We landed at Dubrovnik airport and after 15 minutes with the friendliest people I’ve ever come across at a rental car company we headed up the stunning coast to the centre of town.

We left Italy for the first time since April and headed to Crete.

After saying goodbye to the cats in Puglia, we set off on our six-hour drive to Sicily.

The next leg of our trip would take us to Puglia, on the opposite side of the country.

Following an amazing experience in the lead-up to Palio, it was time to head off on our summer holiday. We had decided to travel as light as we could, so we packed up everything else (somehow we’ve managed to double our possessions since we’ve been here) and left it in a storeroom at the winery we were staying at. We were left with two suitcases, a beach bag and one piece of hand luggage each.