Home Sweet Home and 102,000 Views

 The last time we traveled for two and a half months was 45 years ago on our way home from the Peace Corps in Malaysia via Thailand, Burma, and India. Back then, it seemed long toward the end. And so it did this time, even with much more comfortable accommodations and conveyances.

 This trip was really nine trips, involving 13 flights, 11 airport security checks, and many bus, train, and subway rides. I wrote about our walk across and drive around Sicily and the Uzbekistan wedding and Silk Road segments. But between those two posts, we enjoyed some amazing experiences and interactions with people along the way.

A street in Pompeii. The place was huge!

 Before Sicily, we hit Rome for three days and caught the papal funeral procession. Then Herculaneum and Pompeii, perhaps the best ruins we have ever experienced.  Why? Unlike so many other places that are mostly huge temples, pyramids, etc. we could get a feeling for how the common people lived in 79AD, just before their lives were buried in ashes. The cities were huge, and in Pompeii, we got to observe archeologists uncovering and restoring.

Inside the St. Sophia mosque

Istanbul, the crossroad between Asia and Europe, is a very amazing place. Like many places, it is so much more touristed and expensive than when I first experienced it in 1972. It was so fun with daughter Skyler, but three days of food and walking tours, plus some wedding shopping was enough. 

Inside the Gur -e-Amir Mausoleum in
Samarkand. It rivals the Taj Mahal 

 

We can’t say enough good things about Feruza and Kaveh's wedding in Uzbekistan. It was one of the highlights of our lives in recent memory. And the ancient Silk Road Cities reminded us that Europe wasn’t the apex of civilization 1,000 years ago.

 From Uzbekistan we flew to Switzerland right into the embrace of outrageous prices but stunning scenery.  And here’s a story that most likely can’t happen elsewhere:  We shipped our trekking poles, boots, Camelbacks, etc. from Sicily to Lucerne. But they weren’t at the post office when we arrived, because our Airbnb hostess had picked them up before cancelling our reservation. She had a friend put them on a train in Zurich above an empty seat. Sure enough, when the train pulled into the Chur station, there was our box!

Splugen, Switzerland, where our hike started

And we really needed those boots and poles as we hiked over the Alps into northern Italy. The hike wasn’t that hard.  It was four days of breathtaking beauty—just one step at a time, one day at a time. I’d say that after the wedding, this was the 2^nd best part of our trip. 

 But it was nice to get into lower prices and much better food when we arrived in Milan. We loved going through the grocery stores there!  As beautiful as the city is, we were ready to head home. When you travel independently, everything—from breakfast to which subway to take—is a transaction and a decision to make. It gets wearing, as do language barriers and bad beds.

The stunning duomo in Milan

 But fortunately, the last two legs of our trip were almost like home for us. We spent two weeks in St. Albans, UK with Shanti, Alan, and five-year old Hazel. We have our own room, know the town, get to do the cooking, and take her to and from school. She is so fun, and changed so much since we last saw her in early March!

 

St. Albans backyard dinner

Heading back to the States, we finally got to fly on a double-deck Airbus A380. What a treat! It’s huge, but quiet, smooth, and spacious. We spent a week in Beckett, in the Berkshire mountains of western MA, where daughter Skyler has a second home. It was a perfect way to adjust to the time zones, and just hang out with Skyler, Spencer, brother Neal, and Nati--my mentee for the past 26 years—and his wife Jasmine from DC. And we got to hear Rachmanoff's Piano Concerto #3 at the Tanglewood Festival.

Hiking in the Berkshires with brother Neal,
Kathy, Nati, and Jasmine

 We’re home now, enjoying our own bed, friends, our three-butt kitchen, and life in Salem. There is nothing like travel to make you appreciate what you have.

 And during this 2 ½ month trip, something else happened: This blog hit 102,000 views since 2014! The views come from a small email list of people who want to read them, plus a plug on Facebook with the link. But I guess people find my posts through word of mouth. I don’t post as frequently as I used to, but when I do, it is a labor of love and a way of documenting our travel for the past 11 years.  I hope you enjoy them, and please spread the word. I welcome your comments, either on this site or by email reply.

