Second of all, I must update you on my trip to Sicily back in April. Shelly's mom, Patty, came to visit for almost 3 weeks with her friend, Anna. They arrived on Friday the 13th of April.
Beach in Giardini Naxos, Sicily (Taormina on the right, Castelmola on the left)
The following weekend, the four of us flew to Catania, Sicily. Our hotel was located in Giardini Naxos which sits on the mediterranean sea. April is non-tourist season so we got to see the city in a completely different way than it is in summer and possibly even now. Our first day we were scheduled to have an evening, jeep excursion tour of Mt. Etna, however, due to the snow at the top of the mountain during this season, it was not possible. We were bummed about this, but it all worked out in the end. We ended up going to Taormina (a very popular town that sits on a mountain above Giardini Naxos). We walked around the town and visited the Greek Theater, one of the most celebrated ruins in Sicily.
Teatro Greco (Greek Theater)-Taormina
That night, we took the bus up to Castelmola, which sits at the very top of the mountain. The views from the top were beautiful. A friend of Patty's had suggested her to go to what locals refer to as the "dirty bar" in this town. I'll leave the rest up to your imagination.
Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) near Giardini Naxos
Friday, we had to be on a bus at 6:30am to drive to Messina, where we caught a boat to the Aeolian Islands, Lipari and Vulcanoe. The only positive about waking up that early in the morning was watching the sun rise over the sea.
sunset over the sea
Lipari is the biggest of the 8 islands that make of the Aeolian Islands. There are large deposits of pumice from when the volcanoe last erupted in the 5th century, therefore making pumic mining one of the largest industries on this island.
on the boat, departing Lipari, headed to Vulcano (i.e. before storm)
Vulcano smells of sulfur and there are opportunities to take a sulfur mud bath or go in the hot springs. A huge storm was coming when we were there, so we did not get a chance to do either of these. Speaking of the storm...it was the most heroing boat ride i've ever taken in my life. There were nothing but white caps and we were in the middle of the sea with no land in sight while the boat was rocking back and forth through the waves. I'm happy to say that I made it out of there alive, but I can't say that I was too confident at the time.
Sulfur mud bath on Vulcano Island
We met a taxi driver, Vincenzo, on our cab ride back from Castelmola on Thursday night. He told us that for a fixed=price per person, he or his cousin would drive us around for 5 hours, take us up 2,000 meters of Mt. Etna, etc. Saturday morning came and Angelo, Vince's cousin picked us up in his mercedes van. We had the best tour of my life that day. Angelo was so much fun and full of information about Sicily/Mt. Etna. He first took us to a honey store called, Oro d'Etna (gold of Etna). We had a honey tasting of roughly 10 different kinds, then we got to taste flavored olive oils, olives, and porcini mushrooms. Next, we drove up Mt. Etna and took pictures at many different places on the mountain.
Our drive to Mt. Etna
He showed us this house that lava covered in an eruption from 1992, where the nearby town of Zafferana was threatened:
Angelo met Coldplay a few years back when they were shooting their music video for Violet Hill...on a crater of Mt. Etna. He took our camera and had us mimick what they did in the music video. Here is one of the pictures:
We ended our day with a wine tasting at Gambino winery. Etna is very famous for their production of wine, as well as lemons, pistachios, as well as other things. As the snow melts in the warmer months, Etna acts as a huge source of water for agriculture. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe and still has small eruptions that occur roughly once or twice per month; none too dangerous.
Me, Shelly, Angelo and Patty
For the rest of our time in Sicily, we ate, walked around Giardini Naxos, shopped, had many coffees, sat on the beach, read, and relaxed.
Everything: Mt. Etna, Giardini Naxos, and the sea
