We moved up to Levanzo island the next day, enjoying a scenic tour past caves, quarries, and the gorgeous aquamarine and turquoise water. Once again there was no room or decent depths for anchoring, and we picked up a mooring buoy. (This requires snapping a clip to the ring on top of the buoy from the swim step, then moving to the bow to tie one line off at a cleat, after that there’s plenty of time to swing the other end of the line around the bowsprit, catching it with the boat hook and getting that end secured on the other bow. Todd then gets into the water to manually swap 2 separate bow lines for the lines with the clip. This way we can quickly release the buoy when we want to get going again.)
The mooring ended up being pretty rolly most of the day, and then tripper boats arrived en mass for a 2 hour period in the late afternoon adding their wakes to the motion. It also meant you had to be very careful swimming in the water so you didn’t get run over! The island had walking trails and pine forests on the low slopes, and was quite pretty. There were hydrofoils providing rapid transit to all the islands, and one was just arriving at Levanzo as we were leaving the next morning.
The port of Palermo would be a long day sail (motor) away so we broke up the distance and stopped at an anchorage that would leave about 4 hours the next day .
We arrived at Si Ti Mar Marina around 1.30 pm Friday 8/31, after a sight seeing trip around the coast, (and dodging another marina rep who attempted to lure us into his marina as we entered the port). Todd quickly got us checked in, and Ben at the office gave him information about marine stores in the area. Todd then took off to try and find water maker supplies as well as a few other items, but returned empty handed.
The marina was right in down town and we had a view of the old city front and “board walk”(made of stone blocks). It seemed very lively with the exception of 1-4 pm when a lots of stores closed for lunch. Every night we were there, families congregated all around the board walk visiting and picnicking until the wee hours of the morning, long after we retired. It was darn hot during the day so it seemed like people maximized the cooler hours after dark.
On Saturday we all signed up for a 6 hour walking tour with street food stops, with a guide who was a friend of Ben’s from the office. The meeting place was at a cafe near the largest cathedral in Palermo, and about a 25 minute walk from the marina.
Francisco was our local Sicilian “handler” and Wanda our translator. Wanda (who was an excellent guide), was originally from Belgrad and had been an archaeologist on the Egadi islands before moving to the Palermo area. The other 3 guys with us on the tour were Swiss, and also off a boat.
Our street food tasting started here with a gorgeous cannoli (fried pastry stuffed with sweetened riccotta and chocolate chips), chased down with coffee.
Francisco, (who was a usually went ahead and negotiated with local street food vendors, (strong armed? We never saw him pay for anything and he kept a list of all the places we stopped to eat) while Wanda gave us the history of the area and buildings, as well as some local information about life and culture in Sicily. Apparently the Mafia was not an obvious presence any more but I still felt weird talking about it while walking through “their” streets.
The market area was impressive with a huge array of fresh produce, meats, fish, cheese and cured meat, as well as underwear, shoes, clothing and assorted household items and toys.
It bombarded the senses with the noise, jostling crowd, smells, and sights. I purchased some fat and delicious locally produced sun dried tomato’s and Todd found a big jar of anchovies for the bargain price of 5.80 euros. We tried potato croquettes and chick pea fritters called “panelle”, olives, “old and new” sheep cheese from the interior ( we were told it was similar to parmigiana which was a bit of a stretch maybe, but still good). There was a delicious and cooling lemon granita, and a juicy cactus fruit to try. One of the jovial vendor’s gave Wanda a peach, saying that she was too skinny!
We walked around several different districts, and stopped in a small square where the buildings were in poor repair. This was the current favorite area for night life with the younger crowd, and there were a few bars here, and more bars and restaurants down a narrow side street. This stop included cold local beer, tender boiled octopus which was excellent, and a cold marinated eggplant salad that was really tasty. It was also the first time in Italy that we had a moist fresh chewy bread, which had been surprisingly elusive up until then.
Wanda gave us all a postcard of a famous painting by Frederico II srl, that depicted the typical market life in Sicily, with the fishmonger, produce guy, the butcher, the painter, the painter’s wife and the painters mistress. The wife’s expression was nonplussed as she faced the mistress, who’s back was turned. Wanda explained the market was like an extended family where everyone knew each other, with daily contact, kissed greetings, and shared meals..and apparently very few secrets!
In another square there was the gorgeous Pretoria fountain next to the municipal building, with multiple statues all carved out of Carrara marble.
This was purchased off Luigi de Toledo (brother-in-law of Cosimo de Medici and son of the viceroy of Naples), who was supposedly unable to pay for it (or it’s upkeep), and sold it to the Palermo senate in 1573. The church must not have been thrilled with all the nudes showing up in the square, but for it to have lasted several centuries shows a high level of tolerance. This tolerance was also represented throughout much of the architecture which was a blend of Arabic, Roman, and Norman, etc. Apparently the Norman rule was particularly beneficial to the arts and many of the monuments we saw on the tour were from this period. Historically Sicily’s location made for a logical trade stop between Africa and the Eastern and Western Mediterranean countries, so the mesh of cultures was well established.
Our second to last stop, was for coffee from a rooftop restaurant that had panoramic views of the city and bay. This also was the recommended toilet stop (which was very clean and well stocked might I add), before continuing down to our port for a final gelato and a waddle back to the boats…no dinner needed that night!