DAY 9- TAORMINA TO SIRACUSA

View from our hotel room

Sherpa Dave

Greek theater in Taormina

Dave, Molly, and Jeri at Greek theater in Taormina

Jeri and Molly


Palazzo Biscari

Palazzo Biscari

Mercato della Pescheria (fish market)

Entrails for sale

Oranges in the market

Fontana dell'Elefante

Orecchio di Dioniso (Ear of Dionysius)
Inside the Orecchio

Fonte Aretusa in Ortygia section of Siracusa
Archimedes Piazza

Teatro di Pupi

Puppet show

After show dinner at La Foglia

Dave, Michael and Jeanne at La Foglia

Another beautiful day! I still can’t believe we missed Stromboli- the only bad day we’ve had. This morning we descended from our aerie one last time (with our luggage-thanks Dave and Jeri). We decided to do two last things in Taormina before we got on the road to Catania and Siracusa. We first drove to the small town of Castelmola which sits high above Taormina. The old fort at the top is a great vantage point for photos of Mt. Etna and the coastline. We then stopped at the Ancient Greek theater. The setting for this theater is spectacular with the azure water, coastline, and snow covered Mount Etna in the background. It was built in the Hellenistic period (3^rd Century B.C.E.) and then rebuilt by the Romans (2^nd Century A.D.) when it became a gladiatorial arena.

We left Taormina behind and headed south for Catania and Siracusa. Catania is the 2^nd largest city in Sicily and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded in 729 B.C.E by Greek colonists but was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1693 and a major eruption of Mount Etna in 1669. The city was rebuilt in the 18^th Century in the Baroque style with wide straight streets, a precaution against future earthquakes. Our 1^st stop was the Palazzo Biscari, the largest Baroque palace in Catania. It was built by Prince Paterno Castello and work on it continued for nearly a century. It has been owned by the same family for over 400 years and we were given a private tour by one of the present descendants, Signore Moncada. The palazzo is extremely ornate, typical for this period. There is a large terrace facing the Catania Cathedral.

From here, we walked around the Catania fishmarket, the Mercato della Pescheria. There was much more than just fish. We got an eyeful of various weird fish, and body parts of various unidentifiable animals. There was also an area for fresh fruits. We decided to pass on the spatola fish and the cow entrails and get some fresh fruit for lunch. While we ate, we walked around the Piazza Duomo. In the center of the piazza is the Fontana dell’Elefante. In the basin of the fountain is an elephant made of black lava with an obelisk and globe on top. The elephant has become the symbol Catania. There had been indigenous elephants in this area a few thousand years ago, and the legend of the Cyclops in the Odyssey, may have come from the skulls that were found with a large central hole (from the trunk).

Our final destination today was Siricusa, founded circa 700 B.C.E. by Greeks from Corinth. Siricusa became a cultural, economic, and scientific center of the ancient world. It was also a cultural melting pot with people from all over the world gravitating to this area for commercial interests. We met a local guide, Antonio, for our tour of the area. The city was divided in ancient times into several areas including the Neopolis (“new city”), Achradina, Tyche, and Ortygia ( an island that was probably the initial settlement). “The New City” is not new by our standards, with the Greek Temple that dominates the area built in the 5^th Century B.C.E. Famous Greek playwrights including Aeschylus premiered there plays at this theater, probably like running plays outside of New York prior to bringing them to Broadway. While we were at the theater, there was a bit of excitement. A French tourist fell (trying to take a picture- the old back up one more step joke) from one of the tiers. Initially, we thought he had a dislocated shoulder, but when the paramedics came and lifted him by his armpits, I figured he was O.K. Adjacent to the theater was the Latomie, a huge quarry from which slaves extracted millions of cubic feet of stone for use by Siracusan architects. One of the caverns, Orecchio di Dioniso (the Ear of Dionysius) is adjacent to the theater and is said to have improved the acoustics by acting as a sounding board. The quarry was also used as a prison for many years and got its name from the legend that the tyrant Dionysius was able to hear whispers of the most dangerous prisoners due to the great acoustics.

We then drove to the section of the city called Ortygia. A small bridge connects the small island of Ortygia to the Sicilian mainland. The island was colonized in ancient times due to a spring fed pool providing fresh water for humans and animals. This pool is surrounded by papyrus, important for early paper-making. There is a legend of the pool- Aratusa, the godess Diana’s nymph, swam in the the River Alfeo (½ river ½ god) against Diana’s wishes. Alfeo fell in love with Artusa immediately. Diana in a rage, turned Artusa into a pool of water and banished her to Ortygia. In order to be with her, Alfeo turned himself into a spring so that he could eternally “mix his water” with hers.

