by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 13, 2026 | Travel, Uncategorized
Trapani is a working port town. We stayed in the historic district that follows a hook-shaped seawall to Baston Conica, built by the Spaniards on the tip of the promontory that juts into the Mediterranean Sea. The fortification provided views up and down...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 10, 2026 | Travel
One of Sicily’s most significant sights is the fabulous Monreale Cathedral located on a hilltop six miles southwest of Palermo. Massive cathedrals like Notre-Dame took 100 years to build in the 1100s, but the Cathedral of Monreale was completed in 15 years under...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 6, 2026 | Travel
In the 1860s, Italy’s nobility lost control when Sicily was reunified with the fledgling country. There was no real law on the island. Crooked clans formed to provide protection and spawned the graft and corruption known as the Mafia, or Cosa Nostra. Mussolini...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | Nov 3, 2026 | Travel
At 9,927 square miles, Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean. Hills and mountains cover 85% of the island’s terrain. With a population of 5.8 million, Sicily is one of Italy’s most populous regions. Sicily has four active volcanoes, including...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | May 26, 2026 | Hiking, Travel
The middle of September is not the most ideal time to view the Aurora Borealis. When our Rick Steves Best of Scandinavia Tour ended in Bergen, we gambled on flying 749 miles north to Tromso, “The Gateway to the Arctic.” We arrived at our hotel overlooking...
by jeff@lyonsroar.com | May 25, 2026 | Hiking, Travel
Our bus left Oslo early. We headed for the mountains and made our first rest stop at an Open-Air Norwegian Folk Museum with sod-roof farmhouses, small village storefronts, and artisans working in their shops. It’s an old Nordic custom to visit the Village Elder...
