February 18, 2026

Wednesday

Gela, Sicilia, Italia

The purpose for being in Sicilia and Gela in particular is to have our eyes tested and order glasses. Carmen and Maria, Pietro’s sister, live here. Carmen ownes Ottica Contarino with her sister Anna. Carmen is studying to be an ophthalmologist. Both she and her sister are optometrists. Their father was an optometrist here in Gela.

When you have to opportunity it is best to get family involved, especially if they are qualified. This is my second trip to Gela. Last time I got new glasses and frames here. Love the selection of Italian frames. Much better than in the US.

We have eleven o’clock appointment with Carmen. The morning was free but we didn’t really go anywhere or do anything. I did walk down the hill to Piazza Umberto I where the Bar Monte Bianco is for “breakfast”. They don’t actually serve breakfast in the B&B, they give you a ticket for breakfast at Bar Monte Bianco.

It is an Italian breakfast. Brioche and coffee. That is fine with us. I ordered a cappuccino and a brioche with jam, stood at the counter and ate it. I also ordered a cappuccino to go for Mary. The cappuccino was good but not great. The brioche was nice and warm, and tasted good.

We got to the shop just before it went 11. As we arrived so did Maria and Carmen. We went inside, then walked a block to Carmen’s will “cave” where she does the eye testing. The next two and a half hours were spent testing our eyes and seeing what our prescriptions would be. At 13:30 we left and went back towards the shop.

Maria and Carmen took us t La Corte Sicula for lunch. It is a hamburger place, but we have let Maria know it is a no meat day, yesterday. We ordered pasta without meat. They also ordered panelle as an appetizer. We had a nice bottle of wine for the same vineyard but this was a Syrah. Now generally we don’t like Syrah but this was very good.

Mary and Maria order a pasta with creamed broccoli. I had the pasta with creamed artichokes. Carmen ordered a pasta al pomodoro. It was all very good and very filling. About 15:00 we headed to the shop to pick out glasses. We finally left the shop about 17:30.

We had planned on going to mass at 18:30, but Mary was very tired so we just stayed in and played cards. It was a nice relaxing night. No dinner, still too full.

Buonanotte e ciao,

Enrico e Maria