Friday 3rd July 2020

Plan for the day:

• Fly to Palermo

Our first trip since coronavirus hit and we were beyond happy to finally be out of our apartment in London. We really needed to see more than the four walls and also the close by parks we monotonously walked around daily. We had taken travel for granted and this was clearly put in place to make us appreciate it and be more grateful for what we are able to experience in London//Europe.

Stanstead airport was a lot more quiet than usual and nothing was open. On a Friday night in summer it is usually packed here but it was more like a ghost town! The trip was uneventful and usual Ryanair procedures although a lot more clean. We also had to wear mask the entire time whilst on the tube, within the airport and during the flight which has become a regular things these days!

We arrived in Palermo and as soon as the cabin doors were opened the sweet feeling of warmth hit us. Summer hasn’t been cancelled thankfully. In order to get from the airport to Palermo there are a few options. First there the bus which wasn’t working for some reason, then there was the option of a taxi/shared cab into town. This cost wasn’t quite what we were going for (€40). Thankfully there is also a train that goes straight into the centre for €5.90. Perfect! Although we did have to wait as they weren’t very frequent at that time of the night. It did give Lew time to scope out a pizza place on our walk to the Airbnb!

Airbnbs in these sort of cities always are interesting to find as the house numbers are often all over the place. But thankfully after climbing two staircases we came across our little pad for two night. Balconies and all! Time to call it a night!

Saturday 4th July

Plans for the day:

• Brunch at Dadalia Osteria

• Quatro Canti

• Ballero Market

• Catacombes

• Dinner at FUD

I was woken up by loud yelling in Italian which was very different to what had woken me the day before in London. We had barely any food other than left over pizza and some Arbonne strawberry protein which would get us through before we got out and about and found some local food.

Brunch

Leaving the house we were hit by the heat and the craziness of a Saturday morning in a town that was well and truly open unlike London. Wandering along some streets we came across Dadalia Osteria which was a quaint wine and pasta bar down a side street which we thought would be perfect to get us started for the day. After all I dont think we could have made it very far without food at this stage! This was our first proper Italian pasta in a long time and it did not disappoint!

Quattro Canti

Lew had this place in mind as he steered us in the right direction. This beautiful intersection is famous for it four large streets all interconnecting with four near identical facades which are curved with statues and fountains of the four seasons, the four Spanish Kings of Sicily and of the patronesses of Palermo. They were build between 1608-1620 and was one of the first major examples of town planning in Europe.

Bolero Market

Bolero market is one of many in the portside town of Palermo but is one of the most famous for its incredible street food. Streets upon streets of merchants selling everything from dried herbs, fish, fruit, veggies, olives, cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes. There were a lot of the veggies I hadn’t ever seen before and the eggplants they have here are round and absolutely gorgeous. We hadn’t heard anyone else speak English since we arrived which was a little refreshing since clearly this would be a popular place to visit in the summer. Make sure you bring cash here as when we first wandered through we had none and there dont seem to be too many cashpoints nearby! We did managed to find cash and went back to purchases some incredible bright orange apricots that looked like they were bursting with flavour, some bananas and also some cherries which would keep is going. The coolest things was that instead of using plastic packaging the merchant creates this impressive paper cones to shovel fresh produce into. So smart!

Catacombes

Now this was very high on the list as we had seen some catacombs in Paris and were a little mesmerised by them! This was highly recommended as something to do in Palermo and it was also a good way to get out of the sunshine for a bit. Its a little bit outside the main area of town but there is public transport you can use. We always end up walking to save money and we also often discover things along the way which we wouldn’t being on a bus or a train. It wasn’t very expensive at all to get in here which was a surprise but man was it more impressive than we thought it would be! The cappachun monks began running out of room to bury people so decided to dig below the church and create crypts where people could be stored so their loved ones could visit. At first it was just monks and then as extended out to the wealthy and bodies were either embalmed or stuffed with hay (check this??) and were dressed in their normal clothes. The bodies even underwent clothing changes! They believe there is around 2,000 body here and range from all ages. One very famous one is Sleeping Beauty. She was a 2 year old that died from pneumonia and her family was so distraught that they embalmed her and she looks exactly as she did the day she died. Some families also provided photos of the person when they were alive which was a little creepy to see their skeletons in front of us. Safe to say it was an experience and I highly recommend coming here if your ever in Palermo!

