I received a week of annual leave while I was working at Deutsche Post/DHL over the summer – I couldn’t believe it either! – and so I took a week off work to travel around Sicily.
I flew into Catania on the east coast and made straight for Agrigento, a five hour bus ride away. I got in late and found it extremely difficult to find a hotel open – after walking the length of town half the night I found a place. I was in Agrigento to see some Greek temple ruins outside the town. They were amazing structures along a dramatic ridge overlooking the Mediterranean, but a little more run-down than I was expecting.
My next stop was the seaside village of Cefalu, which I got to by bus via Palermo. I loved Cefalu and wished I had a few more days to see it properly. It has an attractive old town centre that backs on to a steep mountain that was once used as the Normans as a natural fortress.
The old town at night. The fresh water spring in town.
My final destination were the Aeolian Islands off the coast, north of Milazzo. These volcanic islands are one of the highlights of Sicily, and they didn’t disappoint! I stayed on the main island of Lipari in a small pension near the harbour. It was a lovely little town and great for walking around. There were no "beaches" as such (typical Mediterranean, all rocks…) but the water was refreshingly cool and the most cobalt blue colour I’ve ever seen. One day I rented a scooter and drove around the island, enjoying the views from the cliffs and stopping off for refreshing dips in some of the coves.
The island of Lipari in the Aeolian Islands.
I planned a day trip to the extremely active volcanic island of Stromboli, where I was going to climb the volcano at night to watch the lava flows. Unfortunately the seas were too heavy and the trip was cancelled, so I instead caught the ferry to the island of Vulcano next door. I climbed the height of the crater there and walked around the sulphur fumaroles.
I’m not very good at following instructions…
En route from Messina back to Catania to fly out I stopped off in Taormina, a cute little village on the hills above the sea. It’s highlight is the huge Roman theatre that is still used for open-air performances today.
The view from the hills of Taormina down the the sea below. The water is incredibly clear!
I headed back down to Switzerland from Bonn over another summer weekend. I flew in to Zurich and caught a train down to Grindelwald with my Swedish friend Carolin Olsson, who has lived in Switzerland for the past few years.
On Saturday we caught the cable car up to First (2168m) and then hiked all the way up to the mountain hut at Faulhorn (2681m). The hike took us past the beautiful lake of Bachalpsee and we had views of Wetterhorn, Finsteraarhorn and the Eiger.
Bachalpsee, with magnificent Finsteraarhorn behind.
On Sunday we left Grindelwald and headed back to Zurich. We stopped off in Interlaken for a couple of hours to explore, as while both of us had lived in Switzerland for years we’d never spent much time in the town – too touristy for our tastes.
I seized the opportunity of living right by the Rhine to do something I’ve always wanted to do – cruise down the Rhine along one of its most dramatic stretches.
I met up with my mate Sarah Winiger in Mainz and we stayed overnight there before boarding a boat mid-morning the next day. The first part of the cruise was fairly plain, and we stopped off in the pretty village of Ruedesheim for a hearty German lunch in a biergarten. We caught the next boat going downriver and it soon entered the more dramatic stretch of the Mittelrhine. The river was fast-flowing and took us past hills covered with vineyards with a different castle or fort at almost every turn. We went past the island of Pfalz and the cliff of Loreley before getting off at St. Goar for another look-see. We caught the last boat of the day and made our way to Koblenz that evening.
We caught a train the next morning to head up the Mosel River. The train left Koblenz and wove its way up the Mosel Valley, one of Germany’s premier wine-growing (Riesling) regions. Our destination was the regional centre at Cochem, which turned out to have a lovely old town centre by the river. After a veritable feast at a local restaurant (I had the Schweinhaxen) we walked up the hill and through some of the vineyards to a beautiful castle at the top of the hill.
