White Almond Sicily

In my post last month “an English Daisy in Sicily” I introduced you all to our rescue dog Daisy who we adopted from All Dogs Matter in London. When we adopted her we vowed we would never leave her alone and that meant taking her to Sicily, this is the story of ‘The Puppy Road Trip’. As The Sixth Puppy Road Trip is closely approaching it is time to once again share our travels with one lucky rescue puppy from London to Sicily ….. Day One Relaxation after The Puppy Road trip The alarm goes off at 6am, my husband, Daisy and I embark on the first stage of our three day trip home to Sicily. We head to the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone where we board Le Shuttle to Calais. Eurotunnel  is totally Pet Friendly, as we arrive the staff in the check in kiosks make such a big fuss of Daisy the fact that she is excitedly hanging out of the window as if to say “I’m going on holiday” probably helps.  At the Eurotunnel terminal there is a generous fenced off ...

When our adopted Sicilian big brother called to say that he had found us the perfect Sicilian home we flew out to Sicily straight away. Mungibeddu (Beautiful Mountain) He met us at the airport and we headed straight there to view it, after seeing the interior we headed up to the roof terrace. It was dark by the time we had arrived so there was not much to see apart from a inky Sicilian night sky full of stars, however our Sicilian big brother assured us that there was views of the sparkling Ionian Sea, Castelmola, Taormina and of course Mount Etna. He told us the view of Etna was so spectacular that when she erupts we would be able to make toast. We loved what we saw so we decided to return the next morning to view everything in daylight, as we stepped out on the roof terrace there she was .... Mount Etna in her full glory smoking away. It was early December so Etna was covered in snow. That afternoon we went to meet the owner of the house and signed the papers to purchase ou...

Catania is Sicily's second largest city, in 1669 Mount Etna erupted and engulfed the city in lava. The city that exists today is built on top of the lava flow. Most people just think of Catania for the airport but the city is well worth a visit. Piazza del Duomo Catania is popular for its stunning Baroque architecture with most buildings being rebuilt making full use of the black lava giving it the nickname "The City of Black and White". The best starting point and main hub of Catania is Piazza del Duomo with its majestic cathedral and the symbol of Catania, a lava elephant carrying an Egyptian obelisk on its back which is said to bring the city good fortune. Lava Elephant From the piazza you can easily reach the famous Pescheria to enjoy the ambiance and smells of the fish market where the charismatic stall holders shout across to you enticing you to buy the finest fish they have just caught that morning. The market is loved by the renowned chef Rick St...

With sadness we left Panarea heading for Stromboli. Stromboli is a extremely active volcano which erupts roughly every 20 minutes. Sciara del Fuoco As our boat approached, the cone which thrusts out of the sea became larger and larger and we could see the smoke bellowing out of its main crater. The boat docked at Stromboli Town, it was similar to Panarea with typical Aeolian houses, Dolce and Gabbana have a home here. We disembarked and started to explore. Stromboli Town is very small and like Panarea has no cars except electric buggies. The main attraction is the house where Ingrid Bergman lived in 1949 whilst filming Stromboli, Terra di Dio. The director Roberto Rossellini fell in love with her here and they started a passionate affair. Some say that without the scandal during the filming, the film would have sunk into insignificance. Ingrid Bergman's House The big business on Stromboli is climbing the volcano, you can climb freely along the trails...

The Aeolian Islands ….. My first encounter with the Aeolian Islands was at 20,000 feet, the descent into Catania starts just above them. The seat belt sign came on “we are now making our descent into Catania, to the left you can see Stromboli and the Aeolian islands” I looked down and thought “Wow!!!”  There they were like gems in the sea with Stromboli puffing away. Two years ago my husband and I unintentionally renewed our wedding vows in Taormina and then decided to celebrate by booking ourselves a day trip to the islands of Panarea and Stromboli. So we arranged for a driver to take us to Milazzo and then boarded a boat to Panarea, passing by the islands of Vulcano, Lipari and Salina. Panarea is the smallest of the Aeolian Islands and the most exclusive and we could not wait to visit. As we approached the island the sea became more and more dazzlingly clear and Panarea’s secluded islets came into view with blinding white yachts anchored . Eventually we reached...