Author: simon

The forecast was for heavy rain all day, so we had visions of sitting on the terrace and occasionally dashing out armed with macs and umbrellas. The storm certainly came, with thunder, lightning and a torrential downpour for about half an hour, which was fun to watch from the comfort of our covered terrace.

Lecce

As Eileen said, if it was in another country or even in another part of Italy, Lecce would be a huge attraction. The weather was super kind (compared to our expectations), but it was quite hard to capture Lecce in photos but here goes ..

And an absolutely stonkingly good lunch (a sort of Puglian type of tagliatelle bolognaise although they wouldn’t dream of describing it as such).

Nardo

It rained, so we did our shopping. (Where we’re staying is lovely – more pics when the sun comes out) but soooooo quiet. Don’t know when the season starts, but there’s absolutely nothing open so we have to get supplies in when we’re out.

Even less well known than Lecce, but wonderfully diverting for an hour or so.

New York

Couldn’t resist a guest appearance

It’s only 4 weeks since we got back from Sicily, but who cares!

Allegedly, Puglia isn’t that well known, so we thought we would have a little expedition.

We had to set the alarm for an unearthly hour (3.30) for a flight to Brindisi. Which gave me memories (extremely hazy) of getting the ferry to Brindisi from Corfu in July 1976 as part of my gap year. It’s probably changed.

Anyway, early flights mean sensibly early arrival times (1.00) which gives us time for acclimatisation and siestas.

Great house by the sea. On a clear day there might be a fantastic sunset …

Woke up the next morning to an extremely bad weather forecast which certainly delivered first thing. Enjoyed sitting on the covered terrace watching the storm unfold.

Really easy journey.

• Food and coffee are absolutely terrific. Eileen even liked the pizzas.
• We’re persuaded that Sicily is due another trip – loved it.

Not far from the coast (it’s an island, so nowhere is that far away but we’re only 20 minutes away so wanted to explore).

Gorgeous.

Might be a wonderful place to stay in future, so went to explore the nearby village, expecting an old place with a lovely square around a church. But it was a modern monstrosity that didn’t merit even a stop!

Quick detour on the way back.

Noto’s Palace

And because Noto is so quiet in the evening, felt it was well worth heading back to Siracusa. Certainly worth it.

Last visited Siracusa in October 2012 (pre-blog), and my recollection was that I wasn’t overly keen. Successfully managed to reverse that opinion this time.

First to the archaeological site – warnings about the very limited parking, but that’s a plus about this time of year as we squeaked into the last space.

Then on to Siracusa – or more accurately the Isle of Ortigia which is where all the sites are.

Final place is Noto. Quite a long journey for Sicily

No real drama – even the coffee on the motorway services was amazing.

And yes – you can see Etna from most of the island.

Noto is lovely, but probably too quiet at this time of year.

And as I said, it was a bit too quiet. Only criterion for choosing a restaurant for dinner was that it be open. We found it – and it was great.

I’d seen a warning light when I picked the car up, but thought nothing of it. But when we got to Taormina it started getting more agitated and told me one of my tyre pressures was low. Found out that all Italian garages provide air for free, so topped it up and off we went.

But it happened again …

Long drive (170 miles) to Noto so topped it up and it did ok.

But it happened again …

This time more serious, as it was flat.

Topped it up again thinking we’re done in 2 days, but got to Siracusa (20 miles) and it happened again.

Found out that not all garages had air – tried 3 with no luck and stress levels rising with tyre pressure falling.

Eileen notices a tyre garage and they gladly topped me up. And then in a fit of decisiveness and using my best google translate, asked if they could fix a slow puncture and resigning ourselves to a new tyre if necessary.

Using our best powers of catastrophisation imagined trying to get to the airport on Friday with a flat tyre …

Here’s the culprit – 15 minutes and €15 euros was all it took.

Tyre pressure up, stress levels down!

Couldn’t resist some lovely pictures from our last evening in Cefalu.

After a couple of days we’re settled in to our quirky house (I’ve grown to like it; Eileen not so sure but happy with the terrace).

It’s time for some Cefalu pictures – we’ve been so lucky with the weather – sunny and warm in the day but gets chilly about 6.00. Busy enough, but it must be crazy in the summer. And the food has stood up well to the Sicilian tradition – pasta, pizza, cannoli have been most splendid.

….. and probably a bit of us overthinking – after all, it is a holiday.

Easy journey from Taormina to Cefalù

.. until we came off the motorway and the machine says the toll ticket is invalid. A remote conversation in my best Italian eventually shows a toll of €0.90 so put in €1, collect the change and …. nothing (apart from a small cacophony of horns from the growing queue). So in frustration feed in a €20 note, and get €22 change, and the barrier opens. Oh what adventures we have!!

Anyway, got to the house about 5 minutes later, a bit frazzled, and wouldn’t say we were horrified but a bit taken aback. Eccentric and hard to park. Also, it felt like it had been closed up all winter and so was a bit cold and damp and smelt of cleaning products.

But we’ve been won over – especially by the terrace.

And as we were later musing, what were the odds of it being easier to park in the centre of Taormina rather than a rural cottage in the seaside town of Cefalu.