I arose at 6:45 and packed my bags before going down to breakfast.  Then, we gathered all of the luggage so it could be trucked to the port.  We left the hotel at 8:15 to catch our 9:00 ferry but Val, Rick, and Hannah remained unaccounted for.  We arrived at the port and the truck pulled up with Val and Rick but they had seen neither Hannah nor her giant bag (the biggest in the group).  I rode back with the driver but for some reason we took other roads than the one she would walk on so we didn’t see her going or coming.  I got a whirlwind tour of most of the town, however.  Fortunately, by the time we got back Hannah was there.  Drew and The Faulkner had run back toward the hotel and found her dragging her wheeled bag through the streets.  They picked it up and ran back with it.

We made the 10-minute run to Vulcano and then the 50-minute trip to Milazzo where we were met by our bus, our travel agent, Francesco Amato, and our driver, Nino.  We drove back to Messina and then along the Strait of Messina, getting views of the mainland through the haze.  After driving through the low-lying Sicilian Apennines, we started getting views of Mt. Etna. 

Laura had told us that she had a urinary tract infection so when we picked up Angela, our volcano guide, she let Francesco, Laura, and Anne take her car to the hospital for treatment.

The rest of us headed up Etna on the bus, winding through neighborhoods on the north side of Catania and passing the 1992 lava flow.  The road goes to the 2000m level but was destroyed there by lava flows in 2001 and 2002.  We got out of the bus there and ate before taking a short walk to the 1888 craters.  We walked around the rim of the nearest crater and most went to the shallow bottom.

Etna is quite spectacular.  A large steam/gas plume blows off of the summit.  The heavier gases sink enveloping the summit region (~3300m) in a smog-like haze.  More than 100 cinder cones dot its slopes.  The recent flows descended from about the 2500m level. 

We walked up the road to look at the 2001 and 2002 flows over which the road is being rebuilt.  The rocks are olivine-augite basalts.  Steam still emits from the cracks and the ground is warm to touch.  The 2001 flow came right up against the wall of a restaurant and stopped.  Angela said the owners kept working while all of this happened. 

No one wanted to leave Etna but we had to pick up Laura and Anne and we had a Greek/Roman ampitheatre to see in Taormina.  Laura was already starting to feel better.

We drove to Taormina.  The old city is set on a limestone cliff about 300m above the Ionian Sea.  We took the shuttle up to the old city, which was mobbed with tourists.  We visited a municipal building, which showed several different periods of construction.  Inside was a collection of Sicilian puppets.  Next, we went to the ampitheatre, which is still in use, and was noisily being prepared for the summer’s plays.  It was rather anticlimactic after Etna, although Bob told us about the fascinating Greek history of the area.

We drove to the Villa Esperia Hotel just above the sea in Taormina.  The hotel is a very dim 4 stars.  It was my least favorite of the places we’ve stayed so far.  Elise, The Faulkner, Drew, and I found a pizzaria at the bottom of the hill.  Most of the rest of our group found it soon after.  I had a great anchovy pizza.

I fell asleep writing in my journal.  I woke up to a ringing phone at midnight. Joan had found me again!  I can’t believe that this trip is nearing its end already.  It will be great to see her on Saturday.

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