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Diary of a Slow Traveller – The Food, Siracusa, Sicily

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Sitting at our favourite local coffee shop on a lovely Adelaide Autumn day, my favourite person and I quickly returned to our usual conversation – Sicily and when we can get back there.

There are so many things to talk about when it comes to Sicily but it’s the food that becomes the centre piece of pretty much all of our coffee conversations. Is it the freshness, the fish caught that morning, the local vegetables (seasonal produce only) or  the sweet temptations?

Oranges and Grapes a t the market

Oranges and Grapes a t the market

I guess it depends on what takes your fancy and across our nearly 2 months in Siracusa it all took its turn in delighting us. Staying so close to the Ortigia food market all food thoughts started at this truly special local market, just over the bridge on the island of Ortigia and next to the ancient Temple of Apollo. The choices grapes, pears, carrots, brocolli romanescue, bread, meats, fish and cheeses.

Fresh fish - Ortigia Market

Fresh fish – Ortigia Market

Even on days when we didn’t plan to cook in our apartment,  we still seemed to find things to buy at this delightful local market. Continue reading →

Naples, Italy – Pizza

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We were sitting in our hotel in Venice thinking about the last part of our trip, at that stage still a couple of months away, when I found a  post on pizza in Naples. That sealed our decision to go to Naples!

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We planned to stay 4 nights and stayed 6. It could easily have been more but that’s for another post.

Naples is a big city with attitude and that’s evident as you venture into the domain of the best pizza you’ll ever eat. Continue reading →

Read the travel guide first – Noto

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After a thoroughly enjoyable week or so of simply walking the streets of Siracusa, we decided it was time to venture out.

While we had been to Noto previously, we thought it was worth another visit to the UNESCO listed town. Our previous visit was in 2008 in the extreme July heat.

Noto is a baroque town rebuilt after the 1693 eruption of Mt Etna. Its honey-colored stone buildings are quite a sight.

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The train seemed the logical way to go as we are trying to avoid driving on this trip. I’ve driven in Sicily before, including to Noto, and it was not a relaxing experience for either myself or my favourite person! Noto is less than 40 kms from Siracus and the journey time is only 30 minutes by train. It was only after boarding that I found a valuable piece of travel advice that locals don’t catch the train to Noto . The train stops at the bottom of the town, a good ten plus minute walk up the hill to the town centre. That said, the train ride was enjoyable and the scenery worth taking in.

After our walk up the hill, we headed straight for the famous Cafe Sicilia for a late breakfast. We decided to sit outside meaning that we had to pay the inevitable coperto (cover charge). It was worth it, as the waiter was able to direct us to their specialty, almond soup served in a coffee mug. It was warm, sweet and quite rich – an ideal winter drink. The pastries were also quite spectacular. Sure it was more expensive than standing at the bar but it was an opportunity to relax and take in the streetscape which is very impressive. Last time it had been so hot that we’d mainly focussed on finding the shade and our stop at this famous cafe had been for Gelati.

Warm almond soup

Warm almond soup

Pastries - Caffe Sicilia

Pastries – Cafe Sicilia

After our late breakfast we took a pleasant stroll down the main street. Noto is famous for its numerous churches Continue reading →

From unpacked with places to go to packed and ready to go

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Italy 2015 beckons!

We have moved from

  

to

  

So now we are actually ready to go.

We quickly moved past the “we can get by with one bag” to “don’t be silly, of course we need two”.

It’s always a challenge packing for 2 climates. It’s 35C plus in Adelaide today and will be 30C and humid in Singapore and Colombo and then 6C in Milan. So, it’s shorts and t-shirts and full coats all in the space of a week.

We’re excited but I’m not sure the animals are quite so keen?

  

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Planning for our time away

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It’s two weeks until we finally start our 3 months in Italy. In my list of What’s Next it’s been an ever present. It’s been the subject of a number of posts over the last three years and now it’s actually within touching distance. Is have to say I’m getting excited.

It’s a new experience slow travel, daytime flights with a number of stopovers before we get to Milan where our time in Italy begins. It will be a completely different approach to travel. Much less planned than in the past. We have a couple of weeks to get from Milan to Sicily where we plan to spend 7 weeks before another couple of weeks to get back to Rome for the trip home. But before we get to Italy we have a couple of days in Sri Lanka which at no point until the travel agent suggested it had been on our places to go list.

We are looking forward to seeing elephants! Source: travelfest.in

Apart from booking the airfares through a travel agent we have arranged everything ourselves. 

Accommodation will be a combination of hotels and Airbnb all sourced online. The level of choice is almost overwhelming.  It’s so different from our first big trip away at Christams 1998, where the complete extent of our online bookings was to email the New York Ballet to book for their New Year’s Eve performance of The Nutcracker. The tickets came back by post!

Source. www.nytimes.com

We have also been able to get a good idea of what to do in many of the places we are visiting by simply googling “One Day in Colombo” or “2 Days in Milan” etc,  it’s just all there. It means our bags won’t be weighed down with travel guides, just iPads and a laptop! 

However, before we get on the plane I have my thesis to finish (almost done), assignments to mark (not started) and a consulting job (underway) to complete!