greondastravels

Tomorrow is our last day here in Moussoulens before we start heading towards Iceland. We have still found things to do and places to see , and of course time for some more lunches!

We discovered there was a small village not far from us which is one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France” , so we had to go and check it out.

Camon was very pretty indeed and made for a nice stop for Greg to take a few photos!

We took a picnic lunch with us and found a lovely spot to enjoy our lunch , and take in the “vista”.

On our way home we decided to re visit Limoux for a “drink” and happened to go inside the Wine Shop!

The area is famous for “blanquette” which is, as legend has it, the fore runner of champagne! The gentleman in the shop offered us a tasting, of course we couldn’t say no, but we much prefer the real stuff

We enjoyed another lunch in Carcassonne. It was a slightly drizzly day, and because we hadn’t booked we had to sit outside! At one stage Greg was eating with one hand and holding the brolly with the other. It didn’t stop him drinking though!

We started with a magret (duck) salad , then pork with pepper sauce, beans and carrot puree (YUM) and dessert was a very interesting watermelon soup. As it became quite humid by that time, it was actually quite refreshing! Of course, it was all washed down with the usual couple of glasses of local rose, which we are quite enjoying.

We spent one day doing a fantastic road trip into Andorra in the Pyrenees. Andorra is a tiny independent country situated between France and Spain high in the Pyrenees Mountains.

Of course we had our mandatory first coffee stop, and what a pretty place we chose! It was the town of Tarascon-sur-Ariege.

We traveled up the magnificent Port d’Envalira mountain pass , the highest paved road in the Pyrenees at 2408 metres.

The climb has been featured several times on the Tour de France. The views were stunning and of course Greg was in heaven trying to capture the moment! However the photos do not capture the true beauty. We stopped at the summit, not only for Greg to take photos but for a coffee as well.

We drove down the other side (what goes up must come down) to the capital, Andorra la Vella for lunch. It was fairly busy, full of French people who go to Andorra to shop as it is “tax free”.

It was a fantastic, albeit long day, but both Greg and Louis did a fantastic job keeping us safe on the very winding mountain roads!

Today we thought we would have our final farewell lunch in Carcassonne, again it was sensational! Starters was a Salad Nicoise, (no photo…..too hungry!) main was a “rather” rare beef which is the way the French prefer it with fettuccine and a herb cream sauce , followed by a raspberry panna cotta , but not what we were expecting. However it was delicious , and again washed down with some local rose!

The weather has now changed and the heat wave is over. The change came with a HUGE thunderstorm, resulting in the ground floor of our house taking in some water! It is nice though to have some cooler weather!

Greg has found a cosy and comfortable spot in the house to enjoy his morning coffee, and “chat” with the neighbours! The extent is “bonjour” and “oui” and “ca va” with a lot of actions interspersed! Rhonda tries to converse but they talk so darn fast , she gets lost quite early in the conversation! But in saying that they are very pleasant!

We head northwards on Sunday, after a night with our French family, to really cold weather in Iceland  apparently around 13 degrees! We are not sure what internet access will be like in Iceland, so you may be inundated with photos next week , or you may have to wait until we post the next blog on our return to France!

So its goodbye, au revoir from France for now, but we will return after Iceland and Switzerland!

So its that time again!!!! Yep aperitifs AGAIN!

lots of love

Greg and Rhonda

Today we have posted 2 blogs due to the vast number of photos that Gregory has taken!

Hope you enjoy them!

Cheers

Greg and Rhonda.

We have just returned from an overnight stop in the city of Girona, about 100 kms north east of Barcelona.

It is one of the major Catalan cities of Spain and is know for its medieval architecture and walled old quarter. For all of you who are “Game of Throne” fans, which we are not, apparently the last series was filmed here!

We caught the TGV directly to Girona and it was an extremely comfortable ride!

We headed straight for the River Onya , which is a photographers heaven. Most pictures you see of the city are of the houses backing onto the river. Be warned……there are many more to come!

As with most Spanish cities, there is always a “La Rambla” , the main pedestrian thoroughfare filled with cafes , bars, restaurants and shops.

Of course being in Spain,we decided to skip coffee and go straight for the sangria , and OMG it was sensational, and so was the location, a smallish restaurant in the quiet medieval old quarter.

After a couple of refreshments , and tapas of jamon (Iberian ham) and patats bravas we headed to check out the beautiful Cathedral. It was 10 euros to enter, and no photos allowed inside, but trust us, it was magnificent. The large Gothic Nave (15th Century) is the largest of its kind in the world.

