Category Archives: Italy

As fate would have it, the weather took a turn. Daytime temperatures dropped from the mid-twenties to the high teens, and with the cooler air came adverse conditions. We had torrential rain, and in a town built on an incline, that quickly became a problem. The roads turned into fast-flowing streams, and I now understandContinue reading “Rain in Monopoli, Stars in Spain.”

After saying our goodbyes to Jon and Jo the night before, we left the apartment just before 7 a.m. the following morning and wheeled our one heavy case the one kilometre through the thankfully empty streets. The day before had been a public holiday, with many of the roads closed to traffic. We arrived atContinue reading “Napoli Drama to Puglia Charm – Monopoli”

We’ve established a routine, where we have a light breakfast at the apartment before heading out. This is usually followed by a stop at a coffee bar along the way, where Jon launches into full “Spanglish” (his mix of Spanish and English…I’m still not sure why), made worse by me trying to recover the situationContinue reading “Notes from the Amalfi Coast”

With the rain starting to fall more regularly, we decided it was time to head off again. After a quick hike up the M11, we once again found ourselves at Stansted Airport, this time travelling with longtime friends Jon and Jo, who would be staying with us for the first week. After an uneventful flightContinue reading “Salerno & Pompeii”

It has been quite warm here in Palermo, with temperatures reaching the mid to high 30s every day. While the heat can make wandering around the city during the day a bit uncomfortable, it hasn’t dampened our spirits. Palermo is a great little city with so much to see and explore. One of the uniqueContinue reading “Mondello, Cefalu and the old town”

I read somewhere that Sicily is the most invaded country in history due to its strategic importance. However, this rich history of invasions has created a fascinating tapestry of architecture and culture, especially in Palermo, the regional capital. Italy has the most UNESCO sites in the world, and Palermo boasts quite a few of them.Continue reading “The incredible San Giuseppe dei Teatini & Palatine Chapel”

We’ve enjoyed our stay in the south, and even though there wasn’t much to do locally without hopping into the car, the beach was perfect for an early morning swim. A bit further up the coastline, we also discovered Zuma Beach, where we could have lunch and watch the kite surfers, which was highly entertaining,Continue reading “Heading North to Palermo”

We’ve driven past the volcano several times on our travels around Sicily, and each time we’ve seen smoke wafting from one of the vents. It’s a stratovolcano, essentially composed of many layers, and is considered one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Just a few days before our arrival, it was finishing a near month-longContinue reading “Mt Etna”

I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but both of us have a deep love for history, especially ancient relics. So after driving for just over 2 hours, we found ourselves in the hilly terrain of the beautiful southwestern district of Agrigento. The Valley of the Temples, despite its name, is actually situated highContinue reading “The Valley of the Temples”

The swimming remains great, and as Rach only has a few short weeks, we’ve been on a quest to explore as much of the bottom half of Sicily as we can. One of our stops was Syracuse, which incidentally is the birthplace of Archimedes and dates back to at least the 7th century BC. WeContinue reading “Syracuse and a bridge to Ortigia”