What a wonderful sleep. The bed was so comfortable. Now we are ready for the early cup of coffee. In trying to fill the electric jug our worst fears were realized, no water. We managed to use some bottled water but what about the toilet and shower. We emailed Vittorio about our problem. He was extremely upset and would get it sorted today. In the meantime a heavy dose of antiperspirant would have to suffice. Our plan today was to visit the Valley of the Temples on a hill close to Agrigento. We arrived at the entrance, bought tickets and a map and proceeded to ticket control and security. The walk took us past the ruins of the temples of Zeus, Heracles, Dioscuri, and Giove before the long walk to the impressive temple of Concordia. From ... read more

Another early start to get some washing done so we can visit Noto. We also plan to Skype with family back in New Zealand. The time difference makes it perfect for us. Unfortunately there is a regional Internet problem so we miss the opportunity of catching up. Hopefully there will be another chance in a day or two. Noto is about 40 minutes drive away. We decided on the pretend autostrada on our journey there, perhaps a more adventurous route on the way back. Arriving in the hilltop town Jane takes us through the middle along very narrow streets. It takes some time to find a park. It is nearing lunch time and as expected the locals are filling the streets in their little cars in an effort to get home. We find a large empty ... read more

We have four nights in our current accommodation, a house in the country. Our hosts live in a house next door, the brother next to them, and there is another brother somewhere else (the one we spoke to on the phone). We are in a farming area on the outskirts of Modica. After a relaxing start we decided to do some washing. So far the machines we have used have a short wash cycle. The quite new one we have here does not appear to have such luxuries. We download a manual in English but that doesn’t really help. We load up, press some buttons and it’s away. After an hour there doesn’t seem to be much progress. We wait a while longer and still no progress. We seek help from Mama with the assistance of ... read more

We woke a little later than planned but we’re on holiday so it doesn’t matter. Yesterday we had to pre-order some items for breakfast. Our delightful hostess managed to print off an English language version of the menu for us to choose from. So we headed off to the breakfast room full of wonder and expectations of what would be in store for us. We were welcomed by our friend, Francesca, and a man who does. With plenty of pastries and other delights, together with coffee, we indulged. As we paid our bill Francesca had typed out a message on her computer and had it translated. In English she thanked us for our stay and wished us well on our travels. We will remember her for her cheerfulness and her effort to overcome the language barrier. ... read more

Our last day in San Lazzaro and we have planned to travel by bus down to the town of Amalfi. The heart says drive, the head says go by bus. The bus wins out this time. We need to buy our tickets so we head off to the bar. They had some for Amalfi the other day. Sorry you need to get them from the news agent. Not a problem. This time we have tickets for there and back. The bus leaves at 14:20. We leave our options open for the return. Maybe 17:00 or 19:00 depending on what we find to do. We now have a few hours to fill in so time to explore the town of San Lazzaro a bit more. Shops are all open, a man has his garage open will all ... read more