FUD

Dinner time! I had found this place on Google based on its reviews and apparently it was really really good! The burgers pictured looked incredible and I know Lew loves a burger. We headed out super late for us in terms of dinner but that seems to be when Italian eat so it was packed! We did finally get a table and had to put a mask on to enter the building only to remove it two steps later when we got to out table. Strange but we would later learn this was happening all over no matter how silly it seemed! The place had great atmosphere but overall I just think we picked the wrong things off the menu! We left just being grateful for being in such a stunning place though!

Sunday 5th July

Plan for the day:

• Pick up the car from the airport

• Drive to San Vito Lo Capo    

• Lunch at Castellomare de Golfo - ‘Sailing’

• Beach

• Dinner at Bik Bak

Drive time!

This morning it was time to hit the road and move onto the next destination which was San Vito Lo Capo which is 1.5 hours away from Palermo. However we were supposed to be driving across to Catania to pick my parents up after they flew from Naples. But of course due to Covid they were unable to leave NZ and get here so Lew and I changed the trip a little and next year we can do the same trip with them we were supposed to. 

In order to pick up the car we had to get back to the airport via the train in order to pick up our car. Hello maroon Fiat 500!! Lew has always wanted to drive one of these but more so the abarth version which is a lot more racy. Either way it was very Italian and the perfect size! The drive was pretty smooth and we stopped of at Castellomare de golfo for lunch which was this little city perched up amongst the rocks and cascaded down to the seafront. It was dead silent but we found a fab place called The Sailing where we both got pizza before carrying onto San Vito! We used booking.com this time to book our accommodation which seemed to be cheaper than Airbnb for once. Our hosts were lovely and told us where we could park the car for free (up by the cemetery) and also showed us to our room. There was not a single other guest here which was actually amazing and meant we had the outside patio to ourselves! 

Beach

San Vito Lo Capo is a beach location with a large sandy beach full of sun umbrellas and restaurants right on the seaside. It had a relaxed vibe about it and clearly was a place that families came as there was plenty of teenagers milling around. Europeans are very used to basically being on top of each other at the beach - something we don’t do in NZ! So we parked ourselves up and swum until it was almost sun down. 

Bik Bak

Dinner. Ok this place was absolutely one of our favs! The atmosphere was great and the owner was hilarious and gave us a run down of any history we wanted to know! We kinda wanted something light as we had pizza super late in the day but somehow we ended up getting this big meal of all sorts of fish! Well out of Lews comfort zone but in saying that neither of us had tried octopus before! The owner also had some cocktails made up for us with fruit which were incredible! But seeing the size of them one would have sufficed! Post dinner we wandered around the shops hunting for little gems to take home.

Monday 6th July

Plan for the day:

• Zingaro National Park

• Lew runs Monte Monaco

• Dinner at San Vito a Tavola

Zingaro National Park

This was apparently a bit of a highlight for a lot of people coming to this area so we decided of course we wanted to check it out! One of our fav things which I think is a very Kiwi thing to do is walk into a beach which makes it a bit more special! The entire walk is 8km with 6 beaches and goes down the coast to Scopello so you can start from eater end depending on where your situated. It was far too hot to walk the entire thing. We managed to get to a few beaches further down the coast but it was roasting and actually the first two beaches where we started were easily the best. Cala dell’ Uzzo was where we spent most of the day which was a picturesque and the water was incredibly blue. None of these beaches had much shade and it was absolutely scorching so we made a makeshift tent using one of our towels and hid under it when it all got too much. Later in the day we walked back to an even bigger beach that was the same blue water but a lot larger called Cala Tonnarella dell’uzza. Both are an ideal way to spend a day! A little tip though - bring some boat shoes or something you can walk into the water with as the rocks can be hard on your feet.

