London revisited

There were a lot of unknowns on the journey on Tuesday 14 October, filled with critical deadlines (return hire car, check-in bags, board the plane to London/Gatwick, meet the apartment agent in London within a chosen 90-minute time slot) but all went relatively smoothly as we'd put some generous reserve into the overall time plan. The time reserve was gradually but only partially used up by a couple of unexpected road diversions (Siri re-routed successfully), heavier traffic than expected before we got onto the autostrada and some difficulty in finding the exact place to return the Europcar rental (opposite side of the entrance road than we were told, and not signed very well). Our easyjet aircraft was slightly late in arriving and thus departing but the captain assured us that he'd try to make up the time and did so, so that we landed at Gatwick only five minutes after the published ETA.

After the quickest ever processing for us through any airport border gate, including in Australia, the Gatwick Express train delivered us at 120kph through gloomy but green southern London so that we arrived at the old but venerable London Victoria rail station a full hour before my self-imposed deadline.

The 90-minute pre-arranged slot for meeting the agent at the property near Hyde Park was from 4:30pm to 6:00pm and we rolled up at the front door, relaxing luxuriously in a Black Cab, at 4:25pm. As it happened, the accommodation agent was also just arriving and we met on the doorstep, as she (a Spanish lass called Jessica) realized that we, with our two suitcases, were probably the new tenants. Soon afterward we were being shown around the small apartment, in the back portion of an Edwardian building which presented quite a pleasant face to the street.

It's been quite a few years since we were in London and it was great to be back. Even though the sky was overcast, the streets around us were humming with activity and vitality. Dinner that first evening was at a relaxing nearby pub, only a few minutes stroll from the apartment, where we sat indoors at a table looking straight out through a big window onto the busy street, with every race on earth moving past on foot, in cars and on bicycles.

Wednesday morning. This morning was museum day with Mary visiting the V&A while I achieved a long term ambition to grace the halls of the Natural History Museum. These two are adjacent, just south of Hyde Park (while our apartment is on the opposite edge of the park) and so we set off on foot through the park, with umbrellas on board, but didn't get far before we were pulling out the cameras and soaking up the ambience. So here's a pictorial of the remainder of the day and the next. London is seriously impressive.

Mary, closest to the camera, approaching the wildfowl venue Round Pond, near Kensington Palace.

Queen Victoria's statue in front of Kensington Palace, where she was living when told she was to be queen. Note the ability to use a mobile phone or tablet to deliver a spoken commentary on Queen Victoria, while standing at the site, or anywhere else for that matter. You can hear the commentary on your mobile device (or possibly a desktop computer) at this link.

The amazing Albert Memorial on the left and the Royal Albert Hall opposite.

A seriously ornate but effective gilt fence separates the general public from the artistic treasures of the Albert Memorial.

Here a couple of north American tourists pause on their rented bicycles, very popular and available in untended racks in many places in central London, to take pictures of the memorial.

On the way to the museums, just strolling along London streets, south of Hyde Park.

The imposing entrance hall of the Natural History Museum. That's a white marble statue of Charles Darwin gazing down on the scene.

Life size model of a blue whale in the mammal section. Amazing! As were the models of a huge variety of marine mammals which were suspended from the ceiling in realistic poses.

Kids posing for a picture with Darwin's statue (Natural History Museum).

Kids even younger, part of a small school group, listening attentively to a museum staffer explaining the dinosaur whose skeleton dwarfs all of them in the entrance hall.

As earlier arranged, Mary and I were reunited on a nearby public bench in the street after two hours of individual perusal of our respective interests (no photos allowed in the V&A). Here we ate our cut lunch and then decided to continue walking toward the SE corner of Hyde Park (called Hyde Park Corner) to visit Apsley, the home of the first Duke of Wellington, the victor in the Battle of Waterloo, as he was in other battles against Napoleon.

The large dining room inside Apsley, where Field Marshall Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington held annual dinners with his fellow Army officers to commemorate their achievements on the battlefield.

