Blogs from Sicily, Italy, Europe - page 35

Jenn and I met up with Laurie in San Vito lo Capo, Sicily just in time for the 14thannual Couscous Festival. For this 6 day festival, the town streets were flooded with people from all over the Mediterranean visiting tents that showcased wines, cheeses, olives and specialties from various countries throughout the region. There were street vendors set up selling knock off handbags, jewelry, and clothes of all sorts and men called “marquinos” trying to sell their random goods as they walked from person to person. The streets were also filled with live muscisians. In the Piazza, in front of the church, a large stage was set up where comedians, musicians and talk shows took place throughout the evenings. This particular year the theme for the Couscous Festival was Peace. Couscous is a staple food in ... read more

Finally after hearing to much about Mt Etna, I had a chance to see it up close and climb it. We were a bit disappointed because top of Etna was closed due to high activity. Well, was also lucky since you actually have a chance to see a volcano in action. We took a bus from Catania and reached Nicolosi. We booked our trip with Etna Tourism (highly recommended). They provided us with a really nice and knowledgable guide. His car was car of a guy who lived his life on dusty volcano mountain. He was in love with Mt. Etna and it was very clear. We drove to starting point and then took a cable car. There was a short hike up since the top was closed. On the way the guide explained to us ... read more

Monday 30th May to Sunday 12th June 2011 Monday 30th May 2011 Taormina/Letojanni Rest day as I now had symptoms of a cold as well as Tom. Tuesday 31st May 2011 Taormina/Letojanni Into Taormina to computer shop – but still no printer cartridges that I had ordered 3 weeks ago. Back to Letojanni village for a walk around. Started at the southern end of the village that we had not been to before and we found a shop that sold good beach chairs, snorkel and goggles, flippers and a towel - and they delivered them back to the campsite for us. Walked around some more, then back to the campsite to try out the beach chairs. The ocean had warmed up enough for me to go in for 5 minutes :-) . Finished packing up the ... read more

Our expectations for today were simple. No fancy shore excursions. We thought we could save $$$ and explore Sicily on our own. Boy did we luck out! A local guide directed us to a bus stop and for only 5 euros we had round trip transportation up the steep mountain to the enchanted little town of Taormina. It is most well known for its impressive Greek theatre that was rebuilt and expanded by the Romans. It is perched high above the Ionian Sea with Mt. Etna positioned as the backdrop to the stage. We learned much about the theatre and Sicily from an audio guide we purchased with our tickets to this archeological site. We also learned that this was the place/island of the cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. From the theatre we could see off ... read more

Monday 9th May to Sunday 29th May 2011. For the next 3 weeks, I am at school from 9am to 1pm. Monday 9th May 2011 Taormina/Letojanni Tom doubles me in to school on the motor scooter – slowly!!! Later he heads out to Messina on his bicycle. 30kms out into a strong head wind but 30km back flying with the wind. This is part of the route of Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia to be held on 15th May. I get home and after dinner do homework and Tom reads. This ebook was worth buying. We had a heavy rain storm this afternoon. The bus system is pretty lousy here. I have to catch a bus at 7.45am and it is a 20minute trip into Taormina. If I miss the bus there is not another ... read more