Archive | Italy

traveling in Italy :: staying at an agriturismo

April 9, 2013 at 3:33 pm

As I mentioned before, we took a little trip down to southern Sicily while Elliott’s parents were visiting. We spent our one night away in an agriturismo, or a “farm stay.” Agritourism is popular in Italy, especially with families: the kids love the animals and the space to run around, the parents love the prices and the experience! We’ve stayed in a couple of other agriturismi which you can read about here and here.

We stayed in Villa Diana, an agriturismo just a few minutes outside of Agrigento. The owner and host, Dario, was kind and accommodating (and quirky). The rooms were spacious and each one was one vibrant color; we stayed in “Il Pistachio” which was verdantly green and my parents-in-law stayed in “Il Mandarino” which was vibrantly orange. Although there were many things that made us raise our eyebrows (the miniscule elevator, the plaster falling off the walls on the outside of the building, the trinkets enclosed in glass display cases throughout the house), we all had a wonderful time and would definitely go back. Here are a few photos from our stay.

There were chickens (with eggs!), donkeys, goats, sheep, and a couple of dogs on the property. Lena loved all of them. And who are we kidding? So did we!

^^^ Ahh, a sleeping babe… and a sweet grandmother! The agriturismo itself is in the background.

^^^ Loved this daddy goat’s horns!

^^^ My veterinarian husband.

^^^ The donkey was just a month old.

The agriturismo itself was surprisingly decorated inside with gilded, antique furniture that I assume are family heirlooms. This is the breakfast room, where we were served fresh pastries, eggs cooked to order, hot coffee and tea, and freshly squeezed blood orange juice.

^^^ Check out that glass of blood orange juice in front of Lena! So red.

Lena finished off our visit with a very serious game of chess. Just kidding…. The chess set was missing two pawns, and we laughed later when we learned from our friends (who had stayed there three weeks before us) admitted their kids had broken them. Lena almost broke or lost a couple of pieces herself. Leaving our marks on the world everywhere with our children….

Do you know if there are places like this elsewhere in the world? I haven’t heard of the farm/B&B combo in the States but I’m sure they must exist. Have you ever stayed at a place like this?

14 :: in agriturismo, animals, family, Italy, Sicily, travel

Scala dei Turchi

April 2, 2013 at 2:51 pm

Here at last are some pictures from our beautiful sunset walk to the Scala dei Turchi! It’s harder to write a blog post these days with two little kiddos needing lots of TLC. I think they’re both asleep for a little bit now…

While my parents-in-law were visiting last week, we took a trip to the southern coast of Sicily with them for a couple of days. We wanted to show them a beautiful rock formation and also visit the Valley of the Temples outside the city of Agrigento. We hadn’t been to either of these places since last February (here is a post about that trip), and so we were looking forward to enjoying this beautiful part of Sicily again ourselves.

We drove to Agrigento last Wednesday, checked into our agriturismo (more photos from there soon!), had naps all around, and then drove on to the Turkish Steps (or Scala dei Turchi) around 5pm. The walk along the beach toward the giant white rock formation was peaceful and beautiful. Lena loved walking along the ocean; Gil loved sleeping in our beloved Moby wrap.

Finally we reached the white rock and began to climb…

My father-in-law took this photo just as we got to the top of the Turkish Steps. The view behind us was stunning with the ocean stretching off forever into the setting sun! We spent a long time on the rocks, climbing and resting and taking photos.

Quite a picturesque spot for a diaper change, right??

If you’re like Lena, you also enjoy looking at whatever photo was just taken of you!

I love the photo above but am bummed that I was smiling for the camera and not looking at Elliott. Our matching silhouetted faces smiling at each other would have been so cool!

Below, my parents-in-law pause for final iPhone shots…

And the sun has set. Isn’t it such a magical place? In the setting sun this could almost be Antarctica. But instead it’s warm and sunny… and before too long the beaches will be covered with Sicilian sunbathers. I’d like to go back then!

9 :: in family, hiking, Italy, pretty places, Sicily, travel, visitors

lunchtime in Siracusa

March 26, 2013 at 5:09 pm

Uncle Eric and Lena enjoy some figs. I love their matching expressions!

While my family was visiting Sicily, we spent most of our time enjoying quiet days in our villa. At least one day, though, I wanted to get out and show them a little more of our lovely island home. On Wednesday Elliott was at work and therefore we could all fit in one car, so we loaded up and drove to Siracusa.

Siracusa — or really the old center, called Ortigia — is my favorite place to visit in Sicily because of the beautiful architecture, old ruins, quaint shops, and delicious food. See other trips I’ve made to Ortigia here with friends and here with my sister-in-law Jess.

