Relaxation in Sicily

Are you getting tired of the touristy cities and the constant traveling between sights, but cannot decide what country will give you the relaxed atmosphere you are looking for? It didn’t take much to draw me into traveling to Sicily. When my friend Juliana and I were discussing our next travel plans, she said: “I think I am traveling to Sicily this weekend. I mean I feel like I am obligated to go since I have family there.” At first I thought to myself, what could Sicily possibly have to offer that other countries do not? This was a tough question to answer at first until I realized I could be on the coast of the Mediterranean. Picturing myself on the beach was more than enough to draw me in. Before I knew it, I was on our RyanAir flight looking out the window over the Mediterranean. The beach could not come any sooner. As I rolled out of bed Friday morning, I was anxious to walk out my door and see the ocean…. yes I know it is hard to believe the ocean was right out my front door. If you don’t believe me, take a look:

Besides lying on the beach, I had two experiences that I would have never done until I came to Sicily. If I left Sicily without trying fresh seafood, I would call myself crazy. I may not be the biggest fan of seafood, but let me tell you…. I am now. On Friday night, Juliana’s cousin and his Italian friends were kind enough to make us some fresh seafood for dinner. When I thought of seafood, I thought well I can handle a few shrimp…. if I said I had a few of anything I would be lying. As we watched the Italians cook the seafood, I was shocked with the different kinds of seafood they were actually making for us….it seemed like Thanksgiving to me.

To start it off we had mussels covered in lemon juice, followed by an Octopus and Squid salad. The mussels were the best I had ever had…..ahh I wish I could have them with every meal. After I had about 30-40 mussels, I decided to try the salad even though I was stuffed. I had a few servings of the salad…… is that it? Nope.

Finally out came the big Shrimp, which was grilled after we had the salad, just to make sure we had enough room to try some…. “some” for me was about 5-6 giant shrimp. Before I began digging into my first one, I had to watch the other Italians first to make sure I was doing it right…I wanted to get the full taste. After watching a few, I dug in! Let me say, I may have just had the best meal of the semester.