By now our legs were beginning to ache with all of the walking and standing around on hard surfaces, and rain was threatening so we turned our attention to heading for our apartment near the diagonally opposite side of Hyde Park, probably two to three kilometres away.

Map of Hyde Park showing the main features, but not showing the myriad foot and cycle trails criss-crossing the space, which has groves of large trees interspersed with wide open grassed spaces.

Mary, at the eastern end of The Serpentine, a body of water deliberately created around 300 years ago for the benefit of Londoners. Note she's made some purchases at the V&A Museum shop.

One of the graceful residents of The Serpentine posing for the camera. There are also many Canada geese in residence and two of these can be seen on the water's edge in the background of this pic.

The next day we'd allocated to visiting Buckingham Palace to view the guard change and to generally meander around central London. Sunny skies greeted us and we took the Tube from the nearby Bayswater Station to ease the strain on our aching limbs, alighting, after a change of trains, at Green Park station and walking south to the Palace through the park. Here's another pictorial of the day's main events.

The palace hasn't changed much over the years, since I first saw it as an eight year old just before emigrating to Australia.

View looking NE from the Palace along the lake in St James' Park, toward Horse Guards.

After a long wait, the mounted part of the guard arrived right in front of us, having travelled SW down the Union flag-bedecked Mall and turned clockwise around the monument.

Afterward we sauntered NE along The Mall, away from the palace. Looking east we could clearly see the Clock Tower, while in the foreground the sunny skies had encouraged the deck chair entrepreneurs to display their wares (£1.50 per hour).

We headed for Trafalgar Square, which I don't think I've ever visited before. On the steps in front of the National Gallery we sat down with lots of others, Londoners and visitors, and ate our lunch, which we'd brought from our apartment.

Lunch time in Trafalgar Square. Mary's in the pic, as is a very large and quite new statue of a rooster.

Lunch over, pretty quickly, we split up again, Mary to visit the National Gallery, directly behind us in Trafalgar Square, while I headed off toward the Thames, just meandering wherever I felt like going, until two hours elapsed, by which time we were to meet again on the lunch steps.

Houses of Parliament and the Clock Tower (aka Big Ben) with Westminster Bridge at right.

A different perspective on the London Eye, whose entrance queue was a couple of hundred passengers long. Looking almost vertically from below.

Another view of Trafalgar Square, with a close up of the beautifully crafted and monstrous rooster.

And another, Nelson gazing south toward the seat of political power.

By way of a summary (as time precludes the inclusion of any further material), let me just say that London has been an excellent place to visit for us. There are plenty of things to see and do, but I was seriously impressed by the Natural History Museum, and just enjoyed strolling around London and bumping into unexpected landmarks and memorials, while mixing with the crowds of tourists from every possible country, mainly young people, clearly enjoying themselves. London's not a bargain destination, but well worth a visit, even a second or third.

Tomorrow we're taking the Heathrow Express from nearby Paddington Station to catch our flight home. This whole trip has been interesting and enjoyable for us and it looks like we're going to make it home safely and in two pieces, as we started.

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. In most parts of Sicily this connection has been good. As you'd expect, the cellular connection in London is excellent. There are quite a few WiFi options available too although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.

Taormina ticked off

Written Wednesday 15Oct14

With only two full days in Pedara we used up the second day with the almost obligatory Taormina visit. In BC times the Greeks from Syracuse, which we visited just the other day, decided that a particular coastal headland was so spectacular that they'd have to make a tourist resort there. This project was centred on a large open air theatre with arguably one of the most amazing backdrops possible on the planet. Predictably, though, with the passage of time, those pesky Romans came along and decided to upgrade the theatre, using their own bricks, common wherever the Romans built or rebuilt.

As previously mentioned, our plan was to drive to the beach at the base of the precipitous feature on which the theatre and tourist village are built, and there park the car and ride the cable car to the top. This all worked perfectly, although there were predictable uncertainties about the parking, where the cable car tickets should be bought, and when the cable car would be running. It's a bit like being gun-shy. Deal with Italian systems, and you're always ready to grope for alternatives as things are not likely to go exactly as you may presume they will. But in this case they did, although there was some confusion over where and how to pay for the car parking.

