Island of gods.
We students have all taken to having a macchiato with a pastry at break, caffeine and sugar are becoming more and more necessary to get through our classes! One afternoon, I go on my own to the archeological park. The heat is heavy, the back of my neck slick with sweat. There's a well preserved Greek theatre and a Roman amphitheatre built into the rock hill. A Dionysus Ear cave that Carravaggio, the great Renaissance painter, named because it is virtually shaped like an ear with amazing acoustics. Exhausted I make it back for a pear and ricotta gelato and a nap. Life is hard enjoying the Sicily's bounty.
My friend and I meet in the main square at night. We've found a lovely bar/restaurant overlooking the church that was built within the 5th century Greek Temple of Athena, the columns of which still adorn the outside walls and are lit at night. We have a Cosmopolitan with fresh mirtilli and meet up with the younger ones. We're missing our New York friend as she has left the island and she had some great love life stories that kept us enthralled during her visit. I dine on a pasta with swordfish, capers, mint and parsley. Simple but tasty.
The next day I go and see Caravaggio's The Burial of Santa Lucia. My New York friend told me it was so moving that she cried. Caravaggio had escaped from prison on Malta, fleeing to Syracuse where he was given the commission in 1608. It's a strange church and the painting is set in such bad lighting that it was hard to see. This saint gave to the poor in gratitude for her mother's miraculous healing until her suitor accused her of being a christian and of infidelity and she refused to recant. Her punishment was to be dragged to a brothel. Another miracle occurred and she couldn't be moved from the spot where she stood but there ended the miracles as she was killed there with a knife to her throat. The church was built on that spot after she was made a saint. Maybe that's why it had such an eerie feeling. Carravaggio's painting is full of muscled men surrounding her tiny body, an odd part of her story to paint.
I need something to cheer me after that and I go to the Condorelli bar in the square and have pistachio granita which was amazing and I buy some of their famous nougat encased in different flavoured chocolates, my favourites being pistachio, lemon and orange. I then make my way back home via the sea wall. Groups of men are down below but to access the swimming area you have to climb over the fence and down a ladder! That wouldn't be allowed in the nanny country of Australia!
I lunch for 14 euros ($20 Australian). Baby prawns with pepperoni and parsley served with crusty bread topped with herbs, salad and wine. I chat with a Ukrainian woman who is also travelling alone and loving the freedom it allows you, not to have to worry about other's needs, something we agree that women do constantly.
I meet up later that night with a lovely German artist who has joined our school. I find her sitting on the steps of the Duomo surrounded by kids, dogs, singers and people enjoying the evening passegiata. There's a full moon perched just above the Carravaggio church and we wander around the back streets, checking out the amazing galleries and art work. We eat at Trattoria da Mariano that was recommended. The waiter there is charming and flirty and used to live in Melbourne so he reminisces to me but he wouldn't return he said, Sicily is the place to be.
Day after day we swim to combat the relentless heat. There's a boardwalk that they put up in the summer to soak up the sun and towards the end of my time here, they take it down. Autumn is arriving.
On the weekend, we meet up at a flea and vegetable market. It's autumn, chestnuts are roasting on braziers, tiny pears, persimmons, pumpkins and mandarins are everywhere. We eat later at Al Divino al Mare, cumin flavoured tuna balls, caponata and a Parmigiana with sardines. It's hard to get a bad meal here.
New week, new people, new teacher! It's not easy for an introvert like me, even my friend finds it difficult. This teacher has to be an over-the-top Leo. She is making us speak more than any of the others and we are all so shy and nervous. Machiatos are needed at break, we all make a quick exit to the bar. The new batch of students want to join us for lunch but we just want to be alone after the stress of using our brains more than ever before. We make our excuses.
Our teacher is elegant, slim and slightly crazy, rolling her R's like an actress. She pushes us beyond our comfort zones. My friend and I become nervous and fearful as we enter. I'm eating more pastries than I've ever consumed with the strong deadly macchiato at morning tea. I have Raviolina, which is a fried pastry filled with warm ricotta and chocolate. It gets me through the rest of the class but then my friend and I just want to be alone without outsiders and so we sneak off quickly for a lunch that involves wine nowadays. Later we meet for an amazing dinner at Sicilia Tavola, octopus stew, amazing caponata and more wine. On our way back we pass the house that overlooks the Temple of Apollo. There's a man there that writes romances and has a free museum. Every time we go by, he offers to show it to us. Life is never boring on this tiny island.
Our teacher continues to keep us on our toes. She's so dramatic and her red lips are a work of art. She's unmarried, nearly 50, runs to keep fit and never cooks at home. She reveals all this about her life and we finally bond over the fact that when she travels, she carries her lipstick bag on her person in case she loses her luggage. I totally get that! On the way back home every day, we pass by the pasticcerias with their amazing array of marzipan fruit, tiny edible art works. As the season changes, so do the fruits shown.
We are barely coping with our class and I decide not to stay on after asking if we can change teachers and being told no. Our teacher is all over the place and goes off on tangents and we are all lost. We can't wait for lessons to end. My friend and I are drinking more now. We meet for aperitivo in the main square trying out the bars. We go one night to the Beyonce cafe. Evidently not long ago, the singer herself, fresh from her yacht, dined here with her entourage.
We find a great taverna by the seaside. The food is fabulous. Fish risotto, little eggplant timbales, tiny arancini and a crunchy hazelnut semifreddo. We wander home, guided by the fullness of the moon.
Saturday we hire a car and take the kids with us to Taormina. The night before there was a small earthquake and Etna is smoking, a grey wandering plume fills the sky.
It's my ex partner's birthday today, we have had no contact for a couple of months now and not so long ago we were here together. I start to feel slightly anxious and get a migraine and wander off to have a machiato, a shot of coffee cures a migraine within minutes for me. We meet up for a lunch of arancini; mine is fennel, pine nuts and raisins and then we're off to Isola Bella.
We walk down a long flight of steps, at the end of which, my legs are shaky but the pebbly beach is beautiful. We swim in the crystal clear water and our young Democrat said it's like the last day of summer family vacation. He's so sweet, they all are and I'll miss the camaraderie that we've had over the last few weeks. On the way back, he plays Sober Up, it's for you two, he says and we laugh, my friend and I. Our teacher certainly has been the source of our increase in alcohol consumption.
That night we dine together, it will be for the last time for me in Ortygia. I have mussels with gorgonzola sauce and homemade ciabatta near the market and walk back for the last time to my little studio. The next morning, we have our last breakfast and then I'm off to Catania on my way back to Italy.
What an amazing three weeks it's been since I arrived here! To spend that amount of time in one place, to see the seasonal changes, to eat the amazing variety of foods, (below was a basil pannacotta), to see that cities can be in the midst of decay and still be immeasurably beautiful, to meet people that I hope to meet up with again, has been truly magical.
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