PALERMO and CEFALU, SICILY
(Friday, February 26 - Sunday, February 28)
Christina came in to Rome on Thursday night from Florence, so we took her out for some french fries and beer at Birrifugio to talk about our plans for our weekend in Sicily. The train for Friday morning was supposed to leave at 6:20 am for the airport, but I accidentally set my alarm for 5:50 instead of 4:50, which was really awesome because I did not pack before going to bed and I just happen to live about a twenty minute walking distance from the train station. By alot of scurrying and frantic hustling, I packed in a very inefficient and unthoughtful way, but Christina and I got to the station in time to meet Tom and Lizzie. There was still one problem, however, because we were still missing our fifth travel buddy (our friend Casey). Miraculously he had made the same mistake I did but made it to the station just in time, and our finally complete group set out on our journey to Sicily.
When we arrived in Palermo, Sicily we were at a loss for words- it breathtakingly beautiful, and the airport was right on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea with a sunny, green, mountainous backdrop. We hopped on a bus that would take us from the airport on a gorgeous ride along the coastline to Palermo, where we were staying. When we arrived in the city, we asked around for directions to our hostel, the "Ai Quattro Conti" which was luckily only a few blocks away from the bus stop. This was our first hostel experience since our Hotel Giovannina nightmare in Venice, so we were a little nervous, but we soon found out that we had absolutely nothing to worry about. Check-in didn't start until one, and having arrived at 11, they allowed us to leave our bags there until we returned at one to check in. We did so and decided to go explore the city, we were all really antsy to get out and enjoy the beautiful, nice, sunny weather because Rome had been cursed with rain everyday for atleast two weeks prior.
With the weather being much warmer than we were used to, our natural decision was to head towards the beach! As we were walking down the road, we somehow adopted this stray dog that decided to follow us FOREVER. He was very cute, but we knew not to touch him, and had to try very hard to get rid of him. We eventually came up with the ultimate scheme to trick the dog by pretending like we were going into a little cafe, staying in there a while and then sneaking out while he wasnt looking and hiding behind cars until we crossed the street. We were very proud of ourselves when our plan worked! Haha.
We finally got the beach and got some gelato. The beach itself wasn't sandy but the coast was full of rocks, and of course the adventurous boys just HAD to climb them, and drag the girls with them. It was a tad slippery and perhaps a little dangerous, but it felt awesome to be thatclose to the water and we just sat there taking in the view of the bright blue water and the mountains on either side. As we continued walking back on solid ground, we passed these really strange sculptures in the shape of lifesize polka dot beds. Strangest sight I have ever seen. Then, just our luck, another stray dog began to follow us, but was thankfully easily distracted by the people in the grass throwing frisbees.
We went through a lot of effort to find a pizza place for lunch (Sicilians don't eat pizza for lunch?), and we relaxed and chatted for a bit until we noticed this HUMUNGOUS dog just hanging out the window with its tongue out, chilling and watching the people on the sidewalk. It was the funniest thing ever, and if you look at the picture, there is slobber draped OVER his nose, you can just imagine how it got that way :) His owner shouted out of one of the shops that his name was Occi... Italians LOVE their dogs here.
We got back to the hostel to check in, and the owner Giuseppe was there waiting for us. We felt immediately at home. He showed us our five person room and sat us down explaining places on a map as well as different things to do and places to eat. The walls were covered with Giuseppe's handwritten posters about day trips from Palermo that we could do, sights to see in Palermo, activities and meals the hostel offered and pictures were plastered everywhere of Giuseppe and all the guests he has had. Giuseppe kept calling the hostel the "house", and we learned that he lived there too and all of his guests were like his family every weekend. He was very persuasive in getting everyone to agree to going to dinner and out on the town together with him that night, saying that the best part of hostel experiences are the people you meet.
So, that night just as we had promised, we joined all of the other hostel guests and Giuseppe in going out to dinner. The place that he wanted to take us was closed, but we ended up at a nice restaurant anyways. I had a great experience eating out with the group because we got to talk to many people from different places of the world who were traveling Europe. We really clicked with this young couple who we discovered were from Wisconsin and had recently graduated college, worked for six months to save money, and took six months to go travel Europe together. They told us all about their experiences, where to go, how to budget, etc. and it was just incredible. They were part of a program called "couch surfing" that they did in most cities. Couchsurfing is a website where people create a profile for themselves and it is a huge database of people from different cities who are willing to let them stay on their couch and show them around their city for a few days for free. Although I was skeptical of this, they told me how it is a relatively safe system because everyone has a profile and can be reviewed by other couch surfers, so if someone gives them a bad review they cant erase it from their profile and no one else will stay with them or let them stay on their couch. Ultimately you get to see the city underneath all the touristy facades and learn about real life there, and this couple had had numerous wonderful experiences.
