Blogs from Italy, Europe

Salve Sardinien! Nach einer gemütlichen 2-tägigen Anfahrt mit unserer ersten Übernachtung auf einem Agriturismo und dem Besuch des tollen Aquariums in Genua sind wir bei schönstem Sonnenschein in Olbia angekommen. Zu unserer ersten Unterkunft fahren wir durch die Berge, und die blühende Gebirgslandschaft ist wirklich schön. Die ersten 5 Tage sind wir auf einem Agriturismo im Osten der Insel untergebracht, zusammen mit 4 bis 15 weiteren Gästen, einer supernetten Gastgeberfamilie sowie einigen Kühen, Schafen, einem Esel, einem Pferd, mehreren Hunden, (Wild-) Schweinen mit Frischlingen, Pfauen, Puten und 2 Schildkröten. Es gibt einen gemütlichen Innenhof mit Sitzgelegenheiten und Olivenbäumen, und abends vor allem: seeeeehr viel zu essen! Natürlich alles selbst produziert. Exemplarisch am ersten Abend: als Antipasti Oliven, Schinken, Speck, Salami, eingelegter Blumenkohl, Artischocken... read more

Our day started early with a longish drive to the south and east of Venice to Ca Salvio. This route follows the coast and along a broad spit and avoids the inland route and the zoo that is Venice Island. Here we caught a ferry along the lagoon to Burano. We have been here before but it is such a pretty and interesting island that it is always worth another visit. As the day progressed it got to a much warmer than expected. 28 degrees. The shops are interesting and mostly containing the same items, however some are better than others. The glassware, jewellry, linen clothing, scarves and lace ware were colourful and of a good quality. We bought some items for ourselves and for Mum who is about to turn 99. The place was a ... read more

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