Many people do not appreciate the pleasure of sleeping in. After weeks of being the first one awake, I was finally the last one to get up. The boys had already eaten breakfast and after a quick pudding, we all got dressed and went down to the sea. The water was clear and cool, perfect to combat the hot sun.
We goofed around in the water, playing with the ball and such until drying off and heading back up to the house for lunch. I've never had a sea house before and it is extremely relaxing being able to stay in your swim suit all day and not have to worry about people judging you for not wearing clothes in the hot weather.
Since the house is so small, we hung around the picnic table outside and played cards. I believe the boys played another game of basketball and then went to the sea while I showered. When everyone got home (and bathed), we literally packed ourselves into the van and drove to nearby Syracuse for a night in the historic town. It's a seaside city and beautiful.
Even I could tell that it was completely different than Catania. Where Catania is black and made of lava stone, the colors here were light pinks, reds, and cream.
We wandered around for a bit and admired the street art before crossing into the main square to look at the church.
It felt eerie walking into the church. Although there were people it was dark and the ceiling was vaulted. It's an enormous and impressive structure, more like a castle than a church. I was afraid to walk or talk and felt like maybe there was something lurking in the shadows.
It was very beautiful though, despite the creepy factor.
One the sides were rooms hidden by cloth. It was lighter in there and artistically painted.
Exiting the church, we were greeted by an accordion player. He was still there when we walked by hours later. Talk about dedicated.
Our next visit was to the Temple of Apollo. It is now in ruins but absolutely beautiful.
In the middle of the city, people walk by this every day and that's a normal thing for them. Amazing.
The boys didn't care of course and stayed huddled together while I flitted around them taking photos. They did, however, respond enthusiastically when dinner was mentioned so we all went to a pizzeria.
Emanuele drank all the natural water. He's the only Italian I met that has preferred it to sparkling. We had lemon sorbet for dessert and then took another walk around the square.
Sofia got gelato and we all had a laugh while taking stupid photos of ourselves. On our way back to the car, we witnessed half of a show put on by a man in a scary black cape. He was having technical difficulties and wasn't able to perform it all. It angered me that some American boys were throwing cusses at him while he was trying to sort it out. These are the kind of people that give Americans the reputation of being rude.
Once home, we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing cards and just having fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment