Blogs from Sicily, Italy, Europe

It was a beautiful sunny day today. We had breakfast at Hotel Baglio Della Luna and then went up into the tower and walked the garden area. The Italian bees were busy in the garden. We packed up and headed to the valley of the Temples. The line for tickets was fairly long but moving quickly. There were 3 major temples in the valley with large columns. There were also numerous other structures and ruins. There were several carved out stone walls that had been tombs. We had a nice walk through the valley. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Cacciatore. Pedro ordered a steak as it seemed like a great place for steak. They had a full variety of different types of porterhouse steaks. After lunch we drove to our next hotel Badiulo ... read more

It was sunny when we left our hotel. By the time we got to Palermo it was drizzling. We parked the car and then hopped on a horse drawn carriage. We had a tour of the area and then we were dropped near one of the two fish markets. The market had numerous stands and you requested the various selections of fish, shellfish and octopus. The variety was then lightly breaded and then deep fried. It was so fresh you could taste the ocean. After our lunch we wandered through the streets enjoying the sights of various churches and fountains. We made our way to the other fish market. This one was several blocks of various fish markets along with many side dishes. Most of the stands in this area were grilling the seafood and fish. ... read more

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel again. Fresh squeezed orange juice and a variety of eggs and breads and croissants and sweet treats along with some typical Italian meats. Cappuccino is also always a great way to start the day. After breakfast we headed to the archeological area in Naxos. We saw the tower that was built by the Greek about 300 to 200 B.C. And also a variety of anchors from the same time period. We walked to the port area. There was an Olympic torch monument there from the 1960 Olympics. After our morning walk we drove to Taormina. We drove to the hilltops and went to the church Madre Della Rocca. We had parked at the bottom so we had a hike up, but the view and the church built into ... read more

Arrived in Sicily today flying into the Catania airport via Rome departing initially from Chicago. We had one hour for our plane transfer in Rome. We did a quick walk through the airport and through immigration to get our passports stamped. We made it to our gate with about 25 minutes to spare. We checked in and then took a shuttle bus to the plane. Both flights were uneventful. Chicago to Rome was about 9 hours and then Rome to Catania was just over one hour. We landed in Catania and headed for the baggage claim area. Our suitcases were not there. This was not unexpected due to the short transfer time in Rome. We made our way to the missing bag/lost and found area and after waiting for several other groups of passengers submitting claims. ... read more

Mosaics en masse In the 4th century CE a large and elaborate Roman Villa, Villa Romana del Casale, was built in central Sicily. It is a bit surprising that they built it in central Sicily and not somewhere else. Today it is relatively easy to reach the site, thanks to modern roads and cars. But since it is quite far from the coast it still feels like a remote location. The closest town is Piazza Armerina which no more than maybe 21,000 people call home. Also in the fourth century there was some kind of settlement there but I guess this place must have been quite far away from everything. So why would anyone build a magnificent villa in the middle of nowhere? Was it a recluse who built it? One can only guess. The villa ... read more