The Bucket List Trips: Day 9: Sicily and the Gambino Family Winery

Greetings! Day 9 was all about Sicily and the Gambino Family Winery (yes, insert The Godfather jokes here).

I really have to hand it to Silver Sea Cruise lines for their customer service. At 5pm yesterday the captain came on the speaker system and announced that due to bad weather we would have to change cruise ports to one 20minutes north. He further said all of the excursions would remain the same, just extended by 45 minutes total to account for the longer driving distance. I was amazed they had already done all the work to get the tour buses rearranged that quickly, and to switch tour guides to local ones. What really impressed me though, was the nightly newsletter. Every evening we get a newsletter with a description of where we’re docking and what to expect. Lots of pictures and information. By the time the newsletter got to our rooms, they had already changed to the new port, and added a tour stop there as well. Really good, seamless planning.

One thing I’m discovering this round of cruising is I either didn’t read the excursion description carefully enough, or the cruise line is throwing in some extras. Today’s made me laugh. The excursion departed at 9am, and by 10am we were stopping. In a bar. For gelato. Yeah….I don’t completely understand it either, but I was going with it. After the bar, we went across the plaza to a beautiful church. So if you’re keeping track so far, the day has gone - bar, church. Then, the winery. So it was - bar, church, wine. All before 11am. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that one.

I went on the excursion with my neighbor, and we both agreed we wouldn’t order any wines. That lasted until we tried the first one. Really, really good wine. I walked away with a few bottles (they offered free shipping) as well as a t-shirt. You didn’t think I was going to miss the opportunity for a t-shirt, did you? It’s a good conversation piece, if nothing else.

The thing we didn’t consider today was the weather. When I’m in Charlotte, rainy weather usually means humidity and sweaty weather. Here, it was cold and foggy. And we were on the side of an active volcano / mountain (Mt Etna). You’ll see the picture I took from my seat on the bus, looking forward. After a few moments I just stopped looking and decided to trust the driver.

……and now, the pictures!

Cannoli gelato, 10am. In a bar. Okey dokey….

The church across the street / plaza from the bar. Beautiful

You may have to enlarge to see clearly, but this was a sundial clock from the 14th century. One of the oldest pieces left of the original church.

I couldn’t tell if the guide was saying “coffered” or “copper” ceiling. Either way, typical of the architecture of the region and beautiful to look at.

Heaters were tucked in the corners. I’m guessing preservation didn’t allow for ripping out walls to install central heating.

Zoom in to look at the embroidery on this. The work it must have taken…..

I liked this description - G-d is neither a man or woman, but ethereal. If you look closely the face is that of a man, while the body is that of a woman.

Short story: The tour guide took us behind the altar in order to show us the ancient paint on the columns. All of us froze when she opened the gate and started walking….are we really allowed to step foot there? She had to turn around and assure us it was ok before we were going to walk there!