Sicily

One of the blessings we have of living in Europe is the ability to take some time out every now and then to travel to different areas. This past summer we went to Italy again. But, we went all the way to Sicily. My husband's family is Sicilian and his grandparents were both born in a fishing village there. We had heard there were some relatives there and it's a small enough place to find people so we decided to venture out and find them. It was so much fun! We went to northen Italy first and stayed there with some friends (I will have to write about that another time) and then headed to Sicily. The friends we have in N. Italy are Sicilian and his family lives there so we were going to stay with them. We were going to stop in Rome first, but decided to just drive all the way through. It's about 16 hours from Northern to Sicily. You have to cross the ferry and then you are in Sicily. It was a dream come true! I am already a HUGE fan of Italy and being in the southern part was just amazing. It reminded me so much of San Diego (where we are originally from). Our friends scared me about Palermo though so the minute we arrived there I locked our car doors. I am sure it is a nice place, but I was too nervous. So, we decided to drive to Sant E'lia and find our relatives. We found the town and someone on the street says "Hey follow me, I think I know them". So we did and went to the wrong house first, but someone there knew the house so off we went. Then, in true Italian style, we pull up and the neighbors start yelling out "Maria, you have visitors!". Sure enough, we awoke them from their siesta. But, it was the talk of the town. Americans are here to see you!! Off we went upstairs to their house. My goodness!! Their view is breathtaking. When I heard that the family was from a small fishing village, I pictured some little run down hut on the banks of the sea. Boy was I wrong. Their house is gorgeous and the view is unbelievable!! More importantly, they are such nice people! We had a great time looking at old photos, communicating with our hands (they didn't speak a word of english and my husband only knows some Italian) but we had a blast. They fed us a wonderful meal of linguini with clams, fruit, tomatoes, cheese. Bellisimo! Ah, just writing about it brings a smile to my face! It was a great time!

So, here are some photos of us in Sant E'lia. Unfortunately, we were in the car for 18 hours so the photos of us aren't the best. I was sort of bummed because the picture of Jim and I could have been so nice if I had actually put some make up on :) lol.

I think I am going to write more about our Sicilian adventure tomorrow. It is such a highlight in my life. God is so good and He knows when we need times of refreshing!

Hopefully I will put the photos on here right :)

I can't figure out how to put the credits under the photos so I will do it here:
1st is by Rachel Dixon from her Sweet Summer Breeze Kit



I tried about 5x to put the other photos on this page but they won't show up so I will have to learn some more and post another time :)