There are four cars of us heading towards Etna for Pizza tonight, we all meet at a central point where we switch cars in order to mingle and mix, then continue the journey. Miraculously Kimmie always ends up in Lothario’s car, the car that none of the other guys want to travel in because he prohibits smoking. Strange that Kimmie - pro smoker should wish to travel this way!
The pizza place is the same place me and The Sicilian go with the family. Due to there being so many of us out for dinner we are given a private area which is located on a small terracotta terrace, enclosed with black cast iron and climbing vines. The pizza selection is limitless, there is possibly a hundred pizzas on the menu, the Nutella pizza being amongst the options. Eating was just a small part of this particular meal; we drank lots of wine, had lots of great conversation and told lots of jokes. We spend most of the meal in fits, exchanging embarrassing stories about one another and getting to know everyone. Due to there being so many of us our Pizzas take a while to come to the table, but nobody seems to notice.
This was my favourite meal of the holiday – everyone was in great spirits, the pizza was delicious, we laughed hard, swapped pizza slices, took loads of pictures and sat for hours with no rush or worry.
We left the trattoria at half past midnight, perked up with some coffees in the local bar, hung around the square and witnessed a power cut. Then began the second part of our night at the Tennis Club.
The pizza place is the same place me and The Sicilian go with the family. Due to there being so many of us out for dinner we are given a private area which is located on a small terracotta terrace, enclosed with black cast iron and climbing vines. The pizza selection is limitless, there is possibly a hundred pizzas on the menu, the Nutella pizza being amongst the options. Eating was just a small part of this particular meal; we drank lots of wine, had lots of great conversation and told lots of jokes. We spend most of the meal in fits, exchanging embarrassing stories about one another and getting to know everyone. Due to there being so many of us our Pizzas take a while to come to the table, but nobody seems to notice.
This was my favourite meal of the holiday – everyone was in great spirits, the pizza was delicious, we laughed hard, swapped pizza slices, took loads of pictures and sat for hours with no rush or worry.
We left the trattoria at half past midnight, perked up with some coffees in the local bar, hung around the square and witnessed a power cut. Then began the second part of our night at the Tennis Club.
The Tennis Club
The Tennis Club was filled by the Sicilian glitterati, once again the party was held outdoors as so many Sicilian clubs and parties are in the summer – a huge blue ray of light came from the centre of the grounds – the vast majority of the grounds being taken up by an immense swimming pool almost the length of the main party area. Patrons danced from all four sides of the pool and some were even brave enough to dance the on the pool edges. This was Beverley Hills, Sex and the City, Hollywood eat your heart out! And once again we danced the morning in and didn’t leave till they shut the music off. Modus operandi, on the way home all four cars stopped for Tavola Calda, where we engaged in more conversation and made a few more jokes, before being too tired to make sense we are chauffeured back to the apartment.
The Tennis Club was filled by the Sicilian glitterati, once again the party was held outdoors as so many Sicilian clubs and parties are in the summer – a huge blue ray of light came from the centre of the grounds – the vast majority of the grounds being taken up by an immense swimming pool almost the length of the main party area. Patrons danced from all four sides of the pool and some were even brave enough to dance the on the pool edges. This was Beverley Hills, Sex and the City, Hollywood eat your heart out! And once again we danced the morning in and didn’t leave till they shut the music off. Modus operandi, on the way home all four cars stopped for Tavola Calda, where we engaged in more conversation and made a few more jokes, before being too tired to make sense we are chauffeured back to the apartment.
Tindari - Madonna Negra
Our time in Sicily flew by and before we knew it reality had started to hone in on us – our last day had arrived. We went to Tindari, a small town whose patron saint is a black Madonna. We walked around the quiet, tiny town. The roads are sandy tracks without pavements and front doors are left open. We even became acquainted with the local dog that followed us throughout our walk in the town, we named him and Angel Rae and The Sicilian fed him some water!
The Last Night
The gang met up for the final night – unfortunately Monday nights in Catania are dead and we struggled to find anywhere to go. We had been directed to a bar called Tre, which also turned out to be closed. The owner, Dario Poeta was on his bike outside ready to leave for the night and saw us aimlessly hanging around. Being familiar with one of the gang he opened the bar for us and served us bottles of Prosecco, which we had to fight to pay for. After leaving Tre we hung out in the city square, prolonging our last night for as long as possible. Inevitably home time arrived, Lothario to our surprise accompanied Kimmie Parker home, a romance has sparked and they spend what’s left of the night dancing in each other’s arms, exchanging sweet nothings!(ugh). Genevieve, Angel Rae and myself childishly spend the rest of our night spying on the couple!!
The Last Supper
The day we’re set to leave the sun comes out full throttle. After packing our suitcases we go and sit on the beach with what is left of our Sack of Crisps – a bag of crisps we bought from the supermarket big enough to feed the five thousand. The Sicilian meets us on the beach and gives us the great news that his friends have given us a further discount for our week in their resort.We have our last supper in Catania’s city square, and for the sake of tradition we all eat huge dishes of pasta. We do a quick whip around the high streets, where we pick up souvenirs and bits to take home then we are rushed off to get ready for our flight. Me and The Sicilian go back to his family’s house to bid our farewells and pick up his sister. Outside the airport we take the final photos of us all together, The Sicilian’s sister exchanges her hugs and kisses goodbye and tells us that we are the funniest group of girls she has ever met, of course we take this as a compliment. We say goodbye to Costanzo and Lothario and make our way to the check in desk.
The Catanese were great hosts to the girls, everyone was welcomed with open arms, the Sicilians most certainly take pride in hosting and showed my friends an amazing time. Our gang was made up of so many different characters but the chemistry and group dynamic was as though we had all known each other for years and holidayed regularly with one another. The most difficult of the holiday aside from choosing where to eat, was saying ‘Goodbye.’
I hope a Sicilian reunion is in the pipeline for next year...?
No comments:
Post a Comment