THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501090190
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CAMMY SESSA, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 241 lines
``YOU'RE GOING to Sicily? Why? You might be killed.''
That was a reaction of a neighbor early this year when I told her I was planning a trip to Sicily. I countered her remark by listing several local unsafe places, including Norfolk where my husband once had a gun stuck in his face.
I must admit, however, that Sicily's reputation for crime did influence our method of travel. Usually, when in a foreign country, we rent a car. For Sicily, we opted for a tour. We didn't want just any tour, either. We've been on the ones where the tour bus quickly passes some archaeological wonder only to leisurely stop at a souvenir outlet.
We wanted a learning vehicle where we could study and feel the pulse of the people, and we particularly wanted to explore the 3,000 Greek settlements in Sicily.
Bingo! We found exactly what we were looking for in the 1994 Elderhostel international catalog under the ``Palermo'' listing.
Elderhostel, a non-profit organization for people over 60 years old, offers domestic and foreign travel with a difference. Various educational and cultural institutions administer programs that consist of travel coordinated with related studies.
Elderhostel has more than 400 international listings. Figures are not in for 1994, but in 1993 some 290,000 people participated in Elderhostel programs.
Despite tremendous enrollments, Elderhostel is efficient. Just a week after mailing a $250 down payment, we began receiving volumes of information that included summaries of the academic curriculum, program details, recommended reading, a map and notes about program coordinators and instructors.
Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., administers the Elderhostel Italy programs and was responsible for everything except the actual travel portion that is supervised by an agency in Vermont. One fee - ours was $2,324 each - included airline tickets, lodging for two weeks, all meals, ground transportation, course-related excursions, guide fees and tips.
It sounded fabulous on paper, but before we left Hampton Roads we were a little edgy. What could we expect for our money?
Flying into Palermo airport, we caught our first glimpse of the Sicilian coastline. It was almost a dreamlike vision of pink-tipped mountains and hills that seemed to be rising from the hazy blue mist hovering over the sea.
It was unreal, but after we landed the reality began.
Participants were told to look for a Trinity College representative, so I expected a New England preppy coed. Instead, the woman who held an Elderhostel pendant on a stick above her head was a mature Italian dressed in stirrup pants, silk flowered shirt, dangling earrings and matching necklace. To get our attention, she called ``yoo-hoo'' to the 40 weary participants who had flown from New York to Rome to Palermo.
The woman was Anita Maurizi, assistant to the site coordinator. Before the two weeks were over, the ``yoo-hoo'' became her mantra and our call to attention, especially if she was leading a tour. During the next two weeks, Maurizi spent most of her waking hours telling the crowd how to take the bus from Mondello to Palermo.
That's because our program site was a hotel in Mondello, a fishing village and a popular summer resort on the outskirts of Palermo. The town embraces the incredibly blue Tyrrhenian Sea, and from the shore there is a sweeping view of Mount Pellegrino where, 12,000 years ago, Paleolithic man lived.
Mondello was warm and welcoming. Shade trees and palms lined the streets and homes were havens for flowers and greenery. Hibiscus and lilies bloomed in terra cotta pots in courtyards and purple bougainvillea climbed the sides of houses. In the harbor, fishing boats - painted in primary colors and each with a specific design - made a kaleidoscope of native art.
The town's piazza was shell-shaped with the broad side facing the sea. A bronze mermaid fountain was its focal point, with businesses - mostly restaurants - on the sides. Cavorting children, jeans-clad teens, arm-in-arm couples, grandparents with baby carriages, and vendors selling everything from balloons to roasted chestnuts made the enormous space come alive with that unique energy found only on Italian soil.
Our three-story hotel, the Esplanade, was on a hill off a main street, and there were 20 steps to climb to get to the entrance. One of the participants dubbed it ``seedy.'' True, it had seen better days, but it was in keeping with the promise of Elderhostel: ``Plain and simple is the essence of hosteling.''
