Back to Trapani via the south

From Palermo, the road took us next towards Agrigento. On the way, we just had to stop at a little village called Corleone. The place is well-known as the birthplace of several well-known mafia bosses, including one rather famous fictional one known as Vito Corleone (enough said!). The village is also known for its numerous churches, and its historical heritage. We saw more of those than mafia bosses (fortunately, I suppose?), but I suppose more than anything else, Corleone still feels very much Sicilian (one could easily imagine now the place could make the most of its “Godfather connection” – thankfully that hasn’t happened yet).



After our brief “organized crime detour , we continued towards Agrigento, taking in some pretty impressive mountain scenery (we were surprised how green Sicily is – we were expecting much more arid landscapes). Agrigento is fore and foremost known for its collection of Greek temples located in the valley of temples. Due to our somewhat tight schedule, we headed there straight away, before going to our hotel, even. The valley is actually a somewhat confusing name, since the temples are actually located on a ridge, rather than in a valley.

Like Segesta, the Greeks chose a pretty stunning setting for their temples here at Agrigento, overlooking as they do the surrounding lush scenery, and the sea. I think I was even more awestruck by the temples here at Agrigento, than at Segesta. The most impressive temples are the Temple of Juno, at one end of the valley, and the extremely well-preserved Temple of Concordia (the reason it’s so well-preserved is that it actually served as a church for some time). There is also the huge Temple of Zeus, which was apparently the largest Doric temple ever built – but very little remains of it (save for a very impressive pile of rubble). The collection of temples was nicely complemented by a sculpture exhibition.

Our hotel was located by the sea-side, and we actually had some pretty nice weather to go with the view this time. But by the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost time for dinner (which we enjoyed in a very nice restaurant indeed, not located far from the valley of the temples).

The next day, we didn’t linger for long, but drove onwards towards Selinunte in the west, where we were spending our last night in Sicily (sniff). Our first stop was at the Scala dei Turchi, at Realmonte (just west of Agrigento). It’s a rather impressive formation of white cliffs – quite reminiscent of the landscapes in Dorset, at the Jurassic coast. After admiring this rather stunning natural phenomenon, we carried on towards Selinunte.

We made another brief stop at Sciacca, a rather pleasant and peaceful town pretty much slam-bang between Agrigento and Selinunte. We really liked the place, it had a quite calm feel to it (nice change after Palermo), and a leisurely pace of life. So very Italian… I spotted a nice barber shop with an old barber chatting to his old mates, and decided it was the perfect place to get my hair cut, and practice my Italian. And I was not to be disappointed, not only did I get a cheap haircut, I also did get to practice my Italian and even got a slight insight into local politics ;-) (apparently, in Sicily you have to choose between the “evil communist bureaucracy” or the “evil mafia” – I wasn’t quite sure which evil they considered the greater one).

One haircut later, we carried on towards our final destination of the day, Selinunte. Selinunte is yet another former Greek colony, and yes they have some darn impressive Greek ruins as well. And yes, they are also rather stunningly located on a hill, overlooking some great scenery and the sea. I’m running out of superlatives. So again, it was all about temples, with an acropolis to check out this time as well. I have to admit that I was more impressed by Segesta and Agrigento, though, than Selinunte (or perhaps we had simply reached our saturation point?). But still, it’s not like I’m complaining or anything.

After my obligatory quick swim in the ‘Med (the water wasn’t actually very cold at all, but the big waves put me off a little bit), we made our way to our hotel – appropriately named the temple of Hera ;). We finished the day with yet another great dinner, in a nice old town located next-doors to Selinunte (the modern parts of Selinunte isn’t very appealing). I have to say, that Sicily would be worth a week’s holiday just for the food!

And then it was time to head back to Trapani, to catch our flight back the mainland. We did have a few hours at our hands, so we decided to make a stop-over at Marsala, famous for its sweet wine. It’s a very nice little town as well, with a rather prosperous feel to it (at times, it felt almost like Northern Italy). We spent a leisurely couple of hours walking around the place, having a coffee, enjoying the sun (after a few days of very dodgy weather, the last few days had been great, thankfully) and just taking in the atmosphere.

After Marsala, we still had time to visit the Stagnone, a big, very beautiful area known for its salt works and windmills. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to properly appreciate the area, time to catch the flight and all that.

