Blouberg, South Africa

One of my favorite spots near Cape Town happens to be outside the city.  It's Blouberg, a small town right by the sea.  The view of Cape Town is spectacular.

The lure of viewing the city's skyline, complete with its majestic Table Mountain is too much for me.  That's why I keep on returning to Blouberg over the years and keep on snapping shots after shots of the city, day and night..

It helps too that an excellent restaurant serving Cape Malay dishes and local favorites is nearby.

Cape Malay seafood curry served with rice

Me having a creme brulee at On The Rocks

There's an accommodation  next door to On The Rocks.  You can see it on the left side of this photo.  I think it's called Pinard Boutique hotel.  View from there is fantastic!

Went to Mt. Etna before the eruption

Jack and I had the wonderful chance to visit Mt Etna the day before Christmas.  December 24, 2011 was crisp with hardly a cloud in the sky.

This is Etna as viewed from Palazzo Giovanni, our B&B in Stazzo.  It's about a 45 minute drive from here to Rifugio Sapienza.

Our drive to Etna started from Stazzo, where we based ourselves for a couple of days.  We passed the towns of Santa Venerina and Zafferina Etna.  After the latter, the road gets windy. Soon, a sign saying we were entering into Mt.Etna park came into view.

A bit of Etna in the background

The incline got steeper, the air cooler, the landscape more barren as we neared our destination - Rifugio Alpini Sapienza.

Etna is still smoking!

At this point, we were above the snow line.

The road turned white about 6kms from our stop.  We parked our rental on the slope of the mountain, and went on foot for another 1 km or so toward the Rifugio.A few other holidaymakers got the same idea as we had, and in a short while, a few cars were parked near ours and the other people too walked under the sunny late morning rays over Sicily.  We all breathed the fresh mountain air, took in the sprawling view of mountain, land and sea.

Jack and I had fun - snowball fights and photo taking for the next hour - before heading to our next stop - Taormina.

Pomaria in Casez, Italy

This year's celebration of Pomaria- apple harvest - in Val di Non took place in Casez on October 8 & 9.  Pomaria typically showcases the various types of apples Val di Non is so well known, as well as all sorts of produce from the region.

We arrived at the hill top town of Casez before noon.

Stacks of fall produce such as in the photo greeted us at the entrances to Casez

The entrance roads were closed and police officers directed the drivers to park their vehicles at designated spots.  In our case, we parked our car right by one of the apple orchards which bordered the town.  Just as we were heading to the center of the festivities, we noticed several people huddling over a few crates of Melinda apples at the edge of the orchard.   We eventually found out the fruits were for sale at an unbelievably cheap price of Euro18 per box.  Melinda, to me is one variety which is hard to beat.  It's huge and juicy and unfortunately, can't be found in Asia, where I come from.

The town was thronged with people from all walks of life.  Booths were gaily decorated and there was a variety of produce on display.

The guys were demonstrating how cheese is made.

Artists too were present.  This guy was sculpting a voluptuous woman in between an apple core.

Apple cider

All kinds of cheese from Val di Non

What would an apple festival be,without a homemade apple pie?

Melinda booths

An exhibit which really caught my interest was that of the variety of apples grown world wide.  I was baffled and excited by the multitude of names and colors that a simple fruit can have.

Apples, apples, everywhere!

Not forgetting a little corner for pears!

OK, I went crazy snapping photos of these babies... 

We also entered what looked like a barn and to our surprise, there was an exhibit on special apples around the region.

Look how big the apple is compared to a fist

Apple freak show: all sorts of deformed apples. 

This variety is very peculiar.  It's red inside!

Even the garlands are made of crabapples

Crabapples

Overall, Pomaria was a colorful experience to us. We certainly look forward to check it out again in 2012!

These apples remind me of the ones illustrated in a fairy tale I read when I was a kid.  You guess it: Snow White!