Sep – Oct 2019

Puglia, Sicily via Barcelona

September 2019 Read more

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Day 24
Friday, September 27, 2019 at 1:51 PM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Italy Lipari 38.465389, 14.95624838°27’55” N 14°57’22” E
Lipari via Stromboli
September 27, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Early departure on the Stromboli Express bound for Lipari via Vulcano. Apparently this was the first day the ferry was running this week due to high seas.
Well they were still high and I was stuck in a boat full of seasick germans. No one spoke english except one of the crew who had some english and kindly came and told me the basics as all announcements were in italian and german. Due to the Stromboli eruption 28 days ago, boats were re-routed so we were going via Stromboli as there were too many people going in the afternoon. They need to manage numbers in the event of an emergency evacuation.
Arrived in Lipari and the lovely quiet Il Cappero B&B with my own courtyard, view over town and only the sound of chickens and nature.
Swum just downhill, then home dinner of bbq chicken and salad and figs with total yoghurt. (And a red wine).Read more
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Day 25
Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 2:58 PM
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 9 m
Italy Castello di Lipari 38.465408, 14.95628838°27’55” N 14°57’23” E
Lipari
September 28, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
A small sleepin and relaxed breakfast where they boiled eggs to order in the aldi egg machine.
Bus to Canneto, walk to the Spiaggia Bianca which was grey but I paid 5euro for a sun bed and umbrella and enjoyed the warm water with view of Salina and Stromboli.
Back to town for lush tomato, eggplant, ham and caper panini at Gilberto and Vera.
Then to the extensive archaelogy museum established by Brea and Cavalier - urns, theatre masks, red figure vases and pieces from neolithic, greek and roman times.Read more
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Day 26
Sunday, September 29, 2019 at 10:45 AM
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 296 m
Italy Gran Cratere 38.403927, 14.95858338°24’14” N 14°57’31” E
Vulcano
September 29, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
The island of Vulcano is a 15min hydrofoil away so daytrips do not get any easier. The hike up to the crater was great. A bit of steam and sulphur smell but fairly tame. 10km roundtrip and 800metre elevation.
The black sand beach had the clearest unsalty water so I had a dip off the rocks. Back for another late arvo swim at the local beach at Lipari.
Dinner was very ordinary tinned tuna, olives, capers, tomato pasta.
Chestnuts on the way home were tasty.Read more
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Day 27
Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:17 AM
☁️ 24 °C
Altitude: Sea level
Italy Lipari 38.461983, 14.95665138°27’43” N 14°57’24” E
Last day in Lipari
September 30, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
Feeling lazy, and a bit weary but I caught the bus to Aquacalda on the other side of the island. Quietest place ever with a nice view of Salina, clear water but very stoney shore. Past old pumice mining eqipment and buildings abandonned and rusting away at Ponticello. This was largest pumice mining operation in the workd at one point. Though it makes the water aqua coloured, the dustiness kept me away.
Had mezzo-panini at the lovely Gilberto e Vera, afternoon dip then a bbq chicken.Read more
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Day 28
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
⛅ 25 °C
Altitude: 118 m
Italy Sicciarotta-Calatubo 38.022591, 12.99800838°1’21” N 12°59’53” E
Lipari to Palermo
October 1, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
It was a calm easy ferry from Lipari to Milazzo, then bit of a hike to the train station for the pleasant trip along the north coast of Sicily. Checked into ordinary B&B in good location and I took the bus to Mondello, the art nouveau beach resort of Palermo.
Pam arrived after 10pm so we went out for dinner in the busy streets and caught up on our travel stories.Read more
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Day 29
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
☀️ 27 °C
Altitude: 36 m
Italy Piazza Vigliana 38.117753, 13.36052238°7’4” N 13°21’38” E
Palermo with Pam
October 2, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Had a fun day in Palermo - explored the vast food market, pommegranite and orange juice shops, walked to the port and the pedestrian streets round the quatro canti fountains.
