For the 2nd time this year we are heading to Italy. We decided for a little week break in Sicily. We woke up in the middle of the night to catch our early morning flight to Catania. After check in, we just managed to have time for a coffee at the Montreux Jazz café. Upon arrival in Catania, and we looked for the Budget office to get our rental car, it was a little chaotic but we had time we were on vacation after all. We got a Fiat 500 Large, I did not even know it existed. 
We headed for Syracuse, an uneventful journey until we reached the city where we started to experience the Sicilian driving style. We managed to find a parking spot in the center and we started visiting the old town while looking for a restaurant. We found a small hidden terrace for a pizza. We hanged out a little bit before leaving to find our little B&B on the seashore. The traffic was completely overloaded but fortunately our GPS brought us to our destination. The place was absolutely beautiful. We took a nap before trying out the pool. We asked for advice for our evening meal and we spent a wonderful evening on a terrace by the sea.
The next day, after a very good breakfast, we headed to the Greek Theatre. This is where I learned my lesson, in the US, the very minimum is to settle for the audio guide during an archeological visit. The visit was great, the site beautiful, the heat was close to suffocating. Then we started walking towards the archaeological museum, stopping on the way for a quick bite. We were pleasantly surprised by the meal, as usual in Italy should I say. After the museum we went towards the old town, we visited these typical old narrow streets, we admired the Carvaggio’s paintings, before stopping on a terrace for aperitif. We found a small restaurant with a terrace in one of this bucolic old street.
The next day we left our charming little B&B. We had decided to make a short stop in Avola before driving up the coast towards Taormina. We tasted some local specialties, tapenade, local olive oil and of course some local wines, unsurprisingly everything was excellent. Then we drove up the coast stopping on the way to eat a quick bite. Wendy discovered that the small portion of the seafood platter can feed a family of five.
Upon arrival in Taormina, the hotel was a small family business. Unfortunately I was starting to experience the effect of a small cold. We decided to let the car parked at the hotel and to use taxi for the coming days. The village was absolutely amazing, we visited the old streets by foot, before finding a nice little restaurant for dinner. The next day we started by enjoying the morning at the pool before leaving for the village in the middle of the afternoon, I had to find a pharmacy to get over my cold.
We kept strolling in these old streets and visited these small local shops. The next day we spent all day in the village and we visited the Roman theatre, with the audio guide of course. This place was awesome and was home to fantastic restaurants... It was time to leave Taormina and head towards Etna.
We stopped to eat a quick bite in a seashore restaurant before making our way via small roads to our B&B. The place was charming, but the village was not to be reckoned with. That said we managed to find incredible restaurants in this small village, what a nice surprise. The next day we booked an excursion on Etna with volcanic guides ... We went to see the 4th crater which was active, explosions were regular and we saw rocks and smoke being projected.
The scenery was lunar. The hike was quite long especially since Wendy received one shoe with a size down that she requested because it was wrongly labelled. Back at the B&B, we had a drink on the terrace before going to eat in a very good restaurant. The next day we headed towards Catania, we arrived late morning, we visited the local farmer market and the city before checking into our hotel, and we just barely avoided the storm. This was our last evening, we ate in the next door hotel. We came back early of our early morning flight. Return flight was on time we made a stop in Lausanne before getting Woofie in Bex. We are looking forward to the next holidays.
