Holiday stories, part 3

So, yeah, we were at Isola Bella, and it was wicked. Then this happened:



Can you imagine? Shoes. Washing away. Talk about drama!

Then we went for a boat ride around Isola Bella. I've got some cool footage of that too, and I'll upload it soon. I haven't even taken it off the tape and on to my hard drive yet, but maybe over the weekend I'll get around to it.

It was totally awesome. I wore my bandana and looked just like a pirate, specifically I looked just like Johnny Depp. Proper gorgeous I was. We got to this amazing patch of still, clear water (which all of it is) and the skipper turned off the engine and said, in Italian: "Have a swim if you like." There was an older English couple who didn't understand what he said and they were concerned about what was going on.

"I think he said we could have a swim," said the man to his wife.
"Is he joking?" asked the wife of her man.

But I guess they found that he wasn't when people started jumping in. Several people had a go. The water, he told us, was about 30m (100ft) deep. But it was soooo clear that Red could see her feet as she trod water. Insania!

I'm not a great swimmer, and by the time I'd plucked up the balls to have a splash around -- after Red had told me how salty it was, and so how it would be impossible to drown! -- the skip turned the engine back on. Oh well.

After the trip was over we headed for a bite to eat at an unassuming little beachside restaurant. We both ordered seafood dishes, and while we were eating, the waiter came over to the table next to us with three or four fish in his hands. "Which one would you like?" he asked them. "They were caught ten minutes ago by that guy over there," he added, pointing to a fisherman fiddling around with his boat. The fish was that fucking fresh it was alive just minutes earlier! Man... Sicily is rockin' it old school, no doubt.

Holiday stories, part 2

On one day we headed down to Isola Bella. It was a long walk down the hillside steps, but it was a great walk, too. Almost all the way down the views were stunning, and at every corner you would hear a little scurry or two as you approached. The scurrying was the sound of lizards, which would run away as you neared. Clearly they were loving just lounging in the sun, and we were busting their balls.

Some would return if you stood still long enough, and they'd just stand there, keeping their distance, and stare at you. This one was great, for example: he even allowed me to get this short clip of him, from a long way off, hence the shaky footage!



Once we got down to Isola Bella, wow, what a place. The name means "beautiful island" in Italian, and it is a small island joined to Sicily by a sandbar through shallow, crystal-clear seawater. Sometimes the sandbar is walkable without getting wet. We got there when the tide was a touch higher, so we waded through in our sandals. It was still just ankle-deep.

Once we got to the other side, we waded some more, counting the fish, and swam some, and just sat around dangling our feet in the glorious water:



Lots of people were just hanging around or sunbathing or canoodling or taking pictures of their loved ones.



One little Italian girl was getting her mum or auntie to apply some temporary tattoos. They were stood just across from us. "Look," I heard the woman say to the girl, "at that man's tattoos!" Who, me?


More stories and video clips from this day will follow in the next post...