We wandered through the Jewish Quarter with it’s many steps and narrow cobbled streets.

The Jewish Quarter is one of the best preserved in the world. The narrow streets were a welcome respite from the heat which was now around 35 degrees, so , of course more refreshments were needed!

Of course, being in Spain meant it was obligatory to return to the hotel for a siesta before heading out for more sangria.

Told you there was going to be lots of photos of the houses!

We sat at the Place de la Independence, a lovely square surrounded by arcades and loads of restaurants. Aperitifs were partaken in the square, and Rhonda decided she needed an Aperol Spritz instead of a sangria!

Greg had his heart set on paella fro dinner, however after walking through all the back streets for over one hour, and not finding a decent place to have paella, we settled on tapas, and what a good choice it was. A music festival happened to be on that night, so whilst consuming our tapas and drinks, in a small square we were entertained by some music. We walked back along the river to take some photos at night. It is such a picturesque spot.

The next morning we checked out the Basilica de Sant Feliu dating back to the early days of Christianity.

Near the Basilica we stumbled across a statue of The Lioness of Girona. Legend has it , that if you touch her “ass” you will return to Girona and you will never have bad luck again, so of course when in Girona………..

Of course by this time the taste buds were crying out for more sangria, so we couldn’t disappoint them.

We needed to catch our train home at 2pm so we had to find somewhere for a quick lunch and we made another great choice. The olives as starter were sensational, and next came a platter of jamon ,sausage and cheese, together with bread laced in tomato paste and garlic (a local dish) all washed down with a cold beer or two.

We had a great time in Girona and we would recommend a visit here to everyone.

By the way, today seems to be a little cooler , so we are hoping that the heat wave is maybe over.

So it’s that time again!

Stay warm in Melbourne!

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda.

This last week has seen the temperatures still up around the mid 30’s however it hasn’t stopped us from doing things, and not only drinking!

We spent a day wandering around the city of Toulouse. We decided to go by train as previously Greg had driven through the “Centre Ville” , and it was not a pleasant experience for him!

Our first stop was , of course, coffee in the main square, Place du Capitole, however there are no pictures of the buildings in the square to show you as it was full of workmen and scaffolding, obviously getting ready for their annual festival. It was quite disappointing.

We wandered through the streets and there were some beautiful buildings.

Our second coffee of the day was at the very pretty Place St Georges.

We decided to have lunch at Entrecote. We had been to the same restaurant in Bordeaux previously , and loved it, basically Steak and Frites with sauce. Greg was not” happy ” to say the least , as our steak was extremely well done and not medium like we had asked for. He even asked to talk to the Maitre D to complain!

We continued to wander after lunch and by that time it was becoming rather warm.

To escape the heat, we decided to check out the Saint Etienne Cathedral, built over 5 centuries.

Greg’s knees were starting to talk to him, so of course, time for a refreshment before heading back to the station to catch the train home.

It was a great day!

We still have places to see around the area where we are staying!Only one week to go! We had been told to visit Mirepoix, a small town about 30 minutes in the direction of the Pyrenees, and we were not disappointed!

It was a lovely drive with the snow capped Pyrenees in the distance making a stunning vista!

Mirepoix is an ancient “Bastide ” town , which are fortified towns built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The highlight of the town was the central square, Place des Couverts, which was surrounded by medieval houses and arcades.

One of the best buildings was the Maison des Consuls, with it’s carved figures on the woodwork. There are apparently 103 carvings overall. The Cathedral is the 2nd largest single naved church in Europe and is a classified historic monument.

We  loved wandering around, and of course there was certainly time for a refreshment!

We spent a day touring the Minervois area . We stopped at a lovely village called La Redorte and walked along the tow path of the Canal du Midi to see the” L’Epanchoir de L’Argent-Double”. It is an aquaduct built in 1684 in order to evacuate excess water from the canal.

We stopped next at Homps to have a look at the Port of the Canal du Midi.

We then decided it was probably nearly lunchtime, and soon as Rhonda saw a restaurant where the Plat du Jour was Loup grille, grilled sea bass, the decision was made!

It was sensational, in Rhonda’s  opinion the best one yet, and again it was washed down with some nice local rose!

We detoured slightly for our next stop to the village of Minerve, as we were told it was “not to be missed” , and we were so glad we stopped!

