Siclia

Day 1

Before the sun had risen on Tuesday morning, the entire Florence group had left the villa on a double decker bus for the airport in Bologna. We had a 9:20 AM flight from Bologna to Palermo. Fortunately, most of us were able to finish sleeping on the hour and a half ride. Everything went smoothly and we were soon on our way to the island of Sicily. Looking out the window, we saw beautiful scenery of Italy. As we were landing in Palermo, it looked as if we were going to land in the water, as the airport was right on the coast.

Palermo is the capital city of Sicily. The former presence of the Greeks, Spaniards, Normans, and many other cultures is obviously present throughout the city and the rest of the island. Due to its geographical location, it was easily attacked, but also beneficial for its conquerers for trade and military purposes.

Our first stop of the day was the Church of Martorana, also called St. Mary's of the Admiral. It was built in 1143 originally as a place of worship for the Arabs, which was later transformed into a Greek Orthodox church during the Norman era, and ultimately to a Byzantine Catholic church. This church is very important because of the mosaics within. The ceilings are completely decorated in mosaics. It is astounding to think about the time and patience that goes into this slow process. Everywhere, there is a different Bible story with many different types of symbolism. During the times when many people were illiterate, the churches used images to tell the stories. When the church was restored, the church was expanded in the front and painted with frescoes. After the church, we moved over to the Quattro Canti. This fountain is on the four corners of the intersection, with three different levels. On the first level is one season on each fountain. The next level has the four Spanish kings of Siciliy. The third level represents the four saints of Palermo.

After a quick break for lunch, we went over to the Cathedral of Palermo, also called Santa Maria Assunta. Our tour guide told us that the outside of this cathedral was absolutely magnificent, one of the most beautiful cathedrals, but that the inside was rather ugly. The outside was amazing. It was one of those pieces of architecture that makes you stop and wonder how they were able to do it. It made me realize how brilliant some of the people were back then and how much they appreciated architecture. One of the interesting things about this church is the amount of cultures and styles reflected in the design. Construction began in the late 7th century in a Sicilian-Norman style. However, in the 1400s, Spanish influence changed some of the outer facade of the church and is also seen in the Gothic-Catalan style in other parts of the church. We are also able to see Arab influence as we walk into the church because a prayer is written in Arabic on several columns. However, the inside is very different. It is designed to be more simple, not as eye catching as its outside is. Inside, there is a Zodiac line in which they are able to measure the once a year to make sure that everything is still in order.

The most unique part of the day, to say the least, was when we went to the Capuchin crypts. Originally designed as a burial place for Capuchin monks, it was eventually opened to people who could afford to be buried there. The body was allowed to decay until it was just bones, when they would then be dressed in the burial clothing and placed on the wall in the crypt. It was absolutely disgusting and frightening. I could not look at there faces and mostly looked down at the ground the whole time I was inside. The crypts were closed to burial in 1871, except for one young girl who was buried there in 1920. Her name was Rosalia Lombardo who died from pneumonia at the age of two. Her father was gone to war, and they wanted to preserve her body. Other than a slight change in color of her skin, she looks exactly the way she did when she died nearly ninety years ago.

A nice change of pace was the the church in Monreale. The cathedral there is decorated in Arab, Byzantine, and Norman styles. This church was meant to show power, and it was demonstrated by using two tons of gold inside on the mosaics. Once again, but in a much more elaborate fashion, the entire ceiling is made out of mosaics. Additionally, in the cloisters behind it, there are columns lined with mosaics and reliefs telling Biblical stories. Tired after a long day, we headed back to our hotel.

Day 2

Up bright and early again, we left Palermo for Cefalu`. It was a beautiful, warm day. We visited a cathedral that began construction in 1131. This church also had a large mosaic of Jesus above the altar, which was meant to show His blessing, the trinity, and the earthly and heavenly worlds and that He came to bridge the gap between the two. Next, we went over to the greatest invention of its day: the Lavatoio. This was the modern washing machine of the time. Instead of having women go to the river to wash clothes, where the woman farthest downstream would only have dirty water to wash in, this was a room that had eight different sections of fresh, clean water that was constantly flowing through so that each work station had fresh water. After spending the afternoon at the beach and eating the most heavenly crepes (chocolate, banana, and whipped cream), we headed over to Castelbuono. It is a mountain town twenty-five kilometers from Cefalu`. It is an old castle from the 1300s, that ultimately had a town built up around it. We also went into a small church with interesting "crypt" paintings that tell about the passion of Christ.

