Leaving Sicily...
And on the open sea...
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
On the Island of Sicily...the Charming Town of Taormina
Taormina is a charming town high on the hills of Sicily, between Mesina and Catania with views of Mt Etna on the southern side of town. Native Sicilians have inhabited the area since ancient times. In 832 BC Greeks also inhabited the Sicilian coast. In the late 1800's Taormina became a tourist destination, with it's first notable tourist being Johann Wolfgang Goethe. In the early 1900's the town became a destination for expatriots. Notables such as D.H.Lawrence, Truman Capote, Charles Webster Leadbeater, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Halldor Laxness spent time developing their talents here in Taormina.
Ok...leave it to the O'Watsons to find an Irish pub in a charming Sicilian town filled with antiquities...
The view of the bay from Taormina...
Paris? No...Taormina!!!
Still a hot spell in Europe...in the 90's with high humidity...tourists taking a moment to catch their breath in the shade...
Remember in the Godfather when Al Pacino goes to Sicily to "lay low" and finds and marries the gorgeous Sicilian girl who gets blown to smithereens before their wedding night??? That was all shot in Taormina...
Apparently, Taormina is still a favorite spot for weddings...
May she have a long and happy marriage...
Friday, October 1, 2010
First Port...Sicily!!!
Starting our day at the Port of Messina, Sicily...
Then on to Mt. Etna...Heck yeah!!! I want to climb the largest active volcano in Europe!!!
(How come no one told me it's actually still active before we went up there???)
No smoke spewing...that's a good sign!!!
There are actually 4 distinct craters at the summit and over 300 vents along the flanks of the mountain.
There have actually been ash eruptions as recent as April and August of this year...of course, they assured us that they can tell when it's getting ready to erupt so it was perfectly safe....
Tell that to the folks preserved in ash at Pompeii!!!
WHEW!!! We made it off of Mt. Etna still alive and well, not even a little bit of ash...
On to the next stop in Sicily...Taormina...
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