From Positano, on the Amalfi coast of Italy, we travelled to Sicily.  We had a week there (mostly in Taormina).   From Positano we hired a driver to return us to Naples airport (a 1ish hour drive), where we took a flight to Palermo, Sicily (approx 3.5 hour flight). After a short stay there, we also hired a driver to take us from Palermo to Taormina (approx 3 hr drive). He was a good driver/comfortable car and the cost was quite good.

Photos below:   We spent a lot of time in our small hotel’s rooftop space…

View from our hotel looking toward Mt Etna (will check journal and note name later) – this was taken from a shared bar/dining space on the rooftop.   The 2nd photo is the same rooftop space which became the breakfast area in the morning.  We loved this small hotel!

View from the same rooftop toward the seaside.
Pre dinner drinks in the same space when it became a bar serving happy hour cocktails…we would have been happy to stay here for a month!
 

the view from our hotel room …small balcony with tea making facilities
Some of the cafes we enjoyed in the old town of Taormina
Taormina is an amazing place…a beautiful old town as can be seen above and at the end of the Main Street an Ancient Greek amphitheatre with views toward both the sea and Mt Etna – spectacular!  More about our day trip to Mt Etna later as well as a day trip to the seaside.

On the day we visited the amphitheatre, a live concert was being set up for that evening – this made our visit even more interesting.  In the photo you can see the video screen on the right, and the sound systems and stage being constructed.  We enquired about getting tickets to the concert that evening but they were sold out.

Photo below:  This photo looking toward Mt Etna (that is smoke not cloud coming from the volcano!) was taken at a high point not far from the amphitheatre.  As I write this I’m aware that this volcano erupted unexpectedly this year (2017), injuring quite a few people.  The adventurous photographer in this picture stood there for ages…just taking in the beauty before even thinking about taking photos.

A brief sidetrack…Had me thinking about the way Tony and I approach photography – as amateurs!…

Like the man in the photo below, we often do similar (although I don’t risk climbing so high with my bionic back!) …some people say that taking photos takes the magic away from the moment.  We disagree…our preferred way of traveling is to firstly enjoy the moments (often we miss a great photo opportunity by doing that), but after just drinking it all in for a quite a while, we then start to think about the best way to capture the scene or person.  Tony is good at giving me technical tips about lighting etc. while I like to play around with different perspectives and compositions.  Tony has done some photography courses which focussed more on technical aspects.  I’m not one for worrying too much about technical perfection and just shoot what I love in a more haphazard way!  I do take some duds so the delete key is my friend!…+ I seek some advice about the technicalities etc. if I’m having a run of dud photos😉

Day trips to the seaside below the town:  Lots of pretty, pebbly beaches but rather hard on the feet so it’s worth taking some waterproof beach shoes – there are many for sale in the Taormina shops at quite a good price, compared to Australian stores.  There were even vendors selling beach shoes along the waterfront!

Photo below:  cable cars can take you from the hilltop town of Taormina…I think it was possible to hike down as well – not sure why we didn’t (I’ll check journal).  I think we may have lingered over the beautiful breakfast at the hotel, where we had met up with some friends, so we wanted to speed things up that day..

Llots of pretty, pebbly beaches but rather hard on the feet so it’s worth taking some waterproof beach shoes – there are many for sale in the Taormina shops at quite a good price compared to Australian stores.  There were even vendors selling beach shoes along the waterfront!

From Taormina, Sicily we took a flight to Malta (we stayed a week)…which we also loved – a post for another day. The flight time was approximately 6 hours.

In Malta the buildings are mostly cream coloured stone…it didn’t look like the sandstone we see in and around parts of inner Sydney (particularly near the harbour) so reminds me to look up what type of stone it is. In photo above (with me posing!) you can see the stone…in morning and evening light it is so beautiful. The food in Malta is very similar to Southern Italian food – the religion is predominantly Catholic I think…again I’ll look that up and include in a post down the track about Malta.

Southern Italian Food…we had the usual pasta and pizza style dishes at various restaurants, most were lovely and in 2014 not too crowded. However I hear that Taormina is now (2025) very crowded at times and probably extremely hot in summer. We prefer to travel in the shoulder seasons although in places like this we’d consider going during their winter than their summer. Easier to walk around, sit in the sunshine on a beautiful day etc. It was generally quite dry while we were there…reminds me to look up their climate in this part of Italy – always worth checking before planning trips, particularly if areas prone to heat waves and/or flooding etc.

A few of the ‘pizzas’ we had in Taormina reminded me more of the tarts we had in Malta and Greece (of course there is Greek ancestry in this part of Italy – as can be seen at the Greek amphitheatre mentioned above), so while looking for a simple recipe for tonight using puff pastry (a basic staple we often have in freezer), I found this recipe:

Spinach and beetroot tart

Recipe from Australian Women’s Weekly – Cooking from the Pantry P75 (in my coast collection)

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry; 250 g frozen spinach (thawed/drained); 1 cup fetta cheese (crumbled); 1/2 850 gm can drained baby beetroot sliced thinly (or we can buy them in sealed packets.

It’s not hard to cook beetroot and I much prefer the flavour and texture so I’ll often be doing that.

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 deg fan-forced (220 deg older ovens); place pastry on an oiled oven tray;

Fold edges of pastry over to make a 0.5 cm border all the way around pastry.

Prick pastry base with fork.

Place another oven try on top of pastry; bake for 10 min.

Remove top tray from pastry; reduce temperature to 200 degrees C /180 degree fan forced.

Meanwhile combine spinach with half cheese in medium bowl.

Top tart with spinach mixture, beetroot and remaining cheese.

Bake for about 10 min.

In the same book as above there are other quick easy puff pastry recipes such as a Moroccan lamb tart; A frangipani berry tart; and a spinach and pumpkin fillo pie. The vegetarian savoury tarts and pie could be part of a lunch menu – Tony sometimes makes a terrine (using various meats) alongside a savoury tart (for our non vegetarian friends) + always a green salad 🥗