Sicily

Sicily was the main event on our family's summer holiday's.  The goal:  hot weather and good food.  Sicily delivered both in spades.  Sicily is definitely rough around the edges.  Driving is lawless and even reminiscent of India.  People are kind and open, but also loud and brash.  Beautiful buildings between which lie dirty alleyways and shouting voices are the norm.  If you can up your travel game a bit, it's probably the most rewarding place to visit in Europe.  The food and the scenery are simply unmatched.  For all the amazing food found in Italy, the pinnacle of Italian cuisine is found in Sicily.  With our idyllic, comfortable villa in the stunning Sicilian countryside under the hot Sicilian sun as home base and the many culinary delights of Sicily within easy reach we were ready to move in.

At home in our villa in Sicily

The delightful meal our hosts left for us the first night in our villa, what a way to start the holiday!  Yum!  

Poolside was our favourite place to be.  A dream.

Outing to the raw city of Palermo.  The driving is rough, the roads are dirty, but easily the best meal of our Italian lives there!  And the first of many amazing granitas! 

Best.  Meal.  Ever.

The setting was dirty and loud, but the food!  Oh my!  The single best meal I have ever had in Italy.  And for a small price.  Amazing!

Great effort to find the best granita in Sicily behind the most unsuspecting door.  

Evening swim at the villa . . .

Reading, swimming, sunning, repeat. 

Beautiful Cefalu

At home in Sicily . . .

Saying goodbye to our gorgeous villa and onto eastern Sicily.

Petralia Soprana

Gorgeous Castiglione de Sicilia, a charming hilltop town near to our eastern Sicily hotel.  No map, no guide book leading the way, not a word of English here.  What a find!  

Taormina

Best granita on the planet. 

Syracusa

So sad to say goodbye!