The light at the end of the tunnel

I had a chuckle when I read the comments about finding a hotel room. I have had to search sometimes! I remember being in Kingston, Ontario and shocked to discover that there were no rooms. Turns out there was a hockey tournament! I found something, just not at the hotel I would typically book. I’ve always found something - just not always my first choice. And we won’t mention the sketchy Airbnb I had to stay at one time. 

Speaking of hotel rooms, it was only when I was out and about yesterday that I realized that I needed this hotel for THREE nights, not two as I booked when I arrived. I got that fixed last night and at the same good rate! 

Yesterday was an other interesting day - of course it was — there’s a story behind everything you do. You just have to recognize it as a story. 

When I arrived in Naples, I sat at dinner in the train station (more on that later) and found a tour As I had mentioned it wasn’t only finding a tour, but it was finding one that had a pick-up point close to me. I ended up settling on a half-day tour to Pompeii which was what I wanted. It left at 9 AM in the area just by the train station, although I thought the pick-up area was 2 KM away — so that was even better. 

Not that long after, I received a telephone call asking if I wanted to add Sorrento to my itinerary for free, but we would start at 9:40 AM at the same pick up spot. Sure — why not?

I scouted out the pick-up spot which was exactly where the elusive geocache was. I know where it’s supposed to be, but I didn’t find it. I might try again today or I’ll try a different one. Oh my —- there are loads of buses and people all waiting to get their tour for the day. I didn’t even know what company I had booked with. 

I sent a text and was told that the guide would call me. It was hilarious — no idea what kind of vehicle would pick me up, no idea the size of the tour, no idea the tour company. Just the time and the location — what more do you need? TRUST yourself. Maybe I would be a one tourist in a car! Then I overheard two ladies chatting about their tour and that they would be picked up at 9:40 for Pompeii. AHA — I bet we are on the same tour and when I asked them, YES — we were on the same tour. 

Promptly at 9:40 a white bus pulls up. This was smaller than the coach we had on Sicily and I think five of us boarded the bus. There were people already on the bus, so it had stopped at other stops. We were the last to pick up and we were off. 

I have to tell you what happened with the tour. The two ladies who got picked with me were from Amsterdam and at lunch I asked them how long ago they had booked their tour. Months!!!! Their tour initially was Pompeii, lunch and then Vesuvius. However, the day before, the Vesuvius part was canceled. When they asked the tour guide at lunch, he said something about the roads being unsafe and therefore the mountain was closed. So the tour company substituted the afternoon with a trip to Sorrento. 

I just happened to fit into this tour and so I got lunch and Sorrento added in for free. There were also a few people from a cruise ship on our tour. 

I will say that this bus driver was NOT as skilled as the one on Sicily. It looks as big, but it was not. 

Our tour bus for the day

I will be honest that I don’t have a huge knowledge of history, but I knew that the city of Pompeii had been destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius. The date was October 24th, 79 AD. The city was in the process of rebuilding from a major earthquake in 62 AD. Of the 20,000 inhabitants in the area, approximately 4 - 6 thousand died, but the city was completely buried in ash and other volcanic debris. The people mostly died from the toxic gases or the heat shock of 500 degrees. 

The weight of the ash on the roofs of the buildings eventually caused the roofs to cave in. It was discovered in 1599 and in 1748, they began to excavate the site. Why? Money of course, as there was a lot of jewelry, coins, etc buried.

We had a wonderful and enthusiastic tour guide which made the whole day a lot of fun. And we were able to visit at least one of everything in the city. I took loads of pictures, here are some of the them. He spoke very fluent English, French, and Italian. 

This was a square where the gladiators practised I believe. It’s just outside the larger of two relatively small amphitheaters. The larger one was used for comedy and tragedy plays. A smaller amphitheater was used for music and poetry. 

 

A square outside the amphitheater

The larger of the two amphitheaters (5000 seating capacity) used for the plays. 

The larger of the two small amphitheaters

Do you know what these stones are for? Imagine a city that is built on a hill without a sewage system and you can now guess what potentially went between those rocks!!! I believe it was mostly urine you would potentially find in the drainage roads. I never did get where the rest goes. 

Stepping stones across the streets

Some of the fresco is still in pretty decent shape inside some of the buildings. I believe this was a house and there are holes in the wall to pass things from one room to another. That just seems pretty silly — why not go out the door and into the next room? The walls were very thick. 

