Sicily

Summer 1998 my hubby and I visited Malta for the third time (we like
Malta!). On the first two visits we had been aware that it was possible
to take a day-trip to Sicily, but we had too much to see on Malta to
make time for the Sicily trip. In 1998 however we made sure that we had
the time (and the necessary finances!) to visit Sicily. It was an
experience that I would recommend to anyone.

The trip cost around ?50 each, but that included being picked up from
the hotel, the boat crossings and a coach while on Sicily - so all
things considered it was pretty good value.

Our day started in the worst possible way - a wake-up call at 3.00 am -
arghhh. That meant that the previous night was a bit wasted too with an
early dinner and no drinkies but sometimes you just have to make such
sacrifices!

Actually, getting woken at such an unearthly hour was fine since the
excitement of the day ahead ensured that we jumped out of bed without
too much complaint. So down we went for a bite to eat before being
whisked off to the harbour in the Maltese capital, Valletta. The actual
crossing to Sicily took an hour on a catamaran, which was claimed to be
the fastest passenger vessel in the Med. at the time.

When we arrived in the south of Sicily, at the port of Pozzallo, there
was a fair bit of hanging around while everyone was checked through
immigration, which consisted of what looked like a garden shed.
Eventually when everyone was through we were ushered onto the tour
coaches.

Tip: there were many nationalities around, so some of the coaches
catered only for English or German speakers. Others were multi-lingual,
which meant that the commentary would be repeated in several languages.
We made sure that we got on an English speaking only one!

The tour took us along much of the eastern side of the Island (the side
nearest the 'toe' of Italy). The first real point of note was crossing
some of the highest road bridges in Europe. The views from these
bridges down the valleys towards towns such as Modica were absolutely
stunning. The next town we passed was called Ragusa, then after that it
was quite some distance before we came across anything of any real
significance. This gave us a chance to listen to the tour guide
describe a bit about the island and tell us repeatedly that the plants
at the side of the road were 'ze preeklie pears'. It also gave our own
imaginations a chance to really start to annoy us - just try getting
the theme from 'The Godfather' out of your head while travelling
through Sicily!!

Our first stop was for a bite to eat, somewhere between Ragusa and
Lentini. Wow, now that is what I would call a decent scran! Little
bowls of various pastas and sauces and the most wonderful calzones I
have ever tasted, Mmmm - I would go back just for those alone! After
bypassing the town of Lentini we headed towards Catania, a rather large
commerce centre at the foot of Mount Etna. It was here that the famous
volcano first came into view - how excellent, there were massive puffs
of smoke coming out of the top!!

Etna is not only the highest volcano in Europe, but also one of the
most active in the world. We were lucky in that when we went it was in
a particularly active state. As we started to climb the volcano we
began to see traces of the lava flow from over the years. The higher up
the mountain we climbed, the more apparent the devastation caused by
the lava became. We seen houses that had been almost completely
consumed, with little more than the roof still visible. The one
question that was apparent was "why do people live there". The answer
to that lies in the fact that the mountainside is the most fertile part
of the island. The local farmers are willing to take the risks in order
to reap the harvests - rather them than me though!

Eventually, and it did take quite some time, we reached the end of the
road up the volcano. There is a visitor centre where you can buy
various items which have been carved from lava rock, and all the usual
touristy tack. At that point you can continue up towards the summit by
taking a ride on a cable car, unfortunately the day we went the cable
car was off due to the eruptions. I got the impression though that the
cable car would have been a bit of a rip-off since it was ?10 for a
climb of a couple of hundred feet. So on that particular day we were
forced to hang around the visitor centre, which wasn't actually too bad
since there are many craters around that area caused by former
eruptions. The whole surface really did look like something you would
find on the moon. By far the biggest thrill though was actually hearing
the explosions coming from the volcano - and being covered in showers
of volcanic ash!! How strange that was - it was actually raining tiny
little black stones down on us. I must say though that by the end of
the day we were filthy, but luckily we had packed a change of
clothes.

I could talk for hours about that trip up Etna, but I won't bore you
with it all - suffice to say that it was one of the most enjoyable
experiences I have ever had, even though I never got to the
summit.

After leaving Etna we travelled down to the main tourist resort on
Sicily, Taormina. Taormina was just such an excellent place, I will
definitely be going there for a stay at some point. The town sits on a
hilltop and offers stunning views across the water to Italy. Feeling
rather peckish again by this time we sat in a pavement cafe and enjoyed
a pizza and a few cold beers (oh, and the BEST ice-cream I have ever
tasted). I could honestly just have sat there for a fortnight watching
the world go by. Before leaving Taormina we did have a rather strange
experience when trying to buy some bottled water. The shop that we went
into had a fridge with the cold drinks in, much like the shops in
Britain. So I opened the fridge door and the woman behindthe counter
started blowing her top more than Etna had - 'frigo, frigo' and pushed
me out of the way. Eh! It appeared that she didn't like anyone opening
the door of the fridge, which was fair enough, but I thought she did
over react just a tad ;) By this time it was absolutely roasting and
water was definitely a major necessity.

Leaving Taormina we went down the winding roads towards the coast. This
too was an experience, thoughts of the newspaper headlines back home
did pass through my head as we zoomed precariously close to the edge of
a rather high drop! This is a road that I am sure you will have seen on
TV or in films with its network of tunnels criss-crossing through the
hillside.

The trip back to Pozzallo to catch the boat back to Malta was something
that I could have done without. It was starting to get dark by that
time and there was not much to be seen. Most people ended up falling
asleep on the coach - but I am one of those unfortunate souls that
cannot sleep on the move. By the time we arrived back in Malta it was
well past midnight and we had to endure another immigration fiasco. So
by the time we actually got back to our hotel we had been on the move
for nearly twenty-four hours. It was well worth it though, and as I
said at the start, I would recommend it to anyone who was visiting
Malta.