A Life Changing Decision 23 Years Ago

Graduation from Cottey College, 2005

 

When asked to host an exchange student from Uzbekistan for the 2002-2003 school year, we scrambled to find the country on a map. (It is one of the ‘Stans,’ north of Afghanistan and south of Kazakhstan in Central Asia).

We said “yes,” forever changing our lives the moment 17-year-old Feruza Esanova stepped off the plane. It changed hers, too.  

23 years later

Fast forward to 23 years later, we found ourselves dancing our hearts out at her wedding ceremonies in Uzbekistan and later exploring the subways of Tashkent and three ancient cities along the Silk Road. Who would have guessed? We certainly now know where Uzbekistan is and much more.

We helped Feruza get a student visa and a scholarship to Cottey College in Nevada MO. She later became a nurse, got a green card, became a US citizen, got a Master of Public Health Administration, manages a large surgery center, recently became a Nurse Practitioner of Psychiatry, and married Kaveh Kashkooli at a civil ceremony in New York.

The Wedding Ceremonies

Feruza and Kaveh at the Uzbek ceremony

An Uzbek wedding—what an unforgettable and emotional experience! Lots of dancing, music, food, vodka, and joy. The ceremonies began in her hometown of Navoi, about 289 miles west of Tashkent, with an official morning ceremony attended by about  50 guests.  That evening we attended a huge evening dinner and celebration for about 400 guests. Besides Kathy, Skyler, and my brothers Mark and Neal, a delegation of Americans flew here, including some of her co-workers, and PEO members. (PEO awarded her scholarships to attend Cottey College and Drexel University).

We were moved by the rich pageantry, apparel, music, food, and dancing, often to Bollywood-sounding tunes.

Then the whole delegation of American guests and Feruza’s family rode back to Tashkent in a hired “party bus”.  The 8 hour bus ride was a different view of rural Uzbekistan, and for most of us who partied hard the night before, a nice quiet time to rest and recharge.  

Symbolic items at the Persian ceremony

We got an equal—but different— experience for the Persian ceremony in Tashkent. The private event at the Hilton rooftop garden was serene, beautiful, and full of symbolism. The culminating event was a five-hour dinner and festivities at a big wedding hall for about 200 that evening. It just blew us (and our eardrums) away. Dancing, dancers, singers, a live band, a DJ, and everyone dressed up to the max. All we can say, is “Wow!” As I danced with the beautiful and confident bride, I got very emotional remembering a shy and scared 17-year-old exchange student fresh off the plane, and how far she has come in the past 23 years. Kathy and I were honored to be included in most of the parent photos. (Her father died in 2006). The whole thing was an emotional once-in-a-lifetime experience we will never forget.

Tashkent

View of City Park from the Hilton rooftop

Uzbekistan gained its independence in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But much of the country—especially Tashkent, the capital—still has a Russian feel to it. In Tashkent Russian was heard more than Uzbek. Struggling worker and heroic monuments exist everywhere. On a free day, my brothers and I got on the 1970s era subway for 13 cents and stopped often to marvel at the murals and artwork. A university student befriended us and pointed out the stations with the best murals.

Subway art. More photos in link below

Our modern BnB was across from a giant park, which is Tashkent’s living room, especially in the evening. It was a fun mix of water/light shows, gelato vendors, children’s rides, and more. Nearby modern buildings put on their own light shows, some shamelessly promoting, consumer products.

Tashkent City Park at night.

The Stunning Silk Road

After four days of wedding ceremonies, we explored three Silk Road cities of Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand, often listening to Jack Weathers’ engrossing Genghis Khan, and the Making of the Modern World along the way. Over 3,000 years old and at the crossroads of ancient civilizations, they were beautiful beyond measure, especially Samarkand. They were also hot, as in 104 F in the modern parts, and much more inside the mostly treeless walled cities of brick and stone.

Much of Bhukara was bombed by the Bolsheviks in 1920 to dispose

Inside the lavish palace of the Amir in Bukhara

of a powerful Amir—the last direct descendent of Genghis Khan-and divide his kingdom into separate states of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. (Kind of what Churchill did to the Otterman Empire in the Middle East after WWI, minus the bombing.) But what remains is still spectacular, especially the Amir’s former place. It was the only city Genghis had ever personally entered, and its mosque was the only building he ever entered.

