After Rome, we headed to the Amalfi coast where we spent around a week or so, followed by Sicily. There we met up with Jamie again, spent some time on the beach, did a rainy day trip to Pompeii, and headed down to Sicily where we now have been for a week.
The train ride down from Amalfi was another fun adventure of hopping from broken train to broken train in nearly sub-zero degree weather, but eventually we made it to the ferry terminal that took us across to Sicily. Very surprised to find out how short the crossing actually is (I can see why they talk about building a bridge across). Anyway, turned out to be stuck in Messina for the first night (port town) since it was after midnight (should have taken that damn night-train we were originally gonna take!). Turned out to be a neat little town, and probably could have spent a day or 2 there. Went for a midnight snack at a Gelataria and sat watching all the look-alike Mafia up and comers kiss each other on the cheeks.
Sicily definitely has a different feel to it. Less English, people are more friendly, stuff is cheaper. I’m quite enjoying it all. Next day we took a bus to Taormina; yet another town built on the side of a mountain. Has a neat old Greek Theatre that they still actually use (and were tearing down the stage when we visited) with a beautiful view of Mt. Etna on one side (and the town), and a wide open view of the water and mainland on the other. That night we met an American girl named Karen back at the hostel who we actually ended up travelling with us all the way to the town that we’re currently in (Cefalu) on the North coast.
Next day we wandered up to the old castle at the top of the town which turned out to be closed, but again had a nice view; rest of the day was just wandering around, hackey sacking and drinking beer (well, at least Jamie and I 😉 It has been friggin’ cold the past few days in Sicily; once the sun goes down, you’d better have pants and a jacket with you. Reminds me a lot of walking around Whistler, being in Taormina at night.
Next morning we hopped on the cable car which takes you down to the beach (neither being too exciting). Jamie took a lady up on a Thai massage which he seemed to enjoy (10 euro for 20 minutes). Once the sun went behind the mountain (around 2pm these days), took the cable car back up, collected the bags, missed the bus by 5 mins, and had to wait until 6:00 for the next one to Catania. Catania is another large and dirty city, but the best starting point to do Mt. Etna (and turned out to have a fairly nice Duomo Piaza at the centre, plus all the ammenities we need before Afica!)
It’s difficult for me to think of things I’ve seen in my life that are as cool as Mt. Etna was. 2 hour bus ride from Catania, 5 km cable car ride up part of the hill, 5 km/2 hr hike up the rest (we decided to walk instead of paying for a 4WD ride), from there it’s a short distance to see the lava, craters, etc; apparently we were lucky because there’s been some recent volcanic activity. General landscape fealt similar to walking on the moon. Walking up was very cold and foggy (around freezing); I was completely under dressed (and seemed to have a lot of people worried) but was fine as long as we didn’t stop moving. (I’m from Alberta, damnit!!)
Not far after the 4WD parking lot at the top, the road ends due to an encroaching lava flow! Never really feeling 100% safe and secure being so close, I could have stood there all day watching it creep down the road; I’d imagine it looking pretty incredible at night. Eventually wandered up to the base of the actual peek where you could see the other side of the mountain, had it not been so foggy below us (it was all clear where we were though!). Mt. Etna is 3000 metres/10,000 ft up so walking was very difficult considering the dizzying lack of oxygen and naucious fumes spewing out all around us.
The experience was amazing. Mt. Etna is said to be the most active volcano in the world, and there we were standing right in it. Hopefully the fumes don’t take years off my life, but if they do I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Following Catania, we took a train up to a nice little beach town on the North coast called Cefalu. The weather has now decided to co-operate a little more, so we’ve got a few days in on the beach, and we’re getting ready for our ferry departure to Tunisia tomorrow morning.
It’s funny because it’s been a month to the day since we left, and I’m ready to leave Italy, yet it feels odd that we’re going to Africa so quickly. Hopefully it doesn’t take long to feel normal again…
Amalfi Coast
Pompeii
Taormina theater
Taormina – Mt Etna
Mt Etna with Eddie
Mt Etna with the gang
Etna steam
Etna – Giant steps are what we take
Cefalu – View from the beach