Málaga

Said goodbye to family in the UK and flew to Spain to catch up with some friends in Málaga. A great town on the Costa El Sol, we treated ourselves to some Paella (yum) and wine (more yum) beforeBaca lagi
Ronda and Setenil

While in Málaga, we jumped on a day tour up into the mountains to visit the beautiful towns of Ronda and Setenil. Ronda is perched on the edge of a 150m cliff with brilliant views of the countryside.Baca lagi
Torremolinos

Next day we hopped on a train to spend the day in Torremolinos, a beautiful beachside town just south of Málaga. It's a popular place for UK and US expats and I can see why, the beaches here areBaca lagi
Marbella

Next stop was Marbella, a lovely coastal town. Weather wasn't the best, but at least it didn't rain
Granada

From Marbella we jumped on a bus to the city of Granada. A really nice town up in the hills known for the royal residence of Alhambra, which we'll visit in the coming days.
Alhambra

Today we visited Alhambra, a complex of palaces, gardens and fortresses from the 8th century.
Bordeaux

We say goodbye to Spain and jump on a plane for a whirlwind tour of France. Our first stop was supposed to be Paris, but someone decided to hold the Olympics there, so we started in Bordeaux instead.Baca lagi
La Réole

Today we hired a car and drove through the French countryside to the small medieval village of La Réole, which is in the middle of Bordeaux's wine country. Arrived in time for their Saturday morningBaca lagi
La Rochelle & Isla de Ré

Next, we drove to the coast to visit the lovely port city of La Rochelle and the Isla de Ré, a beautiful island just off the coast connected to La Rochelle via a most impressive bridge.
La Baule

Our next destination was La Baule-Escoublac to catch up with Nicky's cousin's son. Was a great visit and got to experience more wonderful fresh vegetables from the markets...
Mont Saint-Michel

A big tick off the bucket list was a visit to Mont Saint-Michel, the famous monetary off the coast of France. An absolutely amazing place.
Loire Valley

Our next stop was the famous Loire Valley, which is absolutely chockers with vineyards and chateaus.
More Loire Valley

Another couple of days driving through the Loire visiting numerous tiny medieval villages and sampling a wine or two.
Palermo, Sicily

We said goodbye to France and hopped on a plane for Palermo in Sicily. Spent a day wandering around the city, which was in the middle of a heat wave, so had to drink lots of water and beer.
Trapani and Erice

We hired a car from Palermo and drove west to stay in the medieval town of Erice, perched on the top of a serious rock near the coast. A lovely town with magnificent views up and down the coastline.Baca lagi
Valley of Temples, Agrigento

Another bucket list item bites the dust with a drive to Agrigento to see the Valley of Temples. A large collection of Greek and Roman temples that are awesome to see. Would love to see what it wasBaca lagi
Villa Romana del Casale

Another surprising bit of history was Villa Romana del Casale. An ancient Roman Villa with magnificent mosaics and tiles. Apparently the Villa was buried by a landslide centuries before, keeping mostBaca lagi
Ragusa

Next stop was Ragusa, a small village in the mountains famous for it's Baroque Architecture. It's a lovely town and we took a day trip out to visit a few other mountain villages nearby.
Syracusa

Next was a quick stop at Syracusa to have a look. A pretty good sized city, but we stayed near the island of Ortigia, which was very nice. Technically it's an island, but easily accessible by a 50mBaca lagi
Taormina

We continued our drive around Sicilliy to the beautiful town of Taormina. The town was highly recommended and it had the advantage of being less than a kilometre from the beach... according to GoogleBaca lagi
Mount Etna

We were lucky that Mount Etna had a couple of semi-serious eruptions the weeks prior to our arrival, so we joined a day tour to climb the slopes of an active volcano. The lava fields we climbedBaca lagi
Cefalù

Heading back to Palermo airport, we stopped for a day at Cefalù, a lovely little town on the north coast east of Palermo. A lot of Italian tourists come here as it's one of the few sandy beaches inBaca lagi
Mykonos, Greece

And now for something completely different... we drove to Palermo airport to catch a flight to Athens, where we met up with a good friend who will join us in the Greek Islands.
We met Linda at theBaca lagi
More Mykonos

We had two days in Mykonos, which allowed us to see the town and spend some quality time at the beach.