Khiva. More photos in link below

Walking Across and Driving Around Sicily

Sicily. Just the name conjures up images of crumbling ruins, mountains, vineyards, quaint villages, unique cuisine, the White Lotus TV series, and the Mafia. It has been on our bucket list for years, and we thought walking 80-100 miles across it would be easier at our ages than 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago was three years ago. We were wrong.

We started in Palermo, NW on map and trekked due south,
to Agrigento, on the SW coast. Then drove to Ragusa,
Syracuse, Catania, Cefalu, Trapani, then back to Palermo

Walking Across Sicily

Our trek started in near Palermo, a chaotic blend of medieval lanes, Baroque churches, street vendors, upscale restaurants, and refugees trying to make a place in their new home. It’s also the birthplace of the Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, as well as where the Mafia was mostly subdued in the 1990s and 2000s.

This was the wrong path—Again!

We bought trekking poles and trail provisions and started off. We used a company called Slow Ways to book our accommodations, transport our bags, and provide an app with maps and support. During the afternoons we listened to Jamie McKay’s excellent The Invention of Sicily, a Mediterranean History on Audible. We wished we had read it before we got here, and we highly recommend it, even if you never plan to go here.

It turned out to be tougher and more remote than we had imagined. Day One was supposed to be 16.5 miles but stretched to 20 thanks to poor so-called trails that were sometimes tractor tracks in tall grass, thistles, or cow paths. Also, our app didn’t always work, especially the “off trail” alarm. There were no villages along the way, and toward the end we ran out of snacks and water. There was no shade.

Fortunately the streams were easy to ford.

The final push was a 17% uphill slog into Corleone, a town known as the fictional home of the Godfather. It’s a sleepy hillside town with stunning views and preparations for a festival we wish we could have stayed to enjoy. While Kathy was fast asleep upstairs at 9:30 and I was finishing dinner, I enjoyed a loud multigenerational family materialize for a Friday night dinner.

Day Two wasn’t much better, turning out to be 17, rather than 12 miles for the same reasons. But the hilltop village of Prizzi was worth the effort, so much that we

Prizzi was behind the ridge in the upper right.

decided to stay there for the day and just take the luggage van to our next destination. We enjoyed English-speaking Guissippe, an electronics engineer in Milan, home on holiday to help at his family’s restaurant. Like so many others, he had to go north to find work. Sicily has a huge depopulation problem, and all the deserted homes and buildings we passed along the way attest to it. Fortunately, according to several sources we consulted, the refugees are starting to invigorate the island. 

The remaining days got easier with less mileage and a village en route for coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and 

Sutera Village, where immigrant enrollments
are helping to keep the school open

lunch. This was no Camino de Santiago, with its regular villages, culture, hostels, cathedrals, and convivial pilgrims. It was remote, rugged, and lonely, especially with so many deserted or dilapidated buildings we passed.

We wouldn’t do it again, not even for the first time. But at least it was very beautiful, and we got to experience a side of Sicily that few visitors do. It gave us both a sense of pride and gratitude that we can still do this kind of thing, but it was also a reminder that we’re getting older.

Driving Around Sicily—An Even Bigger Adventure!

The amazing Greek ruins are thought to be the
best preserved anywhere. Later the Romans
converted them to their own temples.
Built 5th Century BCE by 7,000 slaves

After two days in Agrigento for laundry and touring ruins, we squeezed ourselves and our carry-on bags into our rental “Clown Car,” a tiny six-speed manual Fiat 500. We felt excited that we were embarking on an even bigger adventure than the trek. Kathy, my amazing navigator, didn’t have control of the car and thus had more stress than me. Google Maps often sent us on crazy so-called shortcuts and was often about five seconds too late to announce a turn. The country roads were a rollercoaster of potholes, sharp curves, tailgating drivers, suicidal motorcyclists, and steep grades. Lane lines, traffic signs, and speed limits were merely suggestions. We got “off trail” more than on our trek.

The villages were even worse. In a few tight spots we folded in the side mirrors, and Kathy directed me out. No wonder so many of the cars here are severely dented, scratched, or with dangling side mirrors. We’re so glad we didn’t take the free upgrade to a larger model!

Small photo for a small car. 

