Our favorite resort town in Italy,is Siracusa. Our friend and guide 'Lucia' has booked us into 'The Grand Hotel', on the waterfront, on the island of Ortiga. our mission here is to do some cooking lessons, understand the old town better and to see what is for sale in apartments here. It is very hot, 42 degrees today. We have dinner on the hotel terrace watching the sun go down over the harbour. Monday 30th. We have a swim at MB's favorite rock beach. For summer...

We have cruised overnight from Sorrento to Sicily entering the straits of Messina at 6am. It is amazing how narrow the straights are. There are houses lining each side of the straits and we sail through a fishing fleet of small boats, passing another large ship wreck on the Sicilian shore. We enter the bay at 'Siracusa' passing the Spanish fort. The afternoon sea breeze is quiet strong so it takes us some difficulty dropping forward anchors and coming stern to, ...

We are off to spend the night in Positano. To start the day we visit Sorrento with cousin Anne and Esther who is looking for local produce, plus a new oil and vinegar glass combo container that was broken in last nights search and rescue mission for the tender. It's raining heavily but we visit several delicious food shops. We have coffee and Neopolitana dolci, 'Sfogliatella'. A crispy pasty filled with custard. MB found a shop with Grande squid jigs for a depth ...

Arriving at Sorrento we were amazed at the typography, high rugged cliffs, in many parts there appears man made caves hewn into the rock face. Hotels and buildings perched on the edge with colorful hanging flowers from their balconies. We venture off to the archeological site of ' Herculaneum' the extraordinary excavation of the old port for Neapolis (Naples). This ancient city was covered in mud caused by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. This in an amazing si...

Only two hours from Ischia is Capri, still in the bay of Naples. We have been used to villages on rock islands thus far, but Capri is different. Capri is a high rock island about 6 kms long, but this place takes your breath away. The town of Capri is one of the most sophisticated, attractive resort towns in the world. There are beautiful shops, restaurants, hotels, gardens and flowers everywhere. It is a real tourist destination and being Sunday the place is pack...