East Suffolk Morris Men

Palermo 9th of March - 14th of March

On your way hostel in Palermo, opened the same day as i arrived. For the next 5 days i would be the only woman in the hostel. I shared the room from day one with 3 of the Morris men. They came with a group of 19 people and made the hostel a fun place to stay. Every year the group goes to a different country to dance on the streets and sing and play music where ever they stay. Every night i joined their singing performance. I had a really goodtime because of them, because Palermo wasn't my city.
My last day in Palermo i even joined the men for a day. I finally saw them dancing in their full tenues. I had lunch with them and i think for others it would have been a weird situation, because a young woman, dressed normally with 19 men above 45, dressed with light blue jackets, flowers and bells, that must have been hilarious. Any way it was a nice goodbye!


Almost every day it rained in Palermo and it was really cold, so i bought myself some warm clothes. Clothes i actually like, so there's no option to get rid of them along the way. But it does mean that my bag is heavier then the 15 kg i started this trip with.

On the map that i got from the city said, that it was only 5 km to Mondello, so i walked from the hostel in the city centre all the way to Mondello along the seaside. Instead of an hour walk, it took me forever! I was totally dead when i finally arrived. I straight away took of my shoes and walked through the beautiful, clear, cold, turquoise sea. And how i got back, well that's another story......................
A guy who wanted something totally different, gave me a ride to the middle of nowhere. Then this nice man, with a nice smile, gave me a free busticket and asked the busdriver to show me the right directions. So i followed the other bus passengers into another bus and after a while i recognised some gardens, so i got out and walked my way back to the hostel.

In Palermo i ate spaghetti with squid ink. A not nice looking dish, but very interesting to try. With every bite, my mouth got totally black. I finished the dish with loads of napkins and in the end i
even wrote my name in the plate.

On the 14th of March i took the bus from Palermo to Siracusa. 3 hours and a bit later, i arrived in beautiful Siracusa where i would spent a week.
The lol hostel, where i stayed, is the best hostel so far. Huge kitchen, fully equiptment, clean hostel, with a nice lounge area inside, aswell outside. The staff: Veronica, Amber and Christian are all very helpfull and you have your own key, so you can come in and go out any time you want.
Syracusa is a beautiful town! I spend a a lot of time along the sea, climbing the massive rockses and staring to the sea, doing absolutely nothing.
Ortigia, the old town is also a very nice place, but all the tourists go there, so i prefer the sea. The cathedral was nice, but in some way also really strange, because of the statue of a woman with a sword through her neck. The section where you were not allowed to take photos, was the best. A massive painting on the ceiling! The Jewish historical bath, 18 metres under the ground was interesting, but not worth the 5 euros.

In Siracusa i had my first real sunset and it was really nice.
One evening it rained ice cubs, i have never ever seen it that big before in my entire life. And in the Netherlands we are kinda used to weather like that, ahum ahum hahaha.
An other day i rented a bike and explored the natural reserve close by. The path along the sea, was more interesting though. In the city i got stuck a several times, because of the one way streets. I delivered the mountainbike back at the shop, totally dirty!!
I also went to a pupi show, it was in Italian language, very hard to understand! The introduction we got in paper in English made me confused even more. How they handled the pupi's and talked at the same time was great to see and funny. The fight between the soldiers was the most amazing part. The head was cut off, they were cut in half, horizontal and vertical. It was something that i couldn't imagine, how they did that with 8 soldiers and only 3 people behind the curtains, and the soldiers even lay dead in between the stage curtains, like 2 metres by 2 metres. Crazy and fascinating! The princess didn't came back on the stage, so for me
an infinished ending.

21th of March - 24th of March
On monday the warmest day i had so far, i went to Noto. I didn't really had a nice welcome feeling and indidn't expected the 300 steps all the way to get at the hostel. It was so hot and i had a hard time going up, with my backpack. I'm defenitely not travelling light, i guess i didn't learn a thing. ;-)

During my stay in Noto i got mosquito bites again, after a year or so. Lucky me, not! Around 25 bites!

In caffè Sicilia i ate granita. Flavour almonds, orange and blood orange, and after that i ate a "cassatina e ricotta", so damn sweet, bluh bluh bluuuuuuh. Noto is a really small town, that after 3 days i really had to go again.

Well people, because i'm so behind writing stories i'll have another story for you really soon. Hope you still enjoy my adventures, cause i do ;-). Any way hope you are all doing great!

Ciao lai