Naples and Sicily 2005

Flying to Milan

October 6th, 2005 by alephnaught

Flying to Milan

We ate breakfast and lunch at the hotel, with a little more shopping in the middle – I accidently broke Aviva’s sunglasses and so we went out looking for another pair. The hotel is very nice – I’d recommend it easily. We took a cab to the airport – its a long long way from […]

Monreale

October 5th, 2005 by alephnaught

Monreale

Today we got going slowly, did a small amount of shopping near the hotel, including finally getting Aviva a European current heating pad, and then took a cab up to Monreale. We arrived outside the Duomo in the main square in Monreale; Monreale is a small town on a hill about 8 kilometres outside of […]

Palermo

October 4th, 2005 by alephnaught

Palermo

Today we walked to a sporting goods shop to see if I could get a Palermo football jersey – they didn’t have XXL. The, it was over to the Liberte area to shop a little, then caught the City Sightseeing bus to ride around Palermo for an hour or so. We got off near the […]

Palermo – gruesome and amazing

October 3rd, 2005 by alephnaught

Palermo – gruesome and amazing

We rented a cab for the morning. We started out at the Catacombe dei Cappuccini, which has the mummified remains of over 800 Palermitans, including children; the last is a two year old girl in 1912. This was really eerie; the remains, sometimes with some flesh attached, are clothed and standing up or laying down, […]

Palermo

October 2nd, 2005 by alephnaught

Palermo

We woke at 7A and ate breakfast and showered and planned our day. We had planned to take a bus tour to Erice, Trapani and Segesta, but we’re just tired of sitting in buses and cars so we canceled. Instead, we took a cab over to the Palazzo Abbezia in the Kalsa, or old Arabic, […]

Arrival in Palermo

October 1st, 2005 by alephnaught

Arrival in Palermo

We got up and ate breakfast and then walked around outside the hotel a little. I wish Aviva had taken a dip in the pool – the view from the pool is incredible. We originally planned to take a train, but someone I respect at work as well as one of the tour guides on […]

Ragusa and Noto

September 30th, 2005 by alephnaught

Ragusa and Noto

We got up really early, 5:30, again so we could do an organized tour. This time it was just Aviva and I with a driver, a guide, and a Mercedes. We drove over 2 hours to Ragusa, stopping first at a little placed called Castello di Donnafugata. This wasn’t really a castle, but instead a […]

Taormina

September 29th, 2005 by alephnaught

Taormina

We got up late, ate, and walked up to the ancient Greek theatre. This required a pretty long uphill walk, including a long stairway. The theatre faces south, which is a traditional for Greek theatres in Sicily. You can climb all the way to the top of the rear, which unveils beautiful vistas of the […]

Siracusa and Catania

September 28th, 2005 by alephnaught

Siracusa and Catania

We woke very early at 5:30 and had breakfast that had been arranged by the hotel (regular breakfast starts at 7:30 and we had to be at the bus stop at 7:40). After eating we walked to the Byzantine Tombs (well, Bizantine Tumbs on the fax from the travel company). These are actually an unmarked […]

September 27th, 2005 by alephnaught

From Naples to Taormina

We woke up and had breakfast. We then couldn’t decide what to do, as we had a 17:35 flight to Catania, so we just walked around the hotel, did a little shopping, stopped for a good lunch at Cito di Santa Brigida, just down from the beautiful old covered shopping area. Our flight was uneventful, […]