedy Museum, now located in the Mitte (middle) district). Without hesitation, he offered his own personal narrative about JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech of 1963: ‘Over 90% of the people in West Berlin were on the streets. None of us had ever seen anyone so charismatic.'”

ED BOITANO’S ARTICLE ON BERLIN

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So yes, food plays an important role in the lifestyle of Italians.  Very important. Portions often approach gargantuan in size.  And growing, harvesting, cooking and eating hold a place of near reverence in their daily lives.

Of countless repasts I have enjoyed at home and abroad, several stand out because of what they demonstrate about the locale and the people who live there.  They range from gourmet spreads set out in a romantic setting to everyday street fare consumed by local inhabitants.   All linger in my memories, if no longer on my taste buds, because of what they taught me about the  lifestyles of those who prepare and share local favorites.

Of the many meals I experienced in Sicily, from lavish lunches to picnics among Phoenician ruins to restaurant cooking classes, one that stands out was billed as A Day in the Life of a Sicilian Family. Because family is the only thing that equals food in importance in Italy.

The up-front instructions from Alessio were clear: relax, cook, set the table, sing, dance, and be open to being part of the family despite the language barrier. A tall order, despite Alessio’s efforts to teach us Italian – though admittedly his emphasis on hand gestures – which cover a multitude of sins – weren’t that re-assuring. But considering the emphasis on food by Sicilians throughout the trip, a visit to a farm where they grow and make their own seemed appropriate. We were introduced to the family and their captivating history going back generations – both of the farm and of themselves – before trying our hand at making bread and pasta from scratch.

Parents of both the owner, Jean, and his wife plus assorted aunts and cousins all took part in teaching us the finer techniques of kneading bread and rolling pasta, all of which we consumed with gusto. Part of what made the meal even more memorable was the connection with the extended family who helped us create it. One heart-warming story told by Jean’s mother about her first kiss with her husband below the property’s huge Mulberry tree at the age of 12, was one Jean sheepishly claimed he had never heard before. What a moment. It was that kind of day!

And from Sicilian farmhouse to island inn, a marked change in venue and recipes but no less memorable. I’m not accustomed to trussing up and skewering the night’s main course, a practice not for the faint-hearted, before it was spit-roasted on an open-air fire pit for eight hours. But so it is with the Wednesday night pig roast at the Hermitage Inn on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis. A very large head-to-tail pig on a very large spit, to be exact.

Sitting in the Great Room awaiting its theatrical entrance, I couldn’t help but reconnect with the plantation owners and their guests of yore who feasted on roasted pig and its many local dishes over 300 years ago: Plantain and rabbit pie, Bar-B-Q chicken and curried chick peas, fish in cream sauce and tomato salad, with a special shout out to the Johnny Cakes, of course…

Such elegant fare was replaced by more traditional preparation as we prepared our own meal at the Village Restaurant in Thit Ael Pin, a tiny town inhabited by farmers and fishermen in Myanmar (also known as Burma). It’s home to the Danu people, one of 135 distinct ethnic groups that are officially recognized by that country’s government, each with its own customs, traditions and food preferences.

A chef presided over the activity, and we each had our own personal assistant who instructed, and helped, us to add the pre-prepared ingredients to the cooking pots.  The nine-course luncheon began with vegetables tempura prepared in the local style, went on to steamed fish wrapped in cabbage leaves and tea leaf salad, and titillated our taste buds with a desert of crispy fried banana with honey. The food was paired with glasses of Myanmar-produced red and white wine which we found to be surprisingly good.

As immersed in everyday appreciation of all things culinary as are the Italians, nowhere in the world is fine food approached with more reverence than in France. A barge trip along a shallow canal in the Burgundy area of France sponsored by French Country Waterways epitomizes that tradition. All the senses are satiated, but taste and smell predominate, with wine and food the focus of the trip.

Sure, the tree-lined towpaths, medieval villages, stately chateaux, and rolling fields where magnificent, pure white Charolais cattle graze were also appealing, but we’re talking about French food here. Fresh breads and buttery croissants are brought on board each morning, still warm from the village bakery. Both lunch and dinner, exquisitely prepared and presented from products from the local farmers’ markets hurried on board to maintain freshness, are accompanied by a select red and white wine. The de rigueur Plat de Fromage, a selection of three different cheeses, is served up with as much reverence as the wine.

Each bottle of wine is tenderly caressed as its characteristics are lovingly described prior to serving. The table is hushed as it learns of the wine’s vintage, heritage, blush, fruity nose, supple taste, sweet aroma, lightness, elegance, finesse, its children, hobbies, indiscretions – whatever.

