We had been looking around vainly for a place to visit in November that was close, relatively cheap and would give Shaun some chance of a suntan ahead of some wedding pictures in December. Seville was the place! 
Leaving London's grey skies and cold weather behind us we made the most of a beautiful sunny Saturday in Seville - wandering the old squares and swanning about at La Maestranza bull ring - one of the oldest bull rings in the world (no fights in winter, but you can go and sit in the stands and conjure up some atmosphere of your own). 
The bull ring is a major focal point of the city (view from the bell tower on Seville Cathedral):
We spent a few happy hours getting lost wandering through Barrio de Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarter, on our way to find Seville Cathedral, built in the 1400s and and housing what (may) be Christopher Columbus' tomb - although there is a good deal of scepticism about who may actually be buried there. Nevertheless the cathedral is incredible. 
While the cathedral was built on the site of Seville's former grand mosque, in other parts of the city its earlier Moorish heritage is still very much on display. The Alcazar, used as a royal palace over the centuries, was originally built as a Muslim fortress in 913. Its gardens in particular are beautiful, as is the intricate stonework in Islamic designs. 
While the cathedral was built on the site of Seville's former grand mosque, in other parts of the city its earlier Moorish heritage is still very much on display. The Alcazar, used as a royal palace over the centuries, was originally built as a Muslim fortress in 913. Its gardens in particular are beautiful, as is the intricate stonework in Islamic designs. Finally after all our hard work wandering around it was only fitting that we tucked into some of the tapas that Seville is famous for. Not entirely sure how authentic this one was but after wide sampling it was declared our favourite - a 'meatball chupa chup' with bacon, strong cheese and mashed potato drowned in a strong mustard sauce. It was so good the cheese stuck to the plate. We had lots.
M
M
On Sunday morning we got up and hired some bikes to have a bit of a wider explore - to the Netherlands. Bruges is only about 15km from Sluis - a random little Dutch town on the border - along the canals, with a pancake-flat towpath running the whole way.
Having reached Sluis we only had a window of about half an hour in which to buy a hunk of token Dutch cheese and get back on the bikes for a rendezvous with the train back to London. However, trains, boats and bikes all in all it was a very civilised weekend - we will definitely be investigating the Eurostar's other destinations for more ideas (although I might try and make sure there is a shower on offer at the other end). 
Visiting the Vuccina, Palermo's rowdy central fruit, vegetable and fish market (where we had boiled squid with lemon juice straight off the boat):
Shaun getting a trim from a friendly local barber:
All too soon we were leaving Palermo in our trusty tiny rental car on a road trip around the Sicilian coast. First stop Cefalu - a tiny but beautiful little medieval town tucked into the cliffs with winding streets and LOTS of locals and tourists enjoying the sandy beach. Not exactly a typical New Zealand summer beach scene but we squared our shoulders and adjusted our concepts of personal space and had a splash in the warm Mediterranean waters.
From Cefalu we turned inland for a couple of nights exploring Sicily's interior. As we drove south (and uphill) we drove through a number of hilltop towns full of beautifully coloured stone and amazing ceramic work. We stayed two nights near Piazza Armerina, in an agriturismo run by a local couple who fed us huge amounts of food and where I got a chance to beat Shaun at some archery practice...
Nearby was the amazing Villa Romana del Casale - a huge Roman villa built in the first quarter of the 4th century AD, housing what is apparently the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world. Part of the villa was closed for ongoing restoration work but even the sections we saw were incredible in their scale, detail and level of preservation.
Leaving Piazza Armerina we headed again for the coast, but this time to the south, stopping by Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples. Like the Villa this is a World Heritage Site but in relation to a much earlier period - it contains the ruins of seven Greek temples constructed during the 5th and 6th centuries BC, which is fairly mind-blowing. Below is the Temple of Concordia on what was a completely scorching midsummer afternoon:
Next stop was the mighty mountain - Etna. No visit to Sicily would be complete without a trip to the top as it dominates the skyline in the eastern part of the island. Given the extreme heat (and the availability of a very cool gondola) we played tourists and caught a lift to the top to view the crater. The landscape was incredibly dry and barren:
Making our way northwards again we made a beeline for the glitzy hillside town of Taormina - which is apparently a favourite with the international jet set. We weren't looking too jet-setty ourselves after Etna but we window-shopped along some very winding little hillside lanes before heading down by cable car to a glistening cove-style beach... a must given the heat of the day! The main drawcard, however, was the Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre), built in a beautiful hillside position with the sea beyond it and used for many pop and classical concerts during the year.
Leaving Taormina it was almost the end of our trip - a last 2 days on Lipari, one of the Aeolian islands off the north-eastern coast of Sicily. Lipari was a beautiful volcanic island with great food, friendly locals and a nice (albeit stony) beach where we kicked back and enjoyed some snorkelling and some lazing around in the sunshine. 
On our final evening before heading home we headed out on a cruise to the other islands in the Aeolian chain - finishing up with a spectacular viewing of Stromboli, the furthest and most active of the islands. Stromboli is in a state of almost constant eruption but despite this, to our amazement, it has a fully-functioning village at its base (where we nervously had our dinner). Cruising around the other side of the island on our way back to Lipari we were treated to a spectacular burst of lava from the crater (watching safely from the boat) and wondered how quickly the locals have learned to run to their safety boats...
All in all Sicily was a magical holiday full of an incredible range of experiences for such a relatively small island. And the food was amazing!!
