Day 7

We are gifted a bottle of wine from Silvio and warned that it is from a vineyard on Etna and it is very strong so we should be careful.

Our plan is to see the town of Enna and then onward, past Palermo and the airport where we started to the little town of Terrasina and the Le Oasi B&B.

The drive through the interior is both beautiful and peaceful. The color of the landscape goes from green to yellow as we get farther from the water and into the wheat growing areas. The one thing that this somewhat backwards island does seem to be doing in a 21^st century way is energy production. We have seen several large wind-farms and many large solar energy farms. They seemed out of place in this rather rustic landscape.

We arrive at Enna, which is at the top of a mountain pretty much right in the center of the island. It is the highest significant city in Sicily and supposedly the only major city of ancient Sicily not founded by invaders. Whatever the significant things there are about Enna, we were hard pressed to find them. The panoramic views were truly vast, but the town itself was less than enthralling. We headed back down the mountain and on to Terrasina.

Le Oasi promises “orthopedic mattresses” etc. The town is small and quite near the airport which is why we picked it. We have a 7:30 flight which means we need to return the car and check in by 6 am at the latest. When we find the B&B, no one answers the door so we call the mobile number on the reservation paperwork. The girl at the other end says she will be there in a few minutes. We ponder the street and notice the restaurant about a block away. “Spaghetti House”… sounds promising. Giovanna arrives on the back of her boyfriend’s motorini (scooter) and we are shown to the room. A shower… a real shower… For the first time since we arrive in Sicily a shower big enough to turn around in. I don’t know what the deal is with showers in Italy but most of them are so small that you can’t turn around without bumping the handle and if you drop something you have to squat to pick it up because there isn’t room to bend over.

We freshen up and head off for a short walk. We find a hardware store which is fun, and then a strange kind of little everything store where we get a corkscrew to open the wine that Silvio gave us. It is delicious and yes… it is strong. 13-1/2 percent strong.

I go off the fill the car with gas so we don’t have to stop in the morning.

Our last meal in Sicily is at Spaghetti House. Salvatore, the owner of Le Oasi walks us to the restaurant and tells the owner to take good care of us. Almost everyone we have come across in our journey has been cheerful and helpful. The waiter tells us that he has very fresh polpo (octopus) for antipasto this evening. Lise orders boiled and I order fried. Donna just shakes her head. Lise’s arrives first. Now, we were all thinking it would be cut up pieces on a plate with a bit of sauce or something… but nooooo, what arrives is one boiled octopus on a plate… whole sitting up like a rubber toy.

Then mine arrives. Two fried octopuses… whole… sitting up defiantly on the plate, tentacles curled like little fists as if to say “you want a piece of this?!” 

They were delicious… even Donna had a bite and said it was good.

Next morning, really early… we fly home and, I still need a haircut.