This pic, taken at the theatre, shows the town of Taormina in the background, below the theatre but high above the adjacent coast.

Much of the ancient base of the theatre was today obscured by plastic seating and a wooden stage, installed for modern theatre goers to enjoy staged entertainment, but spoiling the effect for day visitors. The only thing that the theatre has going for it is the magnificent setting, but industrial haze mostly obscured the distant peak of Mount Etna, just visible if you knew where to look.

Looking to the north. Very hazy, probably as a result of the heavy industries, such as oil refineries, operating in the vicinity, and exacerbated by the lack of a breeze.

The Roman bricks were used by the Romans to fill in the spaces between the pillars erected by the Greeks.

From the theatre, we found our way to the delightful modern Public Garden, situated lower on the southern face of the peak which contains the town.

Guess what. We encountered a gift shop or two on the way out. Mary closely examined the offerings.

The garden is well worth a visit and there's no entry fee.

We ate our cut lunch in one of those brick and terracotta structures in the garden and then headed back for the main part of town where Mary spent another 30 minutes or so wandering around while I sat in the shade in the piazza and watched the hordes of tourists working their way up toward the main attraction. In my opinion the theatre at Segesta was much better than that at Taormina. Mary thought the small main town itself, which is adjacent to the theatre, was splendid, and reckoned she'd be happy to spend a week there (possibly a small fortune, too).

Later, safely back at our apartment in Pedara, our hosts Cristina and Ninni invited us into their apartment occupying the floor below ours so that we could see some of the original structure of the building and partake of a dolcé delight put together by Cristina. I asked Ninni if I could see the balcony on which shrapnel killed a family member in WW2. To my surprise the shrapnel had left a fist-sized scar in a stone pillar and this remains to this day. It also turned out that the person killed was Ninni's grandfather, which I hadn't known before.

Our last night in Pedara, after sharing our sole remaining bottle of Sicilian red with our hosts on the rooftop as the sun set, we didn't bother with going out to dinner, having been partially filled up already with Cristina's dolcé and the last of our cheese and bikkies.

And the next day, Tuesday, was totally dedicated to getting from Sicily to London (see next post for how we went).

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. In most parts of Sicily this connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available too although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.

Near Mount Etna

Written Sunday 12Oct14, Pedara, Sicily

But first, the events of our two final days at Modica, two hours's drive SW of here. Saturday 11Oct was moving day, but we hadn't yet seen the coastal area just south of Modica. So Thursday we headed out, driving our rented black Opel through the skinny local roads which I'm convinced are an everlasting feature of this part of Europe. With nearly two weeks under my Sicily driving belt I feel I'm starting to get the hang of the local driving culture, but it's still stressful, I must admit.

Anyway, the drive around the Modica coast area was a doddle compared with what we were about to face further north. And this time I packed my swimming togs.

Cava d'Algila, the first place we stopped, because the car park was empty and there were only a few sunworshippers basking like seals on the beach. Pic courtesy Google Earth.

Mary's pic, taken while I was getting ready to take a dip.

As at Castellammare del Golfo, the water was warm, and the sand fine. No surf today, but I suppose a rideable wave might occur from time to time. The fringe of the beach was lined with litter and building rubble from the deteriorating concrete esplanade, but overall the experience was pleasant enough for us to purchase our daily gelati (a habit we'll have to drop, for the sake of our waistlines) at the tiny, untidy, friendly beach bar. On the horizon at least one oil rig was visible, many kilometres out to sea.

Having managed to kill several hours in this exploration process we headed back home for a nap before dinner, again successfully negotiating the traffic, but still taking a wrong turn on the way in to Modica. This error was easily corrected, however, as iPad-dwelling Siri (we now refer to her as "she") did a recalculation as soon as she realized that a turn around was out of the question.

