"What do you remember most about Sicily?" I asked a friend before
leaving for the island in May, "The wild flowers", came the reply. It's
true. In May, Sicily is covered in wild flowers but what I will
remember most are the Sicilian people.
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Monreale Cathedral |
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| Temple at Selinunute |
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| Flower Festival at Noto |
They could not have been more
charming. The tourist is the honoured guest. I spent ten days in
Sicily from 13 to 22 May, travelling almost all the way round it with a
friend by car. Take the time when we walked into a non-descript
eaterie and received VIP treatment. The chef spent time explaining all
his pastas and personally selected our two meals. Once consumed, a
coffee and two cakes appeared "courtesy of the house".
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| View from Taormina |
A few days
later, we found ourselves unable to find our B&B which was located
in a road in the middle of a town closed off to traffic. I asked the
driver of another car for directions, he told me to get back into my car
and follow him in his car (with his family). We drove around town
until we arrived at our road. In Modica, we walked into a spanking new
pizzeria. On sitting down, a young Sicilian couple sitting in the
corner (there were no other punters) said in English "The pizzas here
are delicious." They were from Modica but working in Dublin. They
wanted us to enjoy our meal. I asked the waiter if a bottle of wine
that was on display could be served by the glass. He said not but two
minutes later, having returned to the bar, he said they would after all
serve it by the glass. These little kind gestures happened all the time
in Sicily. When I came home to my hamlet, I commented to my French
neighbour how I found it hard to believe that the Sicilians are known to
be in the Mafia. "The Mafia are very charming people", came the reply!
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