We started our day by driving 2.5 hours to Riesi via Catania. Jaclyn has family that live in Riesi and we had visited them previously when we were in Sicily 13 years ago. This is the town that Grammy’s mother was born. How cool is it that now we are fortunate enough to share the experience with our children and they get to see where both their maternal and paternal great grandmother’s were born on the same trip to Sicily?!
We were told to avoid the direct route as it was mountainous and full of windy roads. However, our route turned out to be incredibly remote and still up and over plenty of mountains. The views were spectacular though.
When we arrived we found some (tiny) street parking in Riesi near the square. We then met up with all of the American family around noon at Cin Cin Cafe, which is Grammy’s favorite cafe. We accidentally ordered a huge strawberry gelato so the kids continued the trend of eating gelato/granita directly before their actual meal (and then having it again after their meal lol).
After hanging out for a bit, Jaclyn’s extended family joined us, which consisted of:
- Santina (Jaclyn’s grandmother’s niece)
- Maria Catena (Jaclyn’s grandmother’s niece)
- Gianni (Maria Catena’s husband)
- Flavia (Maria Catena and Gianni’s daughter and our resident translator)
Once we said our hello’s we headed to a “light” (American) lunch at La Suite. Again, we had a restaurant open their doors only for us, it’s incredible! We proceeded to have quite a big lunch, but still somehow smaller than Sicilians are used to. Highlights were the eggplant parm, the French fries (for Beckett) the lemon gelato served in a lemon rind (for Brooke), and the fish tank for all the kids to look at. This time I was smart enough to turn down the digestive.
After finishing lunch, we had a mini siesta and people checked into their hotels and rested for an hour or two. Everyone else (except for us) stayed the night in Riesi, but it was easier for us to head back then to bring all the things needed for a hotel stay.
Following the mini siesta we all got back together and I did my best Sicilian driving impression by parking in the middle of an intersection so I blocked all traffic on two streets. We then moved up a street or two, where we again blocked traffic and we waited for others to join. While we were waiting in the middle of the intersection, Gianni (who was also blocking traffic) asked if we wanted any fresh fruit. Brooke said yes and Gianni and Brooke got out of the car and went into a fruit shop nearby to buy peaches. Five peaches later they were back in the car and everyone was ready to follow Gianni (to who knows where).
We ended up arriving at the museum of a previously operating sulfur mine in their town. In its time, it was the largest sulfur mine in Europe. Unfortunately, America eventually developed a new method to mine sulfur and pretty much shut down this mine overnight. And ironically, it was developed in Texas right where Christina grew up – awkward!
While on the mining tour you realize how easy you have life. The photos and stories are quite eye opening and unfortunately, this mine also employed a lot of child labor. So, we tried to keep the children distracted.
After the mine tour we had to say goodbye so we could beat the sun and get back over the mountains before it was dark. So, as everyone else headed to 5,000 year old caves in the basement of an apartment, we said goodbye. When we parked to say goodbye Dave/Ryan had some issues parking as they needed to reverse, in a manual, up a 45 degree street with a few inches to spare with the car in front of them, it was pretty comical and I thought we might end up pushing them.
On our way back we took the direct route that the Sullivans had taken to Riesi and verified it was all good. We stopped at the first food place we saw as we expected it to be very remote like our travels to Riesi and we found the worlds slowest restaurant and burned all of our daylight waiting for food. After leaving the restaurant we proceeded to drive past about 200 other, better, places we could’ve eaten at (doh!). We then went up and over the mountains at night and I put all my Beartooth Highway skills to use. We eventually reached the villa a little before midnight. Long day!
Starting around 2:30am was the Celtics game so I decided to pretty much stay up for it. I hung out with Ron, Max, Luke, and then Luke and Max, and then just Max until around 1:15. I tried sleeping in the hammock by the pool for an hour but realized hammocks aren’t great for sleeping. So, I caught around an hour of sleep in the villa and woke back up for the Celtics and watched them win Banner #18. I was so hyped at the end of the game (and the sun was already up) that I only crashed for about another hour and then started our next day!
