Holiday Residence Marsala

... Alas our trip here is finished. Great memories.

We flew out to Naples and then to Athens. Flight was great except for the last 5 minutes of teh descent into Athens Airport. I guess we hit some updrafts or something. Angela is scared of flying as it is and this stupid girl behind us kept yelling "We are going to die!" I wanted to swing my seat back and squash her. Actually the plane bounced off the runway a bit.

So my uncle convinced me to do more Mountain Biking yesterday. It was a lot tougher than the previous day for 2 reasons. One was it was longer and a lot more uphill than down and 2 because we were riding on main streets along side cars. In case you have never been to Europe they drive crazy here. I think vehicular accidents is the number one cause of death. We did make a pit stop at his godfather's house for water and lemon ice. That helped for the return home.

We ...

... Uncle Tommy's Godfather. (No we did not have to kiss the ring). Great dinner consisting of wild boar pasta, rabbit, lamb, ricotta, wine and more. We also had some great little pocket deserts called Cassatta. Now Angela is going to get taught how to make them and make them for us back home.

Now we site here, throwing in the towel early and resting up for the next 3 crazy days consisting of a Frank Sinatra Jazz Festival, a Feast and cousin's Birthday party.

Ciao...

... we came out the 2nd time to tan. Our cell phone hasn't worked yet, so Uncle Tommy actually dropped us off and said he would be back in 3 hrs to pick us up for lunch. Strange, but I guess that is how we did it back in the day before cell phones.

I am proud to say that I have yet to wear a watch on this trip yet. I don't know how long that will last, but so far ...

... in a spacious and set up apartment above my aunts house. We love them. They are great and very hospitable. You can see our view from our veranda.

Last night Angela and I ventured off on our own going by what we remembered from 2007. We sat and had great Mojito's at Diego's Canteen Aurelia. Then we walked down to the ...

We decided to take the scenic route back to Balastrate with a stop off at Scopello. A small sea side village which use to be a fishing village with a tuna factory. In the village piazza a concert was being set up for the holiday celebrations. It looked promising except the weather was closing in with storm clouds brewing. There was another courtyard off to the side with restaurant and bars. The shade trees were fig trees which ...

... unforgettable for all your life.

And then the good food, the excellent wine, the hospitality, not to mention the wonderful tan, the lush countryside – you will love it.

Sicily is not all like the zone we are talking about. But even so, so much has changed in recent years to modernise and improve that some places are virtually unrecognisable from a few years back. Castellammare del Golfo is a picturesque fishing village set amid lofty hills and ...

... with a guided tour of a cathedral located in the Monreale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monreale area of Palermo. For weeks, I had this particular cathedral as my wallpaper on my computer without even knowing what building it was! It is a very well known building in the city that has brilliant displays of Byzantine mosaics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine ...

... quick stop to the Marsala countryside to visit a senior citizen's facility, where a group of the Sicilians are keeping an old tradition alive. In Sicily, Catholics celebrate a holiday called St. Josephs Day, which occurs on March 22nd (not to be confused with St. Patrick's Day on the 17th!). In preparation for the holiday, Sicilians young and old get together and make ...

... dat hij de hulp van de politie heeft ingeroepen. We zeggen dat het ons spijt, maar dat kan hem niet vermurwen. Maar als de politie lang op zich laat wachten, zetten we onze fietsjes en boodschappen in de boot en duiden de man dat we naar onze boot gaan. Terwijl wij naar onze boot roeien, zien we dat de carbinieri de haven binnen rijdt, maar als we na een uurtje nog geen politie aan boord hebben gehad, gaan we er van uit dat de man door hen gesust is. We ...