Caltagirone Market

I just realized I never posted about either of our trips to Caltagirone. oops. Here we go. I am not going to mess with the spacing right now,* so I apologize in advance.

One of mr. waaz's work buddies' wives (Jen) and I decided to find the market St. Partick's day weekend so that when we came back the next weekend with the husbands and another couple we wouldn't look like hopelessly lost tourists. I REALLY wish I'd had my camera turned on to catch a pic of a typical road sign. Picture 10 different town names, in no particular order, pointing both "distra" and "sinistra" (left and right), and the one town you're looking for is posted upside down near the bottom of the list.
Anyway, once we found the town, we turned around about three times and finally found a great place to park that seemed like it was close to the "centro" of town. After asking directions and walking "direto" (straight) for about 15 minutes, we asked again, "dove el mercatino?" and received a "mama mia!" in reply from the twenty-somethings who were relaxing at a gas pump about 5 feet from the road's edge. We were instructed to turn around, go back to our cars, and drive (younger Italians speak way more english than we americanos do italian). We did, asked for directions again--this time by stopping in the middle of the road next to a man that was double parked and talking to someone who was walking down the middle of the street-- and the gentleman in question had pity on our lack of comprehension and told us to "seguimi" follow him. phew. He used his turn signals, didn't weave in and out of traffic, and even found us a great parking spot (which we drove right past...oops). What a guy. Turns out we almost went the right way the first time; only one wrong turn.
Caltagirone is known all over Italy for their ceramics, which are displayed everywhere, from ledge (that ledge overlooks a HUGE valley...the town is in the hills) to the front of each step in this pic (close-ups in the link). Very pretty.

We didn't sightsee much, only enough to notice that there is a ceramics museum and many great shops. We were too excited to finally find el mercato. Shawn even did a little skip of glee.

Markets are great; if you ever visit I'll take y'all to at least two. Aside from the typical fruits and veggies, there are also things, tools, tablecloths, and toys galore. Just about anything you could want to purchase for much less than retail price.
After we were done shopping, we went to a little bar for lunch before heading home. Can't remember what these are called, but mine was filled with cheese, spinach, onions, and garlic.


*if you must know, EP fell asleep naked on my lap (after a bath in the sink) and now my leg is numb and I'm afraid he's going to pee. you're the one who scrolled down to see the notation, so don't blame me if you just spit coffee all over the computer screen.