Our plane landed in Rome, and we made our way to the gate for our flight to Palermo.\u00a0I realized that November 17\u00a0was the 109th anniversary of \u00a0the birth of my uncle,\u00a0John Nucatola. A member of\u00a0\u00a0the Basketball Hall of Fame, Uncle John\u00a0 traveled around the world to promote basketball. \u00a0In addition, his wife introduced Nick to\u00a0me, so I have very fond memories of them both! I\u00a0wondered if Uncle John\u00a0had ever been to Palermo.\u00a0We so enjoyed our 2005 trip there, and I \u00a0looked forward to seeing my Palermitan relatives again. \u00a0We would be having dinner with two of them that evening.<\/p>\n
We bought\u00a0bus tickets\u00a0and\u00a0found our bus. We sat back and spent an hour on the bus looking out the window. I wondered if I was \u00a0related to each passerby.<\/p>\n
Our hotel was a short walk from the bus stop. We dropped off our luggage and went out in search of lunch. Rick Steves always recommends restaurants in which \u00a0the food is fresh and delicious, \u00a0the menu is small,\u00a0and\u00a0many locals are enjoying their meals. ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSG_3952-300x150.jpg\")
We approached a cafeteria-type place and pointed to a few things that looked interesting. We were served\u00a0plates that contained calamari prepared several ways, shrimp, eggplant rollatini, and artichokes.\u00a0\u00a0The seafood had been in the sea hours\u00a0before we arrived!
\nFeeling fortified, we walked through the neighborhood and then down to the dock, where I thought of my grandfather, Stefano Nucatola, who worked there before he left for America in 1904.<\/p>\n
We went back to our hotel for a rest. Our hotel, the Ambasciatori, was wonderful.\u00a0Our room faced the courtyard rather than the street, and the staff couldn’t have \u00a0been more helpful. And the elevator was like the one in our B & B in San Francisco and in the movie Charade, a cage that you could see through as you ascended or descended.<\/p>\n
When we awoke, we prepared for dinner with my cousins Giuseppe Nucatola and his wife Maria. Although they speak no English, their son and daughter are fluent English speakers. Their son enabled us to communicate easily\u00a0by cell phone using\u00a0WhatsApp<\/em>.<\/p>\n Maria and Giuseppe picked \u00a0us up at 8:15 PM, a typical \u00a0dinner time \u00a0in Palermo. That’s because things close at 1 PM when locals go\u00a0home, have lunch and a siesta, and then go back to work from 4 to 7 PM. All of my conversations with them were done either by speaking\u00a0\u00a0Italian or by acting out what we meant. \u00a0When they asked what we wanted to eat, I replied in Italian, “Sicilian food.” They took us to \u00a0one of their favorite places where they knew the chefs and many of the patrons. They ordered, and ordered, and ordered. We ate\u00a0slices of eggplant that had been floured but not breaded, potato croquettes, sardines, sardines marinara, “pizza” that was essentially salted\u00a0dough topped with onions, chickpea fritters, artichokes, cactus fruit, and sandwiches. We would see this many times later: the sandwich rolls were hollowed out and\u00a0the \u00a0centers were discarded. The\u00a0sandwiches were filled \u00a0with meat that had been cooked with onions.<\/p>\n While we were eating, Giuseppe told me that my husband, who is never seen without a huge camera around his neck, looked like a tourist. Giuseppe told me that I must make certain that he holds his\u00a0camera with both hands. Anyone on a Vespa could grab it with one hand and make a quick getaway. As if that\u00a0weren’t a sobering enough thought, Maria told to turn my engagement ring (the one I couldn’t get off my finger) around so the stone did not show. I explained that I couldn’t\u00a0remove the ring. She replied that thieves have been known to cut a\u00a0finger off to get the jewelry! After that, I kept my left \u00a0hand inside my sleeve!<\/p>\n What a great first day in Palermo we had!\u00a0We walked at least 7,237 steps that day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our plane landed in Rome, and we made our way to the gate for our flight to Palermo.\u00a0I realized that November 17\u00a0was the 109th anniversary of \u00a0the birth of my uncle,\u00a0John Nucatola. A member of\u00a0\u00a0the Basketball Hall of Fame, Uncle John\u00a0 traveled around the world to promote basketball. \u00a0In addition, his wife introduced Nick to\u00a0me, … Continue reading Sicily Day 1- November 17, 2016<\/span> ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/DSG_3980.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>We went to a gelateria for\u00a0dessert, but I was so stuffed that I couldn’t indulge. Then Giuseppe drove us through the city, pointing out the “Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es” and the “Rodeo Drive” of Palermo. He took us to a florist shop and introduced us\u00a0to the owner, a gentleman named Nucatola. <\/a>The florist said his mother had received a letter from someone in America many years before. I was the sender of the letter!<\/p>\n