21 Month Summary

Here’s our summary of the last three months.

Clockwise from top left: In front of the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul; We were thrilled to be joined by Tom, Steph and Olly in Istanbul; Getting out into the countryside was one of our highlights of Malta; Climbing Mt Etna near Catania in Sicily

Countries visited in the last three months (1st October to 31st December)

Turkey, Malta, Italy (total visited to date on this trip = 19)

Have you managed to stay within your budget (£70 per day)? And what has been the expense breakdown?

Yes, and we’ve managed to make back the over spend from Q6 (mostly attributable to flights and visas). Our average daily spend over the three months has been £65.18. Our daily spend to date since we left home has been £69.86. We’re really pleased to be back on track.

Accommodation is higher than any of the previous quarters (as a percentage) at 41.0% – we knew accommodation would take up a high proportion of our budget in Europe. We’ve found renting apartments to be the same price or cheaper than hostels and guesthouses with the advantages of more space, privacy and access to a kitchen and, usually, a washing machine.
Intercity transportation was 15.9% – one long haul flight (Tashkent to Istanbul) accounts for over half of this. Otherwise, staying in one place (Istanbul for five weeks and Malta for a month) has minimised long distance travel costs.
Entertainment and entry fees were 6.3% of the total – we’ve definitely noticed that entry fees to tourist attractions are much higher in general in Europe and are being more picky in the sights that we pay to see. We have enjoyed taking walks in both Istanbul and Malta and find it a good way to get a feel for a place for free.
Living expenses was 4.5% – as well as the usual toiletries, haircuts and replacement clothing we had to replace a hard disk in the box in the UK where we store our photos. Fortunately it is set up so that if one disk fails we don’t lose any data.
Visa spend for the quarter was just 0.5% – just a nominal amount for entry to Turkey. As we expect to be travelling through Europe for the rest of the trip this should be its last appearance.

What has surprised you most in the last three months of travel?

Perhaps it’s more of a realisation, but we were surprised by how many places of worship there are in Istanbul, and that we didn’t think there were so many at home in England. But when we thought about it, we remembered that almost every town and village has a chapel or church of some kind, so there as many if not more!

Apart from family and friends, what are you missing most about life in the UK?

Julie – Now that we’re in Europe and predominantly in cities I’m starting to feel a lack of smarter clothes. Not that I was ever much of a follower of fashion, but when we went to a nice restaurant for Christmas lunch, or if we go out for dinner or a drink on an evening I feel that I would like to be smarter than jeans, T-shirt and scruffy walking shoes. On the other hand I don’t much fancy carrying/giving over rucksack space to clothes, and especially shoes, that will be rarely worn.

Andrew – We’ve eaten the best local specialties in every place we’ve been, and as our thoughts turn towards our arrival back home in a few short months I’m missing my own local specialties.. a Gregg’s stottie cake, one of Paul’s fry ups and a proper cup of tea. Not all at the same time though!

What’s the most memorable sight that you’ve seen in the last three months?

Julie – Once again a difficult choice but of all the beautiful historic buildings we saw in Istanbul, the mosaics in the Chora Church Museum really stand out for me.

Andrew – I’ve developed a fascination for world history, and the previously unknown strategic and pivotal importance of Malta in World War II to us was a highlight of our time there. The Lascaris War Rooms is my choice as it has it all; history, artefacts, photos and underground bunkers, brought to life by the amazing tour guide Tony.

Tell us a funny story from the last three months of travel.

Opposite our apartment in Malta was a small bread shop called St Joseph’s Bakery, but we rarely saw it open, indeed, at about 8:40pm one night we had a knock at the door from someone asking the time who’d heard the bakery opened at half-past 8! Anyway, one evening as we were returning from dinner we saw the lights on and the doors open so we went over to buy some fresh bread. Stood inside the doorway was the baker, a large round rough looking man in dirty whites, one hand on the rim of a giant steel mixing bowl and the other holding the end of a cigarette. I said hello and asked to buy some bread. He shook his head, said “no bread.” I took that to mean it wasn’t ready, but then I noticed a large shelf at the side of the room full of loaves and baguettes so I pointed at them.. “no fresh” he said, then spoke to the elderly woman stood with me in the doorway, who turned to me and translated that we should come back tomorrow morning. “What time?” I asked. “Between 3am and 6am.”

Who is the person you’ve met that you remember the most from the last three months?

For our first four weeks in Istanbul we rented an apartment on the Asian side of the city in Kadikoy. It was a lovely apartment and we made friends with the nearby shopkeepers – the old man in the mini market next door kept trying to give us a carrier bag even though we always brought our own, and the friendly owners of the fish shop on the other side always smiled and said “merhaba” when we passed, they even gave us some of the chips from their own lunch when we stopped in for a balik ekmek (fish sandwich)!
Friendly shopkeeper in Kadikoy, Istanbul, Turkey

Finally, what have you found to be the greatest challenge so far?