We got home and Lew wanted to run up the giant Monte Monaco in the sweltering heat, he loved it and I stayed behind listened to a podcast and ate anchovies + sun-dried tomatoes on crackers. 

Dinner tonight was at a place called San Vito a Tavola which Lew said was the best pizza on the entire trip and I had the local and famous seafood cous cous! Highly recommend! Cous cous might seem like a strange thing to have in Italy but actually Sicily was ruled by the Arabs and it is also very close to Tunisia and a lot of Sicilians travel between the two landmasses

Tuesday 7th July

Plan for the day:

• Drive to Erice

• Trapani beach

Onwards to a new destination! Today we are driving to the incredible hilltop town of Erice at 800m above sea level. We had heard rave reviews about this place and decided to drag ourselves away from the beach to see it and stay a couple of nights. It was of course VERY hot and we wernt’t going to be able to do any sight seeing today so instead drove to the close by Trapani beach for the hottest part of the day. We hired a sun umbrella of €4 and spent the day snacking, swimming and sunbathing. We also managed to pick up some towels as we realised in between accommodation we would have nothing. Clearly forgot to pack a basic! The ones we brought were about the size of a bathmat but would do the trick.

Drive up to Erice.

It was a lot higher than we expected and we ended up high into the clouds and it was even a little more of a pleasant temperature here! The view below of Trapani and back over to San Vito Lo Capo was gorgeous and we hadn’t even seen the actual town yet! Our host Massimo met us in the carpark and loaded us into his car to drive into the city. Only locals are able to drive through and back out again and when we saw the impressive roads of brick cobblestone we realised they were beautiful but tricky with a wheeled suitcase!

Massimo allowed us to choose what apartment we wanted to stay in and we chose the smaller one that looked out over the street. Once again we were the only people here so had the entire courtyard to ourselves in a little enclosure that normally serves 4 apartment. So as you can imagine it was SO NICE! We even had table and chairs and a sun umbrella so we instantly felt at home. By the time we had showered and had a bit of wine we had brought with us it was golden hour and we dressed up and set out to find some golden light and views. The city was more situated to get a good sunrise but we did find a few cute spots as the clouds swept over the city.

Dinner was at a local pizza restaurant we were recommended and to be honest it passed the test but wasn’t anything special! The place was called II Casale Ericono and was tucked away on one of the side streets with little booths. We had a great chat to the young guy serving us who has set his sights on moving to Canada of all places!

Wednesday 8th July

Plan for the day:

• Life admin

• Grocery shopping

The most boring chilled out day on the entire trip! Life admin, lunch at the cutest place down the road called Caffe San Giuliano where they spoke no english but made me the most tasty tuna sandwich ever and Lew an amazing panini! We sat in the gardens overlooking the city of Trapani taking in the sunshine and fresh air. Post lunch we decided to stock up on snacks before we head to the island of Favignana tomorrow and also so we could cook dinner tonight - the only time on our entire trip which is so unlike us! We did of course get out for some sunset photos again having more success tonight! It was such a nice location just to stop and relax though and we really made the most of it. I think its also beneficial to stay out of the sun for at least a day and give that pasty skin a break.

Thursday 9th July

Plan for the day:

• Drive to Trapani

• Ferry to Favignana

• Bike to Bue Marino, Cala Rossa and Lido Burrone

• Dinner out at Osteria del Sotto Sale

Drive to Trapani 

We dragged all out stuff back to the car and made our way down the windy road to Trapani. We would leave out car here in a local parking garage called ‘parcheggio burgarella’ which cost us €10 a day and was run by a very friendly and cheeky local old man. He even drove us to the port where we would catch the ferry and made fun of our Italian and tried to teach us how to speak it backwards. Safe to say we have never left a parking structure with a smile on our faces until now. We wernt too worried about him driving our car as Italians have a special way of driving which we will never understand so the car was probably safer in his hands than ours!

