Our plane to Munich is filling up with sleepy travelers; the attendant is making announcements, sounding a bit like a parody of every German spy movie ever made. “Mr. Sanchez. You vill come to zee front, pleez!” It is a German crew, following our Spanish crew from yesterdays layover in Barcelona. Despite strike warnings of …
Category Archives: Italy-2019
American or Italian
We met with our hosts for a walk to our favored Gelati shop in the piazza across from the city palace this afternoon. Yes, palace. The piazza, San Giovanni Square forms the center of a town of a hundred bells. I can hear most of them too. On one side of the piazza is the …
A home for $1.00 ?
I am referring to the scheme on offer here for you who want to have your own home away from the politics of America, or perhaps just want to dig into a home-renovation project. There is an article in Insider, by Tom Murray that speaks of the places here in Sicily, and the terms of …
My Edna Smokes
We are near one of the worlds active volcanoes. Our host recommended Paolo as a driver and guide, and with the promise of Lew and John going climbing up the side of the mountain, Elaine and I drove along, the plan was to be dropped off for some shopping, cappuccino, and perhaps a little down …
Andiamo to the Ancients
One main goal of being here was to more extensively visit Sicily, tasting it’s rich culture, enjoying its history and seeing its fabled beauty. Oh yes – the food too. We’ve done all four today. If we work hard, we can get out of the house by 10:30, although that is not what we did. …
Land of Crazy Drivers
Taormina was on our itinerary, and we took off, with a route in hand. The problem begins with getting out of here, where we are staying. It is not unusual to see scrapes on cars in Sicily, I’ve noted. Lots of cars have those horizontal scratches that tell you they’ve gotten too close to something. …
Sicily and its sweet center.
We are at our nearly last place of accommodation. Sicily. We took a spectacular ferry and drive. The island of Sicily is quite beautiful, as we were told. But, since we are doing some comparisons here – this place, this B&B is unlike anyplace we have stayed before. Acireale, near Catania, feels much like a …
Chianalea — cats, pirates and fishing.
We leave Scilla in the morning, probably before you will read this. Brother Bill is safely back to his routine in Cleveland, Robert and Elizabeth are probably in Venice, and the remaining four of us soldier onward south. This small fishing village connects through to the larger Scilla (pronounced Sheila). Lew just took this photo, …
Trulli – We truly do!
Leaving the amazing Matera yesterday, having peeked, poked, prodded and photographed everything that stood motionless. It was a short drive of slightly over an hour and a half to bring us through the Puglia countryside. Puglia’s whole look is different than the patchwork quilt of Bettola, or the hilly vineyards and plots of tomatoes of …
Matera Ciao, Bella!
We leave in the morning, after a short visit of about 36 hours. During our short time, we have left a moderate amount of money on food, a tour or two, some gratuities towards random musicians, staff, blind people, and church lights. It’s the way of it, right? We’ve walked a decent amount of steps, …