Travels With Carol, Southern Italy and Sicily

Part Three: Taormina and Mt. Etna

 Taormina is a resort town on the southern shore of Sicily. The picture above was taken from my hotel room window. That road takes you to the shore of the bay on the Ionian Sea. I walked on that beach for about an hour, picking up sea glass. It was so lovely there. I watched as someone in the apartments across the street lower a bucket down, someone put something in it and then they brought it back up....really old world but practical.
The town above was the real resort area and we got there by catching a bus that took a very narrow and scary road to the top of the mountain. This was all such an adventure. I spent the whole day up there shopping, eating gelato, and drinking cappuccino....what a life. The shops were wonderful and flowers everywhere.

Mt. Etna

Mt. Etna was not too far from Taormina and although this is a stock photo that was pretty much how it looked the day we saw it. Mt. Etna is the most active volcano in Europe and it erupted last year in 2015.
We went to almost the top (you had to take a ski lift and then climb on foot to get to the very top) winding back and forth on a landscape that looked like the moon. I think the volcano erupts from different craters because we were able to walk in smaller craters that were covered in hard black lava. I explored a little bit but it was cold and the air was thin. I decided to go to the cafe and have a cappuccino and catch my breath.
We also went to a small village that claimed the village and church were spared by a statue of the Madonna. We could see where the lava flow stopped just short of the statue....amazing. (also bought some wonderful honey there)
Sometimes, I can't believe how lucky I've been seeing such wonderful places but we are not done yet....one more instalment to go.
Link:
http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=211060