Ferry to Favignana

We decided to leave the car behind mostly because of the cost of the car ferry. We also heard that the island is very easy to get around by bike! Usually you would need to buy your ticket in advanced for this island as it is very busy in the summer time. Obviously right now thats not the case so we were lucky enough to rock up when we wanted and get a ticket on the ferry leaving in 20 minutes. Its very fast to get out there - approx 30 minutes. We had to of course wear masks on the boat and they also patrolled it which is when we learnt how to say “mask” in Italian! maschera how funny is that - sounds more like a dance than an item you cover your face with haha! We arrived into the port pretty promptly and our booking.com host was waiting for us to drive us into the apartment. Thank goodness as I dont think we  could handle the heat! We stayed at Le Ancore which was a very flash place and also very new. We had the basement apartment though which smelt a little bit mouldy but had such gorgeous new finishing. The best part though was it had a - WASHING MACHINE! I I promptly got a light and dark pile going very excited to finally have some clean clothes! Meanwhile we ate leftover pasta from last night on the incredible balcony overlooking the beach before planning our afternoon.

Bike!

We got to hire bikes from our accommodation for €5/day which was fab! They were new and even had a basket on the front which was handy for carrying necessities! We set out to go to Bue Marino first as I had been ready a blog on the ferry that said this was their favourite. 

Bue marino is quite a striking beach as you enter above it and realise that hordes of teens were jumping off the big rocks into the water. Its rocky with no actual physical beach but the water is clear and the most vibrant blue. A lemon truck selling granita was parked up at the top and we of course had to try it out! The only thing we didn’t like about such food was they often come in a plastic cup with a plastic straw and spoon. So unnecessary, but the language barrier is hard with saying no to such things. We parked ourselves up on a rock face and went down to watch these kids jumping into the deep water below them before having a paddle ourselves. My swim was cut a little short since I got stung by something around the rocks that I couldn’t see and wanted to get out to see the damage. A red welt promptly came up on the back of my leg and it continued to sting for the rest of the afternoon, we still dont know what it was.

The next beach was Cala Rossa which is apparently one of the favourites for day trippers coming to the island. Once again a very large rocky beach with clear blue water and many yachts and launches parked out in the deeper water. We decided not to stop here and carry onto what they say is the only sandy beach on the island - Lido Burrone. The blog I was reading advised again this beach due to its touristy nature with deck chairs and umbrellas to rent. But we appreciated the soft sand on our feet and relaxed here until the sun was going down

Dinner

We were struggling to decide every-night where to eat! This isnt usually a problem for us at all as we never eat out this much and aim to book accommodation with a kitchen so we can save money and eat at home. The Lonely Planet guide was what Lew’s parents always use when we are travelling with them and the food they find is often fantastic. So we decided to narrow it down using that and man was it a good choice. Osteria del Sotto Sale is one not to be missed. The pasta was off the charts and I could have eaten here every single day of the trip. I also loved that the cover charge included a snack of olives as well as a free glass jug of water! Yay finally! So highly highly highly recommend this place! Also just note there is two of them and the one we went to is considered the more casual of the two. After dinner we wandered the streets popping our heads into some of the stores and of course getting gelato on the way home from Mamas gelerateria. So good! Also I recommend the mint sorbet, sounds gross but it was like heaven and I could have eaten the entire tub!! Wandering back home we came across this gorgeous store with a section of clothing and homeware items. But what was so special about this place is Lew met Wander. Shes a beautiful red Irish setter who acted like queen of this shop and they bonded instantly. Safe to say we spent the rest of the evening looking up NZ breeders….

Friday 10th July

Plan for the day:

• Beaches!