We walked from here to the Duomo (cathedral square) and went into Chiesa Santa Lucia alla Badia the church of an old convent named for Saint Lucia, a martyr that was tortured for her faith by the Romans. Inside the church is an original painting by Carabaggio, a painter from the 1600’s who was hiding out in Sicily after escaping from prison in Rome (convicted for murder).

Adjacent to Chienta Santa Lucia is the Duomo or Cathedral of Siricusa. It was built between 1728-1753 incorporating the ancient Greek Temple of Minerva from the 6^th Century B.C.E. The columns from the temple formed vertical members of the exterior walls with an interior wall utilizing arches. After years as a Greek temple and early Christian church, it became a Muslim mosque, and finally the present day Baroque cathedral. It contains 13^th Century font, Norman mosaics, paintings and a sarisy with choir stalls from 1489.

This evening we had plans to meet Jeanne and Michael for a puppet show and dinner and began making our way to the theater. On the way, we passed the Piazza of Archimedes. Archimedes was born in Siracusa and became the most prolific and famous mathematician and scientist 287-212 B.C.E. It took 3 years for the Romans to conquer Siracusa primarily because of one of Archimedes most famous inventions, the catapult. The Romans thought that the gods were against them because large rocks seemed to be falling out of the sky. When they finally did conquer Siracusa, they executed Archimedes. He really got screwed (that was a physics joke).

We finally got to Via Giudaica, the main street of the old Jewish Quarter. There are still remnants of the large vibrant Jewish community, and there are still 3 mikvahs (ritual baths for you non-Jews that are reading this), one of which is in a church. The Jewish community was all but eliminated by the Inquisition, but many Sicilians in this area claim Jewish roots.

Adjacent to the Teatro di Pupi is the puppet shop where Gipetto works (not really). It is the workshop that the puppets for the puppet show are crafted. I had thought about bringing one home, but the hand-made puppets start at 800 euros! The puppet show was not your Shari Lewis/Lambchop puppets. These puppets are about four feet tall and controlled from above by 3 wires. The show was in Italian but there was an English synopsis (that was undecipherable). The puppets were a lot of fun to watch, though. After the show, the 6 of us had dinner at a small restaurant in what was up until 5 years ago the red light district (there had been an army base nearby which closed and forced the hookers to move to more fertile grounds). It is going to be hard to go back to Ronzoni after all this fresh, home-made pasta.

We walked back to our hotel stopping off for some mandorla (almond) gelato. We said goodnight to Jeanne and Michael (after I gave Michael a plug converter for his camera battery charger which Jeanne forgot to pack) with plans to meet them tomorrow at the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina.

DAY 8- BACK TO MOUNT ETNA AND THE HOME OF MICHAEL CORLEONE

David & Molly, Jeri & Craig, and Jeanne & Michael on top of Mount Etna

Dave keeping the ladies warm

Dave, Molly, Jeri, Jeanne and Michael at the crater rim

Looking warm

Entrance to the "Godfather Mansion" home of Franco Platania

Godfather Mansion

David, Molly, Franco, Jeri and Craig

Wine and sweets with the Platanias

Al Pacino at the mansion and ....
...Craig recreating the scene

Today was gorgeous. We met Paolo at 9:30 after a leisurely breakfast with plans to go sightseeing, but as we began to head out of Taormina, we spotted Mount Etna, with not a cloud nearby. We made a quick decision to change our plans once again, and try for some hiking on Mount Etna. As we drove closer to the mountain, clouds began moving in, and by the time we were at 2,000 meters, we were again completely socked in. The fast way up was a cable car then jeep, so we elected to do this then walk at the 2,500 meter mark to the top. We stopped for a bathroom break before going up, and as I came out of the bathroom a woman was pointing at me. It took a few seconds to realize that it was Jeanne Shafer. Jeanne and Michael were going to meet us tomorrow for a puppet show and dinner in Siracusa, but we just happened to all decide to come to Mount Etna today. Dave and Molly and Michael and Jeanne got to meet a day early.

The fog that we left the 2,000 meter level in dissipated fairly quickly giving us spectacular views of the main cone that is still active (last eruption was October 8, 2011, only a week ago). Escaping gas can clearly be seen. We hiked around an adjacent crater that was formed by a lateral eruption from the southeastern cone. Steam (rather than sulfur dioxide)continues to pour out of this crater and the surrounding cinder is warm to the touch. Even with all this thermal activity, there was still a fair amount of snow in this area. Though the sky was clear, there was a stiff wind blowing with wind chill probably 10-20 degrees Farenheit. Molly and Jeri were well layered (Jeanne was in a sweatshirt-don’t know how she did not freeze to death), but the cold wind was too much for the Florida girl- she really needed Antarctica gear. She was a trooper, though, and before she turned into a popsicle, we began to make our descent. At the bottom, we said goodbye to Jeanne and Michael with plans to meet tomorrow evening in Siracusa.