Thursday night we tried a new somewhat more expensive restaurant, and still good quality, where we briefly fell into the company of a group of US citizens (youngsters, all under 50) who were cycling together around Sicily. Friday we stayed close to home; didn't even disturb the car in its secure nearby parking spot. Dinner once more, and for the last time at the cheap but excellent trattoria up the dark alley I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Off to bed early as we had an early start, being compelled to leave our accommodation by 10:00am.

To Pedara

Our first views of Catania, as we approached from the south, started a feeling of trepidation, as we could see that the whole area, from the coast westward, was heavily developed. In Sicily, this generally means road chaos, as new buildings go up and old buildings stay; the road network, evolving from horse and cart needs, is forced to cope with the age of the motor car without augmentation. And so it proved as we found when we took the exit from the relatively tame autostrada into the jungle of back streets leading to Pedara, and all other villages to the west. On exiting I was horrified to discover that the exit ramp space, to our right as normal, was also used by traffic entering the autostrada from behind us. So the on-ramp and the off-ramp shared the same piece of unmarked bitumen. Cars simply weaved in and out and headed for their respective destinations. Once off the autostrada (pulse rate up, already) we began the tortuous snaking trail up toward the summit of Mount Etna, which we could occasionally sight as we followed Siri’s spoken instructions. Siri can NOT pronounce Italian, so the words come out as if from a machine (which it is, of course). So the Siri-spoken instruction to turn right at "via Sacerdote Alfio Barbagallo" (I am not making this up) would be hilarious if one was simply listening and not simultaneously dodging all other traffic and buildings which seem to jump into the street and also making judgements as to exactly which street of the several in close proximity this is (especially difficult as the notices carrying the ridiculously long street names have long-since eroded and fallen off).

Complicating this was the knowledge, conveyed using email by our forthcoming and computer-literate host, that some of the narrow streets marked as one-way by the databases of the world's road maps were now in fact one-way in the other direction. This knowledge helped enormously but forced us to stop several hundred metres and several times short of the target and then wend our way a step at a time by old-fashioned map reading using the iPad maps. This worked a treat and before long I rounded a 120° corner, all of 3.5m wide with sharp concrete corners, and sighted our accommodation facing the other end of the heavily cobbled street, 200 metres away.

Where we're staying.

Ninni and Cristina, a couple a little younger than we are, own this and live there on the first floor. They rent out two apartments in the building, with the help of their son Giuseppe, who is the only person in the household who speaks English (unfortunately, Giuseppe is away for the weekend, as we eventually discovered after some confusion). Never mind, they were very welcoming and pleased to see us (not half as much as we were to see them!). The second floor apartment is spacious, historic, comfortable, with views and access to a viewing platform which doubles as a flat roof, for the entire building. There's even a tiny modern lift which travels very slowly but is useful for getting the luggage up the two floors. We tend to use the wide marble stairs because we need the exercise, and besides, we've been warned never to use the phone-less lift if there's no one else in the house, in case it breaks down, and we're stuck forever or until the owners return from holidays. God, imagine getting stuck in the lift, even if it or we had a phone, given the language difficulties. Probably we'd phone Australia.

That evening, after acquiring the necessary supplies at the local supermarceto we sampled the rooftop viewing platform. And what a view it is.

Gazing at the smoking Mount Etna, wondering if it will go bang at any minute.

We agreed that this is one of the better views we've had from the numerous apartments and hotels we've stayed in. Etna was enshrouded with afternoon haze (there's a lot of smoky industry down at the nearby coast) but we hoped for, and were rewarded with, a better view in the morning.

Then it was off to participate in the Mushroom Festival, just down the road and around the corner. As usual, there was virtually nothing happening until 7:30pm, by which time we had settled into an al fresco pizza and a half litre of the house red while watching the passing parade.

