About David H 🏴
6,002 km
915:58 h
Recent Activity
Ragusa Ibla (lower Ragusa, to Ragusa Alta the business centre) is a small Baroque city recreated on a medieval street plan following the earthquake which hit eastern Sicily in 1693.
Although possibly less well known as a tourist stop than Taormina, Ragusa is considerably more charming with - instead
Returned to Ortigia for another explore, this time as part of a guided walking tour. The guide was a native of Siracusa-Ortigia and very knowledgeable of and passionate about her home town. As well as many historical pointers there was a selection of Sicilian street food and drink to sample including
David H 🏴 went for a hike.
October 16, 2025
Travelled up the east coast to Taormina, perched high on the cliffs above the Ionian Sea and in the shaddow of Mount Etna. Today however the volcano was completely shrouded in cloud which also provided some fairly biblical rain to start the tour. Taormina is known as Sicily's most dramatic resort, and sometimes. as the St-Tropez of the island. The highlight of the town is probably the Teatro Antico, one of the most spectacular and best preserved Greek theatres in the world (see photo 13 for further background). Today Taormina is, imho, hopelessly over commercialised, with its main street, Corso Umberto, lined its full length with mostly very high-end designer stores of all varieties, and other shops selling complete junk. It’s a real pity, Taormina was probably really spectacular before mass tourism.
02:31
125km
49.8km/h
1,050m
1,250m
Travelled up the east coast to Taormina, perched high on the cliffs above the Ionian and in the shaddow of Mount Etna. Today however the volcano was completely shrouded in cloud which also provided some fairly biblical rain to start the tour.
Taormina is known as Sicily's most dramatic resort, sometimes
Noto, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is said to be Sicily's finest Baroque town. A spectacular hillside town featuring countless golden limestone buildings, founded around 1700 following the destruction of the original Noto in a huge earthquake in 1693.
Well worth visiting for its sheer grandeur.
David H 🏴 went for a hike.
October 14, 2025
A quick familiarisation walk around Ortigia, the island connected to Siracusa and sometimes considered the “old town”. Planning to return for a more extensive snoop around.
00:34
2.37km
4.1km/h
20m
10m
David H 🏴 went for a hike.
October 6, 2025
Walked the east side of the Jubilee path by the Leader Water earlier this year as part of a longer route. Returned to do the loop of both sides accompanied by the young crew 🥰, official photographer for the day 😉
02:12
10.5km
4.8km/h
150m
160m
Having spent a slightly different and enjoyable night in a shepard’s hut in Stean, it was off into weather alternating between glorious sunshine and prolonged bursts of incredibly heavy rain.
First stop was at HowStean gorge, a spectacular gorge where a range of activities are available:
Howstean.co
Xx
The first part of today’s route starting from Pateley Bridge again follows the Nidd northwards, seemly adjacent to a former railway track, and passes along the east shore of Gouthwaite reservoir. Pleasant walking along bridleway path and farm land.
Passing through Lofthouse which has a pub and also
Scicli is another Baroque town which has seen recent renovations in the historic centre. It is known as the setting for much of the TV detective series "Montalbano". On the outskirts of the town, near the ruined castle and the Chiesa San Matteo are former cave homes that were inhabited until the 1980s