After leaving Greece we made our way from Brindisi port to Villa San Giovanni port on the very toe of mainland Italy for the ferry to Sicily. We had planned to island hop Sicily – Sardinia – Corsica, unfortunately there was only one sailing per week which we had difficulty co- ordinating so shelved that idea and decided to just explore the area of Sicily that we had not seen on our previous visit.

Before leaving mainland Italy we did visit the museum in Reggio Calabria 10 miles along the coast from the ferry port as it held two bronze figures that had been found locally in the Mediterranean and were on display in a hermetically sealed room to avoid contamination of the bronze.

We had intended to explore the port town of Messina after the ferry docked to view the Astrological campanile and clock (maybe another day) but found the roads so congested we were just glad to fight our way out and ended up overnighting in Catania.

Catania was totally destroyed by an eruption of nearby Mt Etna in 1669 and an earthquake in 1693 but this allowed the city to be rebuilt to a new plan that created a fine baroque architectural location. In the morning after our arrival we took a leisurely walk into town and the market. Oh ! that we had markets like it in the U.K. everything looked so fresh and appetising but the fish market was out of this world.

Having seen enough of busy towns we followed the coastline through the town of Noto which like Catania had been devastated in the historical earthquakes but had chose to rebuild itself with an upper and lower town. The wealthier families choosing to stay and rebuild the upper town in the style of baroque architecture. We walked around the upper town visiting a very interesting art exhibition.

Next was the seaside town of Punta Secca where the television series of Montalbano was filmed which was surprisingly small making it easy to find the house and restaurant featured in the series.

After a couple of stops further along the coast we decided to leave Sicily and head for home. But first we wanted to use our remaining time to see some of the Xmas markets that European cities are famous for as well as revisit a couple of favourite locations.

Therefore a ferry journey from Sicily to the northern Italian town of Genoa would begin our travels through the alps of Italy and Switzerland to the Alsace town of Colmar We had visited once before en route to Italy and found it an enchanting place dating back to the 14th century with canals and narrow streets and had promised ourselves to one day return. Our route home enabled us to keep that promise and at the same time to visit a vineyard in the nearby German town of Neustadt to purchase several boxes of really nice wine we had discovered on our outward journey.

On arriving in Colmar we discovered a Xmas market in full flow with numerous coaches from Switzerland, Germany and Belgium all parked up on the edge of the old town which was dressed up in style for the occasion.

This was the first of three Xmas markets we had set out to visit with Cologne and Bruge to follow Colmar.

In Cologne we parked on the outskirts of the city centre alongside the Rhine but within walking distance to the Xmas markets. Walking alongside the river we realised how busy it was with commercial barges and river cruises. It was a very cold morning with temperatures as low as -10 and a heavy mist from which the cathedral spires eerily stood out. The layout of the markets appeared to be better organised and were a more pleasant experience than in Colmar.

The last visit of our travels was to Bruge a place we had always wanted to visit after seeing the film “In Bruge”. We felt that the beauty of the town was lost in the hustle and bustle of the Xmas market and remains a place to which we will have to return.

And so our amazing and memorable journey ends and we hope that those who have followed this blog have enjoyed sharing our travels with us.