At last I have managed to start this Sicily series.
Some weeks ago my son-in-law proposed that the whole family goes to Sicily for the carnival week-end; he said that at Acireale they organise a great carnival. JP could not make it and I’m not normally very interested in carnival festivities. So I said to Ian: “I will come on one condition: that we go ………” (will keep this as a secret until later). So we took an Air Malta flight to Catania at noon on Thursday before last and returned Tuesday at 0.30am. The flight to/from Sicily takes only 25 minutes – the most southern point of Sicily is only 60 miles north of Malta. Sicily is Malta’s nearest neighbour and our two countries have many things in common. The culture of both people are very similar and our two histories move concurrently because up to the time Malta was given to the Order of St John in 1530 we were under the same rulers and Sicily was Malta’s – with a few exceptions - only trading partner.
This picture is an introduction to my series of photos about our trip ( I took around 600 pictures and am finding difficulty which to chose for the project). It shows some ‘souvenirs’ we brought back with us: a bottle of Grappa from Catania, 2 bottles of limoncello, 3 lemons – Sicily has millions of lemon trees – a white nougat filled with almonds – which I bought for myself, I love nougat and a shopping bag we got from the airport. I have added the tray full of carnival-decorated fancy cakes by layering with Photoshop – a picture I took at Stazzo where we stayed.
Many thanks for looking and for your lovely comments on my yesterday’s picture.
Like Jennifer I'm really looking forward to this series and you've given us a wonderful introduction. Our Italian Maître de introduced us to Limoncello when we undertook a world cruise in 2010 and I can understand why you brought 2 bottles home!
Excellent presentation and a nice photo with which to start you series. I look forward to your Sisily series. I thought you had nice Carnival parades in Malta. For eightteen years I live in New Orleans which is city known for Carnival and I wish I'd been taking more pictures back then.
Lovely photo Dione. I have been to many countries in Europe but never to Malta or Sicily so its fascinating to hear your stories. I am very familiar with Limoncello and Nougat though - 2 of my favourite things.
Nice composition and >>>Yummi