The OAT Sicily tour stays three nights in Mazara del Vallo; our group stayed at Hotel Mahara, which was my least favorite hotel of the trip. I think it was everyone's least favorite, actually. Some air con trouble the first night meant that my room was 81 degrees F when I got up in the morning. Breakfast would have been better than so-so if the staff were on the ball with replenishing the food, but they were not. Large bus groups were following a more Teutonic schedule; the less said about them, the better.
At the waterside across from the hotel there was a 'beach' section for guests and a bar with a deck. No one was using them. One night I stopped for a nightcap there and they shooed me out at midnight. Not very resort-spirited, if you ask me.
Mazara del Vallo is trying to attract the tourist traffic that goes to Trapani, but it has a pretty secure economic base without us -- it is the center of the Italian maritime fishing industry. It is also known as the 'most Arab city in Italy' because around 10% of the residents are of Tunisian origin, many of those foreign-born. The central historic quarter is known as the kasbah accordingly. They are coming for the jobs. Their French dialect combines well with the Sicilian dialect; our Palermitana guide said that they quickly sound more local than the locals.
All of the OAT activity programming was great. We were surprised at how much we enjoyed the cooking exercise; we got to see a real restaurant kitchen and do the reality-show shtick where every time Chef Paolo said anything the right response was "Yes, Chef!" My team made a batch of red pesto alla trapanese for 20; when Paolo judged our results he looked at us suspiciously and asked if any of us had made this dish before. I said that I make green pesto with pine nuts occasionally, and he snapped "Have any of you made this dish before?" No. Then there are only three possibilities, Chef said.
1) You're lying.
2) You're very lucky.
3) I am an excellent instructor.
(When he had given us the recipe I actually interrupted and said that it would need more garlic and he nixed that immediately. I wiped the prep bowl surreptitiously - a real commercial processor without buttons or safety switch - and added some seasoning to the dregs to make a little schmear for myself) I was chuffed to have been judged highly.
We did the usual salt farm visit; I got to pull on galoshes and shovel a basketfull myself. We did the rounds of the little island of Mothya, just like Rick covers in his Sicily episode.
Overall, it was a nice change of scenery from urban Palermo, but Mazara is not up to the resort standard of the more established towns like Trapani. Getting to meet the local people who work with OAT on cultural immersion was engaging and I enjoyed dining at one of our guide Rafa's recommendations; the accommodations were a miss, and the waterside promenade could not compete with our time in Opatija/Istria on the Adriatic tour.
One thing in the plus column for the hotel was that whereas every breakfast room would shoosh up a cappuccino to-order if you requested, the barista at the Mahara asked me if I wanted my hot chocolate Portofino style, and I said sure (not knowing what that meant) and I was very pleased with the result. This is something that I will be hankering for in future trips, for sure.