What is Raisins!?

The next day, we awoke in Sicily! This was the final port I missed on our ill-fated COVID cruise. I was stoked to get to see it. 

Ginny mentioned the one thing she wanted to do was see a cathedral in the town center. It was legendary for ringing bells at noon and then a choreographed “dance” to Ave Maria, which was played throughout the piazza. We were able to quickly find the cathedral once we walked off the ship. We were about an hour early, so we cruised around and popped in and out of various shops killing time. We found Sue and Jerry and eventually, Rich and Ginny.

When the clock struck 12, the whole piazza fell silent. It was AMAZING. First, the bells rang. Then, while Ave Maria played, window by window, the golden statues moved and told the story of Jesus. Absolutely breath taking. Except for the cafe getting new windows right then and the workers who wouldn’t pause for 11 minutes to allow this gorgeous display to continue uninterrupted. You’d have like 30 blissful seconds and then - a loud drilling sound. Lol. Ah, life goes on, I suppose.

After, we walked around with Rich and Ginny. We were hoping to find some wine bars (enoteccas) but they seemed to all close at 1 or 1:30. We finally settled on a restaurant which was awesome for sure but took most of the rest of the time we had. I wanted to try the regional pasta dish with sardines but, horrifically, it also was rumored to have raisins. RAISINS for crying out loud!!  When I ordered, I said, “No raisins, please.” She said, “what is raisins?” So, to help I said, “Raisins.” Finally she said, “Ah, uvettes!” So now I can speak some Italian and have a delicious meal with no uvettes. We had just enough time after that to have one glass of wine at another place near the cruise port. We shared some arancini (fried rice balls) and a cannoli, as they are known for both. Delicious! 

Rich and Ginny lived in Sicily for a few years in the beginning of their marriage when Rich was moved there with the Navy. It was fun to hear their stories of what like was like there some ~50 years before.

Later back on the ship, we sent Stefan a note and told him what bar we’d be in. He brought us a bottle of Chardonnay and we gave him a bottle of his favorite Nicora- the Euphoric. He was so excited. Rich and Ginny popped in and then we went to dinner together at the restaurant. No one was all that hungry so we mostly had an appetizer or just picked at our food. 

We were thrilled to have a sea day coming up - but also sad as it would be our last full day on the ship!!