Above, Lena enjoys the beautiful central piazza in Ortigia. The piazza is blindingly white in the summer sun but was still beautiful this gray March day. On the right my dad admires ruins while I attempt to comfort a fussy little Gil. Playing tour guide and being a mom of two was impossible without a lot of help from all members of my family!

She looks so sweet and pensive (and tired… it was nap time) in the photo above. Below, we attempted to get a family photo while we waited for our pizza lunch to arrive at my favorite trattoria.

Sicily is known for its Grillo grapes, which make delicious white wine. In the photos above and below Lena enjoys the music of a wonderful accordion player. Usually when I visit Siracusa the accordion player in the piazza is a little boy… but this time maybe his grandfather was on duty to charm the tourists? He certainly looked the part.

Come visit me… I’ll take you to Siracusa too!

7 :: in family, Italy, Sicily, travel

double strollers and Sicilian market mornings

February 20, 2013 at 11:37 am

Please congratulate me. I took both kids out in the stroller for the first time today!

In order to do this, I first had to turn my stroller into a double stroller, which it has never been before in its life. We got the City Select strollerwhen Lena was a baby because it can be a single or a double stroller. We also thought we’d have two kids sooner or later.

Sure enough, we had two kids sooner. Today is also Wednesday — market day in my town — and we’re out of fresh fruit and vegetables in this house. Time for our first walk… and time for a double stroller! I watched a YouTube video to figure out how to attach everything in the right places, and ~~pretty soon~~ after about 20 minutes of straps and buckles and an infant wailing and “where’s my phone?”, we were ready to go!

We walked down the cobblestone streets into the main piazza. A man with a truck full of fish had just pulled up and started yelling, “Pesce! Pesce!” After some discussion, I bought three swordfish fillets for dinner tonight. The smiling fishmonger swore up and down that they were fresh from this morning and had never been frozen. Hope he’s telling the truth!

You can see the faded beauty of this old town square as other customers after me line up to buy squid, octopus, and swordfish for their own dinners:

We walked on, stopping only once for a potty break (oh my), greeting acquaintances as we went. I received several enthusiastic wishes of “auguri!” (“congratulations!”) about the birth of my son.

Eventually we reached my favorite fruit and vegetable truck (which is where I go on Wednesdays if walking all the way up to the market is too much for me or for Lena). Besides, I love the cheerful man at this truck, who knows us now and always throws a few extra strawberries or artichokes into the bag for me.

After I made my purchases, it was time to head home. As I walked I calculated that I was pushing approximately 90 lbs. Here’s how I figure:

15 lbs of produce + 25 lb Lena + 10 lb Gil + 28 lb stroller + 10 lb car seat = 88 lbs

And then I got to the final stretch up to our house and had to push all of that uphill! Talk about getting back into shape!

And here’s our market bounty this week. Zucchini, strawberries, 4lbs of oranges and mandarins, 4 lbs of pears and apples, fennel, carrots, pineapple, broccoli, artichokes, and kiwi. It’ll last us about 5 days and then we’ll be very ready for market day again next week!

All of this cost me about $25. Do you think that’s a better price than what you can get in the States? Sometimes I really don’t know whether I’m getting a deal or whether the prices are pretty much the same… except my produce comes out of the back of a truck! What do you think?

18 :: in Italy, motherhood, Sicily

{closed!} a very tasty little giveaway

January 30, 2013 at 5:03 pm

Well, yum, isn’t someone going to be lucky!

These are some of my very favorite Italian foods; we always have a good stash of each of them in our house here in Sicily. I hand-picked them so you can experience them too! There’s some delicious pasta, a beautiful bottle of olive oil, a jar of real Nutella*, and a special Sicilian addition: crema di pistachio. Sicily is famous for its pistachios, particularly those from the town of Bronte on the slopes of Mt Etna, about an hour from our home. This sweet concoction is a wonderful way to experience them on a slice of bread… or just straight out of the jar!

This giveaway is open to everyone, including my friends here in Sicily. (You all are some of my most faithful readers!) I’ll ship the package of goodies to the winner next week.

The giveaway will last one week and close on Wednesday, February 6th, at midnight EST. A winner will be selected through the random number generator, www.random.org.

You have 2 chances to enter:

leave a comment! Tell me what your favorite Italian food is, if you’d like.
sign up to receive my blog updates via email either in the sidebar under “Subscribe // Connect” or in the box below. I’ll know that you signed up, so you don’t have to leave another comment telling me that you did so.

And that’s it! Good luck!!!

*You didn’t know you weren’t eating real Nutella in the States? It’s true… sorry! But enter this giveaway and you could get a jar of the good stuff. :)

——–

Well, I counted up all the entries (comments on this post + subscribers to my email updates). The results are in and the winner is #174, Miss Lucy P.! Lucy, I’ll email you to get your address and send you the package. Congratulations!!! I hope you enjoy it all… especially the Nutella. :-)