On Friday, I left work around lunch time, met up with Tams and headed up to Stansted airport, and then off to Palermo, Sicily. We arrived in Palermo just before 21h00 local time and caught a bus from the airport to the hotel.

Yesterday was an early start, with a walk through the town and a visit to the the Cathedral, which was erected in 1185. From there on the catacombs. The Catacombe dei Cappuccini (the catacombs of the Capuchin convent) contain over 8000 mummified ex-residents from Palermo and its surrounding villages, some merely clothed skeletons, other remarkably well-preserved and lifelike. Slightly morbid, but interesting nonetheless. Walking back to the hotel, we took a detour through the street markets as well as the various popular Piazza's.

Yesterday afternoon was time for a visit to the beach. The nearby Mondello Beach was recommended, which was a short bus ride away and involved a few hours in the Italian sun, the sea and followed by some pizza on the promenade.

Last night I took a walk through the town where there was an outdoor stage, a DJ and massive fiesta/party going on, which is typical over the European summers. Good way to end first couple of days in Italy.

This morning we took a bus over to east Sicily, to the city (yet what seemed like a ghost town) of Catania. It was just a stop over to change buses to head north to Taormina, but had a couple of hours to kill here. I decided to mission down into the centre of town to try take a few pics of the famous Pizzas and fountains there, but after a fair amount of running and searching, had to give up and get back before the bus. Last thing I need is to get stuck here.

Now off up north to Taormina, which from the brochures and websites, looks absolutely stunning. It should only be a few hours by bus to get there, and at least it's comfortable and air conditioned for the drive!