All in all, we spent a fantastic and fascinating week, and we will surely come back to Sicily. There is so much to see still, it felt like we’ve only scratched the surface…

Surviving Palermo

Before arriving at Palermo, we decided to visit the famous cathedral at nearby Monreale. And I have to say, the place is definitely worth the detour. It is quite simply one of the most stunning churches I’ve ever seen (and we’ve seen quite a few – we spend a lot of our holidays in Italy!). The cathedral is probably the most perfect example of Norman architecture (yes, even the Normans were here) – and the oriental influence (the Ottomans, again) is very much present especially in the stunning interior. Having spent the appropriate time being impressed and awed, we made our way back towards the car. Again, we were struck by a torrent of rain the likes of which we’ve rarely seen, but thankfully we made it back to the car sound and safe.

Getting to the hotel was quite an interesting driving experience. There’s driving in Sicily, and then there’s driving in Palermo (which is a bit like driving in Sicily to the power of two). Anarchy rules, as they say… I have to say I secretly enjoyed it, especially as we made it to the hotel without a single scratch! Our hotel was quite a place as well – located in an ancient palace (we parked our car in the shaded courtyard, under the arcades – pretty cool). Service was minimalist to say the least (I reckon the receptionist spends about 90 per cent of his time watching the telly, the rest of the time at the toilet or having his siesta, I suspect).

We were eager to explore town, in spite of the fact that it was dark and rainy. The part of the city we were staying at is a good example of what a cosmopolitan place Palermo has always been, and still is. Basically, most of the restaurants are either Bangladeshi or Pakistani. And this is pretty much slam-bang in the middle of the historic centre. More like Edgware road in London, or something. Most restaurants were closed, but we eventually found a place where we had ourselves some nice snacks – in a real worker men’s eatery.

The next day, we got up bright 'n early, and headed out to explore town. The impression we got pretty soon of Palermo was that it’s quite similar to Naples. Basically, it’s very noisy, dirty, and teeming with life. And has an unbelievable cultural heritage, enough to compete with pretty much any city on mainland Europe. So an incredibly fascinating place to be, but on the other hand the experience can be a bit stressful at the time. Anyway, our walk took in most parts of Palermo, the theatre (where the final scene of Godfather 3 was shot, actually), the markets (where I had myself some fresh octopus for a late breakfast), more churches than you can shake a stick at (in all sorts of styles – Baroque, Norman, Romanesque, you name it), the port area and so forth. But the thing that you take away from it all, more than anything else, is just how mad and chaotic the place is.

In the afternoon, after gaping at the stunning cathedral (another example of Norman architecture – this one has a pretty disappointing interior though, as opposed to Monreale cathedral), we visited what is probably the main tourist site at Palermo, the Cappella Palatina. The chapel was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132, and is a rather stunning example of Byzantine architecture. The interior is perhaps even more impressive than that of Monreale Cathedral. We were once more suitably awed.

All that walking left us pretty exhausted, so we decided to have a nice meal in one of the classier restaurants in town to wrap up the day. I decided to go for a bit of meat, for a change – and wasn’t disappointed. No complaints from Mathilde about her fish either... All in all, a good way to end the day…

The next day, that damn rain started coming down again. At a bit of a loss as to what to do, we decided to head down to Villa Malfitano, an Art Noveau villa located a bit outside the town centre of Palermo. It was a bit of a strange place, we just sort of wandered in and started visiting the place. No ticket office, nothing. Just us and a couple of Italian ladies being given a private tour (the lady giving the tour was the daughter of the owner of the place, no less, turns out!), and another group of distinguished folks being given the tour by an architect or something. Well, nonetheless, the place was rather stunning, with some very impressive period furniture.

After this dose of art noveau (or Liberty, as it's known in Italy), we decided it was time for a bit of Ottoman architecture, so we made our way to nearby Zisa. The Zisa is yet another example of the hybrid Norman-Arabic architectural style. The inside looks positively Arabic – but unfortunately it was all quite plain (it sort of pales in comparison to Alhambra for example – especially given the other magnificent stuff we’ve seen in Sicily so far). But, an interesting detour, nonetheless.

After a bit of shopping (I purchased an umbrella, which seemed rather necessary, and sun glasses, which seemed much less so), and a couple of churches later, the day was nearly wrapped up. We decided to try and have dinner at the oldest Trattoria in Palermo, but it was closed, disappointingly. We ended up in a place that was also recommended by our guidebook. Turned out to be a bit of a tourist trap, unfortunately. Just before we entered the restaurant, we were treated to the spectacle of an intersection being totally blocked due to what appeared to be the contents of some bins having been emptied in the middle of the road. This resulted in predictable chaos, as people tried to get around the rubble, do their U-turns etc. Not a police in sight. So, after our meal, we passed by the same intersection. The only difference this time was that the pile of rubble seemed to have grown. And still no police in sight. That’s Palermo for you… (I suppose somebody haven’t paid there protection money, or something?).