• Dinner at  Spaghetteria Pakkaro

• Gelato at Mamas

We started the day off at midday as spending the entire day in the sun is just too much.We planned to bike down to Cala Azzurra and its obvious how this beach gets its name! The water here is even more bright and clear than the others and the beach has big rocks but where you sunbathe is covered with dried soft seaweed. A little strange at first yes but hey anything is better than rocks on your back! We spent most of the day here and ran into a couple we had seen out for dinner the other night. I only noticed them as they were also speaking English which we hadn’t heard the entire trip so far. They walked past us and I decided to day hello this time. Turns out the girl is from Sydney and the guy from North Carolina but they live in Amsterdam right now. Super cool! Nice to find other couples who had broken the mould and gone for a country other than the UK! We aimed to go to the opposite side of the island now which we hadn’t been on but stopped off at the Kiosk at Marasolo Beach where we ended up with a couple of sandwiches and mandarin drinks. We both had no idea what we ordered but it turned out great! I rung Avery for a chat and Lew rung John to ask him to be his best man in our wedding next year. It was so sweet and we are crossing our fingers they will be able to get into New Zealand next year for it as there is lots of debate about the border and isolation right now! Biking to the other side of the island wasn’t the best idea ever to be honest! It was super hot and we ended up making a bit of a mess of it taking our bikes off road. We finally found the restaurant we wanted to see and potential book a table at called Cibo chiacchiere e vino which is a bit outside the city and is easier to get to with a taxi rather than biking especially if your planning to go at sunset. Book ahead though as there was no spaces for dinner that night when we showed up which was slightly disappointing. We biked back to a beach close to Lido Burrone and chilled and swam for a bit before heading home to change into some clothes for dinner.

Dinner at Spaghetteria Pakkaro

This place was also recommended by the Lonely Planet guide which is why we decided to go here. The menu was just on the board outside and handwritten which meant we couldn’t use Google Translate. Safe to say it was a bit if a mission but we figured out what we wanted after a bit of frustration. The staff were also speaking very loudly to each other which sounded like arguing but could have just been loud talking - you never know with Italians. The atmosphere wasn’t as nice as the night before BUT the seafood pasta I got was so damned good! It was full of clams, muscles and shrimp with breadcrumbs on top and a bit of spice. For the price you certainly got a lot of food. Lew on the other hand had this amazing white fish crumbed in pistachio which he said was absolutely the best fish he’s even had. So aside from the actual place the food was incredible and I can still recommend it! Dessert was gelato at Mamas again as we walked home staring into the shop where Wander the dog was lying on the floor acting like she owned the place. Lew was to embarrassed to go and give her a cuddle but I took a video of him petting her from the other night and I constantly look over my shoulder and see him watching it!!

Saturday 11th July

Plan for the day:

• Walk up Castello di Santa Caterina

• Ferry from Favignana to Trapani

• Pick up car

• Drive to Cefalu

Walk

We had to leave this stunning place today and I wish we had more time to spend on this lovely island. Its super family friendly and easy to get around on with bikes or a car if you do choose to bring it across you shouldn’t have too many issues with parking. We chose to wake up early and walk Castello di Santa Caterina which is a small mountain in the center of the island with a castle on top which is in ruins. But thats not why you walk the street stairs in the heat. Up here is the incredible view over the city below and if its a clear say I bet you can also see back to the mainland. It was nice to be up and about and make the most of the day.

Ferry

We walked through town to the ferry terminal and didn’t have to wait too long before we were boarding. This was the fast boat so it went direct to Trapani instead of stopping at the other islands. Ideal! We had a a short walk to where our car was parked and the door was closed. I knocked and before we knew it under the shaded trees a loud voice yelled “ah Nuova Zealanda!” And our old man was pleased to see us again. We made sure to use the backwards Italian he had taught us - mille grazie instead of grazie mille (thank you very much). We left the place again with a smile ready to navigate 2 hours of driving through Sicily to Cefalu where we would spend the last part of the trip. First of all we stopped off and got some lovely fresh fruit from the stall on the side of the road which would be aid as snacks until we got a little further into our journey.

