Thursday 18th – 22nd June, Rome, Italy

After a “not-so early” start from Positano means we don’t arrive at Pompeii till around midday. The sprawling ruins left largely intact from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 69 BC show extraordinary detail of what life was like in Roman times. In the late afternoon we arrive at our hotel in Rome, quick shower and we’re into town for dinner. We stumble across the best Trattoria we have found in all of Italy. “Macheroni”, just around the corner from the Panthenon, is not flash but it’s packed with locals and serves up superb antipasti, great fresh pasta and a whole lot of attitude which we wash down with a carafe of the house chianti. The place is full of characters and one of the guys from the “Mythbusters” TV show and his Aussie cameraman find it as hilarious as we do that the guy on the table next to us tries to pick up Sav .... this is Italy after all.

Our next few days are spent lazily taking in the sights and tastes of Rome. The obvious highlights include the Vatican Museum (to see the Raefaello frescos and Michaelangelo’s Sistine chapel), St Peter’s Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, Colosseum and ancient Roman Forum. The unexpected highlights are invariably the food and all the little restaurants we try each day for lunch and dinner culminating in a trip to Trastevere on our final night for a delicious seafood experience at “Osteria della Gensola”. The Trastevere district has lots of little bars and restaurants, a great vibe and it is with a tinge of regret that we wish we’d found it earlier in our stay. The area is a must for anyone visiting Rome.

....... and of course no trip to Rome would be complete without having our car broken into. Parked beside the hotel on the street, the passenger door has been bent open with a crow bar, leaving a gap of about 3 inches at the top, and a few things taken. After many phone calls to Peugeot and our insurance company we now have to change our plans to visit Cinque Terra and head straight to Milan to get the car fixed. After the crash a couple of weeks ago, our new Peugeot 207 is looking a lot worse for wear.

Saturday 13th – 18th June, Positano, Italy

It’s a 6am start to catch 2 ferries back to the mainland and begin a six hour drive to get to our next destination - Positano. For me (S) this is a dream come true. As we approach Positano through the coastal roads there’s a lot of ooohing and ahhhing coming from me. I’m driving and the views are spectacular but the numerous attempts by the Italian drivers to overtake us on blind corners has my heart pounding (you have to see it to belive it). It exceeds my expectations and a postcard does not do it justice.
We painfully hike what feels like 1000 stairs to get to our apartment. The pain is worth it as the apartment has a huge terrace overlooking the town and coast. AMAZING.
Our pace here is slow. A mixture of lazy days on the beach reading books (eating gelati) and day trips down the Amalfi Coast (eating gelati). We also meet some great people on our trip to Capri (to see the Blue Grotto) from the US and Brazil.
Our time in Positano is capped off by a local meal at a nearby town, Nocelle overlooking the coast with a glass of Limoncello.

7-12 June, Lipari Island (Aeolian Islands, Sicily), Italy

We leave Taormina to head to Lipari Island which we have heard is a great place to base our travel around the Aeolian Islands. To get there we must drive to Milazzo to catch the car ferry. Unfortunately Milazzo is a dump (being very generous!) and we have 6.5 hours here before the next ferry arrives. SIGH. It’s these moments that you get fed up with the Loney Liar (aka Lonely Planet).
When we finally get to Lipari island, we spend the laziest 5 days we've had in our 4 months of travel. The island has a raw natural beauty and apart from swim and sunbake, there's not a lot to do here which is perfect for us. We have a great little apartment overlooking the sea and get to know the local butcher and fruit man! By the end of our time here, they become so familiar with us that we even get a small discount at both! You really get the feeling that not much has changed in Lipari over the last 20 years!
We summon up enough energy on one of the days to visit some neighbouring islands, Stromboli and Panrea which are both beautiful and we also knock off a couple of books.

Friday 5th – 6th June, Taormina Sicily

Today we get to meet to meet a whole cast of locals in the little town of Belvedere just south of Maratea. After getting up and having our first swim in the Mediterranean before breakfast (the water is already nice and warm) we head off to Sicily. Unfortunately we don’t make it far before the crazy driving of the Italians, which had left us clutching the dashboard on many previous occasions, finally caught up with us and we got to know half the small town of Belvedere. Sav got tailended by middle-aged Guiseppie. We were ok, the Peugeot was a bit dinged but poor Guiseppie was a bit worse for wear and the ambulance was called. Half the town came to direct traffic, although none spoke English, until Commandante Palmeiri Francesco and Lieutenant Vincenza turned up in what can only be described as a clown car (the Fiat Panda with its blue siren looks like something you’d see six clowns jump out of at the circus). Then our tour of the town started in earnest as the Commandante lead us (with the help of De Luca Francesco, another local who was called upon to be our translator) firstly to the local smash repair centre, then down to the hospital to check on Guiseppie and get his signed statement (where we met some of the local staff and Guiseppie’s family) and then to a local restaurant run by Luigi, as the Commandante assumed we must be hungry after our prolonged ordeal. Despite the language barrier, everybody was really friendly and helpful and wanted to ensure that our holiday was not spoilt by our detour.

A few more hours of driving and a ferry across to Sicily we eventually arrive in charming Taormina at 8pm. The coastal town is built on a very steep hillside and the ancient alleyways were not built for cars as Sav found out when we spent 5 minutes edging our way down the narrowest of lanes with barely an inch to spare on either side of the car. Our hotel is not far from the centre of town and we head for some Sicilian anti-pasti and a couple of drinks followed by magnificent canolli!
On Saturday we sign ourselves up for a Sicilian cooking course. The day starts at 9.30am and we are the only students there. The restaurant owner, Angelo, takes us to the small local market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and local seafood. Then we’re joined back at the restaurant by Chef Marco where we’re taken through the preparation of a range of delicious dishes including Carpaarta (Cooked Eggplant, Zucchini and Capsicum salad), tempura battered ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers (Sav’s favourite!), lightly fried local whitebait and sweet Paretea fish, macaroni (made from scratch) with tomato and eggplant oregano sauce, and tuna steaks with chilli and olive oil dressing. The best of all is that we then get to sit down and eat it all with some local Sicilian white wine followed by fresh cherries and another amazing Canolli! We struggle back to our hotel for a siesta in true Sicilan style.