It was a long drive across the island from Palermo airport on Friday, but we finally made it (and before sundown at that!) to the apartment on a small organic citrus fruit farm in the foothills of Mt Etna along the Catania coast. This was no small achievement, given Sicilian driving etiquette and the challenge of working out how to use one of these modern automatic cars that randomly seem to switch to manual when you least need them to (i.e. when you need to accelerate away from danger.. a common occurence on this island!). Both the manual in the glove compartment and the messages that appear on the dashboard along with a piercing alarm bell whenever the car gets all uppity about some perceived driver error, are in Italian!! Not one of my languages... and certainly not helpful when said driver is used to a car that does what it is told, not the other way around.. :( Two days in.. I think (hope?!) I have worked out all the crafty tricks the car likes to play on unsuspecting foreigners - phew!
Upsides are: Sicily is stunning. The weather is hot hot hot! The food is unbelievably good and the farmer's wife bakes us divine Italian cakes and breads for breakfast every morning.. bliss :)
Mel at the Greek Theatre in Taormina
Sea life at Acque Grande, 20 mins scramble/hike from the apartment
Acque Grande (we are going to buy jelly shoes so we can paddle without being stung by the above creatures!)
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