After working our way around the island, we had the next five days to relax in Taormina. The extra couple of days would also give us a chance to catch up on the kid’s schoolwork. More than the other towns we visited, Taormina felt like we were back in northern Italy. Here you’re much more likely to run into a few tour buses and some fellow Americans. The city is beautifully perched on the cliffs, offering views up and down the coast, across to mainland Italy, and up the slopes of Mt. Etna. The main cultural attraction here is the Greek theatre, which is perched on a cliff in the best spot in town. Built by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC, it was later enlarged under Roman rule in the 2nd century AD. Thought to originally seat 5,400 spectators, it still packs them in today hosting numerous events throughout the year. Although no event was scheduled for the day we visited, a soul choir from Nashville happened to be visiting at the same time and decided to sing a few numbers from the historic stage. We certainly enjoyed our impromptu concert.
From inside the theatre you can see the line of smoke from the summit of Mt. Etna. It was billowing smoke all week.
After a little schoolwork in the morning, what a great place for recess.
Another one of our day trips took us out to investigate Mt. Etna. Standing about 11,000 feet tall (2 ½ times that of Mt. Vesuvius near Pompeii), it is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It has already erupted several times since the year 2000, but the locals seem to just look up and yawn. Over the years Mt. Etna has produced countless summit eruptions and 60 flank eruptions. The flank eruptions are the dangerous ones, as they can pop up in or near more populated areas along the slopes. Since the year 2000 there have been 4 explosive flank eruptions sending ash as far as Libya. Currently they are dealing with one of the longest lasting eruptions. While it is only producing a very slow lava flow, the volcano has been erupting since May 13 of this year. When we arrived at the top (at least as far as cars can travel) we inquired about taking one of the tours. We were then informed that due to “unpredictable conditions”, all excursions for the next 2 weeks had been cancelled. So instead we climbed around some of the extinct flank craters, this one from a 1986 eruption.
This is a view from Taormina at night. You can see the lava flowing (from the flank crater) just above one of the mountain villages. Cole thought that was pretty awesome and even the girls were fired up.
But what started as a relaxing finish to Sicily, quickly turned into a bit of chaos. On Thursday night we got an email saying our Saturday ferry from Catania (just down the coast) to Malta was going to be cancelled due to high winds in the forecast. We were told to either divert to Pozzallo (in south Sicily) by the next night, or risk being stranded for what could be 3 or 4 extra days. After sleeping on it we decided we'd better make a run for Pozzallo. We quickly started packing around 8:30 and then hiked the 2km to our car park. From there we drove to Catania to return the rental car at the airport, took a bus from the airport to the train station, took a train from Catania to Siracusa, and then another from Siracusa to Pozzallo. When we stepped off the train in Pozzallo it was dead quiet, not another person in sight, and I was beginning to question whether or not this could be the right town. Thankful that it was still daylight, we started walking and waved down the first car we saw. The driver, speaking only Italian, pointed us towards town and off we went. After our first kilometer, a black lab took a liking to us and offered to lead the pack. It sounds like I'm making this up, but he literally got in front and lead us (for at least another kilometer) right through town. He barked almost the entire way as if to clear the road, and dropped us off at the ferry office front door. People were coming out of their stores and almost laughing at us as we all paraded down main street with our bags in tow. Overall Malta is not that much further south than Taormina, but as we pulled into the Malta harbor 13 hours later, it felt like worlds away.
After working our way around the island, we had the next five days to relax in Taormina. The extra couple of days would also give us a chance to catch up on the kid’s schoolwork. More than the other towns we visited, Taormina felt like we were back in northern Italy. Here you’re much more likely to run into a few tour buses and some fellow Americans. The city is beautifully perched on the cliffs, offering views up and down the coast, across to mainland Italy, and up the slopes of Mt. Etna. The main cultural attraction here is the Greek theatre, which is perched on a cliff in the best spot in town. Built by the Greeks in the 3rd century BC, it was later enlarged under Roman rule in the 2nd century AD. Thought to originally seat 5,400 spectators, it still packs them in today hosting numerous events throughout the year. Although no event was scheduled for the day we visited, a soul choir from Nashville happened to be visiting at the same time and decided to sing a few numbers from the historic stage. We certainly enjoyed our impromptu concert.
From inside the theatre you can see the line of smoke from the summit of Mt. Etna. It was billowing smoke all week.
After a little schoolwork in the morning, what a great place for recess.
Another one of our day trips took us out to investigate Mt. Etna. Standing about 11,000 feet tall (2 ½ times that of Mt. Vesuvius near Pompeii), it is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It has already erupted several times since the year 2000, but the locals seem to just look up and yawn. Over the years Mt. Etna has produced countless summit eruptions and 60 flank eruptions. The flank eruptions are the dangerous ones, as they can pop up in or near more populated areas along the slopes. Since the year 2000 there have been 4 explosive flank eruptions sending ash as far as Libya. Currently they are dealing with one of the longest lasting eruptions. While it is only producing a very slow lava flow, the volcano has been erupting since May 13 of this year. When we arrived at the top (at least as far as cars can travel) we inquired about taking one of the tours. We were then informed that due to “unpredictable conditions”, all excursions for the next 2 weeks had been cancelled. So instead we climbed around some of the extinct flank craters, this one from a 1986 eruption.
This is a view from Taormina at night. You can see the lava flowing (from the flank crater) just above one of the mountain villages. Cole thought that was pretty awesome and even the girls were fired up.
But what started as a relaxing finish to Sicily, quickly turned into a bit of chaos. On Thursday night we got an email saying our Saturday ferry from Catania (just down the coast) to Malta was going to be cancelled due to high winds in the forecast. We were told to either divert to Pozzallo (in south Sicily) by the next night, or risk being stranded for what could be 3 or 4 extra days. After sleeping on it we decided we'd better make a run for Pozzallo. We quickly started packing around 8:30 and then hiked the 2km to our car park. From there we drove to Catania to return the rental car at the airport, took a bus from the airport to the train station, took a train from Catania to Siracusa, and then another from Siracusa to Pozzallo. When we stepped off the train in Pozzallo it was dead quiet, not another person in sight, and I was beginning to question whether or not this could be the right town. Thankful that it was still daylight, we started walking and waved down the first car we saw. The driver, speaking only Italian, pointed us towards town and off we went. After our first kilometer, a black lab took a liking to us and offered to lead the pack. It sounds like I'm making this up, but he literally got in front and lead us (for at least another kilometer) right through town. He barked almost the entire way as if to clear the road, and dropped us off at the ferry office front door. People were coming out of their stores and almost laughing at us as we all paraded down main street with our bags in tow. Overall Malta is not that much further south than Taormina, but as we pulled into the Malta harbor 13 hours later, it felt like worlds away.
