Posted by Alexander Geyelin on Saturday, May 13, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

A couple of days ago, a few of us, after seeing so many local people riding around on them, decided to rent scooters and drive them around to explore the region more outside of Cefalu. We walked into town and found a store renting them out, and started to drive eastward down the coast. Eventually, after about 8 or 9 miles, we reached the small town of Finale. The first major thing we noticed about the town was how relatively dead it was – it was about 1 pm by this time, and almost all stores and restaurants were closed for midday. It was a ghost town, and it took some time walking around before we found a place that was still open for lunch. We found a pizzeria with some people inside, so we opened the door and asked if we could sit down. It turned out that the restaurant was not open, and it was just a large private group that had rented the place out; even so, the manager asked us who we were and where we were from, and insisted we take a table anyway. He proceeded to bring us out a few free appetizer slices of pizza, and sat with us for a bit and talked to us some more. He found out we were American, and was excited when we said we were from just outside New York.

It was a much different experience than we’d typically have back home; first, there is the tendency to close down during the middle of the day, at times that can often be peak hours for restaurants in the United States. The hospitality shown to us by the restaurant manager and employees was also somewhat atypical of what we would experience back home, as neither the private party guests nor the restaurant would likely welcome three random kids into a rented out venue. It was representative of the overall much more relaxed vibe and lifestyle we’ve experienced this far, and the more easygoing nature of Sicilian culture as compared to many places in America. At no point did anyone there mind our presence, or act as if we shouldn’t be there; after we finished, they even wrote down and gave one of us the restaurant’s address while instructing us to write to them when we return to the United States and tell them about our experiences in Sicily. They were all extremely welcoming and happy to have us, and seemed far more stress-free than Americans can often be.