Monday 22nd Dec - Leaving Naples it was quite foggy and it really felt very wintery. The country side is hilly with many small farms, lots of freshly ploughed fields, vineyards and olive groves. Quite a few creeks and streams running with water. Getting closer into Bari the landscape begins to flatten out. Bari is a port city and the capital of the Puglia region. The largest church is the Basilica de San Nicola (St Nicholas) built in the 11 century, again quite a...

A slow start to today, on leaving the hotel they gave us an early caffeine shot and a packed breakfast. Taxi was late however we arrived at the train station in plenty of time because the train was "in ritado" late by nearly an hour.

Friday 19th Dec. Another tick for the bucket list today. I really had a wish to see the Valley of temples in Agrigento in the south of Sicily. We had to catch the local bus as there are no tours this time of the year. After getting the information from the hotel desk it didn't seem too difficult, I had a brief lapse in remembering that we are in Italy! On arrival at the train station we were pointed in four different ways for the bus. I did begin to feel that we ...

Tuesday16th - a 2 hour train journey to Palermo, although Liam is always excited about hopping on trains he is a little over it today due to another early start. The trip was quite picturesque as it followed the north coast and it was nice to see the ocean. Since deciding not to hire a car we chose a little more upmarket hotel. It was a little further walk from the train than we thought, ok for me and Rob, but a big walk for little legs. Liam is doing extremely w...

Monday 15th Dec - early rise this morning to catch the train to Messina. We stocked up with food and water the night before as the train leaves at 7.30 am. With just enough time for a coffee and croissant for breakfast at the station we hopped on the train for an 8 hour journey. The train was not that busy so we had a cabin to ourselves. Liam kept busy with electronic games and we had some nice reading time. So glad we stocked up on food as there were no provisio...