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My previous blog was the theory – here’s the practical. I hope you enjoyed the ‘ food through invasions ’ blog – I decided on the theme and then found some great websites that gave me so much information, but it was fun researching it. The trouble is now, every time we see a food stuff (e.g., figs), Richard asks me which culture introduced it. He’s obviously not read the blog. I’m going to try to avoid just writing a list of meals we have eaten here, although it will undoubte

Stromboli I was sitting in the cockpit typing this yesterday whilst anchored just off St Pietro village (on Isola di Panarea) and looking north-eastwards at the oldest lighthouse in the world, sitting about 10NM away. It is the shape of a child’s version of a volcano and there is a wisp of dark smoke emanating from the top, which is being carried by the gentle breeze in a thin grey band to the south-east. The lighthouse is of course, Stromboli. This flaming beacon guided anci

Trapani style Cous Cous with Sardines. “Sicily has suffered thirteen foreign dominations from which she has taken both the best and the worst. The sequence of different cultures has made Sicily a fascinating place, quite unlike any other” ( Andrea Camilleri, writer) [He wrote the Inspector Montalbano series, we had the whole set in the Oxfam bookshop earlier this year in an English translation which is quite rare]. It’s been a while since we had a chat about food. So, as it’s

Skipper high above the Duomo di Cefalu. In 1131, Roger II had been on a visit to his dominions on the Italian mainland to sort some of the usual issues with his people. One problem town was Amalfi, and Roger had despatched his Levantine Greek admiral, George of Antioch, with a fleet to blockade the town. Simultaneously, another of Roger's Greeks, Emir John, approached with an army sweeping up other rebellious towns before them. Amalfi soon fell. Duke Sergius VII of Naples had

Old map of Palermo. It shows the east-west axial street from the port to the western gate heading towards Monreale. The ‘Castello a Maro‘ is Arab then Norman. Roger II's palace complex is located south of the west gate. The Norman cathedral just north-east of the palace. When I studied Urban Design at Gloucester University, one of the first things you learn is that no matter how many times the buildings change over the centuries and even millennia, the street layout or patter