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Published: June 16th 2006
Sicily
Looking to Sicily from CalabriaWe had decided to head across to Sicily for a week as we had heard it was an interesting place. On our way to the ferry we stopped at Palmi, another coastal village. My grandmother used to go there for her holidays from Plati. It was a beautiful spot but the town was very busy!
We were a little sad leaving Calabria as we felt we should have spent longer there. Sicily was a new adventure…in more ways than we thought.
We arrived in Messina just after lunch and had planned to head down the east coast towards Taomina and Siracusa. We drove along the coast disappointed at the beaches and towns we went through. Taomina was very busy and situated on top of a very high hill. We drove briefly through and decided it was too difficult to stop there and headed to Siracussa. This place had been recommended to us by some Americans we met. There was a farmstay we had been recommended to so we headed there but alas no beds!
We went back into Siracussa and started looking for hotels…not a great thing on a Sat evening! Found a great Residence that was a
Sicily 2
Arriving in Messina converted palace. It was not overly flash but suited what we needed..we were getting desperate!
Sunday we wondered around the old part of the city which was very interesting. We decided we’d head out of there Monday and travel up to the north coast and see what we could find. Heading north we passed Catania where there are four oil refineries..It seemed that the Italians send all there oil south to be processed. The environment was dirty and polluted and the rubbish lying around was shameful!
The further we drove the more disheartened we became so we decided to change our car ferry booking to Naples for Mon night and head to the Amalfi coast for our last 5 days before Rome.
We had to drive to Palermo to the ferry and check and see if we were able to change! I could not have imagined what we would have done had we not been able to get on that boat! Palermo is not a place I would like to be left in!! Once again, we were lucky and boarded the ferry for our overnight trip to Naples. That little adventure is another story!
We arrived in
Sicily 3
Helen's find! Our accommodation in Saracusa Naples yesterday morning @6.30 and headed for Amalfi for breakfast. Francesca (our travel agent friend from the farm) had given us the name of a girl in Amalfi who could find us some accommodation. Rossella was fantastic. She reminded us a lot of Michelle, Mark’s sister. Rossella also has the internet café in Amalfi and is the effervescent 25-30 year old gorgeous Italian girl.
So where are we staying on the Amalfi Coast?? In a town called Minori, next along from Amalfi, on the cliff overlooking the coast to the east, Ravello on the north, and lemon groves behind and next to us. We climb 163 steps to our front gate..no car access and we have a 2 storey house set in amongst lemon groves which is spacious and homely. The views are breathtaking and at night time the hills turn into a sea of fairy lights. Last night they even put on a fireworks display for us!......Yes we have fallen down the toilet and come up with not only a gold chain but a plumber’s license…and the guardian angel has worked overtime!
Helen
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JET
julia thorpe
gee, life's tough
Hi guys Sicily or Amalfi...looks like you took the easy option! Just worried Mark might have lost his glass of wine over the edge and knocked out a couple of those card players! Love to all Lynne