My Top 10 Travel Memories of 2008 in the style of Rick Steves

I recently read Rick Steves' Top 10 Travel Memories of 2008 and thought, "Hey! I can match that!" At my age, though, they may not be the "top" 10, but just any 10 I might recall! So here we go (in no particular order):


1) Eating granita and a warm brioche for Sunday breakfast in August with friends at my favorite local bar here in Nicolosi. Technically, this is not "travel," but it is Sicily and I won't be here forever!

2) Being taken in from a soaking, driving rain by the owner of a restaurant that was actually closed in Piazza Armerina and being given a wonderful lunch. And there were six of us!

3) Backing out of a dead-end, uphill, narrow street in Sicily with the help of the locals who were probably thinking, "Who ARE these people?

4) Visiting Moldavian painted monasteries in Romania.

5) Immersing myself in the Gaudi architecture of Barcelona. What a genius! He had to have influenced Hundertwasser!

6) Slip-sliding on the Rodelbahn in the Austrian Alps. Why did I never do this before? Thanks, Bob.

7) Being charmed by Chattanooga with its unexpected treasures . . . the riverfront, the art.

8) Touring the Thousand Islands mansions on the St. Lawrence by boat with Alison and Randy. And finding out where Thousand Island dressing comes from.

9) Taking fifty students to the Greek theater in Siracusa to see an original Greek play and returning with the same students.

10) Returning to Erice and still not finding the Phoenician carvings. But we did see a green dog! :-)


There you have it! Let's see what 2009 will bring.

"Sassy, Spicy Sicily" by Rick Steves

Rick Steves, my favorite travel writer, released a new article about Sicily on CNN.com called "Sassy, Spicy Sicily." I think he does a remarkable job of capturing what I consider to be some of the charm of Sicily in this short article.

He writes: "If you like Italy for its people, tempo and joy of living -- rather than for its Botticellis, Guccis and touristic icons -- you'll dig Sicily.

"Sicily, standing midway between Africa and Europe, really is a world to itself. On this spirited island, in spite of Italian government and European Union pressure, the siesta persists and motor bikers' hair continues to fly in the Sicilian wind."

He writes about the Capuchin crypt in Palermo, the view from the top of Etna, Cefalu, and Vespa-worship, ending with this description of an old fisherman in Cefalu: "Since the 1950s, Il Presidente has spent his nights fishing, gathering anchovies under the seductive beam of his gas-powered lampara. As he takes the pre-Coleman stove vintage lamp off its rusty wall hook, I see tales of a lifetime at sea in his face. As he shows me the ropes he wove from local straw and complains that the new ropes just aren't the same, I lash him to the rack of memories I'll take home from Sicily."