Our next stop was the town of Zafferana Etnea, home to Sicily’s honey production. We stopped at a honey factory that also sold olive oils and wine. After sampling about a dozen olive oils, 8 or so different honeys, some olives and olive products and 5 wines, we decided we did not need lunch today. We had a sampling of their products shipped home (we never would have made the weight limit for suitcases if we carried this). Nero D’Avolo is a delicious red wine from this region, and there were two dessert wines, Malvasia (a type of sherry) and an almond wine (can’t remember the name) that were great.

The last stop on our journey today we all though was going to be really lame, a visit to the home of Michael Corleone from the Godfather movies. This turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip so far. The home is actually the estate of Franco Platania, and has been in the family for about 400years. What we did not realize was this tour was very private and given by Signori Plantania himself. As we entered the gates of the estate, Signori Plantania met us in the courtyard. We is a charming older gentleman who was very excited to have us there and loved my interest in photos. He kept dragging me to various locations for the best shots, grabbed my camera and began posing us for different scenes from the Godfather. I’m surprised he didn’t try to have Jeri sit in his car while it blew up (Godfather I- Michael’s car blows up with Appolonia, his new bride, in it.). He had me stand in the spots that Al Pacino stood on the steps and in the balcony, and we recreated the escape of the bodyguard who set up Michael. We then got a tour of the inside of his home, and his wife served us Malvasia, cake, and espresso. While we ate in his parlor, we watched segments of the Godfather movies that were filmed here. Before we left, he showed us one of his outbuildings that housed a variety of photographs taken during filming on location. We could not believe that we had been entertained by this couple for well over two hours. We kissed (2 cheek European) him and his wife goodbye and began our trip back to Taormina.

Tomorrow we have to drag our luggage downstairs. At least we will have gravity working for us.

DAY 7- MOUNT ETNA AND SURROUNDING REGION

David, Molly, and Jeri in the sun finally

Lava flow of 1992 surrounding small church

Jeri entering the Grotta dei Ladroni (Cave of Thieves)

Inside the cave

Jeri making her ascent

Molly ascending from the cave

The group in our helmets

Lava flow of 2002 cut off road
David, Molly, Jeri, and Craig at the lava edge

Rifugio Ragabo for lunch

Planter in the Rifugio

Finally get a glimpse of Mount Etna

Randazzo's Santa Maria Basilica
Via degli Archi



Basalt wall in the Alcantara Ravine
Alcantara Ravine

Motta Camastra

Five flights to our room

Moon over Taormina

This morning was spectacular with sun and bright blue skies. After a nice breakfast overlooking the ocean, we met our guide for the day, Antonello. We were surprised by our vehicle, a Range Rover, not our usual Fiat. Antonello was also a surprisingly good driver (learned in Germany), and very pleasant and informative. Unfortunately, as our elevation increased the fog did as well. By the time we were at 1500 meters, we were completely socked in. We began a short hike to three extinct volcano craters, the Sartorius Mounts. After this, we did some four-wheeling and eventually came to a part of the old mountain road that was cut off by lava from the major eruption or 2002. This flow also wiped out the visitors center and a hotel. The lava fields along with the fog gave the landscape an eerie look that made us feel as if we were on the moon.

Our next stop was a crawl through a cave formed by a lava tube. It was formed by the outer lava crust cooling while the hot lava inside continued to flow. These types of caves were used for ice production prior to refrigeration. People would fill the caves with snow during the winter and allowed it to freeze solid. Blocks of ice were then cut and hauled down the mountain to the ports where it was used to refrigerate the fish that was caught. As we descended into the cave, we found out why we were wearing helmets. Each of us in turn smacked our heads on the low ceiling in the dark cavern. At the other end of the tube, the ascent was vey steep and we were fortunate to have another group with a climbing rope coming down as we went up. This made for a much more rapid and less dangerous ascent.

Lunch was a 5 course meal including antipasto, pasta, meat, salad, and of course, dessert and a lot of wine. I can’t ever remember drinking at 2 in the afternoon, and now I know why I hadn’t. Within Randazzo is the town closest to the Mt Etna craters, but it has never been damaged by lava. The town has over 100 churches (with about 7,000 inhabitants) the major one of which is the Santa Maria Basilica built between 1217 and 1239. The church is adorned with huge dark paintings lining the walls depicting horrific events. I suppose little kids must have nightmares after going to church. Many of the side streets are good examples of medieval architecture, the most prominent being the Via degli Archi, pointed arches with black cobblestones.

