Sicily - Pippa's Paddock - Day #6

This was definitely my favourite day in Sicily. We went to the beach in Palermo, where the beach is separated into sections, each with its own bar and facilities. We had sunloungers right in front of the sea, although the water did get scarily close towards the end of the evening! Some of us went for a swim whilst the others stayed on the beach sleeping, sunbathing, reading books from the airport and drinking! As always we got some lovely photos.

We went on our ride before we went to the beach and this was a much calmer ride, more walking and trotting than galloping which made for a relaxing change. It was good to see the horses enjoying splashing and drinking in the local water troughs. The dogs that came with us also enjoyed jumping in for a cool down!

Georgia on Enola, me on Tyrone, Becky on Khan and Jenny on Albi.

As the sun was setting on the beach, we made our way into the town. It is quite unusual to be able to see the sunset into the horizon. We passed some singers performing live on the beach with a keyboard and drums singing some John Meyer songs which we stopped to watch. It was a glorious evening. When we got to town we browsed some local shops, the majority were your typical tourist shops, but I managed to find a Sicilian scented lemon as my souvenir to bring home. We went down a little alley and down a curved stone staircase with a lone tree growing. At the bottom of the steps was a freshwater basin where people used to go to wash their clothes etc. The restaurant that we ate in was hidden in the doorway next to the tree. This was a fish restaurant, aptly so as we overlooked the sea from the restaurant. The views from the balcony and from the bathroom upstairs were beautiful. Especially as it got darker and you could see the reflection of the lights on the water. After dinner, we went exploring further along the seafront and along some old castle walls and son some rocks.

We made our way back into the centre of town, and as we were walking it turned midnight.. my birthday! Everyone sang to me in the middle of the street! We stopped in the square for an ice cream and sat to eat them on the steps going up to the church. Second in importance only to Palermo’s Cathedral, the Chiesa di San Domenico is a church found in the Vucciria neighbourhood. Originally constructed between 1458 and 1480. It has an impressive Baroque facade and it was huge! I loved the symmetry of the building. Here, Becky and Georgia revealed that they had bought gifts for everyone earlier on, and presented us all with bracelets in our favourite colours. Pepe, Pippa's boyfriend, also accompanied us.

Me, Assaf, Christina, Becky, Georgia, Pepe, Pippa and Jenny.