Sicily and the Aeolian Islands
 

I am cheating a little here by marking this as a trip report, as it is merely a very short summary. I did take notes, but when I wrote them up, I found I was onto my 10th typewritten page – far too long for a Fodor’s posting,. I have put the full text onto my website, and have links at the bottom of this post.

For the first two weeks of May my beloved and I visited Sicily. It was our second trip to the island, the first being six years ago. We based ourselves in Cefalú at the same apartment that we had rented on our previous visit. The apartment is great; a sort of studio flat with one living room, kitchen facilities and a small but well fitted bathroom. The biggest plus is a balcony with a great sea view.

The trip got off to a poor start: I had a minor accident on the first day, scraping the paint off the passenger door of our rental car when I misjudged a tight corner when trying to avoid a stream of pedestrians.

Unlike our first trip to Sicily in 2005, this was very much a distressing holiday, and we didn’t do a great deal of exploring. We spent the first week doing virtually nothing except walking on the beach, sunbathing, swimming and eating at restaurants. We did make one trip up into the mountains that form the Parco delle Madonie.

During the second week we spent a couple of days on Lipari (one of the Aeolian Islands) and took another trip up into the mountains. My personal highlight was probably riding a 125cc scooter around Lipari, stopping to take photos of the amazing views across to the other Islands.

Overall we had a very enjoyable holiday, and returned home significantly more relaxed,

http://microbes.110mb.com/sicily/2Sicily0.html (trip report)
http://tinyurl.com/42y87ze (Photographs)

this was very much a distressing holiday>>

I'm very sorry to read that willit.

or perhaps you mean a "de-stressing" holiday, in which case I'm very pleased for you!

willit

Your Tuesday 3rd May segment sounds so familiar to some of our driving experiences in Sicily. I am sorry but I laughed out loud at your adventures behind the wheel. (But I do commiserate about the damage).

Here, you can laugh at me: See: Day 11 Tuesday June 2 http://members.rennlist.org/imcarthur/modica.htm

Is your satnav a TomTom by any chance?

Ian

I dinged the rental car in Sicily as well, my first trip there this March. Feels good to be in such illustrious company. Now I'm off to view your photos and read your report--I loved that crazy island! Thanks in advance for providing more fuel for my fantasies.

"annhig on May 30, 11 at 12:03am

this was very much a distressing holiday>>

:-)

The curse of Spell checkers and not paying attention to what I am typing!

"Is your satnav a TomTom by any chance?"

Ian, funny you should ask that. Yes SHE is!
(I enjoyed your trip report - our sat navs are obviously sisters!

My previous device was voiced by what could only be described as an English upper class headmistress. You could almost imagine the subtext. "Perform a U Turn as soon as it is safe to do so (You imbecile - why am I even bothering when you are obviously too stupid to follow directions)"

"Perform a U Turn as soon as it is safe to do so (You imbecile - why am I even bothering when you are obviously too stupid to follow directions)">>

our satnav [which has exactly the same patronising tone] once told us to do the self-same thing, which was very puzzling as we were driving along a single carriageway country lane, not a dual carriageway, where that instruction might have made some sort of sense. Eventually we came upon a very sharp right-hand bend which had her ladyship shouting at us "turn right, turn right" and realised that "she" had completely misread the road.

I'm sorry to say that we turned her off.

I currently use a rasta voice that yells at you (Antiqua, I think). I got really sick of the upper crust woman.

As to your comments about not going back . . . I agree. The 2nd time never has the same magic. While there is comfort in a known destination, it lacks the thrill of discovering it for the first time.

Ian

Ian, loved your trip report and pictures. My husband shares your feeling about tours - no way, not happening and we both share your GPS sentiments. We have been to Italy twice and travelled by train as driving isn't a very relaxing vacation for Willie. We'll be doing our Sicily travel (Taormina, Lipari, Modica, Ortigia) by bus/train/ferry so that will be OUR adventure!