It is as described in the guide books as “an extremely picturesque fortified medieval village , perched on a naturally defended rocky peninsular high above a canyon” , and that describes it perfectly!

Greg was in photography heaven!

Now for some history…..

The most infamous event in the history of the village took place in the early 13th Century. In 1210 a group of Cathars found refuge in the heavily fortified village, but after 6 weeks of siege, the village surrendered  to the Crusaders and 140 Cathars were burnt alive at the stake!

Next to the Church in the centre of the village is a carved stone with a profile of a dove. The dove has become a famous symbol of Catharism in recent years!

We have another blog to follow in the next few hours as we have just returned from a fabulous overnight stop in Girona ,Spain! Plenty of photos!

Thats it for now!

Cheers

Greg and Rhonda!

Over the past week , we have been visiting lots of Chateaux and Abbeys, so word of warning……if you are not interested in the above, we suggest you skip this blog!

We did a day trip down south into the Pyrenees to specifically see more of the Cathar Castles.

Our first stop of the days outing was the magnificent Abby of Fontfroide , began by Cistercian monks in 1145, and some history for you…..it was the assassination of one of the Fontfroide monks which triggered the beginning of the Crusades against the Cathars. Life in the Abby from the 15th Century began to “slide”, and… shock,  horror “the monks began to eat meat and chocolate , and even began to play billiards”. The Abby was privately bought in 1908 and still remains in the same family today.

The Church is one of the highest Cisterican Churches built in the 12th century, and the monks prayed here between 2am and 3am, at dawn, the 1st , 3rd , 6th and 9th hour of each day, and dusk and before bed! One must ask…..was there time for anything else??

The cloisters were beautiful, a place where the monks would walk, meditate and read, and apparently wash their feet every Saturday….so the guide said!

The rose garden was stunning and the perfume coming from the roses was lovely.

Here endeth the first lesson!

Then we continued on, in 35 degree heat, (thank God Louis has good air conditioning) to a couple of “WOW” moments.

We visited the stunning Cathar Chateau of Queribus, which was one of the last strongholds of the Cathar resistance in 1255 and you could see how they held out! It is perched on the narrow rocky peak at 728 metres altitude. We drove to the car park and then decided to walk up to the Chateau , and Greg’s knees survived!

The view from the top was stunning. You could see for kilometres!

We then continued to the next Cathar Chateau , 5 kilometres away, the Peyrepertuse Chateau at 800 metres altitude.

From a distance, it was difficult to see the magnitude of this Chateau. It is built amazingly along the cliff top. Again we drove to the car park, but this time decided not to walk up to the ruins with the temperature now at 39 degrees……surely you can understand why we didn’t! The view was just as good from the car park!

Our last stop on the tour was the Chateau at Villerouge -Termenes, surprise surprise , another Cathar Castle, and it’s claim to fame…….this  is the place where the last known “high order Cathar Monk” was burnt alive in 1321 on the orders of the Catholic Archbishop.

By this stage Greg was rather parched and was definitely in need of a refreshment, however , as we have found when driving around, in the small villages, if there is a bar, they re usually “fermee”, (closed) which is  rather annoying at times! It was a fantastic, albeit long day!

Of course , there are always days available for us to “do lunch”. We did one of those in Carcassonne this week  and it was fabulous. We started off with a nicoise salad (sorry no photo , we were too hungry!)

This was followed by a filet de loup (fillet of sea bass) in a broccoli mousse with cauliflower foam and a wilted endive.Sensational! this was followed by an apricot tarte tartin and all washed down with a bottle or 2 of local rose! We may have to return!

The Carcassonne Cathedral, Saint Michel , is in the process of renovations, however the outside is pretty stunning. It dates back from the 13th century and became a Cathedral in 1803.

Of course, there is always time for coffee and Place Carnot in Carcassonne is always a great place to sit, drink and people watch.

So that’s it for Part 1 and again if you are bored by the Cathar Chateaux, don’t bother to read Part 2 which follows this.

Until Part 2!

Bye for now

Greg and Rhonda

So now for part 2!

We thought we would take a few pictures of our little village.  As with many French villages there are some beautiful houses that have been renovated , and others that are literally falling down!

The flower boxes outside some give a little colour to the houses, and as we said the boulangerie is great, and we are still buying fantastic baguettes and pastries (but not every day!)

We thought that it was time to “test out” Greg’s knees again! We decided to visit the 4 Chateaux of Lastours. They are some of the original Cathar Castles.

