Siracusa, Sicily

Without much planning, we took a bus to Siracusa to meet up Vincenzo and Elisa.

Wanted to go Siracusa since the second week in Sicily but seems like can't be arranged and I do not want to go alone.

But finally, in my last weekend here, I have been to Siracusa.

This town is very peaceful. I would say it's better than catania.

We visited few places together like Ear of Dionysius (Orecchio di Dionisio), Greek Theatre & Roman Theatre.

Ear of Dionysius

The big difference between Greek and Roman Theatre is the shape. Greek Theatre is halved- circle whereas, Roman is the fulled-circle which like Colossuem.

Greek Theatre

Roman Theatre

After the walking at the archeology sites, we went to Ortigia (a small island) to take a walk. It was very quiet, along the sea. Then, we reached a restaurant called long night (lungo notte) which is facing the sea. We had good seafood and watching the sun set...

Sunset at Ortigia

Piazza Duomo at Siracusa

The trip is simple but wonderful. Beautiful sea and it was really Romantic. Now i know why people saying Sicily is a great place for honeymoon. :) With this natural environment, people feel romantic, no stress and calm in mind.

*Specially thanks to Vincenzo and Elisa*

Typical Sicilian Dinner

Tonight Claudio invited us for a pizza dinner at a famous Sicilian restaurant in catania. I am happy that he brought me to explore many places and food in Catania. The dinner was nice with antipasti, pizza, dessert and wine. =)

The pizza is the best among I eat in Catania. Today we also met his wife and a friend. They are cheerful. I feel that people in Catania is happy and not like in other city. Main difference is they are really sincere.

I bet I will surely miss this place after one week. This is my 5th week here. One more week to go.. *mixed feeling*

Sicilian Antipasti: (olive, sundried tomatoes, eggplant, green pepper, fried vege, mushroom, cheese etc)

It's really mouth watering! I bet we can't find this in Singapore

Here's come my half pizza. The best I had in catania.

Claudio, his wife and me

This trip in Catania has left many good memories to me.

I am lucky to have such an experience in my life. =)

My dream destination - Venice

Finally I have been to the water city - Venice.

Venice is one of my dream destination. It's a great place for honeymoon. The first time I discovered this place is from a song... describing Venice.. a special city in the world.

Then, came across it again when I seen my housemate's travel pics and about his experience there. It was 4 years ago. And I know, I must go to this wonderful place.

It would be good if you can go with your lover too =)

I was amazed that, there is no car, bicycle or motorcycles at all in the city. Everyone is walking around and the main transport are boats, ferries and gondola. The taxi is actually a speed boat.

I like the small canal between the building. The water is clean and calm. It is better when a gondola passes by. The way of the gondolier rows the boat is very graceful. Together with the sound of the water, tt just like in a dream...


The core of the city is Piazza San Marco. To me, it feels with happiness. People playing around with the pigeons, tourists taking pics, stalls selling souvenirs. It made me feel happy even just looking at the expression of the people. =)

There are not a lot of residence in the town. I can see tourists, souvenirs shops and restaurant. I feel that this is like another place mainly for tourists. I bought some souvenirs for friends and family. The souvenirs from Venice are MURANO glass, face masks and some dolls.

My souvenirs are all from Murano. I bought 2 of the better-known term "millefiori" is a style of murrine pendants. One for myself and one for my beloved sis.

It is defined by each layer of molten color being shaped by a mold into a star, then cooled and layered again. When sliced, this type of murrine has many points (thus mille (thousand).

Of course, I will never forget to buy something for theng theng and friends. =)

Well, too many words to describe Venice. I will bring Venice to my dream tonight.

I hope I will be there again... I want to bring my love ones to go there again..

Visit to Francesco's house

Yesterday we went to Francesco Torre's house. His house is really big and has a big farm.

In the farm, we can see oranges, mandarin, grapes, lemons, olive trees, etc...


It is the biggest house I have ever been to.


His family is very friendly. Nice to meet them and it's very warm to sit down together with the family for the dinner.






At the end of the dinner, he gave me and Kevin each a bottle of Homemade Wine. The wine is made from the grapes of their farm. According to them, they called it Grandpa's wine (il vino di no no gino) =)



There are 2 little kids, they are so lovely. The little baby is really adorable =)



Thanks again for the invitation, Francesco.

My face is so red after having some wine. (rosso come il pomodoro!!)

More pics in the office =)

Here's a group pics taken in M6, Catania plant with people
from Agrate, Catania, Singapore and Muar!!

Happy to know all of them. They've made my daysssss.... nice and helpful.

I can't believe the working environment here is better than in Singapore.

Although my singapore group is very close, but in overall, I would say I am not that close with many people in the company.

I can see people are not that friendly and don't even say "Hi" when meeting ea other.

Perhaps, this is called culture.

I feel the difference when I was in other big companies.