Met the tour group for tasty dinner at restaurant round the corner from the Mercure.Read more
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Day 30
Thursday, October 3, 2019
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 27 m
Italy Chiesa del Purgatorio 38.038612, 14.02115338°2’19” N 14°1’16” E
Cefalu
October 3, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Palermo peak hour traffic was busy. The Monreale gold mosaics were gorgeous and it was a charming town also. Returned to town and into the Palermo cathedral which was built 1131 and has the sun dial similar to Bologna. Then the afternoon excursion to Cefalu with its norman cathedral, old washing stones and great mussel lunch on ghe clifftop.Read more
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Day 31
Friday, October 4, 2019
⛅ 22 °C
Altitude: 103 m
Italy Brugnano 38.065041, 13.08169338°3’54” N 13°4’54” E
Erice, Trapani to Agrigento
October 4, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
After breakfast, a 7:30 departure to the beautiful medievel hill top town of Erice, first passing marble quarries and the usual vineards and olive groves. The drive uphill to Erice was amazing, as were the views to Trapani salt lakes and the northern Sicily coast. We ate almond sweets called boccocini (like the Andros almond ones) in a cafe, then after a stop at the salt area, had lunch in a rustic italian farm house with olive oil tasting including orange oil. They served sparkling water flavoured with big stalks of rosemary and lemon slices. Antipasto was cheese with celery and a marmalade jam, eggplant caponata, olives, zucchini frittata and fresh ricotta. Main was an excellent long spirally pasta with garlic, lemon and tomato.
Then marsala and an espresso.Read more
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Day 32
Saturday, October 5, 2019
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 76 m
Italy Contrada Talà 37.167309, 15.16040737°10’2” N 15°9’37” E
Valley of the Temples
October 5, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
The Temple of Concordia with it’s sandstone doric columns was magnificent and has never been destroyed.
Nearby is Gela where the greeks first landed BC and ironically so did the US in 1943.
Lunch was on a farm near Catania and included wine tasting of Palmento. An unscheduled stop at Scala dei Turchi was a pleasant surprise.
Arrived at Giardini Naxos late afternoon where we were in another package tour hotel with pool and characterless rooms. Beach was quite nice and we walked into the town for a pleasant dinner of meatballs (no sauce) at Sapori di Sicilia, a cute little wine bar cum deli.Read more
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Day 33
Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 9:01 AM
☀️ 22 °C
Altitude: 19 m
Italy Palmeri - Ferrante 37.226673, 15.14548937°13’36” N 15°8’44” E
Day trip to Siracusa
October 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Today’s tour was to Siracusa. First stop in the Archaeologic Park was the Ear of Dionysis with amazing acoustics which was named by Caravaggio when he stayed there 1608.
Then the pristine 5th century BC Greek theatre which was carved out of the rock in situ and the overgrown Roman theatre. Archimedes also lived here.
Sadly there are now huge issues from some of the largest oil refineries in Europe being in the area, though we only saw glimpses of this ugliness.
Onto baroque Ortigia and the Temple of Apollo which is the oldest doric temple in Sicily. It was converted to a byzantine chruch in 6th century, then a mosque, then the normans converted it to a church in the 12 century.
This building is the only greek temple to still be a church and continuously occupied for 2,500 yrs with the columns clearly visible in the side.
We took a taxi late afternoon to Taormina as rain was forecast for tomorrow’s tour group visit and Giardini Naxos was tour group heaven/hell. We enjoyed walking the lively, trendy streets and seafood linguine with Nelly and Bob from Philadelphia.Read more
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Day 34
Monday, October 7, 2019 at 8:20 AM
⛅ 17 °C
Altitude: 131 m
Italy Coste I 37.736897, 15.17389437°44’13” N 15°10’26” E
Mount Etna and Taormina
October 7, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Mount Etna had been smoking since we arrived in this area and today we visited it but unfortunately not enough time to explore via the chairlift and climb higher.
The worst eruption was in 1669 which largely destroyed Catania with the city being subsequently rebuilt in the baroque style.
The most recent significant eruption was in 1991 though there was a flow last year. Etna is considered less dangerous than Vesuvius and Stromboli, despite being more active, as it does not tend to explosions but rather slow lava flow.
Apparently there are ski runs on Etna in winter which I can understand as even today it was surprisingly cold and windy up there.
The tour then took us onto Taormina for the afternoon where sadly it was too cloudy to see Etna from the greek theatre. We enjoyed walking round the town with quaint shopping streets and luxury hotels.
The tour group dinner was in the hotel at the unatmospheric hotel at Naxos.Read more
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Day 35
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
⛅ 22 °C
Altitude: 17 m
Italy Stazione Palermo Centrale 38.108177, 13.36850438°6’29” N 13°22’7” E
Piazza Armerina
October 8, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Incredibly intact and vast is the only way to describe the mosaics at Casa Romana located just outside the town of Piazza Armerina. The standout mosaics were the 10 bikini girls, a cyclops scene, scenes of animals and fruit including figs.
Lunch was at the beautiful scenic Agriturismo Gigliotto not far from Enna (San Michele di Gazaria). Loved the antipasti of eggplant capponata, fritatta, sweet capsicum, chickpea ball, then the garlic rosemary roast chicken and fried ricotta for dessert.
