Sunday, June 29, 2014

Jesus and Nemo move to Sicily

As we told you in our last post, our friends Chris and Florrie got a transfer from Germany to Sicily. First we thought we didn’t get it, and then all of a sudden we did. The move was rather hurried and stressful. Our last full week in Germany was spent in a cute little apartment above a restaurant in a local village.

DSCN6858DSCN6861

DSCN6864

We had a great view too.

 

 

 

 

Our last night (New Year’s Eve) was spent with our good friends Chris and Pete Yost. In the morning we started out on our three day drive to our new home.

DSCN7153DSCN7161DSCN7163

The first day of the trip we drove through Germany and Switzerland and then into Northern Italy where we saw a very adventurous person.

Those of you who have been to Italy before will recognize this symbol. For those who haven’t it’s an Autogrill where you can get better cappuccino then anywhere in the states and some pretty fantastic sandwiches and salads too. 

 

 

 

The second day of our trip we drove through some of our favorite regions in Italy; Tuscany and Umbria. As you can tell by the picture we didn’t stop in Tuscany, we were on a mission!

DSCN7180

We did stop in Orvieto in Umbria for lunch. Actually, with the help of our good friends the Yosts, we got through the last step of selling Chris’s CRV there too. We figured driving in Italy is crazy enough that we didn’t need a car with the steering wheel on the right hand side, Nemo was always nervous in that car.

DSCN7190DSCN7197DSCN7198

Our next stop was in our very favorite place in the world, Gaeta! Not only did we spend the night there but we spent it in our old apartment. Nemo and I were treated like kings.      P1020735We had a delicious dinner with the best ever roasted potatoes. Our hosts, the Harkers are friends we met while living in Italy. Being the smart people they are, they moved into our P1020737place when we left.

Anyone who visited us in Gaeta has this picture, now we do too!

 

The next day we had our morning cappuccino and cornetto in our favorite Italian bar (which is not the same as other bars) with our favorite Italian barista, Erasmus.

P1020742

He remembered us all and was very happy to see us. He was happy to hear we were moving back to Italy. We continued our drive through southern Italy, stopping at our favorite olive oil place on the way down and driving through some thick fog.

P1010018DSCN7211

Finally, after almost three full days of driving, we made it to Reggio di Calabria where we took the ferry over to Messina in Sicily.

P1020748

P1020756P1020757

Now we are busy learning about our new home. Here is a little information for you: Sicily is an autonomous region of Italy. It has been conquered numerous times and so has been influenced by many cultures. Some of these cultures are

the Arabs,

DSCN7244

the Greeks

P1040631P1040658

and the Romans.

 P1040136P1040770

Sicily is a country where you can get some of the best food ever, whether at an Autogrill, a restaurant, or a truck!

DSCN7284DSCN7249

DSCN7242P1040197

This is a great restaurant in Siracusa (actually Ortigia,the ancient part of Siracusa). It is called Dock and serves marvelous sea food.

You can find one of the ten oldest trees in the world here on the slopes of Mr. Etna and absolutely fantastic wine sold in recycled water bottles!

P1040762DSCN7824

You can visit an erupting volcano and cute little coastal towns.

140615 ETNA 7!DSCN7586

If you are lucky you may even find a home with wonderful views!

P1040942P1040947

Sicily is a beautiful country full of friendly and caring people.

 DSCN7874DSCN7681

Until next time Ciao!

No comments:

Post a Comment