Sicilian Costa

Some morning snaps from our farm stay:





We enjoyed breakfast and headed west about 30 minutes to Agrigento which apparently has been named the Italian capital of culture for 2025.

However, our goal was to visit the Valley of the Temples or the Valle dei Templi which is one of the main attractions of Sicily and one of the largest archaeological parks in Europe. It’s not really in a valley, but located on a ridge and surrounded by valleys.

We parked at the east entrance and we’re pretty sure the man behind us in the ticket line sat next to us at dinner on Ortigia Island in Siracusa.

The first temple was the Temple of Giunone dedicated to Juno or Hera:









Here’s our Temple selfie:



The tourist route is quite linear and you walk along the ridge viewing the valley and ocean while walking through some tree groves. You also see various niches in walls and on the ground used as catacombs:







The highlight was definitely the Temple of Concordia which is incredibly intact:















And here’s our Temple selfie:



The last major temple was the Temple of Ercole or Heracles:





There were more ruins and a villa built by a British soldier, but as the route was linear, we decided to head back to the east entrance. I overheard a tour guide explaining how the tour buses will meet them at the west exit, so they didn’t have to double back. We offered for Mama Kim to rest at the west exit while we returned to retrieve the rental car and drive around, but she wanted to walk back with us - she was a real trooper.

As we neared the parking lot, we heard a car with a honking horn playing the Godfather theme song. I later learned Justin recorded a video as he went ahead to pay for parking and had asked them to play it again. He remarked to me “how do you tell me you’re in Sicily without telling me?” We had a good chuckle.

We then drive about 20 minutes west and down to the beach. We parked on a hill and navigated some steep steps. The water was so blue and we enjoyed some refreshments, snacks, and of course an arancini ball at a shack:







Our goal here was to see the Scala dei Turchi or “Turkish Steps”. This too was apparently in the show “Inspector Montalbano”, but also is very Instagrammable. However, we opted not to climb the steps for the pure white background.





As I explained our itinerary and possibilities the day before, the family said they definitely wanted to see the temple at Selinunte which is on the coast. I told them I thought they’d be temple-d out and I was right. So instead of stopping on the way to our next farm stay, we headed straight there which took less than two hours. A picture from the drive:



We were given explicit instructions on how to find our next farm stay and had to drive through a vineyard for about 20 minutes after the main road. It’s called Agriturismo Tenute Pispisa Segesta and according to the lovely Miriam who took care of us, has been in their family for hundreds of years. The restaurant started first and they later added the lodging.

They grow wine, olive oil, and various vegetables. She also said it’s popular with locals as proven by the very large first communion party that was being held upon our arrival. There were many young children running around, one of whom I think was asking me if I was going into the pool, but I responded I couldn’t speak Italian. Some photos of the property:







The WiFi is a little spotty, so my mom and I headed out to see if we could enjoy the Segestan thermal baths (also called Polle del Crimiso). They are natural hydrothermal springs and the sulfur is supposed to be very healing. We found the fancy club that pipes in the water into the concrete pool, but you have to pay €18 per person which my mom did not want to do for the less than 30 minutes we planned to be there. But we were really in search of the natural rock pools where the locals go for free.

Although Miriam tried to explain to me as well as an Italian man we saw, I managed to find myself in the middle of a farm. But I routed back and figured out the “off the beaten path” parking as we saw several campers and people changing out of their bathing suits on the road. My mom and I ventured a little bit, but when we learned it was about another ten more minutes, we decided to head back because we had dinner reservations at the farm. What an adventure though and I now know how to get there if I ever return.

For dinner, we enjoyed various crostini, eggplant caponata, busiata pastas, Sicilian meat rolls, and salad. All very fresh and delicious:



We enjoyed chatting with Miriam some more as she explained she learned her English by interacting with guests and was impressed that Justin only studied one year of Italian in college. I manage to end up speaking Spanish to folks who don’t speak English, but we’re definitely getting by!

Tulum

On our first full day in Tulum, all we did was beach and eat! We had breakfast at the buffet which was quite busy and then we headed down to the beach. It was windy, but we enjoyed resting and listening to the waves!







I also did some walking…



Anne took some dips:



And my mom rested, but I didn’t manage to get a picture of her. We had early reservations near Tulum Beach, and due to the speed bumps, traffic for the electronic music festival, and the one road, we budgeted about an hour. So here’s my mom ready for dinner off-resort by the pretty flowers in front of our room:



We arrived at Arca which was highly recommended not only for its food, but for its cocktails. You could smell the food in the lively restaurant while we were instructed to join the WiFi and get ready to order at the entrance. Anne and I coincidentally wore white dresses while my mom rocked her white pants!



The dishes are meant to be shared and we delighted in scallop crudo, broccolini, soft shell crab tacos, smoked trout tostada, pork, prawns, sea bass, and a cacao dessert:



Then we hopped into a cab and returned to our hotel much quicker - indeed it’s only 20 miles but takes about 45 minutes to get to, but the return was closer to 30. I wish I had taken a photo of the liveliness of the beach side town which was backpackery, but looked fun and spirited. Well, we’ll see it again on Monday when we return to try another notable restaurant and as Mama Kim says, “this is fun!”

The Jewel of Cancun

We woke up at the hotel which they nicknamed, “The Jewel of Cancun” to the sounds of birds. We also saw many on the beach too and enjoyed table side singing from this one during breakfast:



For breakfast, we enjoyed pancakes, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, and a plethora of drinks, pastries, and fruit! Afterwards the agenda was beach and pool. Some photos below in between all the resting!



Mama Kim taking a walk….



Me in the pool…



Anne in the ocean…



And a subtle rainbow…



Tonight we had dinner at the hotel’s signature restaurant, Malpeque where we had a lovely view of the sunset…



The dinner was adventurous as we had to move inward when it started to pour, and as our waiter reminded us that we’re near the rainforest:



But the rain didn’t stop us from enjoying our scrumptious meal where we started with hamachi, soup, and Baja oysters. My mom had a delicious wagyu steak while Anne and I shared the catch of the day with a side of polenta. We finished off with the waiter’s chosen dessert which was raspberry tiramisu:



A photo before we left by a kind Texan and as we enjoyed our first full day in Mexico together!

Garden Route

Today is the first day of the Garden Route which is on the southwest coast of South Africa and runs about 190 miles. When I read about it, it reminded me of the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Apparently the name comes from the fact that it’s very lush and ecologically diverse. Here’s a map that I saw:



We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel in Stormsrivier. At the Woods was simple, but exactly what we needed to kick off our road trip. We did a swing through town and headed to Tsitsikamma which is a national park. According to a local tour guide, Tsitsikamma means “sparkling water running through the woods” as the local villagers thought the water made a “tsi tsi” sound:





We came here to see the Big Tree which is a massive yellowwood and did a short forest walk to get there:







Here I am admiring a millipede:



The Big Tree!







And of course, a Tsitsikamma selfie:



The area is popular for hikes, outdoor activities, and thrill-seeking adventures like the world’s highest bridge for bungee jumping. On the N2 highway that runs along the coast, we drove across ravines and it was indeed lush. Here we saw beautiful bright flowers lining the road:



There are multiple animal sanctuaries in the area - monkey, elephant, and tiger, but from reviews, I thought the bird sanctuary called Birds of Eden was more our speed and had excellent reviews including from our Zambian friends at Devil’s Pool. It’s the world’s largest free flight aviary and bird sanctuary with over 3,500 birds and 200 species with a focus on African birds and a home for ex-pets. We put our bird lessons from Will to good use as we walked through this biodome. It was amazing how close we could see these beautiful birds:







A galah, a type of cockatoo, thought the plastic from Amanda’s shoe lace was a seed:



Not sure it’s the same one, but we saw one again later:



Here are some multi-bird shots:







Look at these scarlet ibis alongside different types of flamingos and a Canadian goose:



And a few collages:









We then drove to Whaletail Viewing Point which had a nice view in Plettenberg Bay:







For lunch, we found the Fat Fish where we enjoyed seafood and checked in to our nearby hotel, The Bungalow by the Raw Africa Boutique Collection. Plettenberg Bay has lots of resorts, but I wanted to have a beach day with out being too developed or entailed a hike to the beach. So when I found this 10 room hotel in front of the beach, and an outpost for a larger hotel in town, it seemed to meet our speed. I booked this a long time ago considering the limited availability. Look how cute it is and the bathroom has a towel warmer!:











After figuring out the parking, I changed and headed down to the beach. Not super sunny or hot, but exactly the low key Plettenberg Bay experience I was looking for. The water was too cold to take a dip, but I put in my yellow toe nails:

The hotel had booked us reservations at their restaurant that were cancellable, but the convenience and sounds of the ocean worked for us. We had a relatively light dinner and continued to enjoy the waves through the night!