Blogs from Sicily, Italy, Europe - page 7

We left our hotel in Palermo at the reasonable time of 9:15 and headed out along the coast, towards our first destination of Erice. Along the way we climbed a mountain that gaves us a great view back over the coast and pulled over for a photo stop. It was already about 27 degrees at this stage and quite humid. We continued on our way and then had this amazing climb up to the top of another mountain to the town of Erice. We arrived around 11:30 and walked through the pretty cobbled streets of the town. Our first stop was a pastisserie that made different types of almond biscuits and sweets. This area of Silicly is known for pistachios and almonds and we tried many different samples of sweets and biscuits. It was a timely ... read more

Long day Checked out 7:45 Walked to bus station Bus to airport at 8:10 Check in - then wait for flight at 11:10 Arrive Stansted 12:30 Get bags and exit airport. Come back into airport and get some lunch 2:15 - check in for flight to Palermo Kill more time in airport waiting for 5:10pm flight. Stand in the "Priority" queue until 5:10pm Pass boarding check point only to stand in tunnel leading to plane for a ridiculous amount of time. Flight departs 45 minutes late Arrive in Palermo just before 10pm (should have been 9:10) Finally get bags then buy ticket for airport bus and wait for next bus at 10:30 I thought I would sit in the front seat so I can see the way to the city - bad idea. Driver was a ... read more

We left Palermo at 7:25AM and headed west toward a town by the name of Capo San Vito. We had heard from a few people that it was a nice place to stop and it would mean a nice short day of only about 6 hours. It was a very calm day with only light winds but what we did have was on the nose. Another day where we put up the mainsail but also had the iron jenny (the motor) on as well. It gave us time to motor along the coast to see the beautiful outcrops, rocky crags and a few caves as well. Fortunately a little later in the morning the wind changed direction and we were able to get more power from the sails which was very enjoyable. We came to the ... read more

As mentioned in the previous blog entry we took a day trip from Palermo up to the hilltop village of Monreale as everyone had told us we “had” to see the Cathedral there. We were very glad we took their advice. It was a quick 40 minute bus trip up from Palermo to Monreale where the main attraction is the Cathedral. If you remember when we were in Cefalu there was a Cathedral there that was pretty impressive. It was built on the orders of Roger II who also had the Palatine Cathedral in Palermo built. Roger’s grandson, William II decided he wanted to outshine his grandfather and in order to do this he would build a Cathedral in Monreale. Roger II wanted to incorporate the workmanship of the Norman, Arab, Byzantine and Christian styles in ... read more

On Tuesday we headed further south again to Sicily, but this time to the town of Taormina, on the north east coast. We went on an tour of Taormina, and the nearby city of Castelmola. Castelmola is a village set 1,800 feet high and is a small, quaint village with a bar once visited by Rockefeller, Ford and Churchill. Vistas over the Ionian sea were beautiful and this small village was an interesting stop. We ended in Taormina were we walked through the ancient town and stopped for a little wine. When in Italy, drink wine. Wednesday we sailed further south of Sicily to Malta, a small island chain and one of the most southern points of central Europe. We anchored just off the northern island of Gozo. The channel is very shallow here and only ... read more