With this group of nice people, I can adapt to the life here easily without feeling any shock or strange. =)

I am lucky =)

Antipasti

What do I mean by a large portion of Antipasti in Italian cuisine in my previous post?

Today I got a chance to show you....

I just had antipasti for my dinner. ONLY antipasti that can make me full.....

I can't continue with primo and secondo anymore...

Here you go:

Smoked salmon and swordfish, octopus

Followed by, fried small fish and squids

Lastly, mussels...

How can my little stomach stuffs other things after having this?

hehehee =)

A Simple and Beautiful Saturday

Couldn't book any trip in this weekend as most of the trips do not have enough number of people. So, I stay back in Catania.

Unexpectedly, my colleague Claudio brought me to Acicastello for Sicilian Breakfast.

Yes. it's granita with brioche.

Really happy to have such a wonderful breakfast today.



After that, we went to the castle. There are some archeologies from bronze age, iron age and romano.... Sicily has been conquered by many ppl, like arabic, spain, greece, finland, and lastly italian.

The castel with 3 big rocks and one small island on the right. That's Acitrezza.

a cool shot from the castel. A beautiful medditerean sea.

After the morning walk, i back to the apartment and went down to the street for some food near to my place.

VIA MILANO

To complete the meal, I had an espresso at a cafeteria. :)

Lovely people & dinner in Catania

We went for a seafood dinner at Acitrezza. This is a port with some small little islands. In summer, it will be very crowded as italian likes the sun and sea very much.

One thing we can't miss is the seafood from Medditerrenean sea. I would say, the prawn and squid here are very fresh and juicy.

Enriching the dinner with good white wine and nice people. It was the best dinner i had so far in Sicily. Also, yesterday, 11 November was a special day in Italy where people will drink the new wine from the barrel.

Together with the wine, they will eat sausages and chestnuts.

I hope that I can visit the place or some others nice restaurant for italian seafood again. I dont think I have a chance to have it in Singapore.



Well, this is my 3rd week in Italy. Besides missing home, other things are OK for me. most importantly is the people here. They made my days and I look forward to work everyday.


Away from daily production job and learn new things :)


Many good technical and italian teachers around me. I guess, when I go back, both technical and italian skills will improve. :)

My good trainers, Tonino, Fabio and Rosario. :)

Mt. Etnae

Fantastic excursion at Mt. Etnae, an active volcano. The biggest active volcano in the world??

Last eruption on one the day before I went, 6 Nov!!!

The whole valley is made of Lava. Learnt many things on that day. The eruption doesn't really explode from the summit. It can be happened at any area of the region.

That was a big eruption on 2002. It created 16 lava streams and 100+ craters.

Now we can see the streams from far. They are really huge and now frozen..

Miracle happened was some trees can survive during the eruption. Now, they are half-buried in the lava land.

For the new trees to grow on lava land, it would need about 100 years.

That was the first snow on Mt. Etnae. Over the weekend, I saw, 1/4 of it is covered with snow today. (this pic was taken at 1000m from the sea level)

The hill is big, covered with lava ash and pebbles. we climbed on it and it was really cold and windy. I was shivering/sneezing and need to put on my gloves.. But the experience was great!

(this is 2000m from sea level)

After that we went down to a cave which covered by lava. I have to be real careful!!

It's a bit slippery and the steps are small...

That's why we are equipped with helmets and torch lights.

(This is around 800m from sea level)

Love Etnae!! Mission #1 completed!

Gatherings and Dinners

I had 3 dinners with the colleagues (vincenzo, claudio and rino) in last week. Happy to meet them again and had a good catch up.

People here are very friendly and there will be more gatherings in the coming weeks. Tomorrow we will be going to Acitrezza for dinner, probably will be seafood.

I realised that the antipasti in here is super big portion...

The Italian meal is normally in this sequence:

Antipasti -> primo -> secondo -> vege/insalata -> dolce/fruits -> cafe

However, normally after the first dish which is the antipasti, I have to stop.

"sono piena!!" (I am very full)

Although it's just the beginning as in french we called it entree but that would be enough.

Last meal with Rino and family, the antipasti were smoked salmon and swordfish, octopus, fried small fish and squids, and lots of mussels... after that, I have to continue with a pasta and I skipped the secondo (meat) and vege, last but not least, I had a traditional dessert (VERY sweet).

However, the best portion of the meal is ANTIPASTI!! :)

Vincenzo Marzana, me and Liza

Rino, wife, paula, vincenzo, kevin and me

Paula is very adorable.. I like her smile very much :)

One day in Catania city

Citta' di Catania

a whole stretch of shops at via Etnae.. surprisingly, catania is a shopping heaven!!

Piazza Duomo, Catania

Anfiteatro Romano


monument of Vincenzo Bellini


Day Market selling cheap stuffs (Made In Italy)!!! (was really tempted to buy)