Fliss, Tim’s wife is reporting on the first tour of the season – how lucky am I to come to this beautiful place with such a nice group of people!
A full day of travel – most of us experienced Romeo or Milan airports for nearly four hours, and we have arrived in Sicily. The drive from Palermo to Marsala was fabulous: the countryside so green and fertile, the sea always in view and hints of some proper mountains. Most of the group is in the Hotel Carmine, with a few of us round the corner in the Hotel Stella d’Italia. 80 paces away from the Carmine is Restaurante Casa Mia, who did us proud for our first night.
After a glass of Marsala (good stuff, lovely acidity) in the Carmine we settled down for a great introduction to bountiful Sicilian cuisine and warm hospitality. First course was a plate of antipasti, well actually three huge plates of antipasti between fifteen of us, and a couple of local vegetable dishes to add even more flavour. Too late Tim reminded us that we still had a main course and pudding to come.
Main course was a ‘mixed grill’ – but this wasn’t Little Chef stuff, the beef was pink and mouthwatering, the lamb chop tasted amazing and the sausages would have been a meal in themselves. Despite much groaning at how full we felt we all managed pudding, a delicious chocolate/almond torta.
Oh yes, we’ve come here for the wine! A fresh Grillo and a very balanced Syrah were great accompaniments and augered well for our coming wine explorations. I’ve no doubt we will have a lot more to report on tomorrow.