Sicilia

It had been a long time since I last went back to Italy to travel.

And these two pleasant weeks in Sicily confirmed what I already knew: that you don’t need to fly to the other end of the world to discover beautiful places!

On October 30th, I left Paris at freezing point and stepped into an exceptionally warm Palermo (30 degrees Celsius!)

Gianluca and Olga were in Palermo for the week-end, so it was a great opportunity to catch up with them and with Michele, who is currently back home in Sicily for work.

In addition to eating huge amounts of delicious food, we visited some nice spots of the North-Western tip of the island and swam in the sea at the Natural Park “Lo Zingaro” (in November!).

On November 3rd, my friend Marco from Cesena joined me and for the next 10 days we moved on to the South-Eastern corner of Sicily, stopping in Cefalu, the Madonie Mountains and Piazza Armerina on our way there.

We rented some bicycles and cycled from Siracusa to the baroque town of Noto and the Southernmost tip of Sicily.

We spent the last 2 days in an “Agriturismo” near Mount Etna, managed by Chiara, a friend of our schoolmate Caterina. The view from Chiara’s vineyards on the volcano and Mounts Nebrodi was stunning, and our stay at the farm felt refreshing and inspiring.

Given the season, it was not possible to hike to the top of Etna, but walking on some past lava flows was still quite impressive!

After a quick stop at Taormina to enjoy the breathtaking view from the Greek Theatre, it was a quick jump back to reality when my return flight was cancelled due to a sudden Alitalia strike.

Click below for pictures