Inside a house in Pompeii

What stunned me is that it was a city. I know — that sounds so silly, but the streets are there, the buildings are there (almost all of the upper floors are gone), but it looked just like an abandoned city. And to think that it was covered in 4 - 6 meters of ash. Can you imagine sifting through all that to find people, artifacts and then to clean it up? What a Herculean task!!!! Actually, they did not find people as they had been carbonized, but they found cavities in the ash where people perished and have made casts of some of them. You could tell they died a horrible death. 

On the streets of Pompeii

But they were very creative and this is one of the baths. I believe this was the cold bath for the men. There were tepid and hot bath areas as well. It was all very well thought out and all were beautifully decorated, although with exposure to the elements and the ash, some of the stuff didn’t hold up. The fresco was painted on after a 2 inch layer of “concrete” was applied to the stone walls. 

Inside the cold bath

We visited one of 35 brothels!!!! Imagine that! Apparently it wasn’t only for the residents as many people travelled through Pompeii and the brothels were for the travellers as well. What was hilarious were the frescos in the building. Since many people didn’t speak the same language, you entered the building and pointed at one of the pictures to show what you wanted!!!! Oh MY!!!!  I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable as the beds were made of stone. I took a picture, but didn’t include it here. 

The menu (in fresco) inside one of many brothels

Any idea what this is? That’s a scale. There are half orbs carved in the replica shown below and when you bought something in the market area, it was weighed and you paid accordingly. 

A replica of a scale

We walked past temples and the market area and well, as the guide mentioned, we visited one of everything - houses, amphitheatres, stores, bordellos, etc. It was a pretty fascinating place to visit and I’m glad I took the time to go there. I believe our tour was two hours after we got organizes our earpieces and visited the jewelry shop where the clean toilets were! 

Then we had lunch which consisted of spaghetti and pizza. That pizza was so amazing and it was only tomato sauce and cheese. Pizza back home will never be the same. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about pizza. Most people equate pizza as coming from Italy and that’s not true. Naples was a separate region and are the originators of pizza. With the unification of Italy in 1861, it became part of Italy. 

Pizza and spaghetti for lunch

Then we were back on the bus and on our way to Sorrento, which is a beautiful city on the Italian coast. There is a massive fracture in the middle of the city and this is an old flour mill. That’s a long way down. 

The fracture in Sorrento

So much beautiful stuff to buy and I spotted this gorgeous sunflower ceramic, but I didn’t buy it. I’m too old to buy souvenirs. And while I spotted many magnets, I didn’t get any. However, I spotted a thimble, so I picked that up. 

Beautiful ceramics

This is overlooking the harbour, which is a LONG ways down. 

The harbour is a LONG way down

Lots of magnets to choose from

I needed to use the washroom and decided while I waited for the pickup time I would have a snack and got to be entertained by a puppet show across the street. This restaurant was sort of in the middle of the street and I wasn’t sure they had a toilet. Yep —- it was downstairs where the kitchen was. I tell you —- these cities are crazy!!!!! 

The puppet show

WAIT — I forgot to tell you why we went to Sorrento. First, it’s a beautiful place, but it’s known for it’s Lemoncello. I’d never had it before, but we went to a store and got a taste of three different kinds as well as some small cookies and sweets they make. YES — Lemons is a big deal here and you see them growing on all the trees, as well as oranges. EVERYTHING screams lemons — clothing, tea towels, Christmas ornaments and so on. It’s totally crazy!!!!

I did purchase a small leather LEMON pouch which I thought would be a great reminder of the trip and I can put sewing supplies in it. It was 15 Euro, so it fit my budget. 

I got a chuckle out of some of the people on our tour. TWO people were wearing orange, so it was easy enough to keep track of them. I never feared of losing them. 

Follow the two ladies in orange

You can see the oranges on these trees. It was hard to get a picture from the moving bus!

Oranges on the trees

Has anyone ever driven down the coast from Naples to Sorrento? Let’s say it’s a wild ride! There is a very twisty road right on the edge of the cliff. The bus driver made a wrong turn and we had to turn around. Our Sicily bus driver would have taken that in stride, but this guy had to engage the help of someone to get him turned around. Of course, the crazy traffic doesn’t help. 

