Day 124 - Taormina, Sicily

Point of departure: Adrano

Point of arrival : Taormina

Accommodation: Hotel Villa Carlotta,www.villacarlotta.net

Km travelled today: 85km Cum: 22 391km (gravel 0km cum 4 649km)

Countries so far: 12/16

Where to next? Positano

No of photos: 178 (cum 5 737)

We woke up this morning to crisp, cloudy and cold morning (9 degrees) more reminiscent of a European autumn rather than spring. After a leisurely breakfast we set off to explore Mt Etna, as far as we could.

The road fairly quickly climbed through the 1600m level where patches of snow started to appear and up to the 1800m level and the "funivia del Etna" (cable station). Rather than climb the mountain, we decided to take the funivia up to the 2500m ski station, and enjoyed the view, watching skiers departing, a leisurely cup of coffee and freezing our butts off - the wind chill really made it feel quite cold. Fantastic views from up there, not only of the volcano but down to the city of Catania hundreds of metres below.

Mt Etna one of the few and active volcanoes (and tallest in continental Europe) towers over Sicily. The area around Mt Etna and the volcano itself has been declared a National Park and offers the popular winter sports such as skiing. Etna's eruptions have been numerous (at least 135 counted since historic times) and some of them quite ruinous - the eruption of 396BC halted the Carthaginians and the one in 1981 destroyed part of the cableway. The last major eruption occurred in October 2002. Even the smaller eruption in 1992 required the US marines' assistance to halt the lava flow. (source Bonechi : Sicily) Chatting to the staff at the ski station and looking at photographs, there were eruptions as recently as April 2009, May 2008 and March 2007. Do any of you see a pattern here… we are in March 2010… just as well we leave for mainland Italy tomorrow.

On the way down we noticed that Etna was smoking… and stopped to take a few photographs. See what we mean.

Then on to Taormina our next stop for the night. If there is any town one should visit in Sicily, it's Taormina. It clings to the side of a hill, overlooking the Mediterranean sea with the spectacular Mt Etna as a backdrop. It is also the home of a magnificent Greek Theatre with splendid views of the Mediterranean and Mt Etna to complete the setting. Sadly for us, the weather closed in and Etna was not visible. The Theatre is of the Roman period (2nd century BC) and has been superimposed on earlier structures of the Greek period.To complete the picture there are the quaint alleys and streets packed with pavement cafes and trattorias and still space for a beautiful public garden… a lovely spot to amble through for a few hours enjoying the views, having lunch and for us at least, to spend the night.