Comparable homage is paid to the cheese. There’s always your basic cow’s, goat’s and blue varieties, farm fresh, 5 months old, 2 weeks old, square curd, penicillin rind, pasteurized, unpasteurized, mild and nutty, light and fresh, tangy and robust – this is a cheese we’re talking about! But once I returned home, I found it hard to look at a glass of wine or wedge of cheese without wanting to know its entire history.  The French take their wine and their cheese very seriously. No doubt, if the barge were to sink, the crew would save the wine and the cheese first. Fortunately, this is not a concern in four feet of water.

Back on land, in a world far away, a famous chef visiting from New York City toils in a Pennsylvania kitchen several days a week. The three meals a day are scrumptiously prepared, visually appealing, enormously filling and, oh yes, so delicious you hear murmurs of appreciation at every sitting. Not unusual for any fine restaurant. But when the calorie count for all three meals ranges between 1200-1600 calories, if you factor in the two snacks available on a daily basis, the meals – every one of them – takes on new significance. Welcome to the Deerfield Health Retreat and Spa in East Stroudsburg, PA, where you may come for the exercise – virtually round the clock options – but you stay for the food. And for the very comfortable homey atmosphere where both the guests and the staff members return year after year.

After galivanting and gourmet-dining around the world, we end with a tiny snack shack in the United States.   The Pine Tree Frosty has been serving light bites and ice cream in the tiny western Maine town of Rangeley since 1964.  We have a summer home there and are regulars at the modest establishment.

The setting alone – perched at the edge of a small lake which is the seasonal home for several dozen ducks and an occasional loon – is worth a visit.  But it’s what we rate as the best lobster rolls in Maine, where that tasty treat is a traditional favorite, which keeps us coming back – and back again.

For the uninitiated, the dish consists of a New England-style hot dog roll, which is split at the top instead of the side and has flat sides, filled with delectable lobster meat.   At the Frosty, the rolls are buttered and toasted, and overflowing with 5 ounces of claw and knuckle lobster meat (more than the standard 3-4 ounces) dressed very lightly with a touch of mayonnaise. After gorging ourselves around the world, such a simple repast is especially appetizing.

The post Memorable Meals: Edible Milestones from Around the World appeared first on Traveling Archive.

I found myself being equally surprised and delighted by all the little extra things we were seeing and doing – and yes, often eating – that were NOT on the itinerary, the L&D moments that reflect the culture and deepen the immersive experience already embodied within the OAT itinerary.  

While exploring the capital city of Palermo, we stopped at a tiny, nondescript storefront with antique-looking sewing machines and irons but okay, the owner is a tailor. How then to explain all the old instruments strewn everywhere? The tailor is also a musician. He sang along as he played a 50-year-old mandolin. Come for repairs; stay for the repertory… Such an OAT moment – which places a great deal of attention on offering off-beat examples of local culture that are nowhere on the itinerary.

As soon as we arrived in Castelbuono, a 14^th century medieval village whose history dates back to the Arab influence of the 800’s, it was time for another discovery: a variety of Sicilian pastries washed down with samples of liqueurs ranging from Lemon, cinnamon to tangerine and prickly pear. By this time, it was hard for me to work up an interest in the surrounding history, usually a passion of mine. Stopping for a “taste” can translate into a marathon multi-course mini-meal. So yes, often L&D has to do with food – which is understandable: aside from the Mafia, food is what Sicily is known for.

Because another OAT philosophy is its emphasis on controversial topics, a discussion of the Mafia was not unexpected.  Meeting with Angelo Provenzano, the son of one of the most notorious Mafia bosses in Sicilian history from 1993-2006, was. Kept in hiding for the first 16 years of his life, he recounted the difficulty of separating his feelings FOR his father from his feelings ABOUT his father – and the impossibility of leading a normal life despite his having no connection with the mafia himself. It should come as no surprise that the Cosa Nostra is still alive and well in Sicily but not to the level that a Godfather IV is anywhere in production. In response to a question as to the accuracy of those films, Angelo replied: “Except for certain Hollywood effects, the films are basically realistic.” Angelo’s birthplace? The city of Corleone, of course. A name everyone in the room knew well.

Knowing that Sicily is known for marzipan, a favorite almond paste treat of mine, I asked our guide, Alessio where best to buy it. He sheepishly said: “We’ll find some.” Ten minutes later, at a small Benedictine cathedral built in 1092 where nuns had been preparing pastry for years, the following story unfolded: one year the Pope was coming to visit but being winter there were no fruits on the trees – so the nuns made little fruits out of marzipan and hung them on the trees.  Today, a group of cloistered Benedictine nuns still prepare such offerings which are only retrievable through a small mesh door that revolves to reveal its marzipan delicacies.  As responsive as I knew Alessio to be to  special requests, I thought, “Nah, he couldn’t possibly have had enough time to set that up…”

In a local museum in Mazara, we viewed the Dancing Satyr, a Greek bronze statue from the 3^rd century BC that was pulled from the sea in 1998 in the nets of some fishermen. As fascinating as the story was – an archaeological event that captured the attention of the world – it didn’t compare with the unexpected meeting with the boat captain who made the discovery. His personal story was even more enthralling.