The road to Sorrento

And did I tell you about the motorcycles? Let’s say you are on a two-lane highway. Cars and buses (no trucks - it’s rare to spot a truck in this area, so goods must be shipped via boat? Or on the old inland road) are in their respective lanes and there is ZERO passing because there are always many cars coming and going. BUT the motorcycles — they make every road into a four lane road because they ride just inside the center line going both ways. It’s totally crazy!!!!

The motorcycles make their own rules

Speaking of which, there are around 6 -7 cars for every 10 people. Meaning that almost every adult has a car. Let’s just say that the congestion is insane. 

On this road from Naples to Sorrento, there are THREE tunnels, th longest being the Santa Maria de Pozzano tunnel which is just over 5 KM long. OH my —- it was slow on the way down to get through that tunnel, but it took almost 50 minutes to come through on the way back. It was insane and for some reason, I don’t think the bus driver had the AC on, so we saw the temperature rise from 22 degrees to 27 degrees. I think that was the outside temperature, but it made the bus hot. 

The entrance to the 5 KM tunnel

Near the end, he turned on the AC. Like I said, he wasn’t the best bus driver around. But that’s OK. Once we were out of the tunnel (no particular reason for the slowdown), we breezed through the other tunnels. But then on the highway, we got stuck in more traffic from a multi-vehicle accident. I have no idea why there are not more accidents. They drive like maniacs here and I saw scratches on many cars. 

Let me say that I was very happy to spot the light at the end of that tunnel. 5 KM is a long way to be stuck under a mountain. There are “escape” doors along the sides. Where do they lead? Don’t you just want to stop and go through one to see what’s on the other side? I’m sure if the door opens that many alarm bells go off, so probably not a good idea to try that! 

As we drove along, the sun slowly sank and this was sunset as we approached Naples. 

Sunset approaching Naples

So I got very lucky. We were the last group to be picked up and we were the FIRST group to be dropped off. Where is the justice in that? I didn’t care about justice, I just wanted off the bus since it was now after 8 PM and we were supposed to be back by 6:30 at the latest. It wasn’t the bus driver, nor the tour guide’s fault — just a victim of the traffic. 

While I feel safe here, the area around the train station isn’t spotted with cute little cafes, so I grabbed some pasta while zipping through the train station and ate in my room. DH said I should try to find somewhere other than the train station to find food. And he’s right. I plan on stopping somewhere else - at least this afternoon. 

WOWSER!!!! What a jam-packed day and it was amazing considering that I booked it the day before. It couldn’t have worked out better. I was going to try to get to Vesuvius today, but I don’t really feel like it, so I’m going to hit the town and check out some museums. I found three that look very interesting and since I don’t have to coordinate with anyone but myself, it should be fun. And I will attempt to get that elusive geocache. I must get one before I leave!!!!

On that note, I’m out of here to grab something to eat and then I’ll walk over to the first museum. It’s Monday, so I wonder if it’ll be busier around town? Probably the same. 

It’s not high tourist season and we didn’t really have to wait for anything, but it was pretty busy everywhere we went. I can’t imagine coming in high tourist season. The weather is beautiful, so I’m glad I am here now. 

M and Dillon made it safely home and DH made it to Spain where he is playing golf with his buddies for a few days. And I have my next train ticket booked. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

Transition day - trains and ferries

Transition days on vacation are never fun, but you can make the best of them by being patient. 

There has been a lot of goodbyes in the last couple of days and yesterday was the last of them as I am now on my own as Dillon and M had one day left in Taormina on their own, and DH is off to play golf with his buddies on their annual golf trip. He was going to Spain and well, his travel plans didn’t go as planned and I’m not going there. Some things are best left unsaid. 

I had a train to catch and rather than take a taxi, I decided to walk to the train station - it was only a 30-minute walk. OH MY —— the silly GPS takes me to the road which is OK, but I don’t really think I was supposed to be walking on that road. But no worries — there was a combination of road and path. And since I only have my small carryon suitcase and a small backpack, I was good. The joys of travelling light. I will NEVER, unless it’s for work, travel with a lot of luggage. And I brought many things that I won’t be using on this trip. That bugs me, but get over it!!

You can’t really appreciate the pitch of the ground in this photo, but let’s say it was steepish!!

The foot path down the hills in Taormina

Taormina is about 670 feet above sea level and I had to descend to sea level in a very short distance! This was one spot where I stopped and took a photo. Yep — I had to get to the sea!