Back to Palermo for shopping round the pedestrian only Via Maqueda down to Quatro Canti. A lot of cute shops with pommegranite and oranges, chefs making pasta in the windows, cannolis and gelati shops. Light dinner of antipasto and Aperol Spritz followed by cannoli with glace orange and almond biscotti. Palermo does grow on you.Read more
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Day 36
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at 9:58 AM
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 15 m
Italy Stazione Palermo Centrale 38.10862, 13.36833738°6’31” N 13°22’6” E
Palermo to Cirella
October 9, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
First day of freedom from the tour group today so I finally had the time to find a good espresso macchiato for breakfast from a bar rather than the tour group hotel machine.
The Intercity train travelled along the scenic north coast of Sicily, then rolled into the lower level of a ferry to cross the narrow strait from Messina to Villa San Giovanni. Up on deck the straits were magnificent with wide sweeping views of Sicily on one side and the toe of mainland Italy on the other - easy to imagine the ancients sailing here and the strategic importance of it.
Changed train for the short trip to Reggio de Calabria where Pam’s cousin Frank met us for the two hour coastal drive to Cirella.
We were to stay with Frank’s sister Maria, her husband and four children Concetta, Palma, Rocco and Nicola, all single, forty something and living at home and working essentially subsistence level on their farm.
We had home made coppa cut in thick chunks, cheese, olives and chicken with peas. And loads of biscuits that Frank had bought in Bovalino.Read more
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Day 37
Thursday, October 10, 2019
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 257 m
Italy Ardore 38.192657, 16.16498638°11’34” N 16°9’54” E
Cirella
October 10, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
It was drizzling this morning so we walked round the own and into the church where Mr and Mrs Cev were married. Then after a typical italian breakfast of macchiato and sweet biscuits, Frank took us to the house Mr Cev grew up in and across the "road" where Mr and Mrs Cev lived when first married. This was in ruins but was on a ridge with a gnarled olive tree overlooking a lovely bubbling stream.
Then in the afternoon to Bovalino to visit Tony Sporanza and his daughter Josephine (Pina). We marvelled at all the fruit trees and veges in his garden plot (avacado, kiwi, persimmon, pommegranite plus the usuals of toms, lettuce, eggplant) and the boundless energy of this man despite a recent heart issue.
We then all drove to see the Madonna della Grotta where the rock church was destroyed but the madonna survived undamaged and was relocated.
Then to Adore Superiore with an impressive castello and views over rocky mountainous countryside and out to the sea. And we had a quick stop in the all male cafe here where Pam had an interesting ginseng coffee.
Dinner was a takeaway pizza in the family home and home made red wine.Read more
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Day 38
Friday, October 11, 2019
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 1,579 m
Italy Delianuova 38.1516, 15.94541738°9’6” N 15°56’44” E
Cirella - Gerace
October 11, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Frank was going to the doctor so left us in a shopping mall at Sidero which was past Locri where we managed to book the train tickets to Reggio that we told him we already had. Then for reasons unknown he finally agreed to take us to the medieval town of Gerace. It was a lovely town with lots of quaint photo opportunities and bergammot products.
Back home we had a late lunch of green chicoria and potato before Mr Cev side relatives arrived for a short visit.Read more
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Day 39
Saturday, October 12, 2019
☀️ 24 °C
Altitude: 27 m
Italy Piazza de Nava 38.113304, 15.65092838°6’48” N 15°39’3” E
Reggio di Calabria
October 12, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
After tiramisu for breakfast (mangia, mangia), Frank drove us down to Bovalino for a walk round the markets and then we trained to Reggio di Calabria.
Walked the pleasant palm and moreton bay fig lined lungomare of Reggio to see the Riace bronzes. Met Mima who took us to a main meal sized apperitivo della casa at SottoZero bar on the sea front. Then to the neo- romanesque cathedral after dark and window shopping along the dark stone, straight pedestrian main street.Read more
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Day 40
Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 4:17 PM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 36 m
Italy Sant'Agostino 41.901278, 12.47376641°54’5” N 12°28’26” E
Reggio to Rome
October 13, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Early wakeup for the 4.5 hour fast train to Rome. Interesting scenery especially round Sapri. Left bags at our B&B Suite Deal in Via Volturno just down from Termini and explored the familiar streets of Via Cavour (Santa Maria Maggiore), Colosseum, round through the Sunday car-less streets to the forums, Trajan's column, views from Victor Emmanuele and onto Trevi Fountain. Bruscetta for lunch, a bit of shopping for murano glass and truffle oil then met Pam’s cousin Antonio for a walk round the Spanish Steps, Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Great antipasto Tuscan meat and cheese platter from Il Tagliere before sharing a taxi back to Termini for the last nights sleep in Italy.
Train from Termini the next morning for flight back to Sydney via Singapore transit.Read more
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Trip end
October 13, 2019