Picnic lunches are not unusual on tours. But when they take place on an island settled by Phoenicians some 2700 years ago – one of the largest remains of Phoenician ruins in the world – and your picnic table is a stone from one of their former structures, the picnic takes on slightly greater significance.

Not to be outdone by the Phoenecians, the Romans and Greeks want equal time – so on to the Valley of Temples. 50,000 Greeks lived here 2600 years ago, and the remains of multiple temples constitute the second largest archaeological site in the world. One of the temples remains intact, while others have been reconstructed from original materials. It’s so hard to fathom that anything can survive that long. And then the Romans came in 600 AD and built their own structures on top of the Greek ones. And they, too, survived. Our local guide stopped to pick up what to me looked like a number of rocks which he then identified as a rooftop tile and a piece of pottery or a jug. Just lying there. Still. After 2600 years. Sometimes itinerary items are pretty cool, too….

By the end of the trip, after visiting sites representing Roman, Greek, Norman, Arabic, Carthaginian, Phoenician, Byzantine and Spanish occupation – and I’m sure I’ve left some out – we arrived in Syracusa, an ancient city that boasted remnants of all of them. There were ruins from everyone everywhere. And during the boat ride around the island of Ortigia, we sampled some Sicilian almond liqueur to get us through the 40-minute excursion. And why not? Just another L&D surprise. Who said alcohol can’t be part of a cultural experience? Again.

Admittedly, exploring the old Medieval city of Modica was fascinating, but it couldn’t compare with the unexpected joy rides in vintage iconic Fiat 500 sports cars over hilly, twisty, curvy, windy, narrow, cobblestone streets. First made popular in 1957 as a readily affordable automobile, these refurbished convertibles – smaller than a Smart car – still barely fit on alleyways that were unfathomably two-way. Warning: “Do not put your hand outside the car or you’ll end up losing it.” Sort of like a Disney ride threatening to go off the tracks. The fact that we were driving through a former 12^th century Norman city was just a bonus.

Another itinerary highlight worth mentioning? The Landing Museum, a moving testament to the end of Italy’s involvement in World War II. We – I – tend to forget that Italy, a Fascist nation, actually fought on the side of Germany and we invaded in 1943, effectively ending Mussolini’s rule. Upon entering a replica of a Catania street in the 1940’s, we suddenly heard an air raid siren – and were quickly ushered into the bomb shelter before the door closed. That was all the time we had if we wanted to live. What then ensued for a minute and a half – planes shrieking, bombs dropping, dogs barking, hysterical cries of anxious people – actually went on for hours. The shelter shook and as much as I knew this was only a simulation, I could still feel the terror of those who had to endure such trauma day after day for years. We emerged to find ourselves surrounded by rubble. The rest of the museum accurately relates the people and events who suffered through this sad part of Italy and Sicily’s history. And indeed it was nice to hear how welcome the Allied forces were once they arrived!

Because OAT thrives on controversy, we met with members of an organization that aids young immigrant girls who illegally land in Sicily, where a sign on the port declares “Welcome Refugees.” Oh how much we could learn from this small island, I thought. And it was harrowing to listen to 19-year-old Joyce’s story of being lured from her home and family in Nigeria with promises of an education in Europe only to find herself part of an agonizing nine-month ordeal spent in many refugee camps in Libya and Syria along the way under abusive, horrendous conditions as a part of a sex-and-drug trafficking operation. She was fortunately saved by the Casa di Maria organization upon her arrival in Sicily; most are not. No one exited that room without feeling emotionally drained. Again!

And then there’s Mt. Etna – at over 10,000 feet, the largest active volcano in Europe. Although the last eruption was in May 2017, we were repeatedly assured we were in no danger of a repeat. I’m a hiker. I’m used to climbing over rocks and roots. But this was my first experience with lava stones and fields – a topography I had never seen before.  As we climbed the almost two miles, we passed two centuries worth of vegetation from tiny tufts of green still recovering from earlier eruptions to huge, long-standing pine trees of old. I’m a travel writer and I’m supposed to be able to bring experiences to life but this was so surreal, other-worldly, so without comparison to anything I’ve seen before that I feel inadequate to capture it in mere words. A stop afterwards for a shot of Etna Fire – a 70-proof concoction – shook me out of my volcanic revelry.

After our Farewell Dinner, it was hard to believe there would be another L&D moment. After all, it was late – and we all had early planes the next day. But indeed we headed into town to a small, stand-alone outdoor shack where the vendor more replicated a bartender – even more a mixologist, a creator of drinkable art. Tamarind syrup, fresh squeezed lemon, soda water and then the piece de resistance…Baking Soda. All shaken up with gusto. The whole point? To make you burp. A lot. A Sicilian tradition. A very successful Sicilian tradition. Who wouldn’t want to go on such a tour?