Three of the four castles were built between 1223 and 1229. They were a stronghold of the Cathars , and the Cabaret Castle became the ” seat for the Cathar Bishop”.

We began our day by visiting the Belvedere , where we were given an amazing view of the 4 castles perched on rocky outcrops. We could see the path up to the castles and decided to give it go!

It was a 45 minute walk up and a 45 minute walk down, but it was amazing to walk through the ruins of these castles, and again one wonders …….how in the hell did they build them????

You will all be pleased to know that Greg’s knees withstood the pressure again, and he didn’t even need to “ice them’ with a beer afterwards! Although he probably wanted to!

We drove to a “semi large” 14th Century bastide town called Revel in our first week , and had just missed their Saturday morning market, so we thought we would return to buy our fruit and vegetables , which are not that great in the supermarkets here!

The impressive Medieval market hall in the town square has been holding markets for over 600 years! It was “fun” trying to buy our radishes , and they were sensational!

We also visited Soreze, a beautiful Medieval small town. It had a lot of gorgeous half timbered houses and a large Bell tower of the Church of Saint Martin. The remainder of the church was destroyed during the Wars of religion in 1573.

We visited the Benedictine Abby of Saint Papoul with its 14th Century cloisters.

So we hope you enjoyed our 2 part Chateaux blog, and were not too bored by photos of chateaux! Now definitely time for a rest , and of course a drink!

So it is that time again , as always!

Greg and Rhonda!

We have done quite a bit of exploring and traveling this week , but also found time to relax!

The Languedoc area in which we are staying is also know as Cathar Country. The Cathars were a religious sect who lived in the South west of France during the 11th and 12th century. However early in the 13th century the Crusades led by the Catholics began to see the end of their era. There are many Chateaux and Abbys in the area of which we have seen a few! Yes we have begun our ABC’S! (Another Bloody Church, Another Bloody Chateau)

Our first Cathar castle was at Saissac built in the 11th Century, restored in the 14th Century, and again in 1979!

A small village quite close to where we are staying is called Montolieu (village du livre) or the village of books.

In the small village there are 15 shops that sell books in all languages.

We also discovered in the village a local bio vegetable “auto mat”. The local farmers bring their veges into town, place them in the fridges in the middle of the village and sell them. one kilo of beans for 3 euros! Cheap.

Another village close by is Aragon, a lovely village set on the hillside. Of course it has a lovely chateau built in the 12th century and modified in the 17th century!

Then we moved onto another Chateua at Pennautier, built under Louis X111 and has been in the same family since 1620. It is known as the Versailles de Languedoc, and is quite spectacular.

Of course with all this touring, one gets quite parched , so there is always time for refreshments. Beer or kir?????

Another place close to us is Brousse et Villaret, and its claim to fame is a an old paper mill, a beautiful building in a serene setting!

Some days are spent touring for a few hours during the morning or afternoon, but we have done a couple of full days out. One was venturing down to the Mediterranean Sea to the beautiful town of Sete.

It is the largest fishing port on the French Med coast. There are many canals throughout the town along with beautiful buildings. Of course, being by the sea Rhonda was desperate for her sea bass. or “loup”, and she wasn’t disappointed!

We had a great lunch down at the old port and walked lunch off afterwards.

Greg was quite taken with this “lady” at the Place de L’hopital! He thought that maybe Rhonda may look like this after 3 months in France. How rude!

Another BIG day was our “first” trip to the Pyrenees. What a great day it was!

Our first stop for coffee, of course, was the wine town of Limoux.

You may ask why coffee and not wine……well it was only 10am, however there were a lot of rose being drunk by the locals! By now we were well into Cathar Chateau territory!

Our first chateau was at Puivert, built in the 12th century. It is in the process of being restored with one tower being open to the public.

The roads we traveled were up and down and made us think of the Tour de France, as the Tour does spend a few days down in this area.

We then traveled onto Quillan, another town which we loved , and decided to rest , and “do lunch”.

And what a lunch it was. Entrecote for Greg and duck confit for Rhonda ,and no she did not eat all those frites!….Yummo. All washed down with a couple of glasses of rose! It was a lovely setting next to the Aude river.

The roads we travelled on had some spectacular scenery including snow capped mountains, but the most impressive sight was seeing the Chateaux at the top of the rocky mountain outcrops, and it made us wonder how did they build them?