The nearby scene

Pine tree in the park, well illuminated

Interesting history of the house

The house which includes our apartment has a poster outside on the wall proclaiming its history, but it was the family history, contained in an information file in the flat, which particularly interested me. Built by the Cavarallo family, which surname Ninni, Cristina and Giuseppe share, the building was closely involved, and indeed blooded, in World War 2 action. In August 1943, the then owner and ancestor of Ninni was on his balcony keeping an eye on a nearby battle between invading British Army elements and defending German Army troops when a stray British shell (alleged, but certainly possible) struck nearby, killing him with its shrapnel.

I did not know this before arriving here, but I had dug out a couple of historic images from WW2, bent on actually viewing the pictured locations, if possible.

This from a British Army unit's website, captioned "Tanks of 'A' Squadron in the piazza at Pedara, Sicily 1943."

My picture taken at the same location, 71 years later. The buildings remain the same.

Sunday, the morning air was clearer. Up to the rooftop we went, after brekky (cereal and coffee, self-prepared) to enjoy better views of Etna.

Etna, still smoking and not noisy at all. Note that for several months of the year the mountain carries a snow cap.

And a couple of other views of the town, in which the Mushroom Festivities continued.

The inhabited area creeps perilously close to the mountain.

View from our balcony, leading off the small kitchen.

Tomorrow we plan to take a drive to Taormina, famed "mecca" for every tourist to Sicily. We plan to drive to the foot of the cable car, at Mazarro Beach (about an hour), park the car, ride the cable car up to the heights, return on it, retrieve the car and return to our apartment. The PPPPPP principle has been observed, so we should be OK.

Then Tuesday is a big day. We start here in Pedara, drive to Catania airport, refuelling the car enroute, drop the hire car, check in, catch an 11:00am plane to Gatwick, negotiate UK Border Control, retrieve baggage, jump on the Gatwick Express, then get a taxi from London Victoria station to our last apartment (arrive by 18:00 at the latest), which we've booked for four nights. We'll try to fit another blog post in while in London.

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. So far, in Sicily, the connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.

Villa Romana Del Casale, and Modica

Written Thursday morning, 09Oct, in Modica

After visiting Syracuse on Monday we opted for Tuesday to just hang around Modica and get to know it a little better, including taking a long lunch at a restaurant and making that our main meal for the day.

Again the sky was clear, and the sun heating the air so that by mid afternoon a temperature of 26°C could be expected. Rather than stick together, Mary and I went our separate ways, agreeing to meet at the obvious mid-town junction about ten minutes away. Mary had targetted the shops while I was intent on exploring the back streets for hidden gems of restaurants, starting with the high ground and working my way down to the valley floor.

View of Modica, looking NW, with one of the main streets prominent down below, at left.

At several vantage points I had the opportunity to peer down onto the roofs of the houses stacked apparently randomly below me. This space here is likely typical of the unseen open spaces which many of the homes possess.

Another view of Modica, this time looking toward the SW and the massive 300m high viaduct from which the occupants of SS115 traffic enjoy an aerial view of Modica.

My restaurant hunt was successful and so was Mary's shopping foray, which latter event put a predictable dent in our holiday savings. We met up successfully and headed for one of my finds, Basilico, named after Basil Fawlty. No, I was lying, after basil, the leafy plant that's eaten raw by humans.

Basilico was just opening at 12:30, as they do, for three hours or so before closing again until 7:30pm. Seating outside was appropriate given the weather so we did and settled down under a large shade umbrella overlooking a quiet tiny piazza packed with parked cars and only 50m or so from the main street. Lunch was delicious, and relatively inexpensive, and the Sicilian rosé we chose proved perfect for the meal.

According to Mary, who had one, the dessert was spectacular.

The remainder of the day was given over to doing nothing, except having a glass of wine on the balcony as the sun went down behind the roofs of ancient nearby Modican residences.

While researching this trip we'd become aware that a visit to an excavated Roman villa near the small town of Piazza Armerina should not be missed, if possible. Donna and Bob Bean confirmed that finding and so we elected to get to the site on the Wednesday, if at all possible.

