Sicily

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Trapani, Sicily

These travel notes are related to our trip to southern Italy, eastern Sicily and Etna. About Sicily Sicily is one of Italy's regions and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its territory is almost 26 thousand square kilometres (ten thousand square miles) and is similar to the size of such countries as North Macedonia and Albania. Almost five million people live in Sicily, which is about 8% of all Italian population. Unlike nowadays, Sicily has been very rich and powerful…

East of Sicily

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Noto, east Sicily

Visiting east of Sicily was a part of our trip to southern Italy and Etna. Arrival to Sicily We arrived to Sicilian town Messina on a ferry from Villa San Giovanny Imbrachi late in the evening. Messina id the third biggest city of Sicily. Crossing was pretty quick as there are only about ten kilometres between these towns by the sea. We might be very lucky as immediately after arrival at ferry port we got tickets and boarded the ferry…

Mount Etna in Sicily

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Mount Etna, Sicily

Visiting Etna volcano was a part of our trip to southern Italy and Sicily. Location and basic facts Mount Etna is an active volcano located in the eastern part of the largest Italian island Sicily, near Catania city. As many other active volcanos, it is located in the area between two large geological plates, Eurasian Plate and African plate in this case. Etna is active almost all the time. Height of Mount Etna is 3350 metres (10,900 ft) above the…

Southern Italy

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Southern Italy Visiting Southern Italy was one of the most psychologically difficult journeys. Why? Hard to even say. Perhaps, the approaching winter, the self-sufficiency of the Sicilians, the harsh climate of Sicily and the landscapes around with territories delimited. In any case, we had hoped for more than we experienced visiting several regions of the country. We decided to go to Sicily later again to understand this and experience more olive oil, pasta, and pizza. And who knows what else.…

Sardinia

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Real paradise on earth This was a very short and exciting trip in June 2010. The trip to Sardinia island, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, lasted only 4 days, although, considering that the sun is shining all day long in Sardinia, the sea is beautiful, and nature pampers everybody with warm evenings – even two weeks may be too short to enjoy all this beauty. Sardinia could be a place to return to again and again. Arrival to…

Italian cooking classes in Rome

Post category:Food Italy

This experience was part of our trip to Italian capital city Rome. After returning from our one-day long trip to Vesuvius, we had one more major attraction booked - cooking classes in Italian restaurant. Almost everybody around the world knows Italian food. Italian cuisine has been developing since ancient times and has spread around the world until nowadays. One of the main characteristics of Italian dishes is that it is usually simple to prepare a meal because just a few…

Central Italy

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Rome, Umbria and Vesuvius This was short trip, together with friends, to Umbria and Vesuvius in the second part of November, 2009 . We arrived to Rome by plane. In advance, we agreed rent of apartment in the centre of the city. Apartment was located just a few hundred meters from Vatican City, river Tiber and very close to many other attractions. A few days after arrival, we rented a car to reach another points of interest outside of Rome…

Verona, Sirmione and lake Garda

Post category:Italy Southern Europe

Verona One day, the weather in the Alps was extremely foggy and rainy, so we decided to go in southern direction to look for sun. In a such way, in a few hours, we reached Verona. Without any special plans for this visit, we found one of the most popular sites of Verona - amphitheatre. Verona, with a bit more than quarter of million inhabitants, is the second largest city municipality in the Veneto region and the third largest in…