As the last three weeks of our Mediterranean odyssey are coming to a close, we head straight down to the Costa Smerelda in Sardinia, to pick up chris and Wendy Connell, who flew into Olbia from Greece. Sardinia is about 250 kms long and it is very mountainous and green on the coast, creating great geographical contrasts. Olbia province is in the northeast of sardinia, it is very sheltered from the strong westerly winds which we are expecting. It has lots of sh...

We left Malta late Monday the 10th to cruise overnight to Marsala, on the west coast of Sicily. As soon as we checked into customs, we then left for the island 'Favignana'. This is the largest of the Egadi islands. It is only 10 nautical miles from Marsala and it takes one hour to cross. This island is barren and flat, with a mountain range dissecting it in the middle. The weather is still very calm and warm, we enter into a very sheltered bay 'Lido Di Burrone'...

We are up early and take our helicopter flight over Mt. Etna. It is dramatic as this volcano is very active and continues to spew lava and smoke. One recent eruption completely wiped out the ski village here. Etna has snow most of the year, but not today. It is 3000 meters high with lots of ski fields, popular in the winter months. We leave the golf club after our fabulous flight and arrive at our favorite Italian seaside city Siracusa, to drop off the hire car...

We love coming back to Sicily. We have found a golf resort out of 'Taormina' which is situated at the base of the famous volcano, Etna. Again, after many winding roads we found the resort 'Il Picciola'. To our relief the golf course looked great, as the country we have just passed through was steep mountains and valley's with many vineyards, fruit and nut trees growing in the fertile soil. We have time to rest from our travel before going to dinner in this strang...

This part of Italy has always been poor and rundown. This seaside town on the beautiful mountain coastline of 'promintorio di Tropea' on the Tyrrhenian sea is a very poor cousin to the other Italian holiday destinations. There are nice beaches but the accommodation is very average. The hotel set up where we stayed was like a holiday camp. You were presented with a silver wrist band that gave access to the cafeteria style dining room, where everything was include...