This decision having been taken we set off from Modica at 9:45am, facing previously untried roads on a two-plus hour trek toward the NW, using many different main and not-so-main roads. Despite our worst fears, the journey turned out to be not so difficult, with only a couple of minor deviations from track as we encountered roads which were unknown to the roads database and one which the database said was there but we couldn't see, despite perfect visibility.

And so we arrived, on time around noon, at Villa Romana Del Casale. Numbers of large buses in the car park confirmed that we'd got to a place which was a big drawcard for tours. The car park had plenty of space and so we joined the throng heading for the entrance gate (€14 per person, no seniors' discount) past the inevitable displays for sale of tacky souvenirs of Sicily.

Our priorities were to find a toilet then a shady place with a seat where we could eat our usual delicious home-prepared ham and tomato roll. These done, we then ventured forth to what turned out to be a remarkable display. The villa was built by what must be assumed to have been a wealthy and influential Roman in the early AD period, about 1800 years ago. After the Roman empire fell apart, the villa was used off and on by the remaining indigenous people and their farm animals who made no improvements to it. At some stage it was buried fortuitously in a landslip. Archeological exacavations in the 19th and 20th centuries discovered a treasure trove of Roman architecture with the most amazing feature the extensive decoration of floors using mosaics, possibly the world's best remaining on view today. Some pics:

Not the villa, but a farmhouse overlooking the villa. Perhaps materials and/or ideas from the villa were used in its construction?

The mosaic images and designs are believed to have been created by artisans from northern Africa. To us it seemed that the mosaic material was marble, in a huge variety of colours.

Viewing access to the floors was mainly via roofed suspended walkways, giving an excellent view, while preserving the mosaics for the future. The best mosaics are all under a modern roof, based on the original villa's structure.

Portion of an entire room floor. These people were into hunting and fishing and the created designs reflect that.

Young women engaged in sporting competition, with the winner being offered a laurel branch, symbol of the victor.

The most amazing part of the preserved mosaics was an entire floor area 60m long (200 Roman feet) and about 8m (my estimate) wide. This depicted the process of capturing and transporting live wild animals to Roman cities where they would be used live in spectacular events in the various stadia, such as the Colosseum in Rome. This pic slightly distorted due to the camera location.

Part of the above mentioned tableau, an elephant being "encouraged" to board a ship.

Villa Romana Del Casale was well worth the trouble and cost, we thought, and we were safely home by about 4:30 pm for a refreshing break before once more, at around 7:00 pm, heading into the town centre, on foot, where I'd discovered the previous day an interesting trattoria up a side alley.

Having spoken personally to the trattoria owner, I was certain that it would open at 7:30pm, and not before. Nevertheless, we arrived at about 7:20 pm and found it in darkness, except for a small light in what could have been the kitchen, at the back of the small dining space. Mary doesn't like standing around and waiting, especially in narrow dark alleys when there's no one else around. She's also justifiably sceptical about promised opening times here in Sicily, but I managed to convince her to wait until 7:30 pm, only a few minutes. The possibility that I was right was reinforced with the arrival of another couple of possible patrons, looking at their watches and the darkened front door of the restaurant. Then there was movement visible right at the back. A cook waved to us and then advanced to and opened the front door, just as a trio of guests showed up in the alley.

In we went, grabbed a table, and very shortly afterward the cook came to our table and offered us the drinks menu. A half litre of the house red at €2 was quickly delivered to our table and soon after we were communicating our food choices to the wait staff, who had arrived just after the first patrons. This was the best meal we've had in Sicily yet, although only two courses, with the first course, an appetiser, shared between us. Mary knocked back the chance of dolcé (dessert), unusual for her. The cost, including wine: €26. We'll be back there in our last couple of nights here (and yes, it is open!).

By now the full moon had risen over the buildings overlooking the nearby square. So we sat there for a while on the public seats, among the four large palms and the war memorial, enjoying the surroundings before strolling up the gentle incline to our apartment.

Sitting in the piazza last night. That's the moon at top right.

Thanks for reading

Mary and I would appreciate your feedback and comment. Click here to email us.
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.


The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. So far, in Sicily, the connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.

The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.