It was only Sweetie and my second group tour ever, the first having been a Plan International-sponsored trip to Guatemala in 1988. This time, it was a trip through Sicily and Southern Italy for "active seniors," which ostensibly included us. Ever since our Florence-Levanto-Rome trip in 2014, we had wanted to visit southern Italy.
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| Molte chiese |
Things we read and heard, however, led us to believe the the south of Italy is such a rough, tough sort of place that it's difficult and even risky to get around on your own. We decided to take our chances with the tour so that we could see a great number of places we had wanted to see and not having to worry about logistics.
Also, to eat food from all those places, always an important consideration for us. There are Pugliese and Calabrese dishes that I have been making for a long time but never knowing what the dishes tasted like in Italy. There was Sicilian cuisine that I had never ventured to make but had long wanted to try.
Sicily is one of two autonomous regions of Italy. Sicily and Sardinia have more powers and more say in how they run their regions than the others, a kind of asymmetric federalism. Many times we heard that Sicilians are Sicilian first and Italian second.
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| Molti gatti |
Sicily was settled in the Paleolithic Age and comprised three peoples. The island was subsequenly invaded and settled again and again, by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and North Africans, Normans, Turks, French, Germans, and probably some I'm forgetting. Each group left artifacts, most left structures, and all had influence on culture and cuisine. Sicilians are proud of all the influences their island has experienced. They enjoy their mixture.
Calabria, the "toe" of the boot (really, the toe and the flat part of the instep) is another world, not entirely, but distinctly different than Sicily. Some cuisine is shared, but there are more differences than similarities.
And lest you think "southern Italy" is all once place (and cuisine), Basilicata (the curved instep) and Puglia (the heel, really up to the back of the leg) each had their own distinct flavour -- often literally (yes, I am food obsessed).
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| Molto cibo delicioso |
After this journey, we are more amenable to group tours than we were. Having everything organized let us see many things in a short time. Some days became a blur. The schedule was sometimes a bit punishing for us (and seemingly for at least some others). But by taking bits of "us" time, we got through it pretty well (except for nasty colds on the last couple of days) and are grateful for all that we experienced.
As for the people in the group, some were a bit younger than us, most older, some couples, some singles, most from Ontario, others from Quebec and Manitoba, one from Breman, Germany, and all lovely each in their own way. We really couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch of people to spend a great deal of time with over the course of a fortnight. At least some bonds of friendship will endure.
We also had a superb "guru" (experienced younger tour traveller), an engaging and extremely knowledgeable local guide, and a highly skilled and devastatingly handsome Sicilian coach driver.
Many stories to come that I shall endeavour to make entertaining, interesting, and at least a little weird.
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