Today was the last day of our bus tour. It has been a very fun week all in all and we’ve seen some amazing things. We would never want to drive in Sicily- the people here are crazy- they don’t stop at stop signs or traffic lights, and drive all over the road with no respect for anyone else. So, even though the tour wasn’t perfect, it was better than us driving. We checked out of our hotel in Acireale and left by 8:30 to go up to Cefalu (pronounced Chefalu). It took about 2 hours to get there and for the first time on the trip they stopped at a petrol station and let us use the bathroom (a nice surprise from the other days). Along the way the ceiling above my seat started dripping because of the A/C so Jeanine had to switch seats! When we got to town we walked as a group to the cathedral where a man was passing out pieces of cloth to people so they could cover their shoulders. It was a beautiful church. Then we only had 45 minutes to walk around and see the city before lunch- again, not long enough! The first course of lunch was parmiagianna (eggplant with ham) which was okay. The waiters were mad because no one ate a lot, but it was bad food! After lunch we drove back to Palermo and we said good-bye to Giovanna and Christina. We ended up getting two rooms because they didn’t have a triple, which was fine. Jeanine’s room was great and had good a/c, but mom and dad’s room wasn’t made up, so they changed, then the new room didn’t have a/c, so they had to change again! Really a classy hotel. In the afternoon we walked over to the archaeological museum and walked around for a while- it was okay. The people kept giving us looks like we should be leaving even though we had an hour before the place closed- very strange. We ate dinner as a group and said good-bye to everyone! Thankfully we don’t leave until 2pm, so we can sleep in and take our time tomorrow morning.

Today we went to Mt. Etna- the highest active volcano in Europe. We went up to 2,000 meters with the bus, and then we paid extra to go up to 2,500 meters with a cable car and then took a bus to the top for a tour of the crater at 3,000 meters (about 10,000 feet). The cable ride up was very hot- there was no breeze even though the door was open a crack. Also, the car kept stopping and it swung back and forth- kind of strange. We got out of the cable car and along with Christina, Marie-Angelina, and Anna we went to the top of the crater in an oversized jeep on a windy, volcanic ash road. Jeanine asked Lisa if she could borrow her sweatshirt because it was really windy and she had forgotten hers. The guide at the top only spoke Italian, so Christina translated into English for us, and Jeanine translated into Spanish because she doesn’t speak Spanish. It wasn’t a lot of information, though, so it was not bad. When we first started walking up to the crater mom looked down and she had a butterfly on her foot! It had landed there and even though she kept walking it didn’t fly away. It must have caught a ride up on one of the jeeps, but there was no way it could survive up there- it was too windy and no food. The crater itself was amazing. There was smoke that constantly came up out of it and the ground was really hot. It was really windy and that was cold, but at the same time we were heated from below. It was a good thing Jeanine borrowed Lisa’s sweater because we literally had volcanic ash tornadoes!! Jeanine had a rock that flew into her ear and mom kept it! All in all it was really neat and we’re glad that we went all the way up. It was a good thing the other older couples didn’t come because it was a tough climb and so windy they may have fallen over- they need to write that in their description of Etna. We went back down and they gave us an extra half hour to walk around, so we walked over to crater Silvestre, an inactive crater. We walked all the way around it, but it took us longer than we though- we almost missed the bus! They were literally leaving the parking lot to come get us. We drove back down to Acireale to our hotel for lunch, which was strange, because we went to Taormina in the afternoon, and Etna was halfway between Acireale and Taormina. We sat down to lunch to realize that it wasn’t a buffet and we had to wait for them to bring our meal out…so we waited and waited and waited. We ate bread and fruit until they finally brought our meal. Then we waited until 3:30 to leave for Taormina. It took about an hour, and it was a very cute little town that only small cars and motorcycles can drive in. It reminded Jeanine of Toledo. We walked through the porto and went to the Greek-Roman theater. It was amazing! It’s one of the best preserved in the world. We then had about an hour of free time to walk around and see the town. We wish we had come here straight after Etna and had lunch, free time, and dinner all here. It was great. We saw the narrowest street (mom and Jeanine walked down it) and saw huge cannoli’s (one for a family). We went back to the hotel and had free time before dinner at 8:30. The American water polo team played Italy at 7 and Lucca’s family along with Toni went to watch it (we lost). We also found out that the guys are only 18 and 19! They are huge and very built so they look a lot older- oh well. At dinner we actually got food- the water polo teams were not there yet so we all got food right away and we beat the crowd. Later on they had a “band” playing at the pool so Jeanine went out with Christina and Giovanna to check it out. Turns out the band was 2 people who sang and had pre-recorded music playing. They ended up letting a Hispanic woman who turned out to be a singer, sing while they went on break! Very funny. Jeanine also had the privilege of being hit on by a mid-30’s man from Barcelona who was one of the water polo referee’s. He kept asking her to dance and kissing her hand. Jeanine was not impressed and ended up leaving because he was very creepy. She knows he was just trying to be funny, but was not amused.

