San Giuseppe

Yesterday a small group of us headed to Salemi. It's a very beautiful, medieval town sitting on a hill. We all agreed it's a must to go back and explore more!! The drive alone is worth it; winding country roads through rustic and hilly terrain. Everything is green right now and there are wildflowers everywhere (mostly yellow).

The purpose for yesterdays trip was to experience Salemi's celebration of Saint Joseph or San Giuseppe. He is a popular Catholic saint (also known as St. Joseph the Worker)and is the patron saint of the fathers, carpenters, orphans, the poor and whoever is in need.

Salemi is one of the towns here in Sicily who hosts a religious festival featuring "Li Tavuli di San Giuseppe" (St. Joseph Tables) during Lent. We were able to go into the Chiesa Di San Giuseppe ( church of St. Joseph) and observe the banquet.

Bread altars are the most fascinating part of this festival. The bread is made anywhere from a week to a month before the festival starts. Many private homes are open to display their bread altars. There are even bread creations in store windows. The bread is beautifully crafted into many different shapes as a love offering to St. Joseph.

I'm adding pictures to my PhotoStream from yesterday and if you make it full size then click on description I'll have more information on what's going on in the picture.

We parked in the lower part of town and took a shuttle van to an area that had a bread altar. The driver let us out and there was a very, friendly man who went out of his way to help us figure out where to go. He stayed with us for a little while making sure we understood what was going on. Then he and the driver took us to the upper part of Salemi where the main part of the festival was happening. They told us to call them when we were done and they'd come pick us up.
We called them around 1:30 and the driver wasn't available until 3pm. We asked if there was somewhere to grab some lunch while we waited. The friendly guy who had acted as a tour guide said he'd hop on his scooter and come up. When he arrived he said "The problem is that there are no restaraunts up here". ( I forgot to tell you he spoke very good English, which is unusual here in Sicily).

Long story short he took Michelle down on the scooter to get her car then she came and picked me up so I could get my car. We then went back up and picked everyone up!
We were all laughing at our situation as Michelle climbed on the scooter. Our new friend smiled big and said "Only in Sicily, huh?"

We then went to a restaraunt down the hill that had a very casual feel to it. We were told there was no menu that day......you just got whatever was being cooked. The food wasn't bad but so not worth 100 euro (almost $150.00) for the kids and I!!! Can you say YIKES! I'd much rather spend my $ on seeing something....lesson learned :)

At the end of the day it was a beautiful little trip and will be one of the memorable ones!!