Rob and Sarah Whiteman

Family visit

Sarah’s family finally arrived after a few doubts earlier in the week. We picked them up from Palermo airport in the pouring rain and drove the two hire cars back to Cefalu and their villa.

We had good weather for the week and travelled to Mount Etna on New years day, where we sledged in the snow, and Matt, Audrey and Gerry took the cable car higher up the mountain. The scenery was fantastic with all the snow.

Two days later Etna erupted quite violently, Near Miss

Went walking in the mountains again in the snow at Piano Cervi on a route we had previously walked in October, it looked very different in it’s winter clothes.

In the afternoon the boy’s without Rob went in the sea, they looked frozen but very brave.

Log fires blazing every night and a good time was had by all.

Sorry to see them go back to the UK.

Medieval Erice

Medeval Erice with its winding, hairpin bendy road approach, is a delight. The town balances on the edge of a mountain and the views are terrific. There are more churches here than you can shake a stick at. Christmas songs in English rang out along the street. The cable car drops dizzyingly down into Trapani from the 750 meter high town.

http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/comuni/tp/erice/erice.html

Cofano Reserve.

Cofano reserve is basically the large rock you see in the first picture, rescued from the devastation of the quarriers in the next valley by a preservation order. Once again the walk and the scenery is spectacular. The Grotta Mangiapane near Scurati is a prehistoric cave with a hamlet built in and around it. Quite unique.!

San Vito lo Capo & Zingaro reserve

We arrived at San Vito on 9th December. Campsite very quiet and great facilities. The Zingaro reserve is beautiful and unspoiled with lots of well marked walking trails. Found Porcupine quills but no sign of the beast. Wild iris were amazing, fields full of them. Apparently there were dolphin but we missed them. Some lovely beaches for when the weather gets warmer again.

Isola Di Mozia and Whitaker Museum

Today we took a trip from the mainland to the island of Mozia. This was originally a Phoenician city from the eighth century BC. The whole island is one big excavation site in progress. Most of what the world knows of these people comes from here or the Bible. The statue of a Greek youth is from the 5th century BC.

Marsala and Museum Baglio Anselmi Lilybaeum

Visit to old Lilybaeum and the museum in modern day Marsala . No photos allowed in museum so cannot show the Old Punic warship from 280BC it makes the Mary Rose look a bit sad. For the outdoor visit our guide (who spoke no English) handed over to a group a local school kids. Marco could speak very good english and insisted that he give us a guide tour of the ruins and later of Marsala itself. We were ably escorted by about ten very bright, very friendly, sixteen year olds who made our visit a really special day. Really could not see that happening in the UK. Even got an invitation to join them for lunch at home, we graciously declined but the thought was wonderful.