From the restaurant we went with Giuseppe to an outside bar where we met up with his friends. He introduced all of us by name, it was like we were his friends for the weekend. The outside bar was a really cool sight to see because everyone was just hanging out, laughing and talking with eachother. They were all very friendly and many just randomly came up and introduced themselves so they could practice theyre English. We were clearly the only Americans there, which really gave us a taste of the culture, I loved it.
In the morning, we got up early to catch a train for one of the day-trips that Giuseppe had suggested to a little city on the coast called Cefalu about forty-five minutes away. It was a beautiful day once again, so we were very excited to go to another coastal town. Getting of the train, we immediately saw this huge cliff-like crag that was like a small, 912 ft tall mountain called "La Rocca" and the boys immediately decided that we were going to climb it. I was obviously pleased with this situation because remember how I said that I rushedly packed without thinking? Well that packing job didn't include a pair of tennis shoes, thus I was required to climb La Rocca in flats, fun... what better way to break them in!
We got a bite of pizza before the climb that was surprisingly very different than Rome, it was a lot thicker and doughier, Roman pizza is extremely thin and flimsy (but delicious). It was a nice difference, and we definitely needed our fuel to climb La Rocca. The store owner pointed us in the direction of the path leading up the hill, and we began our journey. Although the trek was steep pand exhausting, the views made it totally worth while looking out over the medieval streets of the city, coast and mountainous countryside. We also saw many Greek ruins scattered on the hill including the Temple of Diana from the second century BC at the top. We hungout at the various lookouts for quite a while, none of us could get anough of the views.
Once we climbed down La Rocca, we once again headed to the beach. We got some gelato and sat on their outside deck right on the water just soaking up the sun for about an hour. Lizzie and Christina bought some sunglasses from a street vendor and we walked down to the sandy beach to feel the water (freezing, but nonetheless i wished i had brought a swimsuit!). We spent the rest of our time here until we decided to head back to the train station to catch a ride back to Palermo for dinner.
After taking a quick nap at the hostel, the five of us and our two new Wisconsin friends went out to eat at the place Giuseppe had wanted to take us the night before. He must take all of his hostel stayers here, because when we said we were sent by Giuseppe they immediately got us everything we wanted and got us the best deals. For ten euros, I got and all you can eat appetizer buffet that was DELICIOUS, bread, all you can drink wine, a pasta primavera, a huge plate of chicket cutlets, fruit for desert (wierd how thats a desert in Italy huh?) and coffee. Needless to say, none of us could hardly move after our all-inclusive meal, and we struggled back to the hostel before crashing in our beds. We hit the sack early because we caught an early flight in the morning back to Rome and we were understandably exhausted from our incredible meal and the day of conquering La Rocca :)
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We stayed at an adorable Bed and Breakfast right outside of Dublin called Donnybrook Lodge.It seemed to be run by a couple who lived there, the wife greated us on our arrival and the man cooked all the breakfasts for the guests (which were delicious by the way). Other than not being able to find the receptionist lady when we had to check out on Sunday, our visit was awesome. We had our own room, bathroom, shower, fridge and TV (where we got to watch American Idol!!!). It was so cozy, just like I imagined my stay in Ireland would be.
Our first day we got up early and hopped on a bus to city center to meet up with our tour company for the day that was taking us to the Cliffs of Moher. Our coach bus was very fun, and the Irish driver told us Irish history and sang us Irish songs for a lot of the ride to Galway first, some sights in the Irish couontryside, lunch and then the Cliffs of Moher.
We got up the second day for the complimentary breakfast and ate our fill of cereal and toast with jam to avoid spending as much money on food in the city. We first went to the Dublin Castle and got a tour with a somewhat awkward guide, who kept leaning on the ancient furniture and touching all the old things in the rooms while he talked to us... that would NOT fly in Italy! We also walked the streets of Dublin a bit, I just loved the feel of the city. My favorite part were the streets which had "Look Left" and "Look Right" painted on the ground at the crosswalks for people like us who werent used to cars driving ono the wrong side of the street. 
We had such an awesome time going through the museum that explained how Guinness was made and how the company progrerssed over time. We taste-tested at the half way point and took advantage of the free beers. We then spent a lot of time looking at all the Guinness Advertisements throughout history and watching their old commercials, they were so cool. At the end of the tour, you end up at the top of the brewery in a large circular room with windows on all sides over looking the city and a bar in the middle handing out our free complimentary pints of Guinness... officially my favorite, but not so much Cara's haha.