We also saw the ear of Dionysus- a big man made cave that the slaves made. They say that the emperor, Dionysus, would listen through a hole at the top of the cave to make sure the slaves were not talking about rebellion. We also walked to another amphitheater that was not as well preserved and some tombs that were literally just sitting above ground in front of the amphitheater. We then got back on the bus and drove to the docks of Siracusa where we left our bus and walked a long way to the cathedral in Ortiga (the center of Siracusa). The cathedral was very interesting (after a while all the churches seem very similar).

We made it to Catania by 3:45 only to find that the church does not open until 4pm. Instead of walking around and giving us a tour (because the bus was too big to drive around) we waited for 20 minutes for it to open and did nothing! We ended up eating cannoli at the café across the street. We finally went in the church and it was beautiful and had old Greek columns that prove that it has been re-used many times during the centuries. We then decided that we wanted to go on the little blue train/trolley tour around the city. We argued with them for about 10 minutes before we left because they had originally told Giovanna that it would be 2 euros a person, and they wanted 3 euros (not like it was a huge deal, but it was the principal of the thing). Then we got on and they didn’t leave! Once we finally started moving we realized that the speakers were so loud that it was hard to understand what the girl was saying, then we realized that she was reading off a sheet of paper, and there was no way that she actually spoke English! We had no idea what we were seeing.

Today we packed our stuff again and left the nice hotel in Agrigento. We drove north to Piazza Armerina to see the Roman Villa. It was absolutely amazing! The house was huge and had running water, a communal bathroom, a swimming pool, a throne room, and many other- 40 rooms in all. And all of the flooring was done in mosaic tiles that we could still see! It had been covered by an earthquake and was very well preserved. Our tour guide was a retired teacher and he was great. We drove another hour into the countryside and went to a restaurant/hotel where they grow and use all their own products- it was wonderful! Our waiter was an old man who could not have had any teeth left. He and Anna, a 13 year old from Spain, got into a huge argument about the football match for this evening- Spain is going to play and he said they would lose. What made it even funnier was that Anna was talking in Spanish, and the man was talking in Italian, and Giovanna had to translate for both of them! He also did tricks for Anna after their shouting match- he put a small cigarette inside his mouth and turned it over with his tongue without burning himself. He also blew an egg from one shot glass to another (which Jeanine did also) and he turned a glass of water over real fast without spilling. He was very entertaining.

After lunch we drove to Caltagirone where we walked up the mosaic steps and had a view of the city. We were supposed to go to a ceramics factory, but really just went to a ceramics shop where you could buy some. Nobody really cared about it and we were finished in 10 minutes. At dinner we were surprised to find that our hotel is housing different junior Olympic water polo teams- one from America!

We drove to Erice, a very small medieval town at the top of a mountain. Apparently it’s only open in summer and no one goes there during the winter (it’s like a ghost town). We started by walking to the cathedral and watch tower at the bottom of the town and were told we would have time to go inside later before we left.

