We arrived to live In Sicily, three years ago, and I decided to become a local google maps guide because I want people to see and experience:
- the diverse architecture that stretches over three dynasties – Roman, Byzantine and Greek;
- the beautiful beaches, forest walks and of course the moody, magnificent, Mount Etna that dominates the island with her hisses of steam, her joyous, ruby-red eruptions, her quieter, peaceful days of solitude and the days when she wears a mantle of snow and skiers slide down her slippery slopes;
- the out-of-this-world culinary delights from antipasti and patisserie to galumphing gelato.
Saint Augustine said, ‘The world is a book, and those who do not travel, only read one page’. I agree with him. Before coming to Sicily I had traveled to eight countries in Africa and eight countries in Europe, so I am a traveler at heart.
Three years ago my husband and I did a two month, 4 x 4 safari, in our faithful steed, we called Yahweh (the God word for Breakthrough). We traveled from Cape to Kenya, all on our own. We loved meeting new people, seeing wild places and changing our perspectives every time we turned the travel corner and saw a new sight - for example, a Masai warrior or a baby elephant.
I also get excited as a local guide when I can promote a place we have visited or enjoyed a meal to remember, and they get a lot of marketing exposure that grows their business and improves their livelihood.
Since being in Sicily we have engraved Adventure Saturday into our diaries and we try to visit new places in this undiscovered tourist destination. Sometimes we revisit our favorite restaurants or beaches. I love sharing with others what can be experienced here, and yes, you can snorkel in the sea in Taormina amidst an extravaganza of sea life and then drive a mere thirty minutes to the snowy, white, slopes of Mount Etna and ski or build a snowman. I encourage you not to return home before you have feasted at Four Arches, the top slow-cooking restaurant in Sicily, or drunk a cup of creamy, hot chocolate whilst roasting yourself by the log fire.
