Jun 10, 2012 - Dolce viaggio

We collected the car at Notorbartolo railway station in Palermo. 'Not Centro' said the Europe Car Office man on the phone when we eventually found the number and worked out how to call. 'Everyone always goes to Centro, Notorbartolo!' As one of the guests at breakfast observed, why doesn't someone do something about it if everyone always has that problem? Like make it clear on the website? But he was no doubt feeling particularly snaky that morning. Anyway the Europe car man was polite and helpful as we have found Sicilians in general, and...

Mar 31, 2012 - Syracuse

We arrived in Syracuse late yesterday afternoon. The old town is built on a small island called Ortygia, connected to the newer part of town by two, short bridges. The town was founded by the Greeks, who built a large temple of Apollo in the center of the island, which is still partly there. After checking into our hotel, Tommaso gave us a quick orientation walk of the historical center, ending down at the waterfront just as the sun was setting. It was a long day and I was ready to be rid of the tour members. Its a good group of people,...

May 17, 2011 - Mont Etna & Syracuse

We drove up to Mont Etna to check out the vulcan and saw several people riding their bikes to the top a 3000+ meters altitude gain ... good project for a next time, interesting that we arrived 2 days after the Giro de Italia climbed the mont and Ivan Basso added 15+ stitches to his face. and drove south to Syracuse, and old greek city were Archimedes was born. The old part of the city is in an island and has nice piazzas, churchs and old building.

Mar 19, 2009 - Down to the bottom of Sicily

Monday 16th March. Not a brilliant start but made our way onto the minor road to Syracuse to see a little local colour. The road wound its way through several towns and villages and it was interesting to see the locals in action. Half way to our destination we stopped at a café to buy lunch. The café was doing a roaring trade but did not look the most salubrious of places. After watching several truckers, a few businessmen, the prison guards and the police buy their sandwiches we were persuaded. The menu was restricted! The basic start was...