We made our way up hill to a sweet shop where we used the bathroom and got cannoli’s. Jeanine ate hers as we walked, and a dog followed her all the way up to the castle at the top of the town! It was very funny. He looked like he was hungry but there was no way she was giving him a sweet. The castle was closed off and we would have had a great view of the sea and the countryside if it had not been so cloudy. As it was we didn’t get to see a lot. Then they told us we only had 30 minutes before we had to leave! It was not enough time (basically only enough to walk back down to the bus!). We walked quickly and went to the church to take some pictures but I didn’t get to go inside because you had to pay and I didn’t have time!

We then drove down the center of Sicily to the Mediterranean coast to Selinute, an archaeological park with great Greek temple ruins! They drove us around in oversized golf carts that got us very dirty. The temple all have alphabetical names because there are no markings left in the temples to say who they were dedicated to. It was beautiful with a great location on the water- the Greeks really knew how to pick them! When we were done we went across the street for a wine tasting of marsala wine- We didn’t like it at all. We also saw a smart car that had been decorated all over- it looked very interesting.

We met our guide who took us around the “Valle dei Templi”. He was great- he spoke both in English and Spanish, so while he was translating we had time to walk around and take pictures. It was very neat to see all of the old temples. We could not walk inside the temples like in Selinute but it was still really neat. We saw the temple of Hercules which a British retired Navy commander turned archaeologist had re-built part of. We also walked across the street to the temple of Zeus- it was huge- bigger than a football stadium! It also had giant statues that used to hold up the temple and are currently at the museum in Agrigento (we did not get to go), but they had a copy they had done that we saw. As we left all the cars were honking and flying Italy flags because Italy had won the football game. On the way to the hotel we stopped at a store so Lucca could buy some clothes (his luggage has still not come!)

We started our official tour of Sicily today with a stop at the Royal Palace to see the Royal Church with its 12th Century gold leaf paintings. The church is a mixture of Norman, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish influence as all have been rulers of Sicily.

We then went to the huge New Church of the Virgin Mary in Monreale. It is a giant version of the Royal Church. Lots of paintings and icons. Much of the church is under renovation due to an earthquake. Italy has over 2000 earthquakes each year. We hit the jackpot on postcards as they only cost .05 Euro each.

We returned to Palermo and saw the Cathedral of Palermo. It sits on a large square with many statues on the outside and monuments to Saint Rosalia. She was a hermit who decided to give her life to God and lived and died in a cave in the mountains. Her bones were found 500 years later and brought back to Palermo during the Plague. Upon the arrival of her bones, the Plague stopped and she has been the patron saint of Palermo ever since. Her bones now are carried once a year from the cave back to Palermo to be placed back into this church. The festival is July 14. In September, there is another festival where people have a pilgrimage up to her cave.

Back to the hotel for lunch and then off to the cave of Saint Rosalia. There is a small church built attached to the cave and you walk directly from the church into the cave. The cave is covered with metal drain pipes to catch the water that drips through the cave. It is considered Holy Water. What an amazing place. People come to pray or to leave notes of thanks to the saint. Many people walk up the stairs and into the cave on their knees.

After the cave, we went to Mendello beach for a bit of sun. Unfortunately, all one million people who live in Palermo also decided to go to the beach today. We walked just a bit and then went to get gelato.

Took the train to Rome this afternoon. For some reason we had more stops this direction. We got in just fine and went back to Villa Paola for one night.

June 24-Our taxi showed up right in time at 8:15 for our 10:30 flight. Got to the airport in great time only to have the person at check in look at us funny. She told us there was no flight to Palermo at that time. It turns out the flight was cancelled the day after Jeanine made the reservation and she was never notified. We were put on the 12:30 flight and all was well. Arrived in Sicily just in time to realize that it was really hot. That’s ok it feels good. We met our tour group for cocktails and dinner.

