Sicily

(Tuesday AM update: I never got to post this last night so any reference to ‘today’ means Monday, and ‘tomorrow’ means Tuesday.)

Monday was our tour of Mt. Etna and Taormina. We left the dock at 10:15 because we didn’t even get into the port of Messina until 10 AM. It was a fairly long bus ride to Mt. Etna, and even when you reach the ‘base’ of it, the narrow, twisty road to get up to it took quite a while. I love cycling and if any of you watch the Tour de France, think Alp d’Huez. We saw a fox on the way up. I’ve never been on a volcano, let alone an active one, so it was neat for me. At the last stop it was EXTREMELY windy and very much colder. Winter jackets were everywhere. We were at about 5500 feet.

We stopped for free cannoli (which originated in Sicily, I think) and 70% alcohol liqueur.  A sip, anyway.

Another stop on the way down took us to the rim of a new crater. They encourage you to take samples of lava so we got some with various colors in it, depending on the chemical mixture when it was made. Red, pink, black, etc.

Another short trip and we were in Taormina. It is on the Mediterranean, but up on the side of a cliff. It was great. We ate lunch and walked down the single street of the ‘old city.’ It is definitely worth including in any excursion you do. Get off the main street and eat in a local restaurant.

Here’s the latest on my pictures strategy, because it is taking too long to load them into the blog. I will include the cream of the crop at each stop and at the end of the cruise I will put up a link to my flickr.com account where you can see every picture I took, sorted by city.

Tomorrow is a cruising day, or ‘at sea’ as they call it. Isn’t every day on a cruise ‘at sea?’ Well, I’ll use that free time to get plenty of pictures of the Navigator of the Seas.

Here are today’s highlights:

 

Sicily on the left. The ‘big toe’ of Italy on the right. There is only 2 miles between them as we enter the port of Messina.

 

Mt. Etna in the center with clouds already forming at the peak.

 

People beginning the climb up to a crater on Mt. Etna. Notice the winter coats. Di ruled this out immediately.

 

Mt. Etna

 

That’s me freezing on Mt. Etna. Yes I had shorts on because we were going to sea level Taormina. But I had a CBJ jacket on so I was kind of prepared for hockey weather.

 

A lava flow. If you look close, you see changes in color. We saw other places where it was much more dramatic than here. I need molten lava about here to warm up.

 

People walking the crater. Do you see them outlined against the sky?

 

Here’s a shot of the colors. People were picking up samples of lava. We got a few.

 

Look at this road on Mt. Etna. I’d give anything to cycle it…down. Hey, Patty and Jamie. Want to join me?

 

Entering the old city of Taormina. Di is leading the way. The memorial above the arch is from 1440, I believe.

 

A typical downhill ‘side street’ in Taormina. We ate in one of these locations.

 

The view from Taormina square. Wow.

Tomorrow: at sea. Pictures of the ship. From the inside, at least. You know what I mean. By the way, for those of you who are Diamond members and use the lounge for the pre-dinner reception, it is in the Cloud Nine bar (deck 14) and is very nice. Not crowded at all.