We began our morning after breakfast by taking a local bus to the upper part of town. Our group bus was having a problem with one of the doors closing so the driver took it to be checked while we took the free town bus to our destination. We walked past the main church in Palermo to a small alley off the main street where we entered a small puppet theatre. The walls were lined with puppets of many types of they were all hand crafted and about 3 feet tall. The puppeteer owner is a 4th generation owner and performer.
Puppet performances began in the early 1800s. Shows were first done in public squares where people would bring a seat to watch the story. It was the entertainment of the time for those who could not read. The theater inside was developed in later years. The popularity waned with the advent of TV.
Puppets take about 25 days to make. The family was involved with men carving the wood and women making the clothing. The puppeteers stood off to the side of the small stage telling the story and using their feet for sound effects.There are at least 300 different shows that are done. There are 2 puppet theatres in Sicily. The other is in Catania where we will go at the end of our trip. The theater we visited survived because they made their own puppets. Otherwise, buying a puppet costs about 1,000 euros.
We returned to our bus after trying a snack of some fried dough covered with powdered sugar. It is made only during festival times. Our bus was deemed to be ok despite a malfunctioning middle door that didn’t close.
We made our way out of town towards Trapani where we planned a lunch stop at an agro-tourism site. We transferred to a small bus that took us up a winding gravel road past olive trees and grape plants. The agro-tourist site has 2000 acres where they grow grapes, olives,and many vegetables.
We had a delicious lunch with many small plates including olives with oregano, zucchini shredded and marinated with white vinegar, lemon, garlic, olive oil, salt and a touch of cinnamon. There were small arancini (rice balls) filled with a cooked green vegetable; cheese slices with pistachio bits and then thinly sliced roasted pork. Dessert was fried ravioli filled with goat milk ricotta and tiny chocolate chips. It poured rain almost the whole time we were eating so that our hike after lunch had to be canceled. So…we drank another glass of local wine before returning to our bus to travel to Marsala.
We arrived in Marsala where we left our bus and walked into the old town to reach our hotel. The streets in town are too narrow to accommodate a large bus. Our luggage was delivered by a small van. The town was quiet because it is Sunday. Patricia and I ventured out for a walk around town before dinner. Many stores were closed which made window shopping fun.
We met the group for dinner in a local spot. The local pasta shape is busiate. It is a thin slightly twisted shape that goes very well with the pistachio sauce we ordered. The food is always amazing. And we just keep eating.
Tomorrow we do a day trip to have lunch with a family. This is always an interesting opportunity to meet the locals. They speak enough English that we can ask about life in their town. I look forward to it.
The Adventures of Anne 