For me, I eventually got into the zen of it, totally engaged, constantly working the gears, obeying Kathy’s directions, and driving like an Italian by asserting our right of way in roundabouts and intersections, using the horn, but not tailgating or passing on blind curves.

But most of the time, the countryside was beautiful. We loved the freedom to go where we wanted, change plans on a whim, or pull over for a photo at a rare wide spot. The Clown Car was a manual hybrid, and we got 60-70 mpg, but we paid much more for parking.

Food and Wine, of Course!

Spaghetti with fresh mussels and a delicate
tomato-parsley-seafood broth.Most dishes had
only three seasoning ingredients.

No blog about Sicily is complete without mentioning the food and wine. In fact, they are reasons in themselves to go here. We quickly tired of Sicily’s signature arancini, a fried rice ball filled with diced vegetables, meat, or seafood, as we’re not into deep fat fried food of any cuisine. But we loved the pasta, fresh seafood, pizzas, and gelatos. When not on the road, we settled into a routine of a BIG late lunch, and then a “small” pizza in the evening, sometimes in our apartment. And of course, nice wines, often cheaper than soft drinks. You can see a few food and pizza photos here.

Churched Out!

Some of the churches here originally started out as pagan altars, then morphed into Greek temples, then Roman temples. Then the Normans came and converted them into churches. Then the Muslims came and converted them into mosques. Then they became churches again. Quite often the building materials were repurposed from religion to the next. The big earthquake in1693 leveled many of them, but often the bones of the Roman temples remained.

The spectacular Monreale Cathedral,
built 1174-89, has several tons of gold
in its decorations, and is a fusion of
Arab, Byzantine,and Norman styles. 

They were rebuilt in Baroque style with a vengeance. So after awhile, one church starts to look like the next, except for the occasional outliers. Many of them have Arabic influences. The small towns have a church for every sin, and the larger ones have a church for every sin in of all the world’s major religions. 

Special Sicilian Moments

The ruins, monuments, cathedrals, and beautiful countryside were amazing. However, like any other country we visit, we enjoy our encounters with the locals the most. We just wish we had learned more Italian before we arrived. But thank you, Google Translate and to the warm-hearted Sicilians trying to communicate with us. Besides the many waiters, shopkeepers, baristas, and Italian tourists we met, here are a few memories of people we will cherish:

·      On the second day of our trek, an elderly farmer on his way to the market gave us some of his fresh fava beans. “How are we going to cook them,” we wondered. They tasted good raw.

·      Guissippe, mentioned above in the village of Prizzi.

Guissippe in Prizzi

·      In Sutera, a 70-year-old woman we met in a bar who left at the age of 12 when her family migrated to Germany to find work. She comes back every year to sell the family home, but no takers, not even for 5 euros!

·      Being in a small pizza joint in Agrigento that erupted in cheers when the TV monitor showed white smoke emerging from the Vatican.

·      Valeria, our BnB host in Syracuse. A mother of two young children, she met her husband in a cave. They were both paleontologists at the time. She talked about life as a young family in Syracuse and tried to give me Italian lessons.

Valeria in Syracuse

·      Getting nudged by a crowd surge into a marching band at a festival. I got in step and fulfilled a lifelong dream to be in a marching band. 

·      An older couple having a special Sunday lunch in the resort town of Cefalu. They couldn’t speak English, but wanted to know about us, and before long we were exchanging children and grandchildren photos.

·      In Trapani, a fun haircut with Abdullah and his patrons patiently waiting their turns. He came from Nigeria on a refugee boat a few years ago.

He seemed to be the mayor of this town, as everybody greeted him as they walked by.

We loved this place!

From beautiful beaches to Mt. Etna; from quaint villages to bustling small cities; from Greek and Roman ruins to modern art galleries; from unique wines to fresh seafood, Sicily has it all. It has more layers of history than a thick lasagna.  Its known history is older than Europe’s, later shaped by Europe, and now trying to catch up with it. It’s not quite Italian, not quite North African. It’s Sicily!

You can see different photos on this link that narrate our three-week adventure even better. They are mostly in chronological order and best enjoyed on something larger than a phone screen. You can find an almost daily commentary on my public Facebook page.

“What We Can, While We Can”

“What We Could, While We Could”

 

Mt. Etna