Our final stop of the day was a the Alcantara Gorge, a 60 ft deep ravine cut out of black basalt by the Alcantara River. The gorge sits below the town of Motta Camastra, a medieval town that was prominent in the Godfather movies.

When we returned to the hotel, we had to move our bags to our new rooms. Dave and Molly’s were on the same floor as last night, but we were on Floor 4 which is actually 5 ½ flights of stairs. After moving the bags (of which Dave did the lion’s share), we were ready for a nap. Next time we stay at a hotel, there has to be an elevator! We’re getting to old for this.

In the evening, we spent time exploring the streets and alleys of Taormina, stopping for a light dinner at a small out of the way restaurant. Dave made a valiant effort to ask the waitress for the check in Italian with my prompting, but he asked for “il canto” instead of “il conto”, so the waitress started singing to him then laughed hysterically. We all got a good chuckle out of this.

Tomorrow we meet Paolo, our guide for the next three days.

DAY 6- CHANGE OF PLANS: TAORMINA A DAY EARLY

Waiting for the ferry in the rain

Waves crashing on jetty in Lipari Harbor

Our Ferry

Piazza XI Aprile

Puppets in Taormina

N

Naumachie (Roman Brick Wall)

Lunch of pistachios and fruit

Dinner at C'Orologio

Piazza del Duomo and Cathedral San Nicolo

It was pretty obvious when we woke up that our plans to see Stromboli active at night would not come to fruition. The rain was impressive and there were doubts as to whether any boats would venture out today at all. After breakfast while we were trying to decide on a plan of action, the people at the front desk informed us that there was a ferry- the one and only that would be there today, that left at 10:20, and the hotel would get us to the ferry dock if we could leave by 10. It was now 9:30. We skipped showers and did some speed packing and got to the front desk at 10. At the ferry dock, the waves were crashing into the jetty and sending plumes of spray 8-10 feet in the air. I had my doubts as to whether docking here was going to be feasible. We bought our tickets and waited…and waited….and waited….More and more people arrived at the dock (I wondered why we didn’t get the memo about the lateness of the ship). The person kept giving updates every 20 minutes, “It will be here in venti minutos. Finally at around 11:45 the ship arrived and docked rather easily. This was not the hydrofoil that we arrived on but a craft the size of a small cruise ship. It had cabins, food stands, and even a pool. But there was no lifeboat drill or safety briefing, and all we could think about were the ferry accidents you read about in the papers at home. “What were those idiots thinking going out in weather like that”. Our cruise ship actually plowed through the heavy weather just fine and although it took more than twice as long as the hydrofoil, we made it to Milazzo in one piece (and dry!).

After feeling like we dodged a bullet on the ship, little did we know that the next leg of our adventure would be the most dangerous. Angela had arranged a driver for us to take us from the Port of Milazzo to Taormina where we would spend the next three nights. We had no idea that Mario Andretti was working in Milazzo. As the minivan approached 150 kph (roughly 93mph) we began to squirm in our seats. Speed limits maxed out at 110 and were often 60kph when he was doing 130. He was extremely aggressive, climbing onto the car in front’s tail until the car would move over. To make matters worse, Molly’s seatbelt wasn’t functional, and the driver was playing awful dance music very loudly. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we reached our hotel.

The hotel was a very pretty B&B, la Penionne Svizzera, but there was no elevator. We knew about this, but though we were on the 2^nd floor. Unfortunately we were on the 1^st and 3^rd floors the first night, and 2^nd and 4^th the other two nights. A lot of bag schlepping. Thank God for our muscle (Dave), since I can’t really lift much weight because of my hips. I made sure to give a big tip.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the old town of Taormino. Our hotel was just outside of the Messina Gate at one end, and we walked to the other end (the Catania Gate). Taormina dates back to the ancient Greek occupation of Sicily and many of its structures are from the Middle Ages. Dinner was at a typical Sicilian trattoria. There was an antipasto buffet followed pasta that each of us chose. They definitely know how to make their pasta here.

When we got back to the hotel, one of the resident cats found its way into our room. For the next half hour we tried to coax it out. At one point it ran onto our balcony and disappeared only to return 15 minutes later. I finally used brains over brawn, and got him out of our room so we could get a good night’s rest. Weather permitting, we will climb Mt. Etna tomorrow morning.