High above the house tops

And the next thing you knew, there I was - at the train station. It was an super easy walk — OK — so it was an easy walk and then I had to wait a bit because I got there a bit earlier than I needed but I would rather be early (GASP!!) than running late. When I’m in my own environment I can cut corners on the time, but not in a strange city. 

Waiting for the train

The day before I purchased a first-class ticket for the train and it was all very civilized. The train ride would be 7 hours and it was worth it to have a bigger seat. Before I left home I had done some research on what to do after the wedding and how to get to where I wanted to be. I know — that is a bit shocking because I typically don’t do that - I just go. But when I discovered that there was a train on Sicily and that you could take the train to Italy main land via a ferry, I was in. 

When the train picked us up in Taormina, there were four cars in total and an engine on both ends. There were tons of tunnels along the train ride on Sicily. I took this photo for M as it was the last view of the Normand castle - right in the top left corner. You really have to zoom in to see it, but this was the kind of hill I had to walk down!

One last glimpse of Taormina

Our train was destined for the ferry docks. I know — a FERRY for the train, We were stopped and the train was separated. No idea that was happening. I mean I knew that was going to happen but we didn’t feel the train move at all. We were waiting for our turn to board the ferry. And then we were moving forward and onto the ferry. The other half was already loaded. It’s so absolutely cool. I can say I’ve been a walk on passenger on a ferry, by bicycle, and car. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a bus on the ferry. It appears that they could take more rail cars on the ferry but we were only four. 

The train is on the ferry in two parts

And then everyone shuffled up the stairs to the lounge, I think people mostly went there to buy food as the line was crazy. I had snacks with me but I should have bought a sandwich. No worries - I was fine. 

Going up to the lounge on the ferry

Gosh — it looks so much like the BC Ferries!!!

The lounge

It’s only a 35-minute crossing, but it takes at least one hour to disconnect the train and then reconnect it on the other side. I wasn’t in a hurry and it was so fascinating to be part of that that I didn’t care how long it took. 

The outer deck on the ferry

But I had a couple of chuckles when I initially got on the train in Taormina. A group of people were getting on the train - there were six of them and it’s not easy to get a large, heavy suitcase up the stairs and onto the train. This group sounded like they were so disorganized. Stuff was falling everywhere and they were making a lot of noise. 

The group beside me were into games! Two couples from Australia or Britain - I don’t get the accents and they were heavy into a trivia game when I arrived to my seat and they were collectively (at least the two men were) into a crossword puzzle when I got off the train. 

I had to laugh because the mannerisms of the gentleman “controlling” the puzzle made me think he was an accountant (very precise and meticulous) or he definitely had OCD problems The other gentleman across the table from him was leaning over the table and right into this guys space. I’m not sure he liked it, but they were definitely engaged in the puzzle. As they said the clues, I was trying to guess as well! But just to myself. 

Once we were on the mainland, we travelled along the coast. There were a lot of beaches, but they seem to very pebbly as they were in Taormina. The weather was glorious and you couldn’t ask for more! Again, many tunnels as we went under or through the mountains along the coast. 

The coast as we traveled on the train

Here’s one way to know if you are getting close to your destination. Use Google Maps to find your location. Thank goodness I got my phone issue resolved or I would have been dead in the water. How the heck did we ever travel without the internet? I would be totally lost without it. 

Where am I? 

It was interesting when we finally arrived in Naples, (the train was on its way to Rome - another two hours  away), I realized that the train now had more passenger cars than when we started. They must have added more cars when the train reconnected, which explains why we went back and forth a couple of times. 

The train got longer than when we started

And then there is the train station. Which is always bustling regardless of whatever train station in Europe you arrive at. They are all busy!

The train station in Napoli (Naples) 

OH — I need to be very explicit on the blog because I go back to reference it many times. DH was asking for the name of the hotel I stayed at when I was in Madrid. I had to check back because I didn’t remember the train station name (Chamartin) or the hotel (The One Hotel). But through the blog I was able to find the information, so I must be thorough for future reference since my memory doesn’t retain stuff like that. 

It was about 4:30 PM when I exited the train station. I had started my train ride at 9:35 - the train was five minutes late! Anyway, the first line of business is to find a hotel. I know —- what a risk taker to arrive in a foreign city and not have a room to stay. I’ve done it so many times that I never worry now. There is always a place to stay. Gosh — I think I started traveling like that when I turned 50!! You can teach an old dog new tricks! 

