Sicily, post fact

Photos

Saturday

Got out of the house on time at a leisurely 11am to drive to Gatwick. This had not been certain as Sam had spent all of the previous day being poorly and sick. First thing we were worried about him but he picked up and we went. Uneventful journey. Gatwick v familiar from Rhodes, Barbados and others. Sam and all the kids were good but increasingly bored at the day went on, especially as the flight finally left at 5:30 instead of 4 as scheduled. Sam initially excited but then v tired on the plane, and when forced to put his seatbelt on for turbulence kicked off in spectacular fashion. Minnie unbelievably irritating. Jim stellar. Met by Roberto at Catania and taken to Villa Priscilla, where we were met by Anand the Nepali caretaker. Villa is "individual" in decoration. To bed, knackered all.

Sunday

Villa grounds huge and fantastic. Like a posh Gartul in the med. with a brilliant swimming pool. Spent the whole day chilling and pooling. Kids happy but still toired. Avis car turned up - they brought two of them for us to choose between and we had the Galaxy.

Monday

Etna day. Slightly stressful start to the day trying to get out by 8 for a 9:30 start at Etna. Slightly stressful drive as C in driver's seat and me navigating. Stressful start to the tour because directions weren't precise enough. Fabio the guide was great though and the tour took us to lava fields, extinct cones and a lava tunnel. Kids did well. Sam a trooper, but inevitably tired and hot. Etna romantically visible from the garden in the evening.

Tuesday

Went to Noto "on the way" to Auchan in Syracuse for supplies. Noto OK in a honeyed baroque way but not really any better than the Amalfi towns and a bit more run down. Worth a visit though. Got gelati which kept the kids happy, and arancini which kept me happy. C only intermittently stressed. Auchan useful - bought fiorentina beef for the barbie and C only stressed at the end. Children relieved to get back to the pool. I cooked on the excellent bbq then got stressed because I'd been clearing up after them for an hour and the couldn't even be bothered to put their baci wrappers od the sodding table. C and I are going to have to find a way of going on holiday ourselves I think, because although the villa is great, the kids are getting a lot out of it, and we will remember it, there is an underlying irritation and stress that is there all the time. As I write some idiot Italian is doing circuits above us in a helicopter. Probably looking for Libyans climbing the cliff. Doesn't help with the calm.

Wednesday

The other activity day. Calmer this time, and we got out of the house on time and pretty much stress-free. Depressingly rainy and grey, but at least we're not by the pool. Drove to Syracuse, through the deeply unimpressive outskirts and on to Ortigia. Parked in the terrible Parcheggio Talete, but then the further you go into the island the nicer it is. A proper Italian town - reminders of Amalfi, Rome, Venice etc. in a small way. The duomo was unlike anywhere I've been before - the 5th century BC temple of Athena converted to a church, dating from the 7th century, with the original Doric columns still visible in the walls. It was a evangelised by St Paul himself. We didn't have long enough in Ortigia because we had to get to the Parco Archeologico for a private tour with the enthusiastic Alessandra. Kids were very good with it and learned plenty I'm sure. Only stressful but was when I had to contact the Thinking Traveller concierge to delay our pizza booking with Anand and Nirisha. Texts wouldn't work. Bloody EE. Never had that with Vodafone. Kids had a late night because we had fantastic fresh pizza cooked in the on-site oven. Sam played with Nathan. All happy, except perhaps for C, who was stressed by the behaviour of her daughters. I didn't actually think it was that bad, but perhaps I had my Nero d'Avola goggles on.

Thursday

Second relaxation day. A bit cooler, but sunny. All happy. Jim spent most of the day in the pool, girls spent most of the day watching YouTube vids. Sam watched telly and went to pirate island.

Friday

Being the last day of our trip. Got out reasonably early and went to Taormina, which was about an hour away and surprisingly easy for parking etc. It is lovely, and in the most amazing position high above the sea. Pottered and saw the Greek theatre, did a bit of souvenir shopping. Sam got a Dusty out of Planes from a seller on the piazza with the view and was totally happy thereafter. Was hot and generally idyllic and the kids were chilled. Got home mid afternoon and had a mini celebration for Minnie's birthday, including a very Italian cake full of pistachio gloop that only I liked. C put a firework on top of it which almost gassed poor Jim to death. Packing in the evening, most reluctantly - Jim actually cried, saying it was the best place he'd ever been and he would never get to do anything like it again. He was OK after some encouragement and the prospect of Cornwall for two weeks in the summer.

It's a ungalow.

Aftermath

A pretty easy journey back via Catania, Gatwick and daddy's big red car. The rest of the weekend was subdued - everyone was tired and Jim in particular had some post holiday blues I think. He went back to his mum's, internalising everything as usual, on Monday evening, and had the Tuesday off school. Apparently he was "exhausted" but he hadn't really shown much of that here. Perhaps he decompresses (or re-compresses?) once he's at him mum's..?