Today we arrived in Sicily in the port city of Giardini Naxos. We have a HAL excursion set for this evening. Meeting time 3:45. We are in a tender port and took the tender ashore about 10 am. We decided to explore the port city and then for stop for lunch. I made the mistake of not downloading the map of Sicily before we left home and had to do it ashore. T-mobile gives us world wide access but throttles the download speed. It took about 45 to download as we took a break in the shade. Very hot today.
The port city did not have a whole lot to offer. Many ancient ruins but nothing very interesting looking. Taormina was about 4 miles away and we did see that there was a large, ancient roman theater. We decided that we indeed have enough time to get there on foot, sight see, have lunch and then taxi back to the port.
We stopped to get some water at a market and were on our way. Some sidewalks, some street walking, and some pedestrian trails. The theater was up the mountain. The heat made the climb a bit more difficult.
Terri says she is following me but I keep ending up taking these kind of photos.
A portion of the roads had lots of traffic and little walking room. Just over an hour into to the walk we arrived here. Taormina.
The city was jammed with tourists. We walked through the old city and to the roman theater ruins. There was a gate to buy a ticket. I did try to go through the exit just to get a peek of what I would be seeing before shelling out the 10 euro. “Bonjurno. No free” exclaimed the masked employee. A fellow country man walking out said “nothing is free here man, you have to pay to take a piss”. That advice I was already familiar with and it is true. 1 euro
We stood inline and bought our tickets. It is so refreshing to go back to using apple pay for everything. It is quick, very easy, everyone takes it and the receipt is on your phone instantly. We are still messing with cleaning pens back home. It also looks like the rest of the world has freed itself from the masks. Only those who represent the repressive regimes seem to need them.
The theater was spectacular and it is obvious that it is still used for concerts and other engagements.
The Oosterdam from the theatre. You can see the distance we covered in our walk. The tender port is just above the ship.
We decided it was time for lunch and stopped in a restaurant offering Sicilian style pizza. I do remember the style from when I was a kid on Detroits East Side. I grew up in a largely Polish and Italian neighborhood. The restaurant was jammed but they did find room for us.
After lunch we grabbed a cab and headed back to the port. This excursion was to a winery and then to Mt. Etna, which is a very active volcano.
The winery provided some snacks and three tastings. I do not really drink much wine. One was a sparkling white. Pass. Another white. Acceptable. A red. Headache. Terri said no on all 3. Less to carry, I thought.
After the winery we started on the road up the mountain. It would be cold after sunset so we brought some extra gear. 85 at the winery. We reminisced about watching the sunrise over the volcano on Maui. Very hot when we left but freezing at the summit.
We enjoyed walking around the summit but learned that we weren’t going to see the current lava trail until we started on our way down. Our tour guide was very knowledgable but rarely took a breath. It was a lot to take in. We did see the trail on the way back and I was able to take a great photo once we were back on the ship.
We did miss dinner but were able to grab some dinner on the Lido at 10:30 pm. Great day!…