I think the most “exciting” experience was my first time walking the Camino and I arrived in a small town and there was a massive festival happening. The number of rooms was extremely limited but they found me a room and I was good. Except for the fireworks that went on and on that night. I barely slept! 

I did look at the map and then decided to just start walking and the first one I went to, it was full. The second one just across the street had rooms. OK — so I look like a tourist because the guy greeted me in English! Did I want a single room? Yes — I’m OK with that. Do you want a single bed? Yes — I’m OK with that. And so for 130 Euro a night I got a very nice room with a single bed. That is a very good price. 

My bed!!

The room is only as wide as the bed and the door, but it’s long and has a very nice, large bathroom. 

Huge bathroom

The only thing missing is plugs and a small light for reading. But no worries. Thank goodness for that long cord I brought for charging my phone. It’s a slow charge, but it allows me to charge while I’m fiddling with my phone. I also have a fast charge which thankfully I used on the train to keep me connected. 

There is ONE plug in the room

Once I got into my room and dumped my stuff, I headed out to find something to eat. I found it quite dirty around the train station with a lot of garbage hanging around. It was Saturday, but still early. I ended up going back to the food court at the train station to get a sandwich. I then had a look at the pastries, but ended up getting nothing. I just couldn’t be bothered to go through the motions of buying something. How silly is that and they didn’t seem to be super friendly either. 

But that’s OK because I have snacks with me so I had some chocolate. Bringing or having snacks with you always is so important when traveling. The same for water. 

I switched my pillows around to face the other way which was more comfortable with that long cable. It was long, but not quite long enough but after switching the pillow, all as good. I’m sure that would have drove DH up the wall. You have to sleep with your head at the head of the bed. Not so when you travel alone. You can do anything you want. I love it!!!

So the question is what to do with the two days I’m here. I booked two nights at this hotel and so I need to fill the days. While I was eating, I was scouring the internet to find a tour group. Not only does one need to book a tour, but you must be close to where the pick up is going to be. So back and forth with Google and maps and so on and I found something for today. 

I hear over and over that you must book things in advance or you will never get in. I have never not gotten into where I want. Wait —- maybe I shouldn’t say that but if you look and are not particular about the time (I had tons of options), I got a tour and the pickup is very near this hotel. A short walk. Plus it was on sale because it was last minute. 

I remember when M and I were in Paris and we wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower. Sorry — no tickets for today. However, you could walk up and there was zero waiting. Guess what we did? We walked!!! There is always an option. 

Being able to get around and have little luggage makes almost all options available to you for whatever you want to do. 

When I got back to the hotel, the Tour Company called me to ask if I wanted to extend the tour for free and I said,  sure - why not. So I’m supposed to be doing two things today. Let’s see how that goes!! I still need to get a geocache so I can get my Italy virtual badge and I’ve located one in the square outside the train station so I should be able to do that on my way to the tour pick up point. 

I know there are a lot of people who would never travel the way I do and that’s OK. I don’t mind the last minute decisions and the hassle of doing the homework. So much can change and if you preplan everything, what happens if you are sick or tired. This way, I can do what I want when I want. Perhaps if it were in the heat of the high season I might not be as lucky but I would never consider traveling somewhere at high tourist season unless I had no other choice. That would be just too stressful and too many people!!! And certainly, not as much flexibility. Besides the weather has been perfect and not hot. 

This hotel includes breakfast so that is good — no need to wander outside to find something to eat. it’s called Stelle Hotel and its slogan is The Businest Hotel. 

I could not find the wi-fi code, and I checked everywhere. AHA — I found it on the key card which I needed to insert in the slot to get power in my room. I had to enter the darn password multiple times and could not get my iPad to connect to it. I had to take a picture of the card with my phone to read it - very small print even with glasses. So my iPad is running off the phone. You have to love technology. While the iPad is heavier than the mini keyboard, I’m getting the hang of it and not having to email the pictures is great. I may consider the iPad for travel in the future. I wasn’t happy about it, but so far, so good. 

I hand washed a few things last night and they are dry this morning, so I’m all set for the next couple of days. 

And with that, I’m out of here to get ready for the day. Another town, another adventure. 

Have a  wonderful day. 

Ciao!!!!

