Our last full day in Taormina and we woke up to beautiful sunshine! Good thing too, cause if it wasn't sunny I was going to be looking like that cat in the photo. We hung out on our luxurious outdoor terrace and pool. Relaxing and reading, with the odd dip to cool off. The pool water isn't heated, so it is what you call "refreshing". Love this Mediterranean climate. We've eaten all locally grown food, from green beans, peaches and pears, tomatoes, etc. All the fo...

Arrived in Taormina, a beautiful hillside town on the east side of Sicily. We have a truly spectacular apartment with incredible views, A very modern building which is a sharp contrast to our other more traditional Italian places. First off, the interior. It's all white. The carpet. The furniture (sofa's, coffee tables,end tables, etc). The walls, doors, ceilings, beds, etc etc. White. You pour a glass of red wine and then your hand starts shaking in fear of sp...

We packed up yet again and set off for another adventure on Monday. We arranged for our new friend Vincenzo to pick us up and take us to a train station out of the town a little where we had a car reserved. Chatting in Italian we gave us a bit of a tour on the way. This time we have a sporty BMW for traipsing through the Sicilian countryside. However, before we got too far we stopped off in Monreale, a small town about 8 km from Palermo but with a fabulous cathed...

Palermo, Sicily. Wow, how to describe this city. Definitely has a different vibe from the other areas we've been to. This city was once one of the largest and grandest in all of Europe. Seems to have had a building boom and prosperity around the early 1600's. Many of the larger and elaborate church's were started at that time. However, we have been in some buildings much older, for the example the small church of San Cataldo was built in 1154. There are beautifu...

We left bright and early from the cool (temperature) hills of Tuscany down towards Siena and the A1 Autostrada for Roma. A few pit stops on the way for cappuccinos followed by washroom breaks and in just less than 3 hours we were at Fiumicino Aeroporto outside of Rome. Dropping of the Renault was a breeze and soon we were checking in at the Alitalia desk. There was no chance off us being able to carry-on our carry-on luggage. Due to some shopping and souvenir exc...