Strike is over. We rode the train to Corneglia to climb the monk steps and see the ancient church and cemetery. This place is supposed to have graves from the middle ages but the oldest we found was the 1930’s. The church was interesting as they were chanting in a hidden room when we went in to observe. The sign in front said no singing or picnicking at the church. We went to the cemetery and had our picnic there. That was a truly new experience. We took the train back to Monterosso and eventually back to Levanto. We had dinner at The Cave where they cook all steaks right at your table. Cindy had an after birthday peach sundae complete with a small Roman candle. We shared a nice bottle of wine and had a really fun evening.

We decided to make the walk from Levanto to Monterosso. The walk is listed as a 2-1/2 hour challenging walk. It was quite a lot of uneven trail that went up and down forever. We made it but it took us 3-1/2 hours. Of course 30 minutes was spent having a snack overlooking the mountainside and the sea. We had a light lunch in Monterosso and explored the town. We finally decided that the trains were not running so we booked passage on the only ferry to Levanto to leave at 6pm. This left us plenty of time to explore and eat gelato. At 6, a ship arrived, let off passengers and then left. Finally the real boat arrived 15-20 minutes late. We have learned that train and boat schedules are just an approximation of times to leave.

We took the train to Riomaggiore and explored the town and churches. We found the restaurant and gelato store recommended in the Rick Steve’s guide quite by accident. We agree with him. Good food. We took a walk up the cliff to the Torre Guardiola botanic garden. The view of the Ligurian Sea was beautiful. We then walked 20 minutes to the next town, Manarola and explored its church , shops and shoreline. We then did another 20 minute walk to Corneglia. The book said 20 minutes, the signs said 45 minutes and we made it in about 30. Just in time to catch the train back.

Happy Birthday Cindy. Wow, spent her birthday on trains traveling to Cinque Terre. We arrived in Levanto just fine and then were told there was a problem with our rooms. So instead of 2 rooms, we were given the apartment suite for less money than the two rooms combined. Cindy and Jeanine went shopping and Jeanine made potato cheese soup with cheese that never melted much. Still tasted good.

Today was our last day in Rome. We slept in and trudged down to breakfast- we were tired (we’ve done so much in one week and we still have not seen everything!). We had wanted to go to the Tivoli gardens, but it looked like it was going rain so we decided against it. Instead we spent the morning laying our laundry out to dry in the room and then we packed small travel bags for Cinque Terre- Kathy and Gilbert are letting us leave our luggage as we are returning for one night. Around noon we headed into town- we wanted to eat lunch at the Tre Scalini café. We had a wonderful lunch. We got Tartufo’s to go again, and we ate it on the side of the fountain where the undercover police officer told us to get off! We decided he could be doing more important things than asking people to not sit on the fountain- like catching pick pockets… Oh well. When we finished we walked back to Flaminio and at Piazza Popolo we found a Leonardo daVinci museum attached to a church. They showed a lot of his inventions with alot of interesting information.

Then to Villa Burghese park. We were not impressed by the huge public displays of affection by many in the park. We decided to rent a motorized bike pedal car for an hour which had three seats, but we were kind of falling off. Jeanine drove and had to detour around lots of people and other people on bikes and other carts. This has been such a wonderful week in Rome. It went by very fast. We are excited about going to Cinque Terre though and continuing our journey!

We finally made it downtown around 11:30am. We went to the same restaurant at Piazza Spagna as yesterday and we all ordered the cheese gnocchi- it was so good! When we finished we checked e-mail again and then took the train over to San Giovanni. We found the blue 218 bus that went to the Catacombs. We asked the driver how long it would take, and asked if we had time to go to the bathroom before he left. We don’t think he totally understood us, but he held the bus for us to go to the bathroom and left as soon as we got on! It was really easy to get there as we got off at the Catacomb stop. We had to walk up this huge hill to get to the Catacomb San Sebastian, and then we waited about 25 minutes for a tour in English. This particular catacomb stretches for 7 miles under ground and has 3 levels. We only saw a little bit of it, but what we saw was amazing. As pictures were not allowed we bought great post cards that showed the tombs, the drawings, and the monuments. When we walked back down the hill a bus pulled upjust as we got to the stop (perfect timing). Then we went back to the San Giovanni in Laterano church. Apparently our Vatican tickets allowed us to get into a museum at the church, but it’s only open 9-12 Monday- Saturday so we did not get to go.