The Chateau de Puilaurens was amazing, built at an altitude of 697 meters and begun in the 10th century.

Speaking of spectacular roads, the next part of our trip had Rhondas eyes closed some of the time! We ventured along the Gorges of Galmus.

Carved into the cliffs is the 7th Century Saint Antoine Hermitage. If you look closely you can see it in the photo! Greg should have got his tele photo lens out , sorry about that.

Continuing on, we had 3 kms of extremely narrow road and thank God we did not encounter another car coming from the other direction. Scary but stunning!

Our final chateau for the day was at Argues, a 14th cebtury castle, in the process of being restored…..as they all are. Of course we passed by many more but one can only take so many photos of ABC’s.

So we hope you have enjoyed our latest post and arent too bored already by chateaux , because there will be more to come!

Until the next chapter on Cathar Country, it’s time…..yep for that drink!

Cheers

Greg and Rhonda.

P.S. Just thought we would let you know the weather is fantastic! Usually around 25 to 30 degrees! Sorry to all you Melbournites!

We are back!

We have arrived safely and have spent our first week in glorious weather in France. (around 30 degrees!)

The flight was as usual……long.  We picked up our car in Paris and have decided to call him Louis. Unbeknown to us, we arrived in France at the start of a 4 day long weekend and needless to say, the traffic around Paris was merde…..translated ..shit! It took us 2 hours to drive 40 kms. It was 9 hours in total to travel 600 kms, to spend the first 2 nights with our French family.

We then drove to our “house” in Moussoulens, a small village about 10 kms from the larger city of Carcassonne in the Aude Department in the South West of France. Our house is typically French with 3 stories , and the only problem is that the “dunny” is on the ground floor , and the bedroom is on the 2nd floor! It is a slight problem , and a fair hike when one needs the dunny during the night!

Our village is small and quiet but there is a fantastic boulangerie within walking distance and the baguettes and pastries are sensational. We have a few supermarkets close by and we have stocked up well as you can see.

We went into the “big smoke” of Carcassonne for a day. It is famous for its “Cite de Carcassonne”, a medieval walled fortress, UNESCO listed and fully restored in 1853.

The Cite has 2 outer walls with 53 towers and of course the “compulsory” 12th Century Chateau.

Of course all the walking required some refreshments and later, lunch!

We had to have the local specialty of cassoulet, a rich slow cooked casserole consisting of white beans, duck confit, toulouse sausage and pork! Yummo!

We have done a little touring. We are very close to the famous Canal Du Midi, a 240km long canal running between Toulouse and Sete. It was built by 12,000 men between 1666 and 1681. There are 63 locks, 126 bridges, 55 aquaducts and 5 canal bridges! How are those stats? We spent some time watching the boats going through the locks!

Yesterday we went exploring a little further and took a drive through the Val de Dagne. We went through Trebes which has a large marina on the Canal du Midi. We had looked for a house here, but on visiting the town we are happy to be in Moussoulens!

Another little village we passed through called Monze had a very pretty 12th century bridge…..still standing!

The next stop was Labastide en Val. It had a lovely water stream running through the centre, lots of water troughs and fountains.

We then decided it was time for lunch, so headed to the larger village of Lagresse which has a huge Abby founded in 799! The village dates back to the 14th Century with some beautiful houses and a covered market place. obviously no market on our tour!

Our lunch was the “Menu du Jour”. Three courses for 13.50 euros per head! Rhonda had a lovely fresh salad , then chicken and lemon tart. Greg had a charcuterie plate, and the chicken and lemon tart! All washed down with a beer and kir! Sensational AND cheap! No dinner that night….well just some cheese and red wine!

We are slowly immersing ourselves in the French way of life. Loads of cheese, aperitifs, pastries, baguettes, and of course champers and vino! There goes the waistline already!

Speaking of which, wine that is, not waistlines, it’s that time again!

Keep warm!

The Roberts.

We have enjoyed the last few days here in Sant’Ambrogio relaxing and not doing much at all……other than eating and drinking!

We are seeing magnificent sunsets every night here, whilst eating our pistachio ice creams and drinking limoncello! It is just a great way to finish off a day in Paradise!

The weekend saw the climax of the Festival here in our village. On Saturday night we had the comedy play in the town square! It was probably quite funny if you understood Italian! Sunday morning we were woken at 8am by the Cefalu City Brass Band wandering through the streets playing their music rather loudly for that hour of the morning! The Festival finished with the Parade of the Madonna through the streets, then the fireworks happened from the top of the church at midnight!

