Sicily - Lo Zinagaro (the most beautiful hike in Italy)

In Sicily we had been in cities and wineries for days and decided we must get outside. We decided to visit La Riserva Naturale Orientata dello Zingaro which turned out to provide one of the most compelling hikes of our lives.

Lo Zingaro as the locals call it is Sicily's first nature reserve and is one of the island's great success stories.

The tunnel above was built as part of a highway system that was to go along the coast here but in 1980 several thousand Sicilians marched on the site declaring their disdain for the highway project and for once the Italian government listened to Sicily and the area became a series of trails along the sea to stunning cove beaches below.

There is a north and a south entrance to the park and 9 kilometers of stunning hiking in between. Juliet and I were Colorado strong on this hike and went 6km in before turning back. Of course we stopped at a couple of beaches along the way to enjoy some sun and brisk water.

As we relaxed on the small stones of this sparsely populated cove we watched a father (an American) swimming with his 3 girls and exploring the rocks along the back right of this photo. As fate would have it, one of the girls was stung by a jellyfish (Medusa in Italian and a much more appropriate name).

I caught this photo of the father bringing the girls to shore. Juliet, being the always prepared nurse happened to have some Banadryl in her bag and I delivered the needed antihistamine to the family and discovered they had 2 more boys with them and all had come down from Frankfurt where Michael (yep, that's his name) was stationed in the US Marine Corps.

Of course the girl was fine and was splashing her hands and feet in the water within 15 minutes (probably just before she fell totally asleep) and we bid farewell to the family as the beach was invaded by local school-children and we hit a final beach on the way out of Dodge.

We drove back to Porto Palo that evening knowing we had seen one of the most beautiful places in all of Italy and Europe for that matter. Stories in hand, water being guzzled, and the Autostrada lulled us into a state of calm and ease we had not known for over 3 weeks. A truly Blissful Adventure!

THE BLISSFUL ADVENTURE MOVES TOMORROW!

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Cheers Blissful Adventurers and we will see you on the other side!

Michael and Juliet Housewright

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Haiku Sunday - Italy iPhone Photography by Juliet Housewright

This week's edition of Haiku Sunday - Italy iPhone Photography by Juliet Housewright celebrates the eye of my talented wife on our most recent Italy journey. Juliet's work will have its own gallery on The Blissful Adventurer soon and these images will certainly be part of it. Enjoy today's Haiku and stay tuned for a big announcement tomorrow!

Feet seem happiest

when dappled lights and warmth find

a place to alight

Pino knew his boat

was capable of winning

still he hated others

life is so simple

at the moment wine is poured

laughing lust looking

vintage boats in tune

with vintage ideas that

are often fleeting

at the market shrimp

clamor over one another

to try to stay warm

fireworks shows were new

to the little boy from Menfi

watching from the sea

excuse me ma'am

I believe this man wants to

grope me, tell him no

never more inviting

than the sea when it is not

to be had that day

A photographer

looks into the lens of life

and records his truth

Haiku Sunday - Italian Food

Today's Haiku Sunday is all about Italian Food. I am almost starving because I went through a pile of food photos this morning and changed my Haiku theme to something I have devoted my life to doing: eating. These photos were all taken on our most recent trip in May. Happy July everyone!

a local road leads

to the depths of the sea on

our first day in Italy

tasting standing up

an hour or so before the sup

joyous wine smiling

filled with old workers

this fluorescent spot of life

cooks food as god wants

butter and salt me

before I sleep save my mind

and slather this love

After walking vines

fruits of others lift the grain

brings life and renewal

Sicily - First "Impressions" (Ryanair Vaffanculo!)

Ryanair fucked us deep in the culo on our flight from Trieste. I had mistakenly printed 2 boarding passes for Juliet and none for me so when we reached the check-in gate nearly 2 hours before our departure the lady told me it would be a 60 euro charge to print my boarding pass.

Of course I told her that was not going to work and I convinced an auto rental company to let me use their computer to print a boarding pass, but when I logged onto my account Ryainair had locked me out of the system disallowing any boarding passes to be printed within 4 hours of any scheduled flight.

Ryanair is easily the most despicable company in Europe and among the leaders in that regard worldwide. With Italian VAT added to my 60 euro charge I was out over $90 for a simple error in printing and with 0 recourse but to pay or miss 9 glorious days in Sicily. I will bring these assholes down and rest assured they will lose more than 100-fold the money they cost me by my little bitch campaign I will begin very soon.

I am afraid I had to vent this to you all and forgive the brutal tone in my language but the CEO of Ryanair should go a few rounds with me on a field of honor somewhere near Trapani airport in Sicily.  The loser has to take one in the crapper from a mule we know named Ciccio. I would beat that motherfucker like my Fred Flintstone punching bag I had when I was 6. That extortionist pig should have a star on the walk of shame along with his Gordon Gekko "greed is good" loving cup. I'll fight you Michael O'Leary and beat you like your "fookin da" did when you were 7 and asked for an extra serving of ice cream.

OK, I am done.

As angry as I was, landing in Sicily and driving from Trapani to our wonderful beach house in Porto Palo was sheer magic. Just take a look at the color in these images. In a matter of minutes I was once again calm and overjoyed by what I was witnessing.

Have a look at our 1st "impressions" of Sicily

Italy Thoughts - A Hipstamatic Journey

I woke up with Hemingway on my mind today and a future so uncertain I knew I needed to write. Is this going to be everyday? The world is changing and the groups want to do what I do and perhaps they are better at telling the world. I wanted to simply walk and take a coffee thinking about lunch and what surprises were in the little shops along the way.

So alive each step and going so diligently towards something I do not know is my nature. The path of waking, plugging, and filling a known entity with subtle joy is so daunting to me. I want to know what is behind the strange window and not how many eggs I have in the fridge.

I make the days sound so romantic and so full of careless walks and while there are these moments; to get where I am and have been, exhausts too much of me. I drive myself crazier than I drive myself to joy.

I lubricate every part of my brain and sometimes the road gets too slick and the turns so hairy I wonder if I will make the other bank. At the same time I come home again only to find each time I know the place much less than before I left.

I returned here even seeking that lost part of me and found only frustration at the things I love in disharmonious meetings. The light was so blue for the day and only again the morning I left.

I feel like I am narrating the Terrence Malick film of my life. I want the score to be Morricone and the direction to be my own. You see, that is what it is; the direction.

Maybe I am part north, part south. Perhaps I am a bit east and some west. I know my legs want to go but not simply for the sake of going and that even in the spring the light can be false.

I sat in a little enoteca here and ate salumi with cheese and a local white wine watered down by its own inferior grapes. I was rushed from the door by the servers wanting cigarettes, lunch, and to jerk themselves off before they went back to work. I would probably want me to leave too.

It was 20 years ago I set foot on this floor and I almost cried from something inexplicable when I saw the facade. My fleeting memories and poorly constructed philosophies pale to even a simple bit of flooring someone with superior skill laid to view before a single person ever claimed to be "American"

I should have just stayed longer in Rome and found a few parks to sit and a few berries to pop and soldiers' statues to ponder and lenses to change. I tell myself I want to spend quiet in Italy but I lie.20 years later I am still pondering the reasons I first came and what I will do again. Rome is hard and hard to grasp. Yet, it is so joyous to behold and the simple pleasure of simply making it somewhere on a hot day by a prescribed time is a joy like few I know.