Marco Scapagnini, Wine Journalist, and excellent guide in Sicily (Mary Curry)
After a rewarding but exhausting day yesterday, we opted for a relaxing wine tour/ local cooking experience with Marco Scapagnini, a Sicilian Wine Ambassador and frequent contributor to
international food and wine publications. I have to admit that I was a tad intimidated to go to a wine tasting with such a world renown expert. I tend to have very little understanding of the subtleties of wine tasting beyond the simple- that one smells/ tastes better than the other. However, my fears were immediately resolved as Marco is incredibly approachable and easy going.
Sicilian Vineyard for our cooking class (Mary Curry)
He escorted us to the Firriato Group Vineyard outside of Trapani which has been owned by his friends, the De Gaetano family, since the 1980's. We started with a ride up to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the vineyard and the salt plains of Trapani. Marco was a wealth of information on local food production and the history of food and wine in the area, particularly olive oil, salt and wine. We tasted sparkling wine first and then the resident chef demonstrated how to cook seafood cous cous, a local specialty that is indicative of the mix of cultures that have called Sicily home with influences from both North African and French settlers creating the dish. We got our hands into the cous cous, quite literally, as we worked water amongst the grains in an incredibly time intensive process, not something you would make for a quick bite at home.
Making Seafood Couscous (Mary Curry) Ingredients for our Seafood Coucous, a specialty of Trapani (Mary Curry)Ingredients for our Seafood Coucous, a specialty of Trapani (Mary Curry)
While our seafood soup (that is used to pour over the cous cous) was simmering, we went into the winery to sample a few of the wines and a buffet of lovely snacks including local prosciutto, cheese, olives and sun dried tomatoes. Marco explained the health and taste differences in olive oil production, the differences between prosciutto produced locally vs. that which is shipped elsewhere and a bit about olive harvesting as well. It was all super interesting and tasty!
Mom and I at the Sicilian Vineyard (Mary Curry)
From here it was back out to the deck for our cous cous lunch with local wines....
Lunch at the Vineyard, dining on our Couscous (Mary Curry)
Then we headed back to the ship where we made the effort to walk into town for a bit to stretch our legs before another wine pairing class onboard!
The holiday of a lifetime. The company is Alaksa-owned and thhat makes a big difference to the experineces you get i.e. meet genuine First Nations tribes people. The amount of wildlife was beyond my expectation, and seeing everything on sucha small, intimate boat made it even more spoecial and unique.
Liz O
7 hours ago
Adventure Life covered all the details in planning our trip to Ireland. Any questions we had were answered immediately. Any trip glitches, which always happen when traveling, were resolved immediately. There were no worries, just fun!
Kathleen Weller
22 hours ago
It was an outstanding, up-close, educational vacation of nature, culture, history, animals and geology! It was everything they promised! Binoculars were plentiful on the boat, but I'm glad I brought my own. Food was excellent. Rooms had black-out shades. Pack/wear multiple layers of clothing (I carried a small backpack when off the ship). Crew were delightful and very accommodating! Remember to jump FEET FIRST first when taking the optional polar plunge! Spend as much time outdoors as you are able and ENJOY!!!
Janet Dutton
5 days ago
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
6 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.