Mount Etna

 Oh my goodness - we went back and forth on this one. The decision was not about going there —- it was on our list, but who to go with. It was part of the events for the wedding week, but we weren’t sure we wanted to go with that large group or to go on our own. 

As the week went on and I had still not made a decision, it was during lunch on the wedding day that we talked to the bride and we were once again invited and we just went for it. 

Being part of a large group can be challenging and it was!! But in a good way. It wasn’t so much the logistics that get bogged down, but what if you don’t like the people? By this time, we knew that we had no issues with the family and friends. Anyway —- we had a blast and I’m very happy that we decided to go with the family and friends. It was another great bonding day. I will have to rethink my group planning in the future. 

We needed to be at the bus stop for 8 AM which was early for all of us, but we made it before the bride and groom and we knew the bus wouldn’t leave without them! 

For those of you who have been to Europe and in particular Sicily, you know how narrow the roads are and you know the hairpins needed to get from of the top of the hill to the bottom without driving down steep roads. There are a ton of hairpins and we were in a COACH bus. How that driver got around some of the corners is beyond me. A lot of practice to be sure. More on that later. 

What was nice about the tour with a large group, was that we were all able to do the part that we wanted. If you wanted to do a longer walk, you could do that, if you didn’t then there was the large four by four vehicles for that. That would have been a challenge to do with just the four of us. So the larger group was great. 

You could rent boots and jackets on the mountain. I borrowed a sweatshirt from M, so I was good for a jacket, but I rented boots, which I probably didn’t need to do, but that’s OK. Two different colored laces!!!!

My rented boots

Then we started walking. Here’s a  picture of the four by four vehicle. It was massive. I’m not sure how many people it could carry, but the majority of our group walked. 

The four by four our group took

This is the view of the top of Mount Etna. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and you could see steam pouring from the top. Apparently it does that a lot — it was not about to erupt! It has erupted in December ad January, but as long as the lava comes from the top, there is usually no danger to the residents around as most people live further than 7 KM from the top and that is the typical maximum distance from the top that the lava travels. And apparently, Etna has been closed to tourists until 2024 because of the rebuilding needed. 

Steam from Mount Etna

So M, Dillon, and I walked, while DH took the vehicle. 

M and I on Mount Etna

We had two guides — one that was on the bus with us from the start and we met this guy at the top. Both of them LOVED their jobs and were happy to provide as much information as we wanted. It’s so nice to chat to those who are passionate about what they do. 

Our mountain top guide

There is a lot of snow on Mount Etna this year - much more than they have had in recent years and thankfully, we didn’t need to walk on much of it. We did NOT go to the top — that is a different kind of hike and is much more dangerous because of the snow. It required crampons which we did not have, but we still got to see a lot. 

This was one of the two patches of snow that we had to walk on. It was very granular as it is melting. 

A short walk in the snow

Then onto another narrow path. All those plants are cacti!!!! I know —- I was kind of surprised by that. 

Cacti growing on Etna

If they told us how many craters there are on Mount Etna, I’ve forgotten, but the number is quite large. There are craters everywhere. Here is one of them. And there are FOUR large ones at the top and apparently the top of Etna keeps changing as the lava continues to flow. 

A snow covered crater

But it was very interesting as we walked around one, because it was just like a bowl and we walked on the rim. The crater is to the right. 

Walking on the rim of one of the craters

And here we can see the rim of two craters. 

A ridge between two craters

You can see Mount Etna steaming away near one of my hands. 

Me on Mount Etna

The snow in the craters is melting from the top and the bottom. And it was interesting because the extremely knowledgeable guides told us that all of this surface is considered ash. We called it rocks! 

Melting snow in the craters

I do not know why this is, but on the way up, we followed a fairly solid type of terrain. It was the road that the vehicles drive on and it was relatively compacted and solid. So that is great footing. BUT on the way down, we have to deal with the scree (loose, small gravel-like ash) which is loose and I am not a fan. It was the same when we went to Mount Kilimanjaro —- solid footing on the way up, not so solid on the way down. I would have preferred the reverse. However I was careful — after all, I had M’s white sweatshirt on and I wasn’t about to fall with that on! 

Then we came to one patch of snow that was challenging to get down. Of course, those with better knees than I, or more adventurous, had no issue to get down, but I sort of side slide and I was fine. Some people slid down on their butts which worked, but they ended up with wet pants and I was having none of that. It really wasn’t that long of a distance to cover. 