For more information, visit 2018 Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions.

The post Sicily, Italy: Where What’s Not on the Itinerary Is as Important as What Is appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Stand by to set lower top sail,” shouted the captain. Backlit by a late Mediterranean sun, he made a striking figure in his maritime attire. “Pull sheets, lower top sail coming out!” I gripped firmly on the rope. “Heave! Heave! Heave!” commanded the first mate. My group of eight joined in unison as we pulled on the rope. I felt that the man in front of me could have worked a little harder, but the German boy at my rear was quite literally pulling up the slack. A few minutes later, the magnificent sail was towering in the wind above us. With images of Sir Francis Drake and Ferdinand Magellan, I had often dreamed of working on a real sailing vessel. This was a life-long fantasy come true. I made a mental note, though, never again to have two helpings of crème brûlée at the lunch buffet before participating in the drill.

The Royal Clipper

The five-mast 439 foot Royal Clipper is the largest and fastest sailing ship on the sea today. Modeled after the turn-of-the-century Tall Ship, Preuseen – once the world’s fastest sailing ships – the Royal Clipper is a hybrid, like today’s new baseball stadiums, embracing the best traditions of the past with the state-of-the-art amenities of today. It is the real deal and does not use computers for sail handling.

Passengers can participate in sailing drills, climb the mast to one of the ‘crow’s-nests’ for panoramic views, or even take their hand at the wheel. Contemporary creature comforts include luxuriating in the spa and three swimming pools, unwinding in the Captain Nemo Lounge, sunbathing on 18,940 square feet of open deck, and dining at the world-class (no tie dress code) Clipper Dining Room. A popular spot for reading and napping is the secret Widow’s Net – a blanket-like braided net that hangs over the side of the vessel. There is a marina which offers snorkeling, sailing, waterskiing and windsurfing. What I liked best, though, was that with a maximum of just 227 passengers, you could really get to know your traveling companions in a low-key, casual atmosphere, and even make some life-long friends. I had such a great time aboard that it was almost hard to leave the vessel each morning for the day’s adventure.

Ports of Call

Civitavecchia – Port of Rome

Your journey will begin and end in the Eternal City, and it is essential that you spend time either before or after your cruise in this Italian capital where each step forward is also a step back into history. From the Roman Forum and Colosseum to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters Cathedral, the attractions are endless. The Royal Clipper offers three-day add on packages, which include accommodations and sightseeing tours.

Pompeii and Sorrento

On August 24, 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius erupted, covering the Roman provincial center of Pompeii with more than 20 feet of ash and stone. Many of the city’s 20,000 residents were killed by sulfur fires or by lava and stone. Pompeii was frozen in time until excavations unveiled this remarkable archaeological site. Plaster was poured into the empty spaces in the lava to make body casts – a man stretches out to protect his mother, a dog lays tethered by his chain. Also on display are luxurious mansions, ancient baths, temples and markets, offering an amazing insight into over 2,000 year-old Roman life.

Amalfi Coast Cancelled – On to Naples

There was a collective moan among the passengers when we were informed that the water was too rough for landing on the Amalfi Coast. We had been warned beforehand that this can be the case aboard the authentic small vessel. The moans became even louder when it was announced that the alternative would be a day in Naples: aka ‘the city that Italy forgot.’ Naples is the most densely populated city in Italy. The traffic is so intense that a simple stroll across the street can be a brush with death. I believe I was the only person on the vessel who was happy about the change in our schedule. For a trip to Naples meant one thing: I could finally sample Naples’ gift to the world – an authentic Pizza Napoletana: Thin crusted and 14 inches in diameter, with a high outer wedge to contain the Marzano tomato sauce, grown in the rich volcanic soil at the base of Mount Vesuvius. With dollops of buffalo mozzarella, this gastronomic treat is then baked in an oven made with stones from Mount Vesuvius. I was not unhappy to have the experience under my belt.

Taormina, Sicily

The day began with a Sicilian brunch and wine tasting at the estate of a real baroness. With Mount Etna and the Mediterranean as a backdrop, all wine and food products came from the estate. Next to the hospitality and setting, the highpoint was a simple pasta dish made with only three ingredients: olive oil, diced translucent eggplant and a dry ricotta cheese. Next stop was a bus trip on the coast road to Taormina. Perched on a terrace overlooking the sea, it a great place to sip an espresso and enjoy the local medieval character. On the edge of the town is an impressive 3rd Century BC Greek theater. The next morning it was an enchanting day-at-sea as the Royal Clipper sailed back to Rome.

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