Max and Paul's Excellent Adventure

The train ride from Catania to Syracuse was great. We got to the station early to make sure we got a seat and watching Etna in the distance, orange groves and the coast made the trip feel quicker than the hour it took. Our accommodation was an Air B&B apartment on an island called Ortigia (pronounced Or-ti -jar) which we accessed by walking over a small bridge connecting Sicily to the island. Pic below was taken on the bridge. The weather was perfect being sunny and cool. Being the European off-season for tourists, it was quiet enough to not have to wait in line to get into restaurants and cafes and yet enough people to give it a lively atmosphere.  In the main Piazza was a group of locals dressed in traditional dress performing a dance. The architecture is very similar to that found in Malta which includes narrow cobblestone streets. These pictures are from the Piazza just up the road from us. The street signs are carved in marble. The cutest rubbish truck ever! Considering th...

 Sicily is a small Italian island situated right on the 'toe' of the 'boot'.  The flight from Istanbul was a smooth and uneventful 2-hour flight. We both downloaded the Italian language onto our phones and were practising common phrases to pass the time on the plane. Reprogramming the brain to a new language is challenging as this is the fourth language we are taking on. (Thai, Portuguese, Turkish and now Italian.) We landed at Catania airport on Feb 14 and got picked up by Guiseppe who was organised through our Air B&B host.  It is sometimes cheaper to do that than be at the mercy of the taxi drivers at the airport. Apparently, public transport in Sicily is a bit iffy at night so we went the path of least resistance. Being Valentine's Day there was heaps of traffic which made Guiseppe about half an hour late. It wasn't an issue for us, but Guiseppe was very apologetic. He is a lovely guy. We managed to communicate very well considering the limitations on al...

Antalya is a lovely city to visit. The people are friendly and the food and accommodation are both reasonably priced, especially for a coastal tourist area. Here are pics from around the place. For some reason, a few streets in the area had umbrellas hanging everywhere. Quirky restaurant seating. Maybe remnants from the covid panic! The old streets were tastefully renovated. Another quirky restaurant. Never a truer word spoken I always wanted to try one of these! One of the many trinket shops We saw this guy getting around. Nice balance! Adrian's gate at night Orange trees growing in all city's main streets. The colour of the beach sand was unusual.   The most photographed bench in the area. A guy was walking around with these bunnies. Insisted Max hold them whilst he gave us two folded fortune notes. Here they are. Wise words indeed! The Hot Chocolate here. Just wicked.... Herbs and spice shops were common After leaving Antalya we had one more night in Istanbul and the best th...