Focus on Palermo: Giardino Garibaldi and the Banyan Trees

Nestled amid Palermo’s chaotic traffic and beautiful Baroque/Norman/Arab inspired architecture lies Giardino Garibaldi, famous for it’s unique Banyan Trees.  While we were visiting Palermo, we took Ollie down to the Garden to stretch his legs.  It was a beautiful reprieve from Palermo and all of it’s chaos.  The garden is located at Piazza Marina, where [...]

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A View Worth a Thousand Words

“There is a secret place in Rome” one traveler said to the other quietly. “We have to go! It is the most spectacular and unexpected sight. It is amazing! And the four legged traveler can come as well!” “Sure, sounds great” the second traveler responded.
They set off on a Sunday [...]

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A Sicilian Adventure: Messina to Siracusa

In which the three travelers encounter their first taste of Sicily……….

The three travelers sprinted into Messina Centrale; they needed one-way tickets to Siracusa and they needed them in a hurry. They had fewer than five minutes to purchase the tickets, find the train, and board the train.
They heaved their heavy bags onto the train [...]

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From Boot to Toe: The Drive from Matera to Sicily

The last time I wrote, we were in the enchanting city of Matera in Basilicata, visiting the spectacular sassi. We were now on our way to Sicily to visit the mythical city of Siracusa and the bustling city of Palermo. But first, we had to get there!!!
Before leaving Matera, we headed back to [...]

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Prosecco with Basil

Every once and awhile Reed and I get a bottle of Prosecco. I recently found a post on the blog Figs Olives Wine, about adding a sprig of basil to a glass of Prosecco (I actually chopped mine up). You can read the original post here. We tried it the other night and it really [...]

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Balboa Park: A cultural highlight in San Diego

With my sister in town for a few weeks, we decided to enjoy our proximity to San Diego and head head downtown a few times.
Balboa Park is one of the country’s largest urban parks with 15 museums, gardens, and the San Diego Zoo! The origins of Balboa Park go all the way back to 1868 [...]

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July 2, 2008 Palio Winner is…….

……Istrice or Porcupine!
The Istrice contrada won the July 2 Palio; the first Palio of 2008. The second and final Palio race will be held on August 16.
We were really hoping to be able to see a Palio race after living in Siena and seeing all of the festivities that occurred months and months after [...]

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Orecciette with Garbanzos, Tomatoes, Arugula, and Feta

One of the stops on our Southern Getaway in Italy was Puglia, also known as Apulia. This region is the heel of Italy and has only recently become a tourist destination. It was beautiful! It is very Greek and very Italian at the same time (it was actually part of Greece at one point). On [...]

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Back in Sorrento: A Ferry Later and all the Wiser

I awoke early on Friday morning, around 5:30 am, before the alarm had a chance to go off. We were scheduled to arrive in Naples at 7 am, but what do you know, we were early. Sure enough, we were pulling into the port. We hastily got everything together, during a time like this it [...]

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Palermo: Are we really in Italy????

We woke up Thursday morning and had a busy day ahead of us. Considering that we only had one day to see everything we wanted to see we were going to be busy! The one thing that I was interested in seeing after doing my research but we had to eliminate was the catacombs. Maybe [...]

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