ITALIA Day 3: A view from the top

After traveling on several buses, numerous twists and turns up the steep and narrow roads and the most expensive taxi in the world (15 Euros for a 2 mile journey!) we finally made it to our hotel. The room was overpriced for what it was, but the view from the outdoor pool made up for it. Absolutely stunning. Buongiorno Taormina!

ITALIA! Day 2: Agrigento, a city of ruins

This was my best "all encompassing shot" that captures 

the main bit of Agrigento (right) with the Valle dei Templi or Valley of the Temples (left). The picture was taken from the top of the Temple of Juno Lacia, below is the Temple of Concordia, we were so hot and sweaty by the time this was taken and it was only 11:00 AM! After we finished our walk around the ruins, it was time for us to bus it back to the train station and make the hike (literally) back to our hotel to gather our things and catch the bus to Catania in order to catch (wait for it) another bus to Taormina (sensing a trend here with all the buses?). The night before when we first arrived, was more than interesting as we got completely lost searching for our hotel. We trudged up and down the steep and winding streets, steps and sidewalks of Agrigento and finally found it! No thanks to the sign that hangs outside the hotel which is only painted with the name on one side, thank goodness I turned around! After we got settled and cleaned up, we went out for a stroll on the main street until we found a restaurant to dine al fresco. I had a delicious plate of Pasta alla Norma, a traditional Sicilian dish made with eggplant, and we shared one of the best bottles of white wine I have ever had. We even bought another one to take back with us to the hotel - I'm still kicking myself for not remembering the name!

ITALIA! Day 1: A Long Day of Traveling

We've arrived! Well...sort of...after a 7:30 AM flight from Heathrow (surprisingly, it wasn't too horrible waking up at 4:30 AM because we saw Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin in the security line beside us and a ton of other Olympians headed home!), a stop in Milan and a bus ride to the Palermo train station from the Palermo airport, we have our tickets in hand for our journey to Agrigento. With time to spare and our tummies rumbling we stopped, of all places, at McDonalds and low and behold I had one of the best "fast food" items I've ever had - a Caprese - only in Italy folks. After noshing, we did our best to wait patiently for the train which was a solid 15 minutes late, things in Sicily definitely run on their own time, aka. things happen when they happen. Off to Agrigento we go!