First Days in Sicily

In the two page Battaglia Family History word document, there is a story about my Great Great Grandmother leaving her village with her children. When she decided she wanted to take my Great Grandfather and his siblings to America, she didn’t have time to wait for her husband to get back from hunting, so they just walked down the “hill,” towards Palermo, where they eventually boarded a ship to New York.

If that story is true, I was likely walking up that same “hill” the other day (more like a 700m or 2300ft mountain). Before this hike, I departed Palermo with the ambitious goal of making it to Pollina by bike, in search of more info about my family. Considering my career longest bike ride was around 55km, I was lucky that I topped out at 87km for the day. After the first 80km, I turned to head up the mountain for the last 10 when I quickly realized it wasn’t happening and I was out of water, so I headed back to camp on the coast for the night and decided to hike up the next day.

Preparations in Palermo

Before heading out, we had two full days to explore Palermo, and have some amazing food. The weather has been cooler than usual, so we’ve been taking advantage of that. The city is certainly European, but also a bit similar to Tunis, where I arrived from. Thanks to the ferry and a nice 10km ride, escorted by my friend Racim, I can also say that my tour officially started in North Africa!

After clearing immigration with all my gear at the dock, I biked directly to our place to meet up with Tashi for the trip. We didn’t have to do much with the bikes since mine was already rigged up and Tashi was still waiting for his in the mail from Napoli. We decided to explore mostly on foot, checking out the different markets and enjoying our fair share of fried street eats, and fresh seafood.

_{^{Views of Palermo}}

Back to the Village

Since Tashi’s bike had not yet arrived, I decided to go ahead as planned to scout a campsite and hang out in the village my Great Grandfather came from long ago. After a really tough, albeit short 90 minute hike up the “hill” and a brief scare with three farm dogs, I was back in Pollina, where I entered the town hall sweaty and smelly, barely speaking any Italian. Later that day the records office said they weren’t able to look up documents on the spot, but I was still able to make a nice trip, walking around, hanging out in cafes, and watching old dudes get hammered at 11am, while 80s one hit wonders played on the TV.

I thought about what my daily routine would be if I lived there and how different it would be to my current one. I also thought would my Great Grandfather still leave if he knew what the world would become…..then again it wasn’t his choice anyway. Anyway, I was just one Battaglia looking for Battaglias in a sea of Battaglias. So we know how that went. At least they helped me practice pronouncing my own name better!

_{^{Streets of Pollina}}

Back on the Road

After Tashi arrived with his brand new wheels, we set off for our first ride together along the coast. So far, Sicily has been great for bike touring, because while there is a decent amount of traffic, Italians seem used to cyclists. There are also no shortage of outdoor cafes to stop at a moment’s notice for an espresso and snack along the way. Camping has been nice and the beach is always close by.

The locals have been generally funny, friendly, and helpful. They sometimes seem surprised to see us coming all the way from the states, but find it amusing. Even today I was having an issue with my brakes and was able to pop into a bike shop in a small town on our route and a guy quickly fixed the problem, explained it to me and refused to take any payment. Not bad! Our goal is finish cycling Sicily by the end of the week, if all goes well.

Stay tuned and follow the route here!