Favignana, a pretty and nice place to be

I’ve just returned from my first visit to Sicily. Chiara and I were there for almost two weeks. Just touring around and hanging out on various beaches. I guess it’s called a ‘holiday’. I like it.

Sicily, at least the northwest corner of it, is a paradise.

It turns out that I enjoy relaxing

Especially as I had pictured a post-apocalyptic mafia wasteland, with baying dogs and swarthy men picking seafood out of their teeth with flick knives (why I agreed to go there I’m not sure, curiosity I guess).

However, instead of the ever-present threat of violence, what I got was real summer – in weather and in spirit.

It was hot, but not too hot, high twenties the whole time, with lots of sandy beaches and ice creams and good food and beautiful landscapes. The days were full of shady beach time and afternoon naps and the evenings were for passagiate and cannoli quests.

Except for my need to be almost constantly vigilant about shade and sunscreen, it was relaxing and delightful, as we were looking for.

The water was really cold. Just a shade or so below ‘refreshing’ but even that seemed like a blessing. When your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail, and when you’re enjoying a holiday, every aspect starts to seem idyllic. So freezing cold water was just what we needed.

We also had lots of delicious food – most of it was cooked at home in the various simple holiday apartments we rented, but we had some great meals out in San Vito lo Capo (San Vito the Boss), where we spent a week.

Although the highlight was probably Favignana, a tiny butterfly-shaped island about twenty minutes off the coast of Sicily, near Trapani. It was here we found the most beautiful water (see photo at the top), and the laidback rhythm we were looking for.

But the big part of the holiday, the one that was the best byproduct of taking a break, was hanging out with my wife. It turns out I really enjoy her company. After the hectic pace of the past few months, getting away and just being somewhere together was exactly what we needed.

And of course it didn’t hurt that that ‘somewhere’ was quite beautiful indeed.

All that sunshine, all that smiling