Day 3

We woke up in Agrigento, where Valley of the Temples is located. Since 1998, it is a Unesco world heritage sight. It was a cold rainy day and many of us donned our rain boots and umbrellas. The first temple we visited was the Temple of Hera (Juno). We were able to see where the temple originally stood as well as the

altar for the sacrifice of animals. We continued down a ways through the area of ancient tombs to the Temple of Concordia. This temple has never fallen apart nor been reconstructed. The name Concordia means peace, and is the symbol for Unesco, which "encourages international peace and universal respect by promoting collaboration among the nations." The symbol of Unesco is the Concordia temple. For the final temple, we saw the Temple of Hercules (Heracles). This is the oldest and is in the most ruined state. Only eight columns are still standing today. We were able to enter into this temple and explore the different sections.

Next, we went to a museum that had ancient artifacts from the tombs and the surrounding area. My favorite part was the man that represented Atlas from the Temple of Zeus (Jupiter). It was a representation of Atlas and that the statue was paying its duty to Zeus by supporting the temple. It reminded me of one of my favorite books, Atlas Shrugged. The museum had very interesting artifacts, such as figurines used for sacrifices, and an alabaster tomb telling the story of the death of a young child.

After lunch, we went to the Villa Romana del Casale. It is the richest, largest and most complex collection of late Roman mosaics in the world. It is amazing to see the detail that went into each and every floor in the house. They worked so diligently that many of them remain intact today, and we are able to understand the stories that they told with the mosaics. In the master bedroom, the mosaics and frescoes (that are now faded) told stories of fertility. The dining room told of the Twelve Labors of Hercules and the story of Ambrosia. The palestra (gymnasium) showed Circus Maximus. While this villa is very elaborate and not typical of the times, it still helped us to see what life was like for a certain part of society and to understand their thoughts, values, and cultural beliefs at the time.

Day 4

On Friday, we headed over to Taormina. From here, we saw ancient ruins of a Greek and Roman theater (the Romans restored what had previously been a Greek theater and adjusted it for their purposes). Today, it is used for the Cinema Festival which occurs during the summer. We also saw the Odeon theater, built during the Empire of Caesar Augustus Octavian. It is a much smaller theater, as it could old hold an audience of about two hundred. We continued on to the beautiful public gardens. Inside the gardens, there are two memorials. The first one is for World War I, and

the second is an Italian torpedo from World War II. There is a fantastic view of the coastline from the gardens. We headed up tothe main piazza and were set free for lunch. We found a little caffe` and had panini and pizza before heading back to the hotel. That afternoon, we had five hours of free time to rest. In the late afternoon, Courtney, Katie, and I decided to explore and see if we could find the ocean. It was too cold to go swimming, but the water was surprisingly warm. That evening, our entire group headed back to the beach for a bonfire and cookies. It was nice to relax after a long week of walking and using our whispers.

Day 5

Once again awake before the sun had begun to rise, we were off to Mt. Etna. But only one mile away from the entrance, our bus broke down. A little while later, another tour bus came and picked us up and we were all ready to sing "Climb Every Mountain" (from the Sound of Music).We had been warned all week that there was a possibility of having snow on top of the mountain and that it would probably be a little cold, but after most of us were either from California or had spent the past year there, we did not really take the message to heart. I had brought my "winter" coat, but had forgotten to bring my gloves, scarf, and earmuffs. But I figured it would be fine, it couldn't be that cold. Were we wrong. It was absolutely freezing. Fortunately, we did not have to hike up the volcano, but instead took gondolas to the top, and then rode in snow cats to get to the peak. We enviously looked on as we saw people

skiing and biking in the snow down the mountain. When we first got out of the gondolas, it was cold, but bearable. When we reached the peak close to 9000 feet, we were all frozen. We had forgotten that there would be wind. I quickly pulled out a very thin cotton scarf I had worn for the day and wrapped it around my head. It didn't do much, but helped a little bit. My hands were absolutely freezing. Melody and I "cuddled" together as we walked to produce as much body heat as possible. We were looking at craters from the eruption in 2002. This was also the location that one of the Star Wars movies was recently filmed. After we made it around the crater and were half frozen, we headed back down the mountain to warm up with hot chocolate and lunch. Afterwards, we set off for the airport, and arrived in Florence that night.