Lunch at Pizzeria ristorante Piano Monaco 

We were half way and I had discovered a bikini shop I wanted to look in which is how we discovered this amazing pizza place in the middle of nowhere. It was exceptional and im drooling as we speak wishing we were back there right now! Lew got the calzone for a change which he was very impressed by and I got my typical Napoli pizza with anchovies - oh how I love them!! This place is attached to a swimming pool so if your coming by and want to swim somewhere other than the ocean then this might be your place. We continued our drive to Cefalu after finding the bikini shop was closed and sending whatsapps to the number didn’t help either. 

Cefalu

This was our airbnb hosts first ever booking. I dont think we have ever had such a thing as we honestly never go to new places and typically choose them based on many previously good reviews. Clearly there wasnt much within budget in this area then. It was pleasant but there was an underlying odour of dampness that lew and I couldn’t get past and we could see instantly the walls were quite damp. We didn’t understand since it was 30 degrees outside and no where near the ocean or anything so we could only imagine how bad it is in winter if Sicily actually gets a winter. It looked nice on the outside but as soon as you examined it further you could see what a shoddy job they had done. Never mind! We wandered down to the beach which took us 10 minutes and we were pleased to find it was gorgeous and sandy and the water was the warmest we had felt the entire trip! The sun was still out and we spent a couple of hours swimming and reading. 

Dinner

The sun was setting and we walked into town along the road not realising there was a walkway all the way into town down by the water! The main township of Cefalu was a lot bigger than we were honestly expecting and there were so many food palaces to choose from. Everywhere you turned there was a restaurant selling pizza, pasta and seafood so how on earth do you choose between them all? It was very lively being a Saturday evening and once again we consulted the Lonely plant guide for suggestions which lead us to La Botte. Tucked away on the small side streets out of the constant foot travel of the main areas this place suited us so well. I went for a seafood risotto (I dont think I could eat more seafood even if I tried!) and Lew got a pasta with eggplant and meat sauce. We were both pretty happy aside from the ladies next to us smoking as we ate our meal. Something that is a regular issue on the beach, in restaurants or literally anywhere. Smoking is such a frowned upon thing in NZ that we have grown up without it around us in such public spaces. Personally thats how it should be when there are direct causal links to cancer but nows not the time and space for that. But be mindful that you will come across a LOT of smoking and if I had small children with me I dont know how I would feel about it. Post dinner we wandered around exploring some of the side streets before heading back home which took us about 20 minutes walking.

Sunday 12th july

Plan for the day:

• Beach

• Dinner at Bottega Tivitti

A slow start to the day after a late night last night. I had a team training in the morning which I was able to thankfully get onto and we milled around before heading to the beach after lunch. Lunch was of course a snack of crackers, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies, cheese and olives which has become our go to snack! We spent the rest of the day swimming, reading, listening to podcasts and of course lying in the sun. It was great but we sorely missed a beach umbrella and didn’t need to get so much sun. It was the first time all holidays we had both got a bit burnt despite sunblock.

Dinner at Bottega Tivitti

We had seen this place last night and it was rated on Lonely planet so after catching the golden hour for photos we found ourselves at a table here on the waterfront. The food was good and it was right on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean but it just felt busy and like a food hall. I had swordfish with a salad and Lew had a burger and we both did rate the food but didn’t like where we were. The place just lacked a little ambience and I think we realised we like something a bit off the main drag. We didn’t get gelato tonight but wandered home chatting about mortgages and homes - no dont worry we arnt planning on settling in here.

Monday 13th July

Plan for the day:

• Lew at work

• Beach

• Dinner at Ristorante La Tavernetta

Technically Lew’s holiday is over and he brought his laptop and everything for working from here as there wasn’t many good flights we could catch and Tuesday lunchtime was the best. He stayed inside most of the day and we both we down for a swim at lunchtime. Lew went back up and I stayed on the beach until he finished for the day and we spent a couple of hours swimming and relaxing together. What a life being able to do this after work! 