Maintaining a sense of adventure and wonder in places where the culture is much more similar to our own. It’s quite easy to fall into ruts when so much seems familiar and we sometimes need to remind ourselves to probe past the obvious and look for new experiences.

Siracusa, Sicily

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When we planning where to visit in Sicily, it was easy to start in Catania for logistical reasons as we were arriving by ferry from Malta, and while we had lined up some interesting things to do in Catania, it’d be fair to say we were looking forward to our time in Siracusa more.

Known as ‘Siracusa’ rather than Syracuse to the Sicilians, the city is over 2,700 years old and has a long and important history. Once equalling the size of Athens, it was described by Cicero as “the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all” in the fifth century BC, and is now inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Piazza Duomo in Ortigia, Siracusa, Sicily

Ortigia’s Piazza Duomo, with their funky pallet Christmas tree and the Duomo di Siracusa or Siracusa Cathedral in the centre

However, for us the reality turned out to be the opposite of our expectations. That’s probably in part due to those same expectations being higher for Siracusa than Catania, having had such a great time in Catania, and finding Siracusa to be almost wound-down for winter – this is definitely more of a summer holiday destination.

Don’t get me wrong – we enjoyed our time here, and the setting is certainly more picturesque, but we found more to do and see of the kinds of things we enjoy in Catania.

The beautifully clear waters of the Mediterranean lapping the east coast of Ortigia

On our first afternoon we headed straight for Ortigia, the island offshoot of Siracusa surrounded by turquoise Mediterranean to get lost in its narrow twisty cobbled streets. In December, Ortigia has a laid-back touristy feel to it, there are souvenir shops here as you would expect, but “tacky” doesn’t exist in the Italian vocabulary – each of the displays are chic, cute, and tasteful. Taking random turns down little alleyways we eventually found ourselves in Piazza Duomo, the central Cathedral Plaza.

The nave of Siracusa Cathedral. We loved the thick, plain walls and massive outer columns down the sides

Venturing inside, we found thick, imposing vaulted walls enclosing the nave, with huge outer columns – reminders of when this used to be a Greek temple of Athena. It was dark and almost empty, the early evening light shining through the row of stained glass windows creating indistinct patterns of colour on the plain stone. To the right of the entrance was Santa Lucia’s Chapel, the normal resting place of Saint Lucy’s remains. Saint Lucy was a young Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution in 304.

Detail of the chandeliers and columns in Siracusa Cathedral, Sicily

Detail of the chandeliers and the old Greek columns in the Siracusa Cathedral

The sanctuary of Santa Lucia, Siracusa Cathedral, Sicily

The following evening we’d been advised in Italian by our apartment owner that there’d be some sort of event featuring Santa Lucia that would travel right past our apartment. At about 4:20pm we headed out to Corso Umberto I and staked out a spot on one of the park benches. Having sat for maybe 30 minutes we thought it was a little odd that the traffic was still flowing down the street despite a couple of very nicely dressed officials standing on every corner. Another 10 minutes or so later I went over and, gesturing down the street, asked about Santa Lucia.. The traffic policewoman nodded and said “twenty o’clock.” With that, we decided to head home and come back after dinner!

The relics of Santa Lucia in the parade, Siracusa, Sicily

The relics of Santa Lucia being carried in the parade through the streets of Siracusa

3 hours later we returned to find a full street procession heading for Ortigia. Twice a year the relics of Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Siracusa who was born here, are paraded through the streets between the Basilica de Santa Lucia and the Siracusa Cathedral. We were surprised how many people made the walk barefoot and carrying candles!

The lifesize silver statue of Santa Lucia in the parade, Siracusa, Sicily

A lifesize silver statue of Santa Lucia passes after the relics in the parade, it’s difficult to make out but it includes a dagger through her throat

At exactly twenty o’clock, the relics and life-size silver statue passed us!

Among the other sights we enjoyed in Siracusa where the coastal cycle path and the pointy Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime which punctures the skyline. The name of the church translates to “Shrine of Our Lady of Tears” and was built to house a statue of Mary that in 1953 cried repeatedly over 3 days. The result of an international design competition, and not without criticism that caused delays, the giant concrete conical structure was completed in 1994. We liked it, the bold, unmissable structure reminded us of old Soviet architecture and with a certain amount of endearment we nicknamed it “The Cone of Shame!”

Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime, Siracusa, Sicily

The Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime, literally the Sanctuary of the Crying Madonna or Mary, it’s the tallest building in Siracusa and we nicknamed it “The Cone of Shame” not for any other reason than it’s cone-shaped

Inside the Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime, a wonderful bright and open space, with the crying Madonna having pride of place at the altar

We also took a local train 30 minutes south of Siracusa to Noto, a small town that was devastated by an earthquake in 1693, and was subsequently rebuilt in the baroque style of the day. Much of the original Baroque period centre exists today and it too is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The lovely Porta Ferdinandea, in better condition than the other gates we saw in Taormina

You might have seen in the previous photo this old Alfa Romeo parked outside the Porta Ferdinandea. It caught my eye too – I think it’s a ~1959 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider

We loved the baroque balconies and the bowed metalwork nicely set off with the British racing green shutter doors

This is Via Nicolaci, the site of an annual festival where the centre of the street is covered in beautiful flowers!

The centre of the baroque old town is the Basilica de San Nicolò, the warm, sandy stone glows in the early evening light

It was a little bit of an uphill trek from the train station through the outskirts to reach the main Corso Vittorio Emanuele, but the reward of intricate and exaggerated buildings one after another was easily worth it. We’d read the town looks best in the warm early evening light, and we just got a glimpse of it before the dark clouds came in.

Taormina, Sicily

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Our second day trip destination from Catania was Taormina, 48km to the north. It’s possible to make the journey either by bus or train, but we decided on the latter enjoying the views of the sea on one side and Mt Etna on the other as the train wound its way along the coast.

The ticket office in Taormina’s railway station looks like it belongs in an early 20th century costume drama

From the old-fashioned 1920s railway station we followed the road beside the tracks. It was a bit further than we expected but eventually we arrived at the bay and beach below the town. In the middle of the bay is a small island called Isola Bella (literally Beautiful Island) which is linked to the beach by a pebbly causeway with waves crashing over it. It didn’t look deep from above but, when we got closer, we saw that it would be over our knees so we didn’t attempt the crossing to the island which is now maintained as a nature reserve.

Isola Bella from above. I love how clear the turquoise waters are

Taormina has been on the tourist trail for a long time, being a popular stop off for rich young Europeans doing their Grand Tour (the 17th-19th century version of a gap year). Nowadays it is a popular beach resort in the summer although the beach is neither large nor sandy.

From the shore it was a long climb up the stairs into the town itself but it was worth it for the fantastic views and a fly past from a large propeller plane. By the time we got to the top we were ready for a sit down and something to eat so we found a comfortable bench in the public park, Giardini della Villa Comunale, where we could relax and eat our sandwiches.

View from the park – Mt Etna retreated behind the massive cloud in the middle of the picture between our morning train journey and lunchtime

The gardens were originally built for Lady Florence Trevelyan, an Englishwoman and cousin of Queen Victoria who was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She lived in Taormina from 1884 until her death in 1907, marrying the mayor in 1890. She was a bird lover and the park contains several brick-built “follies” intended as bird houses.

The park also contains Taormina’s war memorials including this replica torpedo commemorating the Italian Navy’s contributions in WWII. I was shocked to find that the Navy divers rode on the torpedo to steer it into place

Taormina’s most famous sight is its theatre. Similar to the Teatro Romano that we had seen in Catania, this one is bigger and has a superb location perched over the town with views up the coast and Mt Etna towering behind the stage (when it’s not shrouded in cloud). The theatre dates to approximately the 3rd century BC but, like the one in Catania, it was almost completely rebuilt by the Romans in the 2nd century AD.

The Teatro Antico’s diameter is 109m

The seating areas of the theatre were quite overgrown

We enjoyed sitting on the top row of seats, with just a handful of other tourists in the place, enjoying the sunshine, the view and the peace and quiet, or in Andrew’s case dozing off because he’d stayed up late the night before…

Looking down towards the stage from the top levels of the Teatro Antico

In the summer all kinds of cultural events are still performed here, everything from opera to jazz to James Blunt! Hence the wooden stage and rows of plastic folding seats which somewhat detract from the grandeur of the place though it must be an amazing backdrop for a performance.

Us on the stage of Taormina’s Teatro Antico

Descending back into the town we wandered along Corso Umberto I, its main street, checking out the various old gates and ancient churches, as well as window shopping in the boutiquey tourist shops which were just opening up for their evening hours.

Taormina (clockwise from top left): Porta Messina; the Town Library is housed in the former Augustinian church and convent; Christmas tree in Piazza IX Aprile, the main square; mosaic in the Clock Tower, another of the city’s gates

Halfway along we stopped for a gelato, something that we’d been looking forward to for weeks – Italian gelato being far and away the best ice cream in the world (fact not hyperbole). Foolishly we both opted for the medium sized scoop of chocolate fondant flavour. It was just as amazing as we’d expected, but by the time I’d finished such a large portion I was feeling a little chilly in the late winter afternoon and it was so rich that I just wanted to find a corner where I could lie down quietly and moan to myself. Maybe we should have picked up the gelatos before we went to the Teatro Antico and then we could have both had a nap!