Sliding down a snow bank

M slide about half way down and then realized at the bottom that she lost her phone. But the guide, who was still on the slope found it in the snow and all was good!!!

There was a fairly significant eruption in 2002 that crushed a ski lodge at the top. And it was interesting to see the odd tree was left standing, but most were crushed. 

A lone standing tree on Etna

We got to see the fracture of the side of the mountain where the lava flowed from during that big eruption. And the area where we were bused to is fairly new. This is the fracture and you can see how it carved a path through the trees. I swear I took a picture of the area where the buildings are and all that is new. I cannot find the picture. 

The lava path and the fracture

And this was taken from the parking lot - steaming away like a pot of tea!! I swear not all my pictures are showing up when I load them this way. But it was interesting that the tops of all four peaks do not have snow on them because of the temperature of the land caused by the steam. 

Steam from Etna

Here’s a picture of our bus. This is a large bus. Once we finally returned from our walk, returned our boots and jackets, we boarded the bus. We were BEHIND schedule, but it didn’t surprise me and it’s one of the reasons I’m not a fan of group tours. You can’t corral 40 people in a hurry. 

The bus

Our next stop was the Gambino winery. Guess what? It’s on the lower slopes of Etna and the roads to get there were even narrower than what we had driven on. I do NOT see how the bus driver managed to get us there without a single scratch on that bus. Let’s just say that he understands the physics required to turn corners. 

And they greeted us with glasses of wine. This was the first time that I had wine while here. I’m just not a big wine drinker. But how could you resist the glass with this sun sparkling through the glasses. It was a magical moment. 

Greeted with glasses of wine

We arrived at the table where there were many wine glasses and of course, the first course of our meal. Let’s just say there was a lot of talking about wine, which I passed to DH and there was a lot of food. But not overly so. It all looks weird but for the most part it was good. 

Wine tasting

At last we were done - another abrupt ending to the meal because we needed to get on that bus. This was the view from the winery — in the distance, you can see the main land of Italy. 

The view from the winery

This is one of the hairpin turns on this small dirt road. It doesn’t show properly, but it was interesting!!! And no one honks their horns — they just back up and let the bus through - just part of driving on these roads. 

Tight corner with a big bus

When we arrived at the bus terminal in Taormina, we had a massive goodbye as many of us are parting ways at this time. 

After we got back to the aparment, I decided to walk up with Dillon and M to their apartment to see the view and to see the crazy stairs. This is the view from the top, which as they had told me the night before is not far from the church that we had climbed up to see a couple of days ago. How crazy is that. 

Beautiful view from their balcony

When we did the walk to the church, it was on multiple switchbacks, the stairs to their apartment are STRAIGHT up and the top part was steep. However, it didn’t take long, but there is NO way that you would want to have much in your hands!!! 

I stayed for a glass of water and then I was on my way back down. I took pictures of the stairs on the way down. Trust me — I stopped to take the pictures because I needed to look down. You did NOT want to trip and for the most part, there was no hand rail. 

The first set of stairs down

When you got to the bottom of one set, you turned the corner, walked a few paces and then down the next set of steps. 

The next set of stairs — not quite so steep

And then you walked down the next set of stairs. 

The third set

And then a few more stairs. But it was interesting because some of them were more doable with an odd landing thrown in. 

Much easier stairs

And just like they said - they turned the corner and POOF —- there was the green fence on the left to our apartment. The window on the left is our kitchen window and the other one is the living room. The upper two are the bedrooms. 

There is our gate!!!!

Then I decided to explore an Adventure Lab that I wanted to try. It’s part of geocaching. Well, wouldn’t you know it but I had to climb up the darn steps to the church — at least part way and I had already been up those same steps TWICE before. What’s a few more steps? 

It was pretty easy to do but I was getting tired. Oh should I say my knees were getting tired by then. According to my FitBit — a total of 180 floors, but it felt like thousands!

On the way home, I stopped for a few minutes in the town to listen to the live music and then to the grocery store to get some munchies. I spotted this great parking job near our apartment. 

It’s a world so different from where I live and I had the most amazing time. Today is a trasition day and I must get myself organized because I have a train to catch. Think about that for a minute. I’m on an island and I have a train to catch and that’s all I’m going to say about that until tomorrow. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!