Reid & Robie

April showers bring May flowers.

– Spring saying

April was a busy month. Because when beautiful weather arrives, you make the most of it.

First up

We finally figured out how to adjust the settings regarding comments on our website. For anyone who has been asked to create a WordPress account and didn’t want to, now you don’t need to! Simply leave a comment with no questions asked.

We hope this makes it easier to engage on our posts.

Where we’ve been this month

We began the month halfway through our stay in Palermo, Sicily. While we considered traveling to Trapani for their famed Good Friday celebrations and talked about visiting Greek ruins in Agrigento and Seluninte, Robie and I had so much fun in Palermo that we decided to save our travels for the end of April.

On the 21^st we waved ciao to our new friends and boarded a train. Fortunately, after last month’s travel fiascos, the trip went off a hitch. Our journey took us across northern Sicily to Messina. Once at the port, Robie and I remained onboard as the railcar got loaded onto the ferry for a short sail to the mainland. Then we rolled off the boat and continued the journey through Calabria and Campania.

In Naples we explored mosaics and artifacts recovered from Pompeii, toured ancient catacombs and ate lots of pizza. After four days we hopped another train to Rome and spent time visiting museums, palazzos, ruins, piazzas and more churches than we could count.

Future travel plans

We didn’t make any major plans this month since most of our 2026 travels are already laid out, but we did create daily itineraries to make the most of our short stays in Naples and Rome. With no shortage of places to discover in both cities, we had our work cut out to see everything we wanted in just nine days.

After discovering the volatile history of Caravaggio during a trip to Malta in March, we set out to see as many of the artist’s paintings as we could. That meant navigating public transportation in Rome and Naples to get to places we likely wouldn’t have otherwise. But it was worth it to see the works of a revolutionary artist whose inventive style shattered convention.

Holidays and festivals

Easter’s a special time to be in Italy.

In Palermo processions began on Palm Sunday as members of a nearby church paraded beneath our balcony. Then on Good Friday, Robie and I headed toward Quattro Canti, the ancient intersection that divides Palermo into quadrants to grab front row seats outside the Church of Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi.

The pageantry began with a line of Roman centurions leading Pontius Pilate to preside over the execution at Calvary. They returned carrying an effigy of Christ’s body. After the Romans returned, a second procession emerged from wide church doors. This one was led by a glass coffin with Jesus’ mortal remains followed closely by a mourning Mary. As the solemn march paraded around the streets, it was repeated across the city by other churches late into the night.

Cultural events

When Robie and I saw the beautiful Teatro Massimo di Palermo three minutes from our doorstep, we knew we wanted to experience a live performance in Italy’s largest opera house.

At the ticket office we struggled to communicate with the woman behind the counter but managed to secure upper-level box seats to Don Quichotte for an evening curtain call. Expecting to be serenaded by an opera, we were pleasantly surprised to discover the production was the classic, three-act ballet and a performance we thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to new friends, Robie learned how most locals head to the market to enjoy an inexpensive family meal after church on Sundays. With the array of amazing street food and lively entertainment that verges on controlled chaos, we happily joined in each week.

Sightseeing

There’s no shortage of things to see and do in Palermo, and Robie and I took advantage of the great weather to see as much of the city as possible.

We visited the Norman Palace and Castello a Mare, took a stroll through the English Gardens and Palermo Marina, spent an afternoon in the Archaeological Museum and enjoyed the many fountains of Palermo. But by far our biggest entertainment was visiting churches across the city.

Each Sunday we attended Mass in a different church. We sat underneath baroque architecture inside the Church of Jesus the Professed and enjoyed the rich pageantry in the Church of St. Joseph. During the week we visited more churches to marvel at Greek mosaics in the Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, explore the ancient stones inside the Church of St. Cataldo, tour the Church of our Most Holy Savior and enjoy the view from the roof of the Palermo Cathedral.

In Naples and Rome, we mainly followed in the footsteps of Caravaggio finding his artwork in various churches and galleries across both cities.

What we cooked and ate in April

Once again, we ate our way through Palermo’s street markets.

We tried schietto, a sandwich made from calf lung and spleen that’s confited in beef tallow before getting a sprinkling of salt and lemon juice. It was so tasty that Robie had to go back for a maritato, a spleen sandwich “married” with cheese and equally delicious.

We enjoyed traditional chickpea fritters, stuffed sardines and fish meatballs. We ate eggplant in caponata, pasta alla Norma and baked with tomatoes and parmesan. But our most impressive find was a caffe corretto. Translating to ‘correct coffee,’ this concoction combines espresso and Sambuca, a great way to start the morning! 😉

At home we cooked Sicilian pasta, Moroccan eggs, bacon-wrapped spring onions served with a Sicilian salad and a new favorite, pork sandwiches. We also made delicious piade, traditional Italian flatbreads with mortadella, ricotta, arugula and tomatoes.

