Three weeks ago we were on our flight from Australia.....in three weeks time we will be arriving back in Australia....it is our half way point already!!!!

We had a very relaxing day at the beach yesterday. We went for a drive north of Scopello and stopped at a couple of beaches for a look, then just north of Castellamare del Golfo we stopped for the rest of the afternoon. Lovely beach, so put up our umbrella, (supplied by the hotel), and swam and lazed about. When we arrived there, it was not very busy, but by the time we left, about 6 pm it was packed. Very much a local beach, all Italians, no tourists - well except for us!! Lots of families and babies! We named it Spiaggia di bambini!!

We went out for dinner at the hotel, very nice seafood and pasta.

This morning we packed up and checked out about 11.30. The hotel owners and staff have been great, very friendly and Lauri has been having quite a laugh with all of them...he said that it is so much easier to speak in Sicilian than in proper Italian! I am understanding a lot more of what they are all saying, but it is still a bit hard to try to put it into words.

We drove off through Palermo to Cefalu', where we stopped for a while. A gorgeous old town on the beach. Just loved it!! Narrow little streets and very pretty. Touristy but not over the top like some, and had a great feel to it.

We then decided to travel the small coastal road for a while, which was great and very much like the great ocean road in places, lots of wonderful views. But also very slow and winding, so after an hour or so we decided that if we are ever to get to Taormina maybe we really need to get onto the autostrada!! The autostrada is so high up in many places that you still get to see the views but you can also do 130km per hour! Rather than 50km on the winding road. But you also get to go through sooooo many tunnels! Amazing how they just drill through a mountain to put a road in...they would never do that home... Would need at least 14 study trips and then an investigation to see if it was really needed!

We arrived in Taormina about 6.30pm where we met the mother of the owner of the apartments we are staying in- Virginia! What a character! She was so wonderful, so friendly and kind and lots of fun. Treated us like we were long lost friends!

The apartment is way up on the hill above Taormina, and has a wonderful view from the balcony and bedroom of the coast to mainland Italy, Rocca Madonna, and also to the coast to the south in Giardini Nexus. So sitting here on the balcony now... Only thing is we have no wifi here, so will only be able to update here when we find somewhere down in the town.