https://www.visitsicily.info/en/ Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Picasso it yacht to be Antibes

1st November 20231st November 2023 funtime65

Quite where Pablo would have put the sails, the tiller and the jib is anybody’s guess, but for adopted son of the Cote D’Azur Picasso it yacht to be Antibes.

Port Vauban, for those who don’t know, is the largest harbour in Europe and where the king of surrealism set up home.

And where he would have daily taken in the joys and sounds of the marina which has more than 1,500 moorings for yachts.

T’were Pab here today in France he might well pass Roman Ambramovich’s yacht moored here.

But being the poor painter that he was he’d have likely struggled to pay for a berth on the harbour, at €1m-€1.4m.

Art for sail

You’ll find Pab now down at the Grimaldi Castle.

Where you would have found him in 1946 working in his studio in the chateau.

Pab was living in nearby Golfe-Juan with Françoise Gilot.

Picasso was prolific in his time in Antibes, producing a portfolio of work, including Les Clés d’Antibes (The Keys of Antibes), covering an entire wall surface.

When the artist moved back to Paris, he left 23 paintings and 44 sketches in the Castle’s custody, the Picasso Museum.

Now that Antibes doesn’t figure on the most Instagram-worthy yachting destination in a study by comparison site InsureMy seems an oversight.

But it also means you can enjoy the harbour without having to dodge out of the way of selfie-takers.

Insta success

That said, there’s a reason why old favourites Sicily draws 17.4m Instas and Bodrum in Turkey 12.2m.

And Marseille along the coast from Antibes boasts 9.5m.

Pick your own fave out of this list, knowing only this that Antibes still holds pride of place as the marine capital of Europe.

With the added extra of it being the surreal thing for artists.

And if you’re looking for Picasso it yacht to be Antibes.

Countries, Europe, Food

Big cheese in Sicily

14th May 202314th May 2023 funtime65

I’d be more parliamo Glasgow (ask your parents about comic Stanley Baxter) than parliamo Italiano but that didn’t stop me trying to be the big cheese in Sicily.

She’d said ‘yes’ the night before and we were enjoying a day tour in Sicily from our base in Malta.

And I was keen to impress her with my smarts on a low base of schoolboy Italian classes.

And so when the waiter asked for my dish I put on my best voce and waited for my treat.

Of course when he returned with a plate of cheese I proudly shook it off.

Insisting to herself that I knew what I was getting all along.

Brilliant Sicilians

Now the islanders will quickly tell you that they are not Italians.

But Sicilians, and their dialect is very different from standard Italian.

All of which Travel Department understand knowing Italy’s biggest isle, like the back of their mano.

And they’ll bring you to the Syracuse Archaeological Park, Phoenician settlements, Roman amphitheatres, Greek temples and Aragonese churches.

They’ll take you up Mount Etna, of course.

And that’ll give me the chance to return the stones I took from the famous old volcano.

Just eat Italia

We’ve been here: Roman Villa Casale in Piazza Armerina

For many of us though no holiday, and especially, one to Italy is complete without shovelling away the food.

And in the capital, Palermo they’ll keep you fuelled on your trip.

Around Baroque landmarks and mosaics at the Roman Villa Casale in Piazza Armerina.

And recommend where to sample the best Sicilian cuisine in a typical restaurant.

Just maybe not act the Big Cheese in Sicily and leave it to those who do know.

Your waiter and your guides at Travel Department.

Also, TD are currently running a promotion until May 19 based on their Italian holidays of 7 nights or more.

Departing in June and July where customers can save €50pp by using promo code: ITALY50.

Countries, Europe

A devil of a good time in Italy

6th March 20236th March 2023 funtime65

You can’t have one without the other and in the most Catholic of countries you can still have a devil of a good time in Italy.

And particularly at Easter which is hoving into view, and especially in Sicily.

And we know that they see themselves separate from Italy.

Where the devil is let off the leash in Prizzi, Palermo, on Easter Sunday.

It’s a bit Sicily but we love it

The Abballu de daivuli is a procession on Easter Sunday on April 9 where people wear zinc masks and red robes.

The idea is that the villagers dress up as little devils and run through the streets.

To capture as many souls as they can until the afternoon.

After the meeting of the Virgin Mary with the Risen Christ, the devils are restrained.

And carried by angels to the Virgin Mary.

You’ll have a devil of a good time in Italy we’re sure you’ll agree.

All of which puts our rolling eggs down a hill into perspective.

It’s a mystery: The Procession of the Mysteries

In fact we could all learn a lesson from the Italians who do religious theatre like few on Earth.

And the Sicilians do the spectacle 0f death better than most.

With the Procession of the Mysteries in Trapani from 2pm on Good Friday, April 7, for 24 hours.

And that’s the longest religious even in Italy.

Twenty groups of statues (Sacred Mysteries made between the 17h and 18th centuries) represent the various stages of the Via Crucis through the city.

All roads lead from Rome

When on the way to Rome: On the Via Francigena

And if you’ve walked through the countryside of Lazio to Rome then you’ll know that the Campanile is the centre of any town.

And so it is the same in Valmontone 45 kilometres south of the Eternal City.

Where the procession on Good Friday takes on a typically theatrical role with performances drawing
inspiration from medieval times.

The ‘Sacred Representation’ of Valmontone is over a century old.

And it sees the actors recite texts based on the Holy Scriptures.

The story starts from the New Testament, continues with the reconstruction of the Nativity.

And it follows the events of Christ’s life.

The Via Crucis and deposition from the Cross concludes the procession.

Like a Madonna

No, not that one, but the original one.

And in Sulmona in central Abruzzo on Easter Day there is a statue spectacle to beat all.

On the morning of Easter Day in the Piazza Garibaldi, the members of the Confraternita Santa Maria di Loreto carry the statues of St Peter and St John in a procession to the Church of St Philip.

The church’s door then opens and the statue of the Virgin Mary is carried out, wearing a back cloak, a sign of mourning.

Halfway, she meets the statue of her Son, she dashes towards him, letting her cloak fall, revealing a bright green dress.

Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe

Phoenicia Malta

27th June 202127th June 2021 funtime65

Peter, our guide, is a mongrel, a citizen of Phoenicia Malta…. with British, Italian, Greek and Arab and other blood mingled in.

Phoenicia, you say? Well, we know it from the Bible.

Ezekial called these post-Canaanites from today’s Lebanon and Syria ‘the princes of the seas’

And they set foot on Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, Malta, northern Africa (Morocco) and southern Spain.

We see evidence of their impact on the Med in a shipwreck off Gozo, Malta’s little brother.

And in names throughout the archipelago of Malta, Gozo and Comino.

And the Phoenicia Malta hotel which we’re glad to reveal has had a refurb.

The Phoenicia Malta is rightly proud of its 7 and a half acres of gardens which stretch to the walls of capital Valletta.

All of which they transformed from an overgrown mini-golf course and which they will use to cultivate vegetables.

And bring them from garden to plate and treat you too to cookery demonstrations.

The emphasis is on peace and relaxation with stunning views of one of the world’s great harbours.

While you’ll be pampered too in the Deep Nature Spa.

And enjoy the infinity Bastion Pool, its poolside menu, chill-out music and waters warmed by the Maltese sun.

With Malta a flagship destination on the UK’s new green list.

Kirker Holidays are offering a three-night break in August from €799pps including flights, private transfers and accommodation with breakfast.

And Kirker Guide notes and the services of the Kirker concierge.

A week’s stay comes in at €1489pps.

With Malta green-lighted the jewel of the Med is the present, the future and the past all rolled into Phoenicia Malta.