Dinner

Dinner we decided to take the car and drive around just past the city and have food at Ristorante La Tavernetta. It was an ideal place overlooking the ocean and it was SO quiet. The waiter was very friendly and spoke great English. I had a very tasty black fettuccine pasta with almond, tomatoes, and scampi whilst Lew had a super calzone. WOAH. Did that thing look great! We decided for the last night to just get dessert here for a change instead of trying to walk back into town. Lew finally gave in and tried the cannelloni which he described as very cheesy with a weird textured wrap that looked like a waffle cone but wasn’t! I was a lot safer and went for the mandarin gelato. Such a nice way to spend our final evening here in Sicily.

Tuesday 14th July

Plan for the day:

• Drive to Airport

• Stop by bikini shop

• Fly to London

It was an early start if we wanted to get back to Palermo airport which was 1 hour 20 minutes away. I had mostly packed up the night before and Lew was slow to get out of bed and also hasn’t packed which delayed us by 20 minutes. We had factored in extra time so we were ok until we got caught int traffic for an extra 30 minutes because of a car accident on the only highway. This must happen frequently with the way we see Italians drive. And their speed limit can go up to 130km/hr which we think is bonkers. The roads are nothing like the German autobahns where we have seen this before and it actually feels safe and appropriate. 

The plan was to quickly stop by the bikini store as I had been in contact with the lady and she confirmed she had the bikini I wanted. I arrived and turns out she had something similar but not what I wanted. Frustrated I translated that I only wanted that exact one and I left the store. I of course wasn’t rude but equally we had wasted a lot of time and it would have paid off if I got them - thankfully we didn’t drive back here from Cefalu like we were considering and waste a day.

We got to the airport and was delayed there again by the couple returning their car in front of us had crashed it so took a little longer. Lew was stressed as he was supposed to be on a work call and was now late but we got into the terminal and he parked himself up and got on zoom for a bit. We checked in and thankfully British Airways wasn’t allowing the overhead bins to be used so our black suitcase was put in the hold for free which meant I didn’t have to worry about liquids etc with security check. As soon as we got through Lew was back in a meeting before we boarded the plane. It actually worked out super well!  

The flight was easy and we were happy to have been given some snacks as we were beyond starving! Thank you British Airways! I did bring an amazing big avocado back with me though but couldn’t exactly whip that out on the plane.

Coming back into the UK border was pretty chilled, we were made to get off the plane in sections which was actually really good and I think they should always do this. Then we went straight through the border and they didn’t even check the forms I had spent time filling out about where we had come from. There were still lots of signs about the 14 day isolation which we were confused about since there are corridor countries so we dont need to isolate. Equally it says you should only go out for food and exercise but clearly we have been on holiday! But thats just typical British confusion which its been like the entire time during covid. No one really knows the rules. We caught the Piccadilly line back home and started planning the next adventure as soon as we opened the door to the apartment. Our beautiful apartment which we had missed maybe just a little.

IN SUMMARY

Favourite Beach:

• Shan/Lew : Cala Azzura on the island of Favignana

Favourite restaurant:

• Shan: Osteria del Sotto Sale in Favignana - pasta!!

• Lew: pistachio fish in Favignana

Favourite pizza:

• Lewis: San Vito a Tavola at San Vito Lo Capo

• Shan: Piano Monaco

• Best calzone : La tavernetta in Cefalu

Best restaurant experience

• Bik back in San Vito Lo Capo

Favourite city/accommodation:

• Erice

Advice

• Google translate is a life saver

• Bring/buy beach shoes with you

• Italians are crazy bad drivers - you must be confident if your going to choose to drive here

• Search both Airbnb and booking.com for accommodation or even just google maps

• Bring your own towels and invest in a sun umbrella! You will need it

• Sunblock is cheap - unlike the rest of Europe at times

• Eat gelato - every night!

• Pizza for lunch is always a good cheap option

• Embrace the seafood!

• Spend more time on the islands