August in Sicily

August in Sicily, well, actually in all of Italy, is vacation month. Those who can, rent an apartment (no houses available here) as close to the beach as they can get and spend as much time as possible there. Many shop owners close for the entire month, businessmen take month-long vacations. It is the season of the beach. (Please, oh, please, double click on that photo. You need to see it larger to get the full effect)

Roberto and Valentina have rented a place near the beach in Giardini Naxos and invited us to come visit them for the day. So yesterday Giusseppe, Mimma, Bob and I loaded our "beach gear" and drove up to see them. The drive is usually 30 minutes long but as Giusseppe explained, those who are rich stay at the beach, those of us who are poor have to drive there every day for holiday (don't you believe him, Giusseppe is the one who put Roberto into his business......and Tony in his......and probably Mariella in hers, too). The road was congested all the way as people lemming-ed to the beaches lining Sicily.

Driving with Giusseppe and Mimma is always an experience. They are around 70 years old and have been driving since forever, therefore the whole road belongs to them......an idea shared by most Sicilian drivers. Once they find the town (of wherever they're going) they never can remember exactly how to get to the destination so we drive round and round until something looks familiar. We've driven around for as much as a half hour, made calls to people and stopped in the middle of the road holding up traffic while trying to decide whether to turn left, right or just go straight. However.....we (they) have never turned away defeated, we eventually find the right place.

Having finally found the beach apartment, Roberto wanted to show us around. He's considering buying it and, I believe, wants to get all the input he can before making the final decision. This apartment (as far as apartments go) is nice for a vacation place. They are on the top floor which means there are two levels, the apartment and a rooftop patio with outdoor kitchen and grill. Very nice. Looking from one balcony you can see the sea, look the other way at night and you can watch lava flow down Etna's mountain (beautiful sight to see).

The beach you saw pictured above is, I understand, typical of Sicilian beaches in August. Not only do the Sicilians gravitate to their beaches, but it seems half of Italy arrives to share the shore. Bob, as always, was the official picture taker and took several of the people sharing space on the beach. Pick out your nine square foot area and put up your umbrella, beach chairs and slather on the "crema del sole" (by the way, people in Sicily use coverage in the single digits such as 5 or 8, Americans really do need the higher numbers----but I've not met a Sicilian who's had skin cancer......interesting).

We had a good time. Visited. Swam (this is us just getting out of the water: me, Viviana, Mimma, and Valentina). Took photos. And went back to the apartment exhausted but ready for Valentina's great Italian lunch. Afterward we played cards for a bit (Bob played "chess" with four-year-old Fabio) and were ready to come home. A very nice day. I do, though have two more photos I want to show you. We have come to care greatly for this family and are proud that they have such beautiful and gracious children, Viviana, 10, and Fabio, 4-almost 5)

Today and tomorrow is a "great Italian holiday" where everyone celebrates from the evening of one to the evening of the next. Our friend Giusseppe Calanna explained that it's kind of like the special picnic night and the true celebrations begin at midnight with a multitude of fireworks everywhere in Sicily. Giusseppe and Mimmi invited us to dinner and dancing tonight in Aci Tretsi at their favorite place. They are spending the night to celebrate but we would drive separately to be able to come home when we were ready. We begged off, not wanting to join the crowds on the highways late at night but Bob and I will brave the congested roads tomorrow to meet them in Capo Mulini for a seafood lunch (pranza, which is their main meal). For those of you we got to talk to when in the States, it's the same seafood place where we ate just before beginning our journey to Missouri and Michigan. We'll be eating octopus, clams, squid, oysters, fish.....all of it in one gigantic meal----then roll ourselves home.