I tried making cacio e pepe, the simplest of pastas made from just three ingredients: pasta, Pecorino Romano and black pepper along with some starchy pasta water. It was an epic failure. Despite having good flavor, what should have been a silky sauce seized into clumps that required a knife to slice through them. I was informed by knowledgeable Italians that my pasta water was too hot when I added it to the grated cheese and that means having to try again if I want to conquer this classic dish.

In Naples we ate traditional margherita and marinara pizzas from L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, an establishment that’s been around since 1870 and is often referred to as the “Sacred Temple of Pizza.” In Rome we discovered the wonderful array of inexpensive trattorias in our Trastevere neighborhood and enjoyed lovely caprese salads, Roman pastas and of course, more pizza!

Projects we’re working on

In April I was a test reader for a friend’s latest novel, Lucky Penny. Part of A Catch the Bouquet Romance by Laura Lucas, the new release follows Shelby Plus One, the series debut currently available on Amazon. With Lucky Penny soon to be released, the books are ideal for anyone looking for a lively, little beach read over the summer.

Also this month, Robie started a course to boost our Reid & Robie Instagram account and together we’re working on an Insta series we hope to have out soon. Follow the Reid & Robie Instagram account HERE.

Other Happenings in April

In January I noticed I was wearing out socks with alarming regularity. Within the space of a month, I lost six socks all ruined by holes in the same spot – the ball of my foot.

Further inspection showed I’d worn down the leather on my right boot. In Syracuse I added sole inserts to alleviate the friction but by the time we arrived in Palermo, I felt my sock getting damp anytime it rained and knew water was seeping in through an imperceptible hole.

I purchased the boots in Athens in late 2024 with birthday money from my parents and thought they’d last for years. But the reality of nomadic life means Robie and I wear the same shoes every day, and they do a lot of heavy lifting – uneven cobblestones on the streets of Italy, dusty alleys in the medinas of North Africa and wet pavement across London.

In April I bought a new pair of boots opting for the “vegan,” PETA-approved kicks with a sole so thick that they shouldn’t wear out for years. While I’m now on my third pair of shoes, Robie’s been getting by on a single pair of Skechers since leaving Dallas. When his shoes started coming apart at the seams last summer, Robie found a shoe repair guy in Albania who handstitched them back together for 600 lek, or about $7.25.

Ever on the hunt for a bargain, in Palermo Robie uncovered an inexpensive kitchen supply store. When we left home, we insisted on carrying a knife roll since good knives are hard to come by in rental kitchens yet essential for any kind of cooking. Inside the roll we brought along a chef’s knife, a paring knife, a small, serrated knife and sharpening steel. After successfully making across England, Greece and Albania, the knives were confiscated in Madrid when we tried to board a train in October. It was a devasting blow, and since then we’ve had to make do with whatever knives we’ve found in rental apartments.

It hasn’t been easy. In Essaouira the cutlet knife left me banging my knuckles with every slice. In Syracuse we had a bread knife and single steak knife. That meant not only sharing the steak knife when we sat down to eat but attempting to trim fresh artichokes with a bread knife – doable but awkward.

At Kasinova in Palermo we bought two knives, one utility and one Japanese-style santuko knife. Then we prayed they’d make it onboard the trains to Naples and Rome. Fortunately, they survived but we know somewhere down the road they may get confiscated. When they do, we’ll only be out $15 for the pair, ten times less than we paid for our beloved, lost Wüstof knives.

How we spent our money this month

We had a healthy budget going into April, the largest of any month year-to-date. After all, we knew traveling for ten days wasn’t going to be cheap, and Naples and Rome didn’t disappoint.

Beginning the month with $5,448 to spend, we used $615.49 for five nights in an apartment in Naples and $708.89 for the same number of nights for a place in Rome. Add in our food, transportation and $323.91 for museum entry fees and we spent $2,764.50 – or 51% of our total budget – in the last 10 days of the month.

Despite the imbalance, we came in just below budget with $71.32 to spare and didn’t sacrifice any of the things we wanted to do in Palermo, Rome or Naples.

Recap

April wasn’t cheap but it was a lot of fun – from Easter processions to schietto and Michelangelo’s Moses to Caravaggio’s The Flagellation of Christ.

Next up, we’re excited to settle in Istanbul for a couple of months and watch the U.S. Men’s soccer team play Türkiye in the World Cup!