PALERMO ITALY

Now I am in Palermo Italy. What can I say about this place, first I will say, I never ever thought about coming here as a destination. It was not even on my radar, even though Italy certainly was. At first I found it to be dirty, grimy, and scary. But as time passed so did these thoughts or at least they started to take a back seat to how I perceived Palermo. It is not as clean as Spain or Croatia, there is garbage everywhere. There is graffiti everywhere and not the artistic type. And the neighborhood I am in is not Palermo’s finest, by the train station. So not in the least swanky. But now that I have had some time to look around and get comfortable, the place does have its appeal.

We are a short walking distance from the water, the Old City, shopping and many, many beautiful churches. The food is really good, especially if you like eggplant. Here everything is made with eggplant. But I happen to like eggplant so all is good. The beach is not so close, but it is beautiful. And the water is so clean and clear, it is as if you were in the Bahamas. I am so surprised. In Miami you cannot see your feet if you look down in two feet of water and here it is crystal clear. Go figure.

Yesterday we went to Cefalu by train. It took about 45 minutes and it was gorgeous. We first went to a reserve in the Madonie Park, Serra Guarneri. From there we took a short hike and saw the sea, Cefalu and the rocks. The rock formations here are beautiful, they are large, jagged and intense looking. We had lunch at the reserve made by the people who live and run the place and it was beyond my expectations, really pleasurable.

Visiting Cefalu reminds me of why I love Italy. The town sits on a beach and has a resort kind of feeling. Many restaurants, great stores, people from all over the world, a great place to people watch and the scenery is hard to beat. This town and the experience has kind of convinced us to rent a car and explore the rest of Sicily for the remainder of our month in Italy. We were thinking of going to the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre, but perhaps staying in Sicily is the answer. Life is full of choices and once again another one presents itself.

I love it here. It is so much nicer than being home and worrying about my health. Worrying does not make you better, it just makes the time you have to live, unlivable. Enjoy your life while you have it. Have fun, do some good for others, smile, laugh and forget about your illness. Live life to it’s fullest.

Living is not merely surviving!