My First Visit to Sicily

It’s been a few challenging days on the ship. My foot continues to hurt a bit and now Bruce has a cold. But we persevere.

We went to a wonderful show with Salvatore Hasard. He played piano, saxophone, electric guitar, harmonica and drums. He also sang.

Salvatore played an afternoon concert to a packed house.

In the evening Bruce and I ate early and retired to our cabin, hoping to feel better for our Sicily excursion. From our balcony we saw a beautiful sunset..

In the morning Bruce wasn’t feeling great but thought he could handle a bus ride. Out on our balcony I captured a sunrise.

Out on the balcony I watched as the ship sailed into the port of Messina.

Although my foot is sore and Bruce is sick, we decided to go on our tour anyway. We boarded our bus after the usual hour in the theater waiting. This is one of the reasons I don’t like ship tours. Our tour guide Nunzio was charming and entertaining.

Along the way to Mount Etna, we saw some beautiful scenery!

We stopped along the way to take pictures of Mt. Etna. Our guide said it had been overcast the past few days and you couldn’t see it.

We visited a jewelry making business housed in a mansion.

In the front yard was a lovely fountain and many statues!

Although most of the jewelry is made at another site, they did have a set up to demonstrate their trade!

They also served us a lovely brunch which included cannoli and fruit.

We ate on the patio which was lovely! I think Bruce had his mouth full.

It was a lovely place to stop.

We traveled on to Mt. Etna taking in the views of lava rocks from the many eruptions, the latest in November 2022.

Chairlifts operate up the volcano for skiing.

I don’t know what we were thinking when we booked this tour. It was freezing up there and I was wearing sandals and a light jacket. Locals were dressed with winter gear, hats, gloves. Needless to say even if my foot was ok I wouldn’t have been able to go – just too darn cold.

We had more cannoli and cappuccino at the little restaurant near the top.

As we rode back to the ship, we took in more of the beautiful landscape.

We finally arrived back at the ship. The Postal Virgin Mary watching over the harbor.

We have a lovely view from our balcony for the remainder of the day.

We had coffee with friends and will have dinner at 7:30. Tomorrow is another sea day before we reach Mykonos. And then on to Haifa!

#salvatorehasard#mountetna#sicily#postalvirginmary