oh SICILY!

So for our first trip over here, and might I add suggested it was suggested, we decided that we would travel to the little island of SICILY…boy was that an adventure. We went into the trip knowing nothing about the city! We arrived at in the little ocean town of Plamero early Friday and quickly figured out that we had no clue how to get to our hotel. Great so now we were eight girls trying to find a train station (there is not a train there). We finally got asked if we needed some help from a local who told us our best bet was going to a taxi and it was 25 minutes to where we were trying to get!! All eight of us cram into a car that was built for no more than five and we were off. We had a great driver he told us about how much he loved Plamero, the best places to eat, what to see. We were all so excited we couldn’t wait to explore. Did I mention that we were also surrounded by the OCEAN! I felt like I was back home in California!! We arrive at what we thought was our hotel…we walk in backpacks and all to check in. We couldn’t believe how beautiful the hotel was…marble floors, modern décor, and a lovely restaurant…. we thought we made out for 10 Euros each a night how could we get any luckier?! As we approached the check in counter to get our room keys for The Hotel Regina (we were being stared down at this point from everyone around us that was in suits) the woman kindly told us that we had the wrong hotel and the ours was up the stairs…. let me tell you if there is no elevator it is NEVER a good sign. We collect our things and head up the dark hallway to the top to find a bared door that we had to buzz into. We walk in and the guy at the front barely speaks English so we somehow make out to him in basically sign language that we are here to check in. We proceed to our rooms open minded to find out that we would be sharing a bathroom with everyone else that was staying there, oh and there was only one toilet and one shower!! We could not believe what we had gotten ourselves into, shows us for not doing the research, but we are here and we must make the best of it. As you leave the hotel (who knows how this place got to call themselves a hotel, definitely more a hostel if that) you have to hand you key to the man at the front because there is only one for each room. This scared the daylights out of us so before heading out we each strapped every piece of our valuables onto our body. I was not about loose my passport here! The overall city of Palermo was much different from Florence, definitely not a tourist destination, but we did get to walk down to the water!! That night we tried to go out and see what nightlife in the big P was like…. lets say it was almost extinct. We found this small ally way of bars to choose from. Long story short met some Americans serving in the navy who were on duty there, very nice gentlemen but not what we wanted to do. We ended up going back to the nice hotel next to ours and sitting there for a few hours just talking. We got to talking with the table next to ours and they ended up having a daughter who went to school at Berkley but that they grew up here in Palermo…mafia!! (Of course because for those who do not know Palermo is where the mafia started!!) We swear one of the men sitting next to us had to be the godfather (but they were very nice and ended up paying for all our stuff!). The next day we decided that we would try to see a different part of Sicily we heard about this great little beach town called Taormina! After a 3 hour bus ride to the complete opposite side of Sicily (we had no idea what we were getting into but we just went for it, oh and ps we were the only people who spoke English on this bus! And we had to transfer busses half way through…yes it was a complete mess but I was so proud of us for remaining calm and being able to get ourselves to this places when at that point our Italy was pretty much, well non existent) we arrived in this hillside town that overlooked the sea and OMG was it breath taking. Although it was the off-season for the area this place was amazing! Blue BLUE water and beautiful beaches. We hung out here all day had lunch over looking the sea and sat for hours on the beach! The next day we headed saw some of the big monuments in Palermo, sat in on a church service that was in complete Italian lol, and then proceeded to head back. For those of you who have not experienced the Italians way of driving…. you are lucky…definitely a life threatening experience every time you get in the car. There are absolutely no rules or a regulation on driving here or at least that’s what it feels like!! On the way to the airport I remember looking up at one point and there was another car coming head on to us, how we did not collide blows my mind! Although there were many scary parts of this trip I came out knowing exactly how I want to plan my next travels: PLAN never go in without knowing anything! Haha I think you would all be amazed at how we made the best out of our situation, and in the end I would not suggest those of you coming to Italy to make Sicily an mandatory stop, but if you are in for an adventure and have an open mind go for it!
Side note: Over in Europe there is an airline that is the cheapest for getting around it is called Ryanair. Basically you can fly to most of the places over here for around 20-40 Euros which is really unheard of! This is of course the way we chose to get to Palermo seeing as we are poor college students. What they fail to mention in any of the claims when booking is A. You are allowed ONE bag. This includes your purse carry-on etc. Everything must fit into a backpack size bag B. there is no airport security. No wonder everyone in America is terrified of people coming in. If you beep through the metal detector you get to keep going. You don’t have to take anything off, you get to take all the liquids you want, and x-ray machines…what x-ray machines? Hahah terrifying in itself. C. When they say boarding you must pick up everything you own (not that much since the regulations on what you can bring haha) and run to the plane to get a seat. You think I kid about this but I am in no way exaggerating how this whole phenomenon works. You literally push everyone out of your way to get to the plane as fast as you can in hopes of getting a seat. Let me tell you people this would NEVER fly in America. Hahahaha just gotta embrace the culture!

Pss. Pictures will be posted at the top for a couple of these because it takes me so long to get them in other positions!