Kind of an appropriate way to end a very fascinating Palermo visit!

Exploring western Sicily

We’ve been looking forward to our holiday in Sicily for a while now. We’ve been looking to go there for ages and ages, but never found cheap flights there. Recently, though, we realized that there are dirt-cheap Ryan air flights to Trapani in western Sicilty from Cuneo, located just on the Italian side of the border, in Piedmont. So, we booked our tickets pretty much straight away, and off we were.

The drive up to Cuneo is not the shortest one (a bit more than 2 hours), but it’s certainly a scenic enough way to start a holiday – a lot of the road goes through the scenic and mountainous Roya valley, where the Train des Merveilles goes through. The flight was standard Ryanair travel – which is not too bad in the end, all things considererd (especially the price). I like the fact that they operate out of small airports – which means less queuing, less delays, less hassle. The shopping ain’t the best, but hey, that’s not really my thing anyway ;-)

We arrived in Trapani pretty late at night, and took the taxi down to the hotel – or our apartment, actually. By the time we’d settled in, it was already time to have dinner – we decided upon the cozy-looking place just next door’s to our apartment with all the Guide de Routard recommendations – a good choice, it turned out. We went for fish (this is Sicily, after all) – I tried the local speciality, cous cous (part of the heritage left behind by the Ottoman Empire especially in the western parts of the isle). Our stomachs filled up, we then headed out to take part in the Passegiata, an Italian weekend ritual consisting of walking up and down the streets, looking cool. We liked the atmosphere, although I felt a bit out of place amongst those shamefully well-dressed Italians (and this ain’t Milan, even!).

The next day, we decided to head out to nearby Erice, a famous medieval village overlooking the coastline and Trapani, dramatically seated on a cliff top. We spent a while trying to figure out how to get there (this was Sunday, so the tourist office was naturally closed), and eventually figured out we were supposed to take a bus, and then a cable car up to the village. A pretty scenic ride, it was (although the clouds spoilt the views somewhat). As we got up though, things went from bad to catastrophic weather-wise. It started raining, and when I mean raining, I mean in monsoon-like proportions…

Desperately seeking refuge, we eventually found a restaurant, where we decided to have lunch. By the time we had finished, the unrelenting rain was just subsiding. So we did get a couple of hours to visit the village, which is a very picturesque place indeed, with its cobble-town streets and old town houses. There’s even a nice old medieval castle, from where there are pretty spectacular views over the surrounding area. This being Italy, the Duomo is naturally pretty awe-inspiring as well (and there were pretty nice views from the Belfry also).

Having seen the main sights, we made our way back down to Trapani, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking around Trapani. It’s a pretty nice little town, quite typically Italian. Nothing spectacular to see there, really, but the old town is quite picturesque, and thankfully the place hasn’t succumbed to tourism yet. Pretty nice views over the surrounding coastline as well, and the sunset was nice, too. We finished the evening with a nice dinner in a rather classy looking eatery on the main drag in the old town.

The next day, ‘twas time to pack our bag and carry on, towards Palermo. We decided to brave it and rent a car (Sicilian drivers are well-known for all the wrong reasons). After some rather inefficient transactions at the tourist office and then the car rental office, we got our little Fiat Panda (not my favourite car – I’d have preferred a cinque cento, but at least the Panda allowed us to blend in!) and headed out on the roads. Driving in Sicily is for sure a bit of a shock to the system (things like red lights, stop-signs and lanes don’t seem to have much meaning in Sicily), but once you get used to driving there, things work out pretty smoothly actually. People are kind of careful, since they expect cars to come from anywhere, change lane whenever, so in a way it’s all quite forgiving. The 1st rule is kind of the same as it is when you drive in Paris - never hesitate (especially when it comes to using the horn)!

We arrived at our next destination, Segesta, well on schedule. Segesta is one of the main ancient Greek archaeological sites in Sicily (one of rather many – Sicily really is absolute paradise for Greek history buffs). In its heyday, it was battling for supremacy of western Sicily with nearby Selinunte. There are two main sights at Segesta, one being the stunning Doric temple, located in an almost unbelievably scenic setting in a valley. We spent a good half-hour gaping away at the stunningly well-preserved structure.

We then made our way up a footpath, past some old fortifications, to the acropolis and the theatre (the other of the afore-mentioned main sights). Not much remains of the acropolis, but the theatre is another rather stunning testament to the Greeks’ ability to create beautiful things. It’s located on a hilltop, overlooking the surrounding valleys. Once can just imagine what it must’ve been like to attend one of the plays there (actually, once can still do so – plays are organised there during the summer).

