Sicily
Belinda and I spent 5 days in Sicily after Claire's wedding. We flew into Catania on the east coast, and drove our way across the island to its capital, Palmero. The mafia has a distinct influence over Sicilly but fortunately we didn't bump into anyone carrying machine guns in violin cases.
Our hostel in Catania had a restaurant underneath which was in a lava tube - a bizarre setting! Catania had clearly been wiped out a number of times by various eruptions of Mt Etna which dominates the eastern side of Sicilly.
We drove partway up Mt Etna to find a ski field and relatively fresh lava flow. It's about 3,000m high so there was plenty of snow left over from winter but due to a lack of equipment we couldn't climb the mountain. It's probably not the best idea to climb an active volcano without an experienced guide, but some of my geologist friends would be keen to go! We stayed in a mountain lodge overlooking Mt Etna before driving across the island to Palmero.
Part of the drive offered views out to the Aolean Islands, a group of active volcano islands to the north of Sicily. Plus great views of the Mediterranean Sea in brilliant sunshine, a welcome relief at the end of the northern winter.
The last couple of days were spent in Palermo. Interestingly, this used to the the Norman capital of Europe about 1,000 years ago. Sicily's position and status as largest island in the Mediterranean meant that it has had influences from a number of civilisations including Egyptian, Roman, Greek and North African. The culture of the city is very unique, and quite different from the rest of Europe. This topped with great italian food meant a nice holiday away
Some photos are in the gallery.