Some in our group were given large front rooms with balconies and sweeping views of the sea while others were put in more cramped rooms in the side and back. My husband and I had the very back room and if we stretched our heads out far enough from our tiny balcony, we could get a view of the palm-lined Mondello harbor.
The room was dark with brown-flowered wallpaper and three cot-sized beds. We had a private bath with a makeshift kind of cube for a shower - so small, once inside I couldn't turn around. Nevertheless, the place was clean and it was a delight to crawl into those incredible 100-times-washed-and-ironed Italian bed linens. The hotel was seedy but the sleeping was deluxe.
I asked the site coordinator, Marcella Croce, why some people had ``good rooms'' and others were lodged in tiny quarters in the back. Her explanation was, ``It's just a matter of luck.'' But the desk clerk told us that one guest called ahead for a front room.
Croce and her husband, Giovanni Matranga, both native Sicilians, who have advanced degrees from the University of Wisconsin, conducted most of the academic classes that were held on the hotel's ground floor. Not to worry: There were no exams, just information that was devoured like the pasta served at lunch every day.
Classes included Mosaics, Art Nouveau, Puppets, Palermo, Folk Art, Food, Festivals, Italy After World War II, Sicilian Literature, Cinema and Contemporary Life. The highlight courses were The History of Sicily and The Mafia, both taught by Matranga.
Sicily's Greek temples and art were covered in full on excursions to Segesta, Argrigento and Selinute.
The temple at Segesta was breathtakingly beautiful. It sat majestically on a hill, having weathered centuries of sun, rain and earthquakes. On another nearby hill was a Greek amphitheater actually carved out of the rock. Many chanced walking down the rickety stone steps to the stage.
Once there, we tried ``To be or not to be,'' in hopes that those at the top - at least 40 feet up - would hear us. Wow. Those Greeks knew about acoustics.
On another day, it took three hours for the bus to get from Mondello to Agrigento, known as ``The Valley of the Temples'' and founded in 581 B.C. Here we studied the famous Concordia temple, the best preserved in Sicily.
At another temple dedicated to Hercules, my husband and I sat between two of its columns and munched prosciutto ham, cheese, olives, tomatoes and hard rolls - the prepared box lunch for the day. We marveled at the vista of a temple in the sunlight with the vivid blue Mediterranean behind. It was a view to savor more than the food.
On another daylong trip, we were transported to Selinute, a Greek settlement founded around 630 B.C. It is one of the most renowned archaeological sites in Europe. There are so many temples here that except for two - dedicated to Hera and Apollo - they are identified by letters alone, from A to G.
What happened that day, I believe, is what separates Elderhostel from all other tours.
Our instructor, Matranga, not only gave us detailed views of the temples with printed study guides, he also took the time to take us to the limestone quarry at Cusa, seven miles from Selinute, to explain how giant limestone drums were cut and transported to temple sites where they were stacked on one another and fashioned into columns.
Since the columns are about 60 feet high and at least 7 feet in diameter, Matranga marvels at the skill and hard work (done mostly by slaves) it took to build the temples.
He sat on a big limestone boulder and said: ``Few people ever come here, but I think it is important to show how the temples were constructed.'' He added that he often visited the quarry on his own to sit and meditate about the past. ``I like it here because it is so silent.''
In addition to bus excursions to and from the temples, the group also journeyed to some renowned Sicilian cities such as the very old Cefalu and the mile-high settlement at Erice.
While some bus rides were long, they were always pleasant. The scenery from huge bus windows was breathtaking. Magnificent color collages made patterns on hillsides. We could look out and see yellow wheat fields and acres of just-about-to-be harvested pink cauliflower. Prickly pear bushes, somewhat resembling cactus, lined the roads.
We also passed orchards of orange and lemon trees, acres of vineyards and miles of olive groves. The gnarled trunks of the olive trees resembled abstract wood carvings, and their silver-backed green leaves shimmered and danced in the flickering sunlight.