Having had a very invigorating dose of Ancient Greece, we carried on towards Palermo, stopping over at Castellamare del Golfo for lunch (another great, rather affordable meal – this time I had swordfish, another Sicilian speciality). Our stomach’s filled, we approach Palermo with anticipation…

On the Vélo Bleu to Nice

We’ve had some pretty amazing weather this October month, it’s at times like these that one really feels like, being able to live on the Cote d’Azur. Since we had such splendid weather, we thought the time might be ripe for an outing to Nice. And what better way to get there, than on a bike, eh? We don’t actually own bikes, so we figured we’d try out the Vélo Bleu network, that’s been setup on the Cote d’Azur. It’s basically copied from the Vélib' system then have in Paris.


The way it works is you sign up for the service, and then you just pick up your bike at one of the “bike stations” that can be found a bit all over the coast. Then you pay for the amount of time you used your bike. And all you need to pick up your bike is your phone – so no need to take out your credit card or anything.

It worked pretty much a treat for us – although we both had somewhat sore muscles the next day, it’s been a while since we’ve been on the bike last time (the last time was probably in Finland about 3 years ago!). All in all, it’s a very nice way to get to Nice, cycling by the seaside. And the cycle path is very good too – unusual for the Cote d’Azur, which isn’t really very bike-friendly at all. And best of all, pedalling back gave us the opportunity to burn off the calories acquired eating the ice creams we had in Nice ;-)

Sunday, we had continued good weather, so I decided to take a dip in the sea – haven’t swam that much in the sea this year. I can confirm that the temperature is still very much OK for swimming – must do that again before the winter arrives!

Last business lunch with Ismael

Me, Youcef, Naim and Ismael have a nice tradition of business lunches. Let’s us all get away from the daily grind once every couple of weeks. Today was a sad day, as it was to be the last business lunch with our big friend Ismael, who’s heading off to Dublin. Good for him (he gets to join his darling Sarah), a loss for us.

It was really a last-minute lunch, since I was literally taking Ismael to the airport after the lunch (he arrived at Saint-Laurent du Var train station with his bags ‘n all. We picked a restaurant near the train station more or less at random – and ended up in La Busca. Not a bad choice, as it turned out. The place had a lively, busy atmosphere, almost more befitting California, than the Cote d’Azur. The food was pretty decent, too. The Italian lady who was chatting up Naim non-stop provided the entertainment.

And the, it was time to take Ismael to the airport. WE hope to see him soon again, either here on the Cote d’Azur, or perhaps in Dublin ?

Julia and Sofia visiting

This weekend, we had visitors from Finland. My nieces Julia and Sofia were paying us a visit. They were staying at my parents’ place, but we promised to take the around the Cote on Saturday, when my parents were playing Petanque (taking part of the Nordic Petanque championships on the Cote d’Azur, no less!).

Since my parents will no doubt take the girls around all the normal touristy haunts of the Cote d’Azur, we figured we’d give the girls a taste of “the real France”, by introducing them to Cagnes-sur-Mer. Since Julia is training to become a chef, we decided on a programme quite suitable for everybody: I’d take the girls to the local farmers’ market, let them choose the ingredients (pay for them, of course!), and let them prepare a lunch for us. What’s more French than that, eh? I think the girls appreciated the visit to the farmers’ market, actually (I took them to my Italian buddy I buy vedge from, to my favourite butcher, and so forth).

Julia, with the assistance of Sofia, and occasional guidance from myself and Mathilde, prepared quite a dish for us. Pesto (home-made, naturally), organic chicken, asparagus and fresh pasta. While the chicken was roasting in the over, we decided to take advantage of the still rather gorgeous weather (a bit like the Finnish summer at its best, only warmer!), and go for a swim in the pool. It took some convincing to get Sofia into the pool (Julia had an excuse, as she didn’t have a swimming costume), but she eventually made it. This certainly worked up an appetite in me - and the meal the girls had prepared for us certainly hit the spot. After lunch, the girls absolutely wanted to see Cagnes old town (which slightly surprised me, actually, I thought old towns were for old geezers like me?) – so off we went to check out the cobble-stoned streets of Haut-de-Cagnes. A fitting finale for a very pleasant day spent with my nieces, indeed.

In the evening, we were meeting up with Youcef and Ismael for dinner in Nice. The occasion was sad, as Ismael is packing his bags and moving to Dublin, to join his darling Sarah. The initial plan was to have some Japanese, but the place we wanted to go to was full, unfortunately. So we ended up having Indian food instead, in Nooris. I have to say I’ve never been that impressed with Indian food in France, and Nooris wasn’t really an exception, unfortunately. It wasn’t bad, but I think there are plenty of places with better food and better value for money in Nice. But anyway, the main point was to catch up with Ismael one more time before his departure (well, we actually ended up scheduling a lunch for next week…).

