Hillsides and Volcanos

November 8, 2008
Messina, Sicily

The ship docked today in Messina, Sicily, but instead of its usual 7:00am – 1:00pm visit, we were there until 6:00pm. Big surprise here, I decided to do another passenger tour. This one would take me to the hillside village of Taormina in the morning, and then after lunch, to the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano.

We boarded the bus at around 8:30am and proceeded to drive to the highway that would take us to Taormina. The great thing about Sicily is that no matter where you are, it is incredibly scenic. You could be driving through a landfill and it would still look good. The highway drive to Taormina was filled with mixed scenery, namely a nice variety of hills and mountains occasionally being exchanged for views of the Ionian Sea since we were still quite close to the coast. The weather also was quite varied as it sometimes would be sunny and ten minutes later the skies were overcast, but it was warm despite being November.

Upon arriving at the car park just outside the city of Taormina, we had to take an elevator up seven stories in order start our city walking tour. Immediately after stepping out of the elevator I was treated to an amazing panoramic view of the Sicilian coastline, complete with sandy beaches and blue water. After allowing a few minutes for people to use restrooms or take photographs of the view, our tour guide led us through one of the original gates of the city walls into Taormina where we had a brief walking tour. I was quite busy bringing up the rear in my tour group, and that coupled with a soft-spoken tour guide meant I was not able to hear much of her explanations about the city we were in. Nonetheless, I enjoyed walking around the city and seeing the wonderful buildings in addition to an old church dating back several centuries. Our walking tour ended at the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre, which while rather large and interesting, did not come close to rivaling the amphitheatre at Ephesus. It was different from Ephesus in that the seats did not go down all the way to the stage; instead, they came down until they were about ten feet above it. The views from outside the amphitheatre offered yet a different panorama from that of above the car park, but they were equally as breathtaking.

From Taormina, we headed back to the bus and rode to a delightful restaurant located on the lower slopes of Mount Etna, and then we proceeded to climb the mountain in the bus. After what seemed like well over a half hour of driving, we reached the Crateri Silvestri (Silvestri craters), which are located approximately 6,450 feet above sea level. Being from the northeast, this is the highest land altitude I have ever reached, and it was COLD! Despite the freezing cold, (it was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was closer to 65 degrees at sea level) seeing the craters was like nothing I had ever experienced. While we did not reach the summit, the craters we visited were massive enough in themselves, and they did not have anything flowing in them so we were able to walk inside them and not just around the outsides. The solidified lava was not consistent in color, as some was reddish and other rock was darker, and unlike areas closer to the foot of the mountain, there was no vegetation growing so high. I was standing atop the side of a crater when a cloud literally moved right in front of me and I was able to take a picture of a peak on the mountain before and after the cloud got in the way. Needless to say, the entire trip up the mountain was mesmerizing. We had about a half hour of free time to walk around before we boarded the bus to head down Mt. Etna and back to the ship. We seemed to leave in the nick of time as the fog waited to set in until after we already finished our time at the craters.

All in all, the day was amazing and visiting Mt. Etna was a special experience in itself. It will be followed shortly thereafter by an equally amazing (if not greater experience), as I will be visiting Egypt for the first time on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, I will be exploring Alexandria, and Tuesday, which I am really looking forward to, I will be visiting the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Needless to say, I am enjoying myself!