If driving on the highway was pleasant, driving into the city of Palermo was pure panic. If we traveled inland, we had to return through Palermo where driving for the Italians is a matter of playing ``chicken.'' Also, there are few traffic lights even at busy intersections. It's dog-eat-dog. Most cars, even new ones, have dents.
Our Sicilian bus driver kept his cool. We're glad he chanced Palermo, because we had remarkable experiences there. One was a puppet show where most children in the audience laughed with delight even though they knew the plot of the story. Sicily is famous for its puppets that are dressed like knights in armor.
By far, the most exciting experience of the two weeks was visiting the Cathedral of Monreale. Built in 1184-86 on the highest point in Palermo, it is considered one of the greatest examples of Byzantine splendor in Italy. We not only studied its incredible mosaics one day but on two subsequent evenings, we attended concerts in the magnificent structure. One was a solo performance by Josef Ksica who mastered Monreale's organ that had six keyboards, 46 pedal claviers and about 10,000 wood and metal pipes.
When Ksica pulled out all the stops for Bach's ``Toccata and Fugue,'' the entire structure seemed to vibrate. It was an experience that sent chills up to the top of my head.
Driving back to Mondello after that concert, neither my husband nor I could speak. We were in high spirits relishing our Palermo experience.
As we usually did each night before bedtime, we walked to Mondello's piazza where, despite the late hour, people still gathered.
We bought a gelato, a wonderful kind of Italian ice cream, sat on a bench near the fountain and tried to melt into the Italian way of life. ILLUSTRATION: CAMMY SESSA COLOR PHOTOS
The ancient Sicilian city of Cefalu was one of the destinations of
Elderhostel excursions.
Top: The majestic Temple of Concord is at Agrigento.
Above: Mondello, a fishing village, was the base of the Elderhostel
tour. Participant Charlotte Kauffman accepts flowers from a Sicilian
boy.
Photos\ CAMMY SESSA
The Greeks founded Selinunte about 630 B.C., and portions of many
temples still stand.
An instructor with Elderhostel discusses the architecture of one of
the temples at Selinunte.
Map
STAFF
Graphic
ELDERHOSTEL ADVISORY
WHO? If you are 60 or older, you can participate in Elderhostel,
a non-profit organization that provides domestic and international
programs for adults seeking new experiences and personal
enrichment.
WHAT? Elderhostel is a network of more than 1,900 educational and
cultural institutions including colleges, universities, conference
centers, state and national parks, museums and theaters. It offers
programs year-round in the United States, Canada and 50 countries
overseas. Courses are not for credit, but participants are expected
to attend classes. No specific educational background is necessary.
There is no homework, preparatory work, exams or grades.
HOW LONG? Domestic and Canadian programs are one week in length;
overseas programs can be two weeks at a single study site, but most
programs are two to four weeks long, with each week spent at a
different site. Some 400 programs run the gamut from an Austrian
music study, ``Salzburg and Mozart,'' to a circumpolar study,
``Exploring Alaska and Siberia.''
COSTS. Fees for domestic programs range between $300 to $500, but
transportation to and from the site is not included. Overseas
listings, on the other hand, include airfare and range from $1,038
for 12 days in Jamaica to more than $6,000 for a month's stay in New
Zealand. Some Great Britain programs are as little as $1,700 but
can go as high as $4,000. Italian programs are about $2,500.
INCLUDED. Fees for domestic and Canadian programs usually include
housing and meals. For overseas programs, fees also include airfare.
Remember, however, that plain and simple is the essence of
hosteling. Housing may be in dormitories, modest hotels, rural
lodges, small ships, barges - even tents if you're on a trekking
program. Many international accommodations are double rooms with two
twin beds to a room. If a single room is requested, there might be
an additional charge. However, single participants must agree to
share a room if no singles are available.
INFO: To get on the mailing list for free catalogs, write
Elderhostel, P.O. Box 1959, Wakefield, Mass. 01880-5959.
- Cammy Sessa
by CNB