Friday March 2nd – Reggio Calabria
point of the boot, seen from the bus
Today was the first day of the Southern Tour. We left the Cenci at the grand hour of 6:15am (first time I had to set my alarm for 5am since I don't even know when), and had a 10 hour bus ride to Reggio Calabria, the tip of Italy's “boot”. The bus ride was beautiful – I'm glad we drove instead of taking a plane. When I wasn't sleeping, the views were incredible. Over the course of the week, the bus became our little traveling home. Some people named him Humphrey because he's like a whale that carried all of us! Our reason to be in Reggio Calabria was to see the Riace bronzes, two famous bronze statues that were found in the ocean and despite some missing parts like their spears and a helmet, are in perfect condition. I learned about them in both of my freshman art history courses, so was excited to see them in person, except...
...they were being restored, and were horizontal on examining tables, behind glass. It was all quite ironic and strangely funny, so instead of staring at them for too long, we played on the lawn outside the museum in the magical Italian sunshine. After checking into the hotel, watching TV for the first time since being in Italy (MTV with Italian subtitles, haha!) and eating dinner (porcini mushroom risotto, then gelato afterwards of course) Astrid, Youbin, Eliot, Julee and I took a late night walk down the beach, and that was it for Reggio Calabria.
Saturday March 3rd – Messina & Siracusa/Ortigia
on the ferry
In the morning, it was time to board the ferry for Messina! It was a short ~20 minute ride across the strait of Messina. Turquoise water, volcano, picturesque, and then we were in Sicily. First up was a museum to see a Caravaggio and an Antonello. I met a very nice man who worked for the museum who hadn't spoken english in 45 years but somehow remembered enough to tell a bunch of us that he loved our sketchbooks and all our different styles. We always attract attention when we all draw at once – people are fascinated by drawing for some reason! Then it was back on the bus to go to the bell tower, a huge construction with a large functioning astronomical clock. The church itself was beautiful, but the entertaining part was that at noon, the bell tower that normally rings every 15 minutes starts doing crazy things. All its different parts start moving and making noise, from the lion roaring its head, to the rooster crowing, to figures going around in a circle...but the funny part was, it all happened very slowly. Very anti-climactically slowly. The sun was shining, it was warm, and after lunch, Julee, Astrid and I got our first Sicilian cannoli.
After a 3 hour bus ride, we found ourselves in the ruins of Castello Eurelio, just outside of Siracusa. Exploring there for over an hour was magical. I walked through caves, got stuck in a bramble thicket, climbed on ancient rocks, and painted a watercolor. It was really windy but I felt like I was in part of Narnia.
I actually had this very philosophical moment on the bus where I was almost falling asleep and basking in sunshine and realized that this was the happiest I've ever been. It's a strange feeling, even though I'm missing a lot of people/places/things, I feel very content and excited about my future, as corny as it sounds. This night, we stayed in Ortigia, an island that is part of Siracusa. Dinner for me was fish (proud of me mom?), then a whole big group of us wandered down to the water, where we became the fascination of four high school girls obsessed with...Americans? It was quite an odd night, they led us to a karaoke bar that was actually the main teenage hangout, where we were accosted even further, and it was all quite entertaining, but I'll leave it at that.
Sunday March 4th - Second day in Siracusa/Ortigia
After breakfast at the hotel, we had a full day in Ortigia. First was a walk around the island, then a museum, then a church to see another Caravaggio painting. Then, we had a surprise pizza party! A former EHP chief critic and RISD professor, Jim, has been living half the year in a little apartment in Ortigia for 20 something years. Him, Nick, and Ezio surprised us all with a pizza party at his apartment! 30 pizzas for 30 people. He was the sweetest person, and his apartment overlooked the mediterranean, and it was so stunningly beautiful. The sun was out again, and everything was painted white, and also...we each had our own pizza, Italian style. There is nothing more perfect than devouring an entire pizza on an open deck on the top of an apartment looking out over turquoise water. Jim told us he got the apartment really cheap because 25 years ago, it used to be a prostitution street, and no one wanted it, and now it's a beautiful home.
the pizza bearers
When the party was over, I went with Christina, Susie, Julee, and Jess to a rocky pier by Jim's house, where there was a small beach and rocks to climb on. The water wasn't too cold, so I got to put my feet in.
Then we walked for like half an hour to the Santa Maria della Lacrima shrine, an alien looking building, shaped like a cone prepared for launching into space, that houses the small Mary statue that spontaneously started crying 50 years ago. It's not crying any more, so it's a bit anti-climactic, but the church is just so bizarre that's it worth going to. Then we walked a bit more to the San Giovanni basilica catacombs, a labyrinth of 10,000 square feet, with 20,000 tombs. All the bodies have since been removed, but the place is still immense, and they don't let you go down there without a tour guide or else you'd get lost.
alien church...
That night, I had dinner at the fanciest place I'd ever been to in my life (and I was wearing jeans, shame on me!) Normally at restaurants they start you off with bread, but this place started us with champagne. Then they served us a little appetizer, then I had ravioli filled with a pork sauce over ricotta cream, and others had different types of ravioli, swordfish, prawns, pork, yellowtail, and other yummy things. It was kind of a fusion place...all the plating was designed incredibly. Felt like I was on Top Chef. (And of course there was dessert, too!)
Monday March 5th - Siracusa, Villa Casale, & Selinunte
ear of Dionysus
This is when all the days started blurring together. Today we went to Neapolis, an archeaological park in Siracusa. We spent time in the Greek theater, that was overrun with wildflowers, and had a waterfall! Then there was the Ear of Dionysus, a quarry that was shaped into sort of a half spiral, is super tall, and has amazing acoustic properties. It gets its name from the echo effect that happens, and Dionysus could hear all the secrets being said about him. Right outside if this is the laurel tree that Daphne turned into when Apollo was chasing her.
After Neapolis, it was another 2 hour bus ride to Villa Casale, an old Roman Villa that is a UNESCO world heritage site, because of the nearly perfectly preserved floor mosaics - the largest in the world. I'm not the most interested in mosaics, but these were really beautiful, and huge. There were even bikini babe mosaic girls. At this point, it was starting to get cloudy and rainy...foreshadowing the rest of the week.
beach volleyball mosaics
Once again, back on the bus for 3 1/2 hours! We all really loved that bus. Well, usually I love long bus rides but for some reason this one was rough. Arrived at Selinunte just in time for a group dinner at a swanky hotel right on the beach. I was really tired this night, but I ended up taking a walk on the beach with Astrid and Molly. The ocean at night is terrifyingly beautiful - I get really scared, but in awe at the same time. Also, we made a friend! A furry friend! While walking down a pier, an adorable border collie mix came bounding out of nowhere, and we think he was trying to herd us. He kept running a little, then checked to make sure we were following, then ran, then looked back, and so on. Cutest. Molly played with him the most, and cuddled on a bench. Then when Astrid went back to the beach to retrieve her shoes, the dog (we named him Bello) ran ahead and sat next to her shoes until she got them. Then he walked us back to our hotel! The stray dogs in Sicily were the best, it seems like we "adopted" one in each town.
Molly & Bello
Stay tuned for part two ;)
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