The sea food dinners have been fantastic on the Belvedere , watching the sun set , and eating the fresh fish. Not too mention of course the drinks as well.

We ventured into the very busy Cefalu , and wandered through the streets again, and of course savoured a couple of cannolis!

Thank goodness we have had a couple of days of slightly cooler weather, still around 27 degrees , but with a cool breeze!

Tomorrow we leave our little haven here, and head towards Rome, with an overnight stop at Caserta. Thursday morning we drop Pierre off at the airport and jump on a flight home to Aus at midday! Fingers crossed for another upgrade!

The 3 months have gone extremely quickly , but in saying that we are looking forward to getting home and seeing all the family and friends who we have missed a lot!

So the next blog will be from Japan in October!

So, no it’s not “that time” , it is actually time to “try” and pack the suitcases! It could be difficult due to the extras we have bought whilst on travels…..and it is not only Rhonda’s shoes!!!!

Ciao ciao for now

Love Greg and Rhonda

xxxx

We departed Monforte and headed toward Sicily. We had an overnight stop at Orvieto, another typical town with the old town on the hill top and the lower newer town below.

The town was full of beautiful old buildings. It had been a rather hot day with temperatures hovering around 38 degrees, so we waited till the evening and took the funicular up to the old town for dinner.

We sat and cooled off with a drink in the Piazza Duomo, whilst admiring the facade of the magnificent Gothic Cathedral , with it’s colourful frescoes and mosaics.It was lovely wandering through the cobbled streets of the Old Town, however , for us it was a bit “too touristy”!

The next day we travelled again down the Autostrade in 38 degree heat , and we hit Calabria! Then Greg had to “put up” with Calabrian drivers! The speed limit went down from 130kph (not that they stick to that) to 60 kph due to road works. Greg was still travelling at 105 kph and was getting”flashed” and “beeped” by a woman in a beat up small car behind telling him to go faster!!!!! Unbelievable!!

Our next overnight stop was in the Calabrian town of Castrovillari,  again with an old village, and a newer part, but not hill top! The old town had a Castello ,(above) built in 1490, and not much else!

The water troughs in the main street are still being used today, and the old village is quite run down, but interesting to wander through.

The following day we put Pierre on the ferry to make our way across to Sicily!

Of course ,as tradition states, one must have an arancini ball on the ferry crossing!

We arrived at our little village of Sant’Ambrogio , where we had stayed 3 years ago. Not much has changed in 3 years and we are still remembered by some of the people , with Rhonda’s photo on the wall in Saro’s Bar!

The Belevedere still is “the place to be” for morning coffees and evening aperitifs!

The sunsets each evening are still magnificent also!

We have decided not to do much at all during our week here, as we head home on Thursday, so relaxation is the daily activity!

However we did take the train into Palermo for a day!

One of Palermo’s landmarks is the Fontana Pretoria, above. The story goes that the fountain which is surrounded by numerous “nude nymphs” proved a bit much for Sicilian churchgoers who called it The Fountain of Shame! We thought it was quite impressive!

Quattro Canti is a Baroque Square in Palermo with all 4 corners having near identical facades containing fountains and statues of the four seasons. Quite impressive!

We wandered through the markets and there were some interesting selections of food available.

The sea food was unbelievable , as was the tables and tables and tables of snails! The health Dept in Australia would not approve of the method of keeping the food fresh! There was heaps of sea food laying in the open air waiting to be sold, with flies buzzing everywhere!

The heads of swordfish were a sight to see!

The magnificent Cathedral in Palermo has parts which date back to 1184, when the construction began.

It was the time of the big religious festival in Palermo and mass was happening inside , hence all the people!

After we had been walking for a few hours, Greg needed that it was time to “ice” his knees and take in the splendour of the Cathedral’s facade!

We have ventured into the town of Cefalu, about 5 kilometres down the road on the beach!

We are enjoying great fish meals, and Rhonda is “in heaven” being able to eat her favourite spigola , or sea bass!

It is also Festival time here in Sant’Ambrogio , so there is plenty happening over 4 days with bands , theatre and the finale on Sunday with the procession, carrying the Madonna , and fireworks!

It is hard to believe that our 3 months is almost at an end! The time has gone extremely quickly.

So speaking of time, yep , it’s that time again!

Ciao for now

Love Greg and Rhonda

xxx