The next day, we were meeting up with the Turtiainen clan again. We’d booked a table at a real Nice institution, Chez Simon. It’s a very nice place, serving excellent food, located in the foothills above Nice. They also have some Petanque fields located by the restaurants, where you can have a go, whilst waiting for the food. After finishing the rather delicious meal, we did indeed decide to have a go. It was me and dad against mummy and Julia (Sofia didn't seem too keen on the game and gave up after a couple of boules). I was quite confident in the Petanque skills of my dad, but turns out mum was the start of the event. The ladies won, OK, no need to talk more about it!

That brought an end to a rather pleasant weekend. I have to say that when the weather is like this in October, the Cote d’Azur is pretty much the best place in Europe to be. The temperature is very pleasant, one can still swim in the sea, and the days are still long… C’est la belle vie, ça!

Faire la fête dans les Pays de la Loire!

For this weekend, Joel and Francoise had a big party planned – a “party of friendship” if you will. The big occasion was taking part in Angers. It’s a bit of pain to get to Angers from Nice, and after contemplating the many options, we finally opted upon flying to Nantes, and getting a hire car.

That meant staying Friday night in Nantes (our flight was arriving pretty late). Actually, our good friend Aude was just having her birthday that day, so we (well, Mathilde, actually) figured it would be a great idea to surprise Aude in Nantes for her big day. We organized everything very discreetly with Magaye, and managed to pull the surprise off(much to my surprise, har har), showing up at a gelateria in Nantes, calmly chatting with Magaye as Aude got back to the table. After a nice gelato, we made our way to the Biergarten for a couple of cold ones (gave me nice flashbacks from my week in Ulm a week and a bit earlier). I think Aude enjoyed our little surprise too!

The next day, after a bit of a lie-in, we headed back to Angers, just in time for lunch at Joel and Francoise’s place. Since we were treated to truly splendid weather (like everywhere in Europe), we decided to head into Angers town centre for a bit of a walk. After a bit of shopping, and walking around the streets of Angers, we made our way for a quick visit at Delphine’s and Christophe’s, after which it was time to make our way to the party.

We were staying at the Kyriad hotel in Pont-de-Ce, where our parents were also staying (they had made their way to the party all the way from Finland – on their way back to Antibes). The party was just kicking off as we showed up - apero time! It was a super occasion, it really was. The food was fantastic (as always), there was plenty to drink, and the atmosphere was just great, with people of all ages mixing it quite successfully. Great to see all the relatives and friends of both Francoise and Joel united. It was actually a bit like a wedding, but less formal. I think my parents also appreciated the occasion – it gave them a bit of an insight into how French people throw a party.

We got back to the hotel, exhausted but very happy, about 3 in the morning… The next day, we had another lie-in, getting up after 10… After a relaxing morning at the hotel, we slowly made our way back to the party (yes, it was continuing today…), for more food! Yes, it was lunch time. Pretty much the same group as the day before were present, plus Didier and Gerard, Joel’s brothers. My parents had to head back after lunch, but we had a bit more time to spend enjoying the warm sunshine (the weather was positively fantastic this weekend – loads better than it was when we were here during the summer!)

To digest the delicious lunch, we decided on a bit of sport. And what better sport than Petanque, that most French of sports (well, some would perhaps argue that Petanque doesn’t fulfil all the criteria of a sport – but that’s just nit-picking if you ask me ;-) ). I started off with a one-on-one game with Xavier. It was close, but in the end I managed to beat Xavier – must’ve been beginners luck. For the next couple of games, the pros joined the fray, and predictively, the games ended up in complete massacre – in fact the second match was disastrous enough for our team that we would have, under normal circumstances, had to kiss the fanny (for an in-depth explanation about what a Fanny is in the context of petanque, check out this link).

Thankfully, there was no fanny around, and the suggestion to kiss Michel’s bum was thankfully withdrawn after some pleading by us (mostly me). ‘twas enough humiliation for one day, so we decided to say good bye to everybody and head back to Nantes. And say our most genuine thanks to our host and hostess for an absolutely fantastic party!

After dropping off Herquise at Nantes, we made our way back to Aude and Magaye’s place, where we spent another night before catching the morning flight to Nice (after an improvised dinner and a bit of telly). That brought an end to a rather hectic, but fantastic, weekend in the west of France!