When we left Cindy wanted to find the St. Peter in Chains church to see Michelangelo’s Moses. It was really easy following the Rick Steve’s guide (the book is amazing!). We got off at the metrostop and walked up some really steep hills to the church. We even helped an 80 year old man find it- he had been there 50 years before! After we ate pizza on the Spanish steps we returned to the B&B.

Today was another wonderful day in Rome. We went into the city around 11 and had a set plan. We took the metro to the Pyramid stop where we took a quick picture of the white pyramid and then left.

We got back on the train and went one stop to see the Circus Maximus from the ground. We got a great view of the Forum and it was neat to be able to walk on it. We realized that we were across the street from the Roman houses that Cindy wanted to see, so we crossed the street- except we took a crazy way and we almost got run over. We made our way up into the park and saw a neat church where we had to ring a bell to get in. Outside was a monument to Mother Teresa. We finally found the Roman Houses and were so glad we went! It was amazing! They found the old houses under a church and had preserved them. Unfortunately we could not take any pictures. There were frescos on the walls and stairs going up into different rooms. There was even a little museum where they housed different relics that they had found.

When we left we walked up the hill to the Colosseum (we could see the arch of Constantine and there was no reason to use the metro it was so close). We then went back inside the Colosseum - turns out you can only use the pass we had in each place once, but they let us in! We didn’t really feel bad though. We had more time to walk around and see everything. Jeanine was also able to buy her “Rome: past present” book that she had wanted to get yesterday (She got it for 18 euros instead of 25- go Jeanine). Then we took the metro back to Spagna and went to the American Express to purchase our train tickets. When we walked in we saw Q and Laurie Brown from church in Deerfield! Small world!

We then decided to go to the Castle St. Angelo. We had a great time walking around the castle for 2 hours as it just kept going! There was a museum inside it which was huge and on every floor. A lot of it was a testament to Bernini and his students and family. We walked up to the very top and had a great view of St. Peter’s and Rome. It was about 6:30 by the time we were done, and we walked to Campo de’Fiore. We took the wrong way and we got a little lost (there were no signs and the streets were not clear, so we actually walked a block and a half past it!). We had a great dinner and then walked across the street to Piazza Navona where we had Tartufo ice cream at Tre Scalini café for desert (this was in the Rick Steve’s guide and it was amazing!). It is chocolate ice cream in the shape of a ball and they put some whipped cream on top along with a little cookie. Turns out it’s 3 euros cheaper if you get it to go, so we found a bench in front of the 4 rivers fountain.

When we were done it was around 8:45pm and we decided to walk back to Spagna to get home, but made a side trip to the Trevi Fountain to show some other people how to get there. We had wanted a photo of the fountain all lit up at night anyway so it worked out well.

We finally made it into town around 11:30 and we tried to buy train tickets at the American Express office at Spagna but their system was down (they told us to come back later or tomorrow), and then we tried to use the internet at a café, but they needed real ID (not a copy) so we did neither and wasted some time. Cindy wanted to go back to the Termini station to another National Museum (they are everywhere around Rome!) It was a great museum (better than yesterday) and we saw lots of statues, wall mosaics, and a huge coin collection- very interesting. It was 2 by the time we were done so we found a restaurant on the side of the road and had a good lunch with a British waiter. We finally made it to the Colosseum around 3:30pm. When we got there a woman asked us if we spoke English and if we wanted a tour of the Colosseum and a free tour of the Forum- it was 6 euros each- it sounded great so we said yes. The tour guide had a lot of interesting information to share, but he was kind of rude. We also only walked just inside the Colosseum and he talked for 30 minutes in 1 spot, so we didn’t see much.