Benvenutti alla Sicilia!

Isola Bella

Ahhh, Sicily! We spent a wonderful Easter holiday weekend in Sicilia! After deciding that we were in desperate need for a warmer climate, we finally decided that Sicily would be our destination...and it turned out to be an excellent decision! Scroll down for more pics and stories from our trip!


We flew into the city of Catania on the eastern coast of Sicily and rented a car at the airport. From there, we drove about 50 minutes north to the coastal resort town of Taormina. We spent our 1st two nights there in a hotel just down the hill from the main town in an area known as Isola Bella. Isola Bella is the small island in the pictures above (and below!). After having been away from the ocean for so long, I was reminded of just how much I love (and miss) it! The view from our hotel room at the Panoramic Hotel was amazing! Mark surprised me with champagne and strawberries soon after our arrival and we enjoyed our yummy snack and soaked in the beautiful view from our balcony!



The next day, we awoke once again to our gorgeous view and enjoyed breakfast on the hotel terrace. We had a tour of Mt. Etna scheduled for the day and our tour guide picked us up from the hotel at 8:30. Our guide, Alessandro from Sicily Life Tours, took us on a 6 hour tour through some small Italian villages and up the volcano! We started out by viewing the Alcantara river which runs down the volcano and empties into the ocean in the beach town of Naxos. From there we stopped for some amazing views of the snow-capped volcano (yes, you can ski on it in the winter!). We then headed up the volcano, stopping in the small village of Castiglione on the way.

Gotta love this view!

View of Mt. Etna from the cemetery!

Castiglione

We then headed up the north-side of the volcano. Our first stop was to see the lava flow from the last big eruption that occurred in 2002. It was pretty amazing to see it up close! One of the interesting (and good!) things about Mt. Etna is that it does not contain poisonous gases. The lava flow also travels pretty slowly so residents have some time to evacuate...usually they are given warning of an impending eruption by an earthquake. The last large eruption destroyed quite a few structures on the mountain, including the ski-lift and equipment rental stores and restaurants. Driving up to our next stop, we got out and hiked a short distance to one of the volcano's craters. We walked up the crater and Alessandro showed us one of the holes where the lava had erupted from...a little nerve-wracking to be standing next to what appeared to be a bottomless hole!

Lava!

Destruction from the last large eruption

Mt. Etna

Crater

We then headed back down the north side of the mountain and made one final stop in Naxos, a beautiful beach town located just south of Taormina. Naxos is important in Sicily's history, as it was in this location that the first Greek settlement was established. Our tour ended there and Alessandro drove us back to our hotel. We had a great time and really enjoyed our day! Thanks to Alessandro for being a great guide; we learned a lot and had fun!

Naxos

After a late lunch back at the hotel, we walked down to the (rocky!) beach to check out Isola Bella. It is a beautiful small island, although the gate was closed (we presume for the Easter holiday weekend) so we did not get to explore. I plan on going back and checking it out!

Clear blue waters of the Ionian Sea

Friday night we took the funivia (funiculaire!) up the hill to the main town of Taormina. Friday was Good Friday and we caught the tail end of the Easter procession that made its way down the main road of town with residents and tourists walking behind it. As the majority of Italians are Catholic, Easter is an important holiday in the country and is celebrated in many parts of Italy. We enjoyed the exquisite view of the coastline at night from the main square and then headed over to Tiramisu on a recommendation from our tour guide for a yummy pizza dinner!

Easter procession

Saturday we headed back up to Taormina to do some sight-seeing. Taormina's main street is fun to browse and window-shop. We veered off from the main street to check out Taormina's Greek Theater, which is a popular sight as it has been very well preserved. The Greeks really knew how to pick the right locations, as the theater has a beautiful view over the ocean. They still perform plays here in the summer, so I plan on coming back for that as well!

Taormina's main street

The Greek Theater

After sight-seeing in Taormina, we headed back to the hotel for a quick lunch before our road trip to Agrigento. Italy is well-known for its food and we had no shortage of it on our trip. We love prosciutto et melone and eat it every time we are in Italy!