Chocolate fondant gelato in Corso Umberto I

Hiking up Mount Etna, Sicily

Getting there

As we’re finding in Sicily, information about public transport is relatively easy to find, but locations of bus and train stations are a bit trickier, and the English versions of websites aren’t as complete as their native Italian counterparts. This is just a little niggling pain when trying to plan our manoeuvres..

Waiting for the bus to Mt Etna with a few locals and 3 other tourists: 2 from Holland and 1 from Turkey

Anyhow, we confirmed our plans with the very friendly lady at the Catania Tourist Information office who also checked the weather and suggested we go sooner than we’d originally planned. Two days later we were up and out at the bus station near the train station waiting for the 08:15 bus that goes to Rifugio Sapienza some 1,910m (6,266ft) up Mt Etna.

08:15 came and went. Then 08:30. The somewhat official guy at the bus stop kept checking his watch and reassuring us in Italian, but when he showed us a pricelist for a tour of Etna by taxi we started to get a little concerned.. he kept checking his watch so we decided to keep waiting with the other handful of others clutching their coffees.

5 minutes later the bus came hurtling around the corner. We picked our seats and tried to catch up on a little sleep during the 1½ hour journey.

House submerged by lava, Mt Etna, Sicily

We spotted the roof of this house submerged in lava on the final approach to Rifugio Sapienza. Yep, we’re on a volcano!

The Hike

The friendly bus conductor told us all that he’d return to the drop-off point in front of the semi-circle of souvenir shops at 16:30 to take us back to Catania. Rifugio Sapienza is just over half-way up the side of Mt Etna, and this large open-air car park offers little protection from the bitter winds that whip through – it was a very cold first experience, and for the other 3 tourists who hadn’t come dressed to hike in winter conditions we think it put them off as we didn’t see them again until the return journey!

Rifugio Sapienza, Mt Etna, Sicily
1910m: Rifugio Sapienza, the starting point is very similar to the Yoshida-guchi 5th Station on Fuji, in that it’s a giant car park with cafes, restaurants, a hotel and, of course, souvenir shops.

Cable-car at Montagnola, Mt Etna, Sicily
1910m: While it’s possible to hike up from Rifugio Sapienza, we decided to take the cable-car to Montagnola and hike further from there. We’d read this section takes about 4 hours to hike or about 20 minutes on the cable-car

Jeep-busses at Montagnola, Mt Etna, Sicily
2500m: From Montagnola we could have taken one of the cool Unimogs to the guide station at 2920m, but it wouldn’t be much of a hike if we didn’t actually do any hiking!

Mt Etna, Sicily
~2600m: Starting out on our hike to Torre del Filosofo. At this point we were starting to feel a little short of breath because of the altitude

Mt Etna, Sicily
~2650m: Looking back down the trail. The landscape is binary – coffee black volcanic rock and egg-white snow with the sky providing the only colour

Mt Etna, Sicily
~2700m: Finally, the sulphur yellow of the top of Mt Etna pops into view

Torre del Filosofo, Mt Etna, Sicily
2920m: Torre del Filosofo, or the top station. We’d read that it’s not permissible to venture further without a guide, but aside from a signpost there wasn’t anyone there to stop us if we were so inclined

Craters near Torre del Filosofo, Mt Etna, Sicily
~2950m: We climbed the ridge of the nearby craters and were rewarded with amazing views of Etna behind and above us, and a blanket of cloud below that covered Catania. Views like this are usually the reserve of aeroplane journeys! We’d arrived at the top just after a Jeep-Bus, which made for some great photos – having people in our shots gives some perspective of how massive these volcanic craters are!

Craters near Torre del Filosofo, Mt Etna, Sicily
~2950m: The highest point we reached was on the ridge of one of the large craters. Time to pose for a photo with Mt Etna herself!

After circling the craters (and taking a lot of photographs), we headed back down the same track alongside a couple of mountain bikers and 3 skiers!

Mt Etna, Sicily
~2550m: The downhill was a lot easier and as we didn’t have to stop to catch our breath as often it was quicker too. We made it back to Montagnola and then via the cable-car to Rifugio Sapienza with plenty of time to spare before the return bus to Catania!

Crateri Silvestri 1986, Mt Etna, Sicily
~1915m: Just to the east of the big car parks are a couple of recent craters that we decided to wander around while we waited for the bus. This is the Crateri Silvestri which was formed in 1986.

Despite hiking in December rather than July, Mt Etna was warmer than Fuji, and was nowhere near as arduous. Next time we’re bringing skis for the downhill leg though!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas to our friends and family. We miss you all and wish we could spend the festive season with you. We’ve celebrated by treating ourselves to a wonderful Christmas lunch here in Syracuse.

Thank you for following our travels, Andrew and Julie xx xx

two year trip

Andrew and Julie's Travelling Adventures