To celebrate Chris's birthday on 23rd, we took a bus and visited Noto, supposedly one of Sicily's most beautiful cities.

The hour bus ride took us along country roads, passing citrus and olive trees on each side, and through old towns. The varied scenery took our minds off the bus driver who spent most of the journey with one hand holding his mobile phone to his ear with his other hand going between the steering wheel and gesticulating to the person at the other end of the phone! The town was rebuilt after the devastating earthquake in 1693 and today stands as a fine example of Baroque architecture. Every building is very ornate and most of the important buildings are built from a rose coloured stone that changes colour as the sunlight changes throughout the day.

It isn't a big place and can be visited easily in one day. We saw the Cathedral, Basilica, Municipal buildings and climbed the bell tower of a nearby church to get some rooftop photos.

As it was Chris's birthday, we stopped for a proper lunch at Trattoria del Carmine. We shared a mixed Antipasto of roasted peppers, olives, cheese stuffed vegetables and omelette before going onto our Primo Piatti of pesto tagliatelle for me and ham and cheese ravioli for Chris. Our Secondo Piatti was steak for Chris and mixed seafood for me. With a nice cold bottle of prosecco to wash it down with, we didn't have any room left for dessert, unfortunately. (See photos in Gallery/Italy/Sicily/Noto).

We plan to stay in Siracusa until the end of next week when we hope to head to Malta. It is very full there right now with racing boats and entourage so there is no room for any extras. We are not complaining though. The weather here is still lovely, though we are expecting some wind midweek, and there is plenty to keep us busy or not.