Prosciutto et melone

When making our itinerary, we decided to include Agrigento in our plans, as it is famous for the Valle dei Temple, or Valley of the Temples. The temples are some of the most well-preserved examples of Greek temples in the world, and the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Agrigento is about 2 and 1/2 hours by car from Taormina, so we set off after lunch on our road trip. Luckily, our newly purchased GPS led the way and we made it there without too much trouble, minus the short drive through town, in which Mark had to navigate the maze of Italian drivers, who live up to their reputation of speeding and creating their own traffic rules!

The drive was worth it! We checked into our hotel, Villa Athena, and were the lucky recipients of an upgrade to the Presidential Suite! We relaxed for a little bit on our hotel room terrace, which provided a spectacular view of the temples! Then we put on our shoes and walked over to the temple entrance to view them up close. It was really amazing to see temples that have been there since the 5th century B.C.!

Hanging out on the terrace

Temple Concordia

Temple of Juno

After our temple excursion, we headed back to the hotel for some down time before enjoying a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant. Our stay in Agrigento ended on a great note when we enjoyed Easter breakfast on our terrace the next morning! After breakfast we packed up and headed back to Taormina to enjoy the sea for one more night.

Italian food!

Easter breakfast!

The view from our room

On our last night, we stayed just a few minutes north of Taormina at Hotel Baia Taormina. It's location is up on the hillside and provided an amazing view of the coast. After checking in, we enjoyed a late lunch and then had what the southern Italians call "siesta" or nap time! Feeling refreshed, we took the hotel shuttle bus into town for our final Italian dinner at al Duomo. The next morning, we enjoyed our last breakfast on our hotel room balcony and basked in the sun before it was time to head to the airport and say "arrivederci" to Sicily!

We had an incredible vacation! I hope to make it back to Sicily one day to re-live the memories!

Hotel Baia Taormina

Our final meal!

Taormina's coastline

Luzern Sight-Seeing and Pub Crawl

Chapel Bridge

Luzern's lakeside

Standing on the Chapel Bridge!

Lowendenkmal - Lion Monument

California Bar & Restaurant!

This past weekend we hopped on a train and headed to Luzern for the weekend. We were invited to a pub crawl by a friend of mine named Julia, whom I met last summer when one of our mutual friends vacationed in Switzerland.

We arrived in Luzern in the early afternoon and ditched our suitcase in our hotel room before walking over to the old town. Luzern is situated on Lake Luzern and the River Reuss. To cross over to the medieval town, we crossed the Chapel Bridge, famous for being the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, dating back to the 14th century. Once over the bridge, we lingered among the old town streets for a couple of hours, popping into interesting shops along the way, trying to dodge the rain drops. We also viewed the Lion Monument, which is a beautiful wall carving of a lion that was dedicated to the Swiss guards who were killed during the French Revolution.

We started our evening pub crawl with an early dinner at, ironically, the California Bar and Restaurant! LOL! We ate our meal with three others who were also on the pub crawl; Alex and Dennis, who live in Luzern and Alex's brother, Lionel, who was visiting from the States. We had a good time getting to know them over hamburgers and then we headed over to Legends Irish bar, our first bar on the list! Over the course of the evening, we met a lot of nice people and made our way through a lot of bars in Luzern! It was a really fun night!

We slept in on Sunday morning and then headed back to Lausanne for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. Luzern is a beautiful city and hopefully we'll get a chance to go back in the future.

Two Years and Counting! Celebrating with Sushi and Fondue!

Our fondue dinner

As we say in French, "Bon Appetit"!

Mark and I celebrated our two year anniversary last Tuesday. I can't believe two years ago we went on our first date! Time flies....who knew two years ago that we would be living in Europe! We celebrated by going out to dinner last night at one of our favorite sushi places in Lausanne, the Palace Sushi Zen for a delicious meal. We went shopping yesterday afternoon and Mark bought me a fondue pot that I really wanted for an anniversary present. We enjoyed a yummy fondue dinner tonight. We bought the fondue cheese along with a baguette, carrots and apples to dip. It was a very fun anniversary weekend! I am a very lucky woman!

Westie Bar & Restaurant!

I came across this restaurant in Lausanne when I was shopping yesterday. I had to post it since it reminds me of Sister, Adam and their Westie Ollie (my nephew!) I hope they come back to Switzerland so we can eat here!

Lausanne hockey playoff game...and some crazy fanfare!

Facing off!

Our mascot, the Lausanne Lion!

The die-hard, crazy fan section!

So, Mark loves hockey...okay, a little more than love...he is, what I would call, obsessed with hockey! Well, after a couple of failed attempts, we finally made it to a hockey game. Lausanne has a pro hockey team called the Lausanne Hockey Club. The team made it to the playoffs this year and we attended Game 1 of the 7-Game series. The Swiss take their hockey pretty serious and each town's team has a "crazy fan" section....Lausanne is no exception! It was pretty entertaining to watch these fans chant, play drums and wave flags for the entire game. The visiting team's fan section, although small, also had drums and flags! There was no shortage of cheering going on! ( Check out my video below.) Lausanne played well and won 5-2 so we had lots to cheer about. Go Lions!

Valentine's Weekend in ROMA!

Roma!

Raphael's School of Athens on display at the Vatican Museum

The Vatican Museum courtyard

It wouldn't be a complete trip to Italy without pizza!

Piazza San Pietro and Basilica

The Pantheon

Looking out onto the square from the Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

Our Valentine's dinner

Inside the Colosseum

The Colosseum!

The Forum

Mark surprised me with a trip to Rome for Valentine's weekend! Italy is at the top of the list for enjoying a week-end d'amore!

We took a short 1 and 1/2 hour flight to Rome and arrived at our hotel, the Sofitel Rome Villa Borghese, late on Friday evening. We started our day of sightseeing early on Saturday at the Vatican Museum in Vatican City. We booked tickets in advance online, which I recommend doing in order to avoid the queue. The museum collection is very impressive and includes Egyptian artifacts along with an unbelievable collection of Renaissance art, including its "crown jewel", Michelangeo's Sistine Chapel. It's a jaw-dropping experience to stand in front of works of art that you stared at in a text book in school and have lasted for hundreds of years!

After leaving the Vatican museum, we headed over Piazza San Pietro and the Basilica, also known as St. Peter's. Rome is one of those places where you run out of adjectives for "amazing" pretty quickly! Once again, I was blown away by the architecture in the piazza and the detail that went into every single inch that decorates the interior of the basilica. Michelangelo's famous sculpture, the "Pieta" sits behind glass here. The papal alter is beautiful as well. I recommend just sitting in the square and taking in the view.

We left St. Peter's Square and headed towards Castel Sant'Angelo, then headed on to Piazza Navona, which has multiple famous art/architecture located there, including Bernini's famous Fountain of the Four Rivers. Our next stop was the Pantheon, an amazing temple dedicated to the gods and known for it's dome that has an open oculus that allows light into the building. We continued walking until we came to the site of the Trevi Fountain, which is an unbelievable site. The size and detail of the fountain is truly magnificent! We stopped to take pictures and throw a coin in the fountain, which the legend ensures will ensure our return to Rome. :) Our final sight for the afternoon was a walk up the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna before heading back to our hotel for a break.

Saturday evening, Mark and I enjoyed a romantic Valentine's dinner at Ristorante 4 Colonne in Piazza Navona. Our hotel made the recommendation based on our craving for a seafood dinner! It turned out to be a great restaurant. We were one of the first patrons of the evening at 8:30 pm, as Italians are known for their late dinners! We started off with a class of champagne, and an appetizer. I had some delicious fried pawns. Along with a very nice bottle of wine, we chose the seafood risotto. It was fantastic! And just when we couldn't eat anymore, our very nice Italian waiter comes over and says to us "Va benne?! You make room for dessert!" He brings us back a plate full of bite size pastries, a shot of grappa for Mark and a shot of limoncello for me! Well, when in Rome....!

Sunday was dedicated to checking out the ruins. We took the metro to the "Colosseo" stop. The Colosseum is a sight to be seen as you walk out of the metro exit. It is pretty fascinating to see the interior and picture what it must have been like when the citizens of Rome came to watch the gladiators fight. Once we left the Colosseum, we headed over to the Palatine Hill and the Forum to see the ruins. With a creative imagination, you can picture yourself in the middle of the ancient city of Rome.

The Forum was our last stop of the day, as we had a flight back to Geneva Sunday evening. I already can't wait for our next trip back to Roma! It is such a historical, cultural and romantic city!