You land on the water here, or near enough that your body believes it. The runway sits out in a lagoon on a strip of made ground, and the approach comes in low over it with the sea on both…
Santorini – The View You Have Already Seen
You have already seen this place. That is the difficulty. Before the ferry has finished turning into the bay you know the shape of what is coming, because you have seen it on a thousand screens, in other people’s holidays,…
Scopello, and the Film That Was Not There
I drove out of Palermo with a film in my head. That is the embarrassing part, so I will put it first. An hour west, the road climbing inland and then coming back down toward a sea you keep losing…
I Stayed This Time – Costa Smeralda
Last night I went down the steps at half past eight, while it was still the evening I had come for. Tonight I did not. I should be honest that this was curiosity rather than appetite. I had written that…
The Bus Goes to the Flamingos – Cagliari
At four o’clock I was standing in a lane in Castello that has been a lane since the Pisans, with washing over it and a cat asleep on a step. At twenty past five I was looking at several hundred…
Nobody Drives Into the Middle – Corsica
Forty minutes from the beach I was cold. Properly cold, in a dress that had been correct all week, standing